Stranded Assets and Thermal Coal in Japan: An analysis of environment-related risk exposure Working Paper May 2016 Authors: Ben Caldecott | Gerard Dericks | Daniel J. Tulloch | Lucas Kruitwagen | Irem Kok About the Sustainable Finance Programme The Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment was established in 2012 (originally as the Stranded Assets Programme) to understand how finance and investment intersects with the environment and sustainability. We seek to understand the requirements, challenges, and opportunities associated with a reallocation of capital towards investments aligned with global environmental sustainability. We seek to understand environment-related risk and opportunity, both in different sectors and systemically; how such factors are emerging and how they positively or negatively affect asset values; how such factors might be interrelated or correlated; their materiality (in terms of scale, impact, timing, and likelihood); who will be affected; and what affected groups can do to pre-emptively manage risk. We recognise that the production of high-quality research on environment-related factors is a necessary, though insufficient, condition for these factors to be successfully integrated into decision-making. Consequently, we also research the barriers that might prevent integration, whether in financial institutions, companies, governments, or regulators, and develop responses to address them. We also develop the data, analytics, frameworks, and models required to enable the integration of this information into decision-making. The Programme is based in a world leading university with a global reach and reputation. We work with leading practitioners from across the investment chain (including actuaries, asset owners, asset managers, accountants, banks, data providers, investment consultants, lawyers, ratings agencies, stock exchanges), with firms and their management, and with experts from a wide range of related subject areas (including finance, economics, management, geography, anthropology, climate science, law, area studies, psychology) within the University of Oxford and beyond. Since 2012 we have conducted pioneering research on stranded assets and remain the only academic institution conducting work in a significant and coordinated way on the topic. We have created the Stranded Assets Research Network, which brings together researchers, research institutions, and practitioners working on these and related issues internationally to share expertise. We have also created the Stranded Assets Forums, which are a series of private workshops to explore the issues involved. Stranded Assets and Thermal Coal in Japan – Working Paper – May 2016 2 Global Advisory Council The Sustainable Finance Programme is led by Ben Caldecott and its work is guided by the Global Sustainable Finance Advisory Council chaired by Professor Gordon L. Clark, Director of the Oxford Smith School. Members currently include: Jane Ambachtsheer, Partner and Global Head of Responsible Investment, Mercer Investment Rob Bailey, Research Director, Energy, Environment and Resources, Chatham House Vicki Bakhshi, Head of Governance & Sustainable Investment, BMO Global Asset Management (EMEA) Morgan Bazilian, Affiliate Professor, The Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden Robin Bidwell, Group President, ERM David Blood, Co-Founder and Senior Partner, Generation IM Yvo de Boer, Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute Susan Burns, Founder and CEO, Global Footprint Network James Cameron, Chairman, Overseas Development Institute Diana Fox Carney, Pi Capital Mike Clark, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, also Director, Responsible Investment, Russell Investments Rowan Douglas, Head, Capital Science and Policy Practice, Willis Towers Watson Professor Robert Eccles, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School Jessica Fries, Executive Chairman, The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) Professor Charles Godfray, Director, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food Ben Goldsmith, CEO, Menhaden Capital Connie Hedegaard, Chair, KR Foundation, and former European Commissioner for Climate Action Thomas Heller, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative Anthony Hobley, CEO, Carbon Tracker Initiative Catherine Howarth, CEO, ShareAction Michael Jacobs, Senior Advisor, IDDRI Zoe Knight, Head, Climate Change Centre of Excellence, HSBC Bernice Lee, Director, Climate Change and Resource Initiatives, World Economic Forum Bob Litterman, Senior Partner and Chairman of Risk Committee, Kepos Capital Mindy Lubber, President, Ceres Nick Mabey, CEO, E3G Richard Mattison, CEO, Trucost David Nussbaum, CEO, WWF-UK Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change Julian Poulter, Executive Director, Asset Owners Disclosure Project Fiona Reynolds, Managing Director, UN Principles for Responsible Investment Nick Robins, Co-Director, UNEP Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System Paul Simpson, CEO, Carbon Disclosure Project Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute James Thornton, CEO, ClientEarth Simon Upton, Director, Environment Directorate, OECD Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva Investors Peter Wheeler, Executive Vice President, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Michael Wilkins, Managing Director, Infrastructure Finance Ratings, Standard & Poor’s Baroness Worthington, Director, Sandbag Simon Zadek, Co-Director, UNEP Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System Dimitri Zenghelis, Principal Research Fellow, Grantham Institute, London School of Economics Stranded Assets and Thermal Coal in Japan – Working Paper – May 2016 3 About the Authors Ben Caldecott is Director of the Sustainable Finance Programme. The Sustainable Finance Programme incorporates and builds on the Stranded Assets Programme that he founded in 2012. He is concurrently an Adviser to The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, an Academic Visitor at the Bank of England, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Gerard Dericks is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sustainable Finance Programme. Prior to joining the Smith School he was an analyst at Property Market Analysis LLP and research consultant for Policy Exchange in London. He holds a PhD and MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Ritsumeikan University. Daniel J. Tulloch is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sustainable Finance Programme. Daniel holds a PhD in finance at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He also holds an MSc in International Accounting and Financial Management from the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Lucas Kruitwagen is a Research Assistant in the Sustainable Finance Programme. He is also a Visiting Researcher at Imperial College London where his MSc thesis won the research prize. He holds a BEng from McGill University where he was a Loran Scholar. Irem Kok is a Research Assistant for the Sustainable Finance Programme. She is a doctoral candidate and a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Economics, an MA in Political Science from Bogazