Deutsche Bank har analyseret konsekvensen af COP26-topmødet og konkluderer, at virksomhederne har råd til at investere i klima-forbedringer. Banken begrunder det med den høje indtjening og kapitalophobningen i virksomhederne under coronakrisen. Kassebeholdningen i amerikanske børsnoterede virksomheder steg med 50 pct., og den steg med 35 pct. i Europa i løbet af 2020. Nettoindtjeningen faldt ganske vist i 2020 – selv om den ser ud til at stige kraftigt i år – men indtjeningen lå dog på et højt niveau i USA og Europa i forhold til de foregående år. Det giver dem en buffer, så de kan klare tilpasningen til klimaforandringerne, konkluderer Deutsche Bank.
Can companies afford to change?
People believe corporates can afford the cost of doing more on climate change. That is particularly the case
since governments (ie taxpayers) have now bailed out corporates twice in the last 13 years.
From one point of view, corporates certainly can afford the cost of doing more. Despite the pain of covid,
overall corporate cash piles have soared during the pandemic. The following chart show that the median
cash pile of a company in the MSCI US index jumped nearly 50 per cent during 2020. Across the Atlantic,
the median company in the MSCI Europe index saw its cash increase by nearly 35 per cent at the end of
2020.
In addition to having large cash piles, corporate profitability is strong. It is true that profit margins fell last
year. However, they were coming off generally high levels. In the US, margins were at multi-decade highs
in 2019, while in Europe they were at cyclical highs in the years leading up to the pandemic. This gives
corporates a buffer to absorb the costs of adapting to climate change.
Median cash on company balance sheets
