Climate activist Greta Thunberg&nbsp;has pulled out of an appearance at the upcoming Edinburgh International Book Festival, citing alleged links of sponsoring firm&nbsp;to the fossil fuel industry.

The annual festival was due to take place on August 13th (Sunday) and Thunberg was due to speak at an event called 'It's Not Too Late To Change The World' at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

However, she said that she would not attend the festival because it recieves sponsorship from the Baillie Gifford investment firm, which she claimed "invests heavily in the fossil fuel industry".

<h2>Greenwashing</h2>

Accusing the fossil fuel industry of "greenwashing" by sponsoring cultural events, Thunberg said she does not want to be associated with it.

"Greenwashing efforts by the fossil fuel industry, including sponsorship of cultural events, allows them to keep the social licence to continue operating."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ocean-temperatures-set-new-record-scientists-warn-were-in-hot-soup-622413">Ocean temperatures set new record, scientists warn we are in hot soup</a>

"I cannot and do not want to be associated with events that accept this kind of sponsorship."

To know more about what Greenwashing is, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/big-brands-like-coca-cola-found-guilty-of-greenwashing-what-is-this-and-why-is-it-problematic-493682">click here</a>.

<h2>Baillie Gifford's rebuttal</h2>

Baillie Gifford, which is an investment management firm, as per BBC, has been a sponsor of&nbsp;the Edinburgh book festival for over 19 years.

The company, however, said that it was not a significant fossil fuel investor. It also claims that compared to the market average of 11 per cent,&nbsp;only about two per cent of its clients' money is invested into fossil fuels.

"Of those companies, some have already moved most of their business away from fossil fuels, and many are helping to drive the transition to clean energy," added a company spokesperson.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/degrading-quality-of-water-due-to-heavy-rains-test-paris-readiness-for-olympics-622407">Degrading quality of water due to heavy rains tests Paris' readiness for Olympics</a>

"Currently, five per cent of our clients' money is invested in companies whose sole purpose is to develop clean energy solutions," they added.

The director of the book festival, Nick Barley, applauded Thunberg for standing by her principles, but said that the festival too stands by its principles.

"The Book Festival exists to give a platform for debate and discussion around key issues affecting humanity today - including the climate emergency.

"We would not be in a position to provide that platform without the long-term support of organisations such as Baillie Gifford," said Barley as quoted by BBC.

"We strongly believe that Baillie Gifford are part of the solution to the climate emergency. They are early investors in progressive climate positive companies, providing funds to help them grow".

Apologising to people who had purchased the tickets hoping to see the young climate activist, he said they will be refunded in full.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

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Climate activist Greta Thunberg has pulled out of an appearance at the upcoming Edinburgh International Book Festival, citing alleged links of sponsoring firm to the fossil fuel industry.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has pulled out of an appearance at the upcoming Edinburgh International Book Festival, citing alleged links of sponsoring firm to the fossil fuel industry. The annual festival was due to take place on August 13th (Sunday) and Thunberg was due to speak at an event called 'It's Not Too Late To Change The World' at the Edinburgh Playhouse. However, she said that she would not attend the festival because it recieves sponsorship from the Baillie Gifford investment firm, which she claimed "invests heavily in the fossil fuel industry". Greenwashing Accusing the fossil fuel industry of "greenwashing" by sponsoring cultural events, Thunberg said she does not want to be associated with it. "Greenwashing efforts by the fossil fuel industry, including sponsorship of cultural events, allows them to keep the social licence to continue operating." Also read | Ocean temperatures set new record, scientists warn we are in hot soup "I cannot and do not want to be associated with events that accept this kind of sponsorship." To know more about what Greenwashing is, click here. Baillie Gifford's rebuttal Baillie Gifford, which is an investment management firm, as per BBC, has been a sponsor of the Edinburgh book festival for over 19 years. The company, however, said that it was not a significant fossil fuel investor. It also claims that compared to the market average of 11 per cent, only about two per cent of its clients' money is invested into fossil fuels. "Of those companies, some have already moved most of their business away from fossil fuels, and many are helping to drive the transition to clean energy," added a company spokesperson. Also read | Degrading quality of water due to heavy rains tests Paris' readiness for Olympics "Currently, five per cent of our clients' money is invested in companies whose sole purpose is to develop clean energy solutions," they added. The director of the book festival, Nick Barley, applauded Thunberg for standing by her principles, but said that the festival too stands by its principles. "The Book Festival exists to give a platform for debate and discussion around key issues affecting humanity today - including the climate emergency. "We would not be in a position to provide that platform without the long-term support of organisations such as Baillie Gifford," said Barley as quoted by BBC. "We strongly believe that Baillie Gifford are part of the solution to the climate emergency. They are early investors in progressive climate positive companies, providing funds to help them grow". Apologising to people who had purchased the tickets hoping to see the young climate activist, he said they will be refunded in full. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Greta Thunberg to skip Edinburgh International Book Festival over 'greenwashing' concerns

