COP26: A Green Financial Revolution?

The COP26 conference in Glasgow has been completed, and several government ministers, heads of state and billionaires have made vast funding pledges to companies looking to lead the way in green technology.

The decisions made at this assembly are bound to have a significant impact on companies in a number of sectors.

Read on to learn about the biggest winners and potential losers from the COP26 conference, and how that might impact your portfolio.

Green Energy

An undoubted winner from the conference is the green energy sector.

Investors and governments from around the world are increasingly committing themselves to making the transition to green infrastructure, and they will need to contract companies to complete that work.

Investing in green energy-driven ETFs is advisable in the wake of this conference.

Billions of dollars, pounds and yen will be pumped into the sector and although you may not know which specific companies are securing the contracts, an ETF ensures you can make the most of the gains.

Shipping

Shipping is an industry that is likely to see negative impacts, in part due to the large number of emissions that shipping requires.

Just a few shipping containers emit more greenhouse gases than the majority of the planet’s cars, and this is a topic likely to have an impact, post COP26.

Unless shipping can develop eco-friendly solutions for the long term, it may be an industry that finds itself in the firing line.

General Lessons

Although the more specific stock-by-stock shifts will be established in national policies in the coming weeks and months, there are a few lessons we can take from COP26.

The first is having a better idea of the industries you need to track, such as green energy and major multinational stocks such as Amazon.

The second is to watch for small legislative shifts.

As markets are likely to further open up to green energy and emerging tech, old companies will either adapt or struggle. Keeping an eye on key markets will reveal investment opportunities and the need to divest from other companies.