From Barron's, June 7:
The world’s oceans are under threat, risking trillions of dollars in revenue, a new report warns. But the dire situation is also an opportunity to invest in ocean-based climate solutions, such as offshore wind power.
The study, from Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions (GPS), found that $4.3 trillion of revenue could be at risk today because of direct damage to the marine environment from things like fishing and habitat loss. In addition, $27 trillion of revenue could be indirectly at risk from other ocean stressors, such as pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Pollution, particularly plastics, is widely considered to be harmful to ocean biodiversity and ecosystems.
“Ocean health is intrinsically connected to climate change,” Ying Qin, global thematic analyst at Citi Global Insights and lead author of the report, said in an interview. “It’s not a niche theme or topic—it is very connected to a lot of the emerging sustainability themes and trends and there are a lot of opportunities that perhaps mainstream investors are not aware of with regards to the ocean.”
The analysis was based on 2021 revenue figures from 48,000 public companies across all sectors, not just marine-based industries.
The ocean’s chemistry is changing, with acidification increasing “at an unprecedented rate,” Citi said. By the end of this century, the ocean is expected to be 150% more acidic than it is now—based on business-as-usual emission scenarios—posing a significant threat to marine life.
While there is plenty of risk—from the threat of sea level rise and the destruction of coastal habitats to supply chain disruptions and pollution—there are also plenty of opportunities in the ocean economy, the report said, including in the emerging industries of offshore renewables and carbon capture and storage, or CCS for short....
....MUCH MORE
CCS is still quite a ways from being economically feasible but some big money is pushing for it.
If interested, skip past the headline link in this May 18 post: "VC-backed "Climate Change Activist Goes Rogue Releasing ‘Mini Volcanoes’ To Cool Atmosphere"" and scroll down for the ultimate insurance policy should we find ourselves dealing with runaway positive feedback loops. Don't try this at home, you could start an ice age.
Fortunately most feedback loops in nature are negative or self-limiting. Some that seem to be positive i.e. self-reinforcing such as desertification (dry begats drier) may just be operating on time-scales longer than humans have time for.
In biology most feedback loops trend toward homeostasis but if you do get a positively looping feedback the result can be cancer. In the same way a couple of postulated positive feedbacks in earth sciences are methane releases from previously frozen tundra leading to more thawing of tundra and more methane releases and ocean circulation where temperature changes in the ocean lead to changes in the thermocline which leads to warming of the ocean which....
Fortunately the ultimate insurance policy is doable, though potentially catastrophic in its own way. But not as fast-acting as ice-nine in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