The number of COP27 summit delegates with links to fossil fuel-related entities is up by 25 per cent since the last summit in Glasgow last year, reports said.

According to the campaign group Global Witness, over 600 delegates at the talks in Egypt are linked to fossil fuel industries. This is more than the total number of delegates from the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Mozambique.

ALSO READ | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/united-nations-chief-criticises-companies-for-engaging-in-toxic-cover-up-532336">COP27: United Nations chief criticises companies for engaging in ‘toxic cover-up’</a>

The researchers counted the number of delegates who were either directly affiliated with the fossil fuel companies or were attending as members of the national delegations on behalf of the fossil fuel-related entities.&nbsp;

'COP27 a fossil fuel industry trade show'

“COP27 looks like a fossil fuel industry trade show,” Rachel Rose Jackson of Corporate Accountability, one of the activists who exposed the data, said in a statement.

“We’re on a carousel of madness here rather than climate action. The fossil fuel industry, their agenda, it’s deadly. Their motivation is profit and greed. They’re not serious about climate action. They never have been and they never will," she added.&nbsp;

WATCH |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/cop27-summit-day-4-china-to-contribute-to-loss-damage-fund-532769">COP27 Summit Day 4: China to contribute to 'loss &amp; damage' fund?</a>

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The total attendance at the COP27 is expected to be 35,000, host Egypt had said prior to the beginning of the summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Traditionally, such conferences have always attracted significant numbers from the coal, oil, and gas industries, with stakes in the trajectory the global climate change debate takes.&nbsp;The biggest single delegation at COP27 is from the United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 next year in Dubai. Russia’s delegation has 33 lobbyists for oil and gas in a delegation of 150.

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The number of COP27 summit delegates with links to fossil fuel-related entities is up by 25 per cent since the last summit in Glasgow last year, reports said. According to the campaign group Global Witness, over 600 delegates at the talks in Egypt are linked to fossil fuel industries.

The number of COP27 summit delegates with links to fossil fuel-related entities is up by 25 per cent since the last summit in Glasgow last year, reports said. According to the campaign group Global Witness, over 600 delegates at the talks in Egypt are linked to fossil fuel industries. This is more than the total number of delegates from the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Mozambique. ALSO READ | COP27: United Nations chief criticises companies for engaging in ‘toxic cover-up’ The researchers counted the number of delegates who were either directly affiliated with the fossil fuel companies or were attending as members of the national delegations on behalf of the fossil fuel-related entities. 'COP27 a fossil fuel industry trade show' “COP27 looks like a fossil fuel industry trade show,” Rachel Rose Jackson of Corporate Accountability, one of the activists who exposed the data, said in a statement. “We’re on a carousel of madness here rather than climate action. The fossil fuel industry, their agenda, it’s deadly. Their motivation is profit and greed. They’re not serious about climate action. They never have been and they never will," she added. WATCH | COP27 Summit Day 4: China to contribute to 'loss & damage' fund? × The total attendance at the COP27 is expected to be 35,000, host Egypt had said prior to the beginning of the summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Traditionally, such conferences have always attracted significant numbers from the coal, oil, and gas industries, with stakes in the trajectory the global climate change debate takes. The biggest single delegation at COP27 is from the United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 next year in Dubai. Russia’s delegation has 33 lobbyists for oil and gas in a delegation of 150. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

COP27, a 'fossil fuel industry trade show'? Deluge of industry delegates at summit shocks many

Paleontologists call it the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, but it has another name: “the Great Dying.” It happened about 252 million years ago, and, over the course of just tens of thousands of years, 96% of all life in the oceans and, perhaps, roughly 70% of all land life vanished forever.

The smoking gun was ancient volcanism in what is today Siberia, where volcanoes disgorged enough magma and lava over about a million years to cover an amount of land equivalent to a third or even half of the surface area of the United States.

But volcanism on its own didn’t cause the extinction. The Great Dying was fueled, two separate teams of scientists report in two recent papers, by extensive oil and coal deposits that the Siberian magma blazed through, leading to combustion that released greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/greenlands-largest-glaciers-likely-to-melt-faster-than-feared-study-343852" hreflang="en">Greenland's largest glaciers likely to melt faster than feared: Study</a>

“There was lots of oil, coal and carbonates formed before the extinction underground near the Siberian volcanism,” said Kunio Kaiho, a geochemist at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and lead author of one of the studies, published this month in Geology, which presented evidence for the burning of ancient fossil fuels by magma. “We discovered two volcanic combustion events coinciding with the end-Permian land extinction and marine extinction.”

The findings solidify the Great Dying as one of the best examples that we have from Earth’s history of what a changing climate can do to life on our planet.

Kaiho and his team retrieved samples from rock deposits in south China and northern Italy that formed around the time of the extinction, and they detected spikes of a molecule called coronene. That substance, Kaiho explained, is produced only when fossil fuels combust at extremely high temperatures — like those you might find in magma.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/chemicals-found-in-daily-use-products-could-decrease-covid-19-vaccines-effectiveness-reports-343850" hreflang="en">Chemicals found in daily-use products could decrease COVID-19 vaccine's effectiveness: Reports</a>

One potential issue with coronene, says Henrik Svenson, a geologist at the University of Oslo who was not involved in the work, is that it forms only at temperatures exceeding 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and to reach such temperatures, the fossil fuels would have had to be enveloped inside the magma, not just sitting next to it.

But the team’s findings are backed up by a Nature Geoscience study published last month that presents chemical evidence for the acidification of the oceans after the fossil fuel combustion and greenhouse gas release.

As the planet warmed, the oceans absorbed more and more carbon dioxide. This caused waters to acidify to the point that organisms like corals would have dissolved, explained Hana Jurikova, a biogeochemist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who led the study. Jurikova and her team discovered spikes of the element boron — a proxy for acidity levels — in fossil brachiopod shells found in rocks in Italy that stretch across the extinction boundary.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/coronavirus-mutations-appearing-in-siberia-russian-scientists-343820" hreflang="en">Coronavirus mutations appearing in Siberia: Russian scientists</a>

“For the first time, we’re able to explain what caused the extinction,” Jurikova said. “If you just increase the temperature, organisms often find a way to cope. But the problem is if you really change temperature and acidification, and maybe nutrients, that’s when your organisms will not be able to adapt.” Today, with sea-surface temperatures on the rise, the oceans are acidifying, and some shelled animals are already showing signs of their shells dissolving.

Svenson thinks the next step for geologists is field work in Siberia to get a handle on whether ancient magma interacted with the fossil fuel deposits as the new studies imply.

“A lot of this we simply do not know,” Svenson said.

While you may be tempted to draw an analogy between the Great Dying and today’s warming climate, there are significant differences. For one, the greenhouse gases emitted during the Permian-Triassic events were far greater than anything humans have produced. Also, the volcanoes released carbon dioxide 252 million years ago at a rate much slower than humans emit it today.

“The amount of carbon released to the atmosphere per year from the Siberian traps, it was still 14 times lower than the rate we have at the moment,” Jurikova said. “So, the amount of carbon we’re burning per year at the moment is much higher than during the largest extinction. I mean, that’s incredible, right?”

Paleontologists call it the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, but it has another name: “the Great Dying.” It happened about 252 million years ago, and, over the course of just tens of thousands of years, 96% of all life in the oceans and, perhaps, roughly 70% of all land life vanished forever.

Paleontologists call it the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, but it has another name: “the Great Dying.” It happened about 252 million years ago, and, over the course of just tens of thousands of years, 96% of all life in the oceans and, perhaps, roughly 70% of all land life vanished forever. The smoking gun was ancient volcanism in what is today Siberia, where volcanoes disgorged enough magma and lava over about a million years to cover an amount of land equivalent to a third or even half of the surface area of the United States. But volcanism on its own didn’t cause the extinction. The Great Dying was fueled, two separate teams of scientists report in two recent papers, by extensive oil and coal deposits that the Siberian magma blazed through, leading to combustion that released greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Also read| Greenland's largest glaciers likely to melt faster than feared: Study “There was lots of oil, coal and carbonates formed before the extinction underground near the Siberian volcanism,” said Kunio Kaiho, a geochemist at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and lead author of one of the studies, published this month in Geology, which presented evidence for the burning of ancient fossil fuels by magma. “We discovered two volcanic combustion events coinciding with the end-Permian land extinction and marine extinction.” The findings solidify the Great Dying as one of the best examples that we have from Earth’s history of what a changing climate can do to life on our planet. Kaiho and his team retrieved samples from rock deposits in south China and northern Italy that formed around the time of the extinction, and they detected spikes of a molecule called coronene. That substance, Kaiho explained, is produced only when fossil fuels combust at extremely high temperatures — like those you might find in magma. Also read| Chemicals found in daily-use products could decrease COVID-19 vaccine's effectiveness: Reports One potential issue with coronene, says Henrik Svenson, a geologist at the University of Oslo who was not involved in the work, is that it forms only at temperatures exceeding 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and to reach such temperatures, the fossil fuels would have had to be enveloped inside the magma, not just sitting next to it. But the team’s findings are backed up by a Nature Geoscience study published last month that presents chemical evidence for the acidification of the oceans after the fossil fuel combustion and greenhouse gas release. As the planet warmed, the oceans absorbed more and more carbon dioxide. This caused waters to acidify to the point that organisms like corals would have dissolved, explained Hana Jurikova, a biogeochemist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who led the study. Jurikova and her team discovered spikes of the element boron — a proxy for acidity levels — in fossil brachiopod shells found in rocks in Italy that stretch across the extinction boundary. Also read| Coronavirus mutations appearing in Siberia: Russian scientists “For the first time, we’re able to explain what caused the extinction,” Jurikova said. “If you just increase the temperature, organisms often find a way to cope. But the problem is if you really change temperature and acidification, and maybe nutrients, that’s when your organisms will not be able to adapt.” Today, with sea-surface temperatures on the rise, the oceans are acidifying, and some shelled animals are already showing signs of their shells dissolving. Svenson thinks the next step for geologists is field work in Siberia to get a handle on whether ancient magma interacted with the fossil fuel deposits as the new studies imply. “A lot of this we simply do not know,” Svenson said. While you may be tempted to draw an analogy between the Great Dying and today’s warming climate, there are significant differences. For one, the greenhouse gases emitted during the Permian-Triassic events were far greater than anything humans have produced. Also, the volcanoes released carbon dioxide 252 million years ago at a rate much slower than humans emit it today. “The amount of carbon released to the atmosphere per year from the Siberian traps, it was still 14 times lower than the rate we have at the moment,” Jurikova said. “So, the amount of carbon we’re burning per year at the moment is much higher than during the largest extinction. I mean, that’s incredible, right?”

