PG&E’s Bankruptcy Shows Blindspots in Green Investing
The California utility’s troubles expose weakness in a popular way that investors use to gauge companies’ commitment to environmental and social issues
Vulnerabilities in PG&E's infrastructure combined with the impact of climate change contributed to hundreds of wildfires in California, including the deadly Camp Fire in 2018. Here’s a look at upgrades to the utility giant’s power grid that might have prevented these blazes. Photo: Reuters
The bankruptcy filing by PG&E Corp. is the latest stumble by a company rated highly by environmentally focused investors, further exposing a weakness in a scoring system meant to measure risk for shareholders.
The California utility’s moves over the past 10 years to rely more on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar resulted in high scores on environmental, social and governance metrics, which are considered by many investors to be a positive factor in choosing a stock and used by others to manage risk.
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