Let’s talk stranded assets

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to improve their climate literacy so as to understand the projected impacts from the expanding climate crisis and how to adapt their workplaces in the face of these impacts.

A stranded asset can be described as “an asset that has suffered from an unanticipated or premature write-down, devaluation or has converted to a liability”.

This could be a physical object, like a building or it could be a business or even a certain skill set or career path. The course of wisdom is to identify these early so you can divest from them.

Today there are two major factors that are contributing to “stranded assets.” One is technology, the impact of which is being reported on daily.

The second, which is quickly beginning to dwarf the impact of technology, is the climate crisis.

An Oxford study on this phenomenon concludes:

“Environment-related factors are already stranding assets in different sectors of the economy. This trend looks to be accelerating, which could represent a major discontinuity, able to profoundly alter asset values across the global economy.”

Any asset linked to fossil fuels is on course to become “stranded.” Here are a couple of examples:

– Aircraft
– Airports
– Ocean cruise liners
– Anything connected to travel & tourism
– Petrol & Diesel driven vehicles
– Combustion engine mechanics
– Fuel stations
– Coal mines
– Oil rigs
– Oil tankers
– Low-lying beachfront homes

What other examples can you think of? Let us know in the comments!