Burning fossil fuels helped drive Earth’s most massive extinction

Australia has approved two major new fossil fuel projects that proponents in the climate change-vulnerable nation say will create badly needed jobs despite growing concerns over emissions.

Authorities in New South Wales state on Wednesday announced conditional approval for a Aus$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) coal seam gas development that has generated widespread local opposition.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was "relieved" that an independent commission had given energy firm Santos the green light to proceed, adding that gas was a "central part of our energy security into the future".

The project is a keystone of conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison's plan for a "gas-fired recovery" of the coronavirus-hit economy, as Australia grapples with its first recession in almost 30 years and a million job losses.

Up to 850 wells would be drilled on 1,000 hectares of a 95,000-hectare site, Santos said, with the potential to supply half the gas needs for the country's most populous state.

Conservationists have raised fears over the impact on vast tracts of forest and farmland near Narrabri, northwest of Sydney, as well as Morrison's doubling down on carbon-emitting fuels.

"With this approval, we risk becoming a fossil fuel pariah as the world transitions to renewable energies and countries strengthen their commitment to climate action," Greens parliamentarian Cate Faehrmann said.

Approval of the gas project came a day after Queensland's government gave a final go ahead for the state's third-largest coal mine, which officials say is expected to have an 80-year lifespan and employ 1,000 workers once operational.

The sprawling project, which will provide steel-producing metallurgical coal, has proved less contentious due to lower expected emissions than nearby thermal coal operations, but is nevertheless set to raze a swathe of koala habitat.

"Clearing those forests pushes this species closer to extinction," Australian Conservation Foundation's Gavan McFadzean told public broadcaster ABC.

Resource-rich Australia has recently emerged as one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels, behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia by some estimates.

The new projects come despite calls for the coronavirus crisis to spur a "green recovery" and just months after Australia emerged from the most severe bushfire season in recorded history.

Almost 90 percent of Australians believe that climate change is a critical or important threat, according to a recent poll by Sydney's Lowy Institute.

Drought and water shortages -- worsened by climate change -- are seen as the top threat facing the country, above even the pandemic and the global econo

Australia has approved two major new fossil fuel projects that proponents in the climate change-vulnerable nation say will create badly needed jobs despite growing concerns over emissions.

Australia has approved two major new fossil fuel projects that proponents in the climate change-vulnerable nation say will create badly needed jobs despite growing concerns over emissions. Authorities in New South Wales state on Wednesday announced conditional approval for a Aus$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) coal seam gas development that has generated widespread local opposition. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was "relieved" that an independent commission had given energy firm Santos the green light to proceed, adding that gas was a "central part of our energy security into the future". The project is a keystone of conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison's plan for a "gas-fired recovery" of the coronavirus-hit economy, as Australia grapples with its first recession in almost 30 years and a million job losses. Up to 850 wells would be drilled on 1,000 hectares of a 95,000-hectare site, Santos said, with the potential to supply half the gas needs for the country's most populous state. Conservationists have raised fears over the impact on vast tracts of forest and farmland near Narrabri, northwest of Sydney, as well as Morrison's doubling down on carbon-emitting fuels. "With this approval, we risk becoming a fossil fuel pariah as the world transitions to renewable energies and countries strengthen their commitment to climate action," Greens parliamentarian Cate Faehrmann said. Approval of the gas project came a day after Queensland's government gave a final go ahead for the state's third-largest coal mine, which officials say is expected to have an 80-year lifespan and employ 1,000 workers once operational. The sprawling project, which will provide steel-producing metallurgical coal, has proved less contentious due to lower expected emissions than nearby thermal coal operations, but is nevertheless set to raze a swathe of koala habitat. "Clearing those forests pushes this species closer to extinction," Australian Conservation Foundation's Gavan McFadzean told public broadcaster ABC. Resource-rich Australia has recently emerged as one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels, behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia by some estimates. The new projects come despite calls for the coronavirus crisis to spur a "green recovery" and just months after Australia emerged from the most severe bushfire season in recorded history. Almost 90 percent of Australians believe that climate change is a critical or important threat, according to a recent poll by Sydney's Lowy Institute. Drought and water shortages -- worsened by climate change -- are seen as the top threat facing the country, above even the pandemic and the global econo

Australia approves major new fossil fuel projects

The coronavirus crisis can&nbsp;cause $25 trillion fossil fuel industry collapse by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies.

