Grist: A recent (subscriber-only) report from HSBC Global Research helps shed some light on what`s at stake in the fight over climate policy. Short answer: a hell of a lot, especially if you`re invested in fossil fuels.
The International Energy Agency says that, to have a 50 percent chance of limiting global average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, we can only afford to burn about a third of known fossil-fuel reserves between now and 2050. That means leaving around $20 trillion worth of assets...