"Peabody Bankruptcy Offers Stark Warning To Oil And Gas Groups Of Risks Of Ignoring Climate Change", 14 Apr 2016

The announcement that Peabody, the world’s largest private sector coal miner, has filed for bankruptcy has sent shockwaves through the fossil fuel industry and it acts as a warning to oil and gas companies – and their investors – about how quickly things can change...What’s happened in coal is an example of the dangers. Peabody is the 50th coal company to file for bankruptcy since 2012 and a startling example of the industry’s failure to anticipate how future markets might be limited by tighter environmental regulations...Richard Black, director of the UK-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said that environmental pressures were the biggest contributor to Peabody’s decline. “In many countries, air pollution is now a major concern, governments are becoming more and more concerned about the climate impacts of coal; and now the biggest private company of all has succumbed...“ Phasing out coal in favour of cleaner forms of energy, like natural gas or renewables, is a process which is accelerating around the world . US companies are going bankrupt, European countries including the UK are phasing it out, and our research also shows that talk of a coal renaissance in Asian countries is likely to be a red herring.”...If nothing else, Peabody’s announcement illustrates that investors in fossil fuel companies concerned about how those companies are responding to climate change are right to be worried. And it should persuade oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron that are facing shareholder resolutions on climate change to take them more seriously.