A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could fall by two-thirds, sooner than the industry expects, because&nbsp;the crisis&nbsp;has hastened the peak for oil, gas and coal demand.

The looming fossil fuel collapse could pose ''a significant threat to global financial stability''&nbsp;by wiping out the market value of fossil fuel companies, according to financial thinktank Carbon Tracker.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/study-economics-in-college-and-then-explain-fossil-fuels-to-us-us-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-to-greta-thunberg-276204">Study economics in college and then explain fossil fuels to us: US Treasury secretary Mnuchin to Greta Thunberg</a>

The report predicts a 2 per cent&nbsp;decline in demand for fossil fuels every year could cause the future profits of oil, gas and coal companies to collapse from an estimated $39 trillion to just $14 trillion.

According to Kingsmill Bond, the lead author of the study, ''Now is the time to plan an orderly wind-down of fossil fuel assets and manage the impact on the global economy rather than try to sustain the unsustainable.''

The report says the world is ''witnessing the decline and fall of the fossil fuel system''&nbsp;owing to the quicker-than-expected growth of clean energy alternatives coupled with the collapse in demand for fossil fuels amid the pandemic.

It follows findings from the International Energy Agency, which forecast the Covid-19 fallout would lead to the most severe plunge in energy demand since the second world war and&nbsp;trigger&nbsp;multidecade lows for the world’s consumption of oil, gas and coal, while renewable energy continued to grow.

The world’s demand for fossil fuels has plunged&nbsp;by almost 10 per cent&nbsp;amid the coronavirus lockdown, and many energy economists believe it may fail to recover from the crisis.

It warns that a blow to fossil fuel companies could send shockwaves through the global economy because their market value makes up a quarter of the world’s equity markets and they owe trillions of dollars to the world’s banks.

The coronavirus crisis can cause $25 trillion fossil fuel industry collapse by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies. A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could fall by two-thirds, sooner than the industry expects, because the crisis has hastened the peak for oil, gas and coal demand.

The coronavirus crisis can cause $25 trillion fossil fuel industry collapse by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies. A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could fall by two-thirds, sooner than the industry expects, because the crisis has hastened the peak for oil, gas and coal demand. The looming fossil fuel collapse could pose ''a significant threat to global financial stability'' by wiping out the market value of fossil fuel companies, according to financial thinktank Carbon Tracker. Also read: Study economics in college and then explain fossil fuels to us: US Treasury secretary Mnuchin to Greta Thunberg The report predicts a 2 per cent decline in demand for fossil fuels every year could cause the future profits of oil, gas and coal companies to collapse from an estimated $39 trillion to just $14 trillion. According to Kingsmill Bond, the lead author of the study, ''Now is the time to plan an orderly wind-down of fossil fuel assets and manage the impact on the global economy rather than try to sustain the unsustainable.'' The report says the world is ''witnessing the decline and fall of the fossil fuel system'' owing to the quicker-than-expected growth of clean energy alternatives coupled with the collapse in demand for fossil fuels amid the pandemic. It follows findings from the International Energy Agency, which forecast the Covid-19 fallout would lead to the most severe plunge in energy demand since the second world war and trigger multidecade lows for the world’s consumption of oil, gas and coal, while renewable energy continued to grow. The world’s demand for fossil fuels has plunged by almost 10 per cent amid the coronavirus lockdown, and many energy economists believe it may fail to recover from the crisis. It warns that a blow to fossil fuel companies could send shockwaves through the global economy because their market value makes up a quarter of the world’s equity markets and they owe trillions of dollars to the world’s banks.

Coronavirus crisis can trigger collapse of $25 trillion fossil fuel industry