Last year, activist investor Engine No.1 challenged ExxonMobil, unseating three of its board members for failing to sufficiently respond to the climate crisis.
What is needed, then, is a genuine green finance revolution. Investing in green debt, for example, would have a much greater long-term impact than directing capital to the same conventional companies who are simply claiming to have strengthened their dedication to ESG.
Economic stagnancy has also reduced the ability (or desire) of companies to invest in green alternatives. Japanese companies have long been wary of investing and prefer to sit on piles of cash, reducing both innovation and the amount of investment that is pumped into green transformation.