The Essex GEOS Clean Slate
Essex GEOS | Global Environmental Opportunities Strategy
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A bi-weekly synopsis of articles and blogs on new technologies, recent developments and other items of interest in the clean tech and new energy arena. This newsletter is intended to provide food for thought and is not intended in any way as an investment recommendation in any of the companies or technologies mentioned herein. Please see further disclosures at the end of this newsletter. Please visit our website at www.essexinvest.com. By clicking on the links below, you will be redirected to websites maintained by third party provider.
ISSUE #11: May 3, 2019
We Couldn’t Have Said it Better Ourselves
We don’t often point our readers to publications from our competitors, but GMO has recently published a white paper that we found to be worthy of such reference. Thinking Outside the Box: How and Why to Invest in a Climate Change Strategy, written by Lucas White and Jeremy Grantham, is a great summary of the benefits to investing in thematic strategies such as Essex’s Global Environmental Opportunities Strategy (“GEOS”). As noted, such strategies provide “diversification, protection from climate risk, inflation protection, and the potential to buy growth-oriented companies at a discount.” The authors conclude, “We are rapidly approaching a time when the world will be forced to act aggressively in an attempt to overcome decades of inaction. As return-oriented investors, we see this effort providing the backdrop for decades of secular growth in the climate change sector, along with the potential for strong returns.” We wholeheartedly agree.
Elon Says 2020…We Say No Way
Tesla recently hosted an analyst event highlighting the company’s autonomous driving technology, which Elon Musk declared would be available in Tesla automobiles by the end of 2020, “at the latest.” Of course, there are plenty of other companies also working on autonomous driving technology, including Waymo, Uber, GM and Aptiv (currently owned by Essex) and industry experts suggest that Tesla’s technology is not the most advanced of the bunch. Clearly this is a significant technology that will enhance safety, productivity and resource efficiency, yet sizeable hurdles remain before wide-scale commercial roll-out of fully autonomous driving technology. In our opinion, the timeline for fully autonomous driving has actually been pushed out given what we have learned from some of the efforts in the past year. MIT technology review has recently published an article highlighting some of the challenges with this technology.
Next Generation Electric Vehicles?
All of the current electric vehicle (“EV”) offerings are fueled by some form of lithium ion batteries. General thinking in the industry is that due to the high cost of advanced battery technology and the investment that has been made in manufacturing capacity for lithium ion batteries, there won’t be a credible alternative battery technology for use in electric vehicles for close to a decade. Electric car company Enovate, based in China, claims that they will be able to manufacture an EV using solid state batteries within the next two years. This seems to be an ambitious timetable, but such an achievement would have a profound effect on both the car and battery industries.
Hedging Their Bets
We have pointed out here before a number of investments in various clean technologies by some of the large fossil fuel companies, particularly by some of the recent European based oil majors. Royal Dutch Shell is one such company that has been increasing its recent investments in clean technologies that can lead to new business opportunities for Shell as the world transitions to a less carbon intensive economy. A recent interview with Royal Dutch Shell’s New Energy Director is an interesting read.
Beyond Petroleum Re-boot
BP, the British integrated oil company developed the tag line “Beyond Petroleum” in 2000 to position itself as environmentally-friendly. To reflect the new direction, the corporate logo was changed to a green and yellow sunburst and a $200 million PR campaign was launched. BP was then widely-owned as a best-in-class oil company in many SRI portfolios. BP’s esteemed environmental image is now considered a strong example of greenwashing after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the result of poor operational procedures and corporate governance. As the solar industry boomed in the mid-2000s, BP did play a role, as it invested in solar panel production facilities employing over 1,700 workers. However, when the industry contracted in 2011 amidst subsidy cuts, brutal competition and falling prices, BP divested this business…just about at the bottom of the market and just prior to a significant recovery in the global solar market. More recently, as an indication of the mainstreaming of the solar market, BP announced recently it is in talks to run its U.S. operations on solar energy, through a partnership with Lightsource BP. Lightsource is a solar developer which formed a JV with BP in 2017. Maybe now that solar has mainstreamed, BP can indeed move beyond petroleum:
https://www.energymanagertoday.com/bp-considering-solar-to-power-all-us-operations-0181951/
Important Disclosures:
The opinions and analyses expressed in this newsletter are based on Essex Investment Management Company, LLC’s (“Essex”) research and professional experience, and are expressed as of the date of our mailing. Certain information expressed represents Essex’s opinion and assessment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast or guarantee of future results, nor is it intended to speak to any future periods. Essex makes no warranty or representation, express or implied, nor does Essex accept any liability, with respect to the information and data set forth herein, and Essex specifically disclaims any duty to update any of the information and data contained herein.
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any security or investment product, nor does it constitute a recommendation to invest in any particular security. Any individual securities listed herein do not currently represent any securities purchased, sold, or recommended to clients.
An investment in securities is speculative and involves a high degree of risk and could result in the loss of all or a substantial portion of the amount invested. The reader should not assume that investments in the securities described were or will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
The information and data in this newsletter does not constitute legal, tax, accounting, investment or other professional advice. Certain information contained herein has been obtained from third party sources and such information has not been independently verified by Essex. No representation, warranty, or undertaking, expressed or implied, is given to the accuracy or completeness of such third party information
Any projections, market outlooks or estimates contained herein are forward-looking statements and are based upon certain assumptions. Other events which were not taken into account may occur. Any projections, outlooks or assumptions should not be construed to be indicative of the actual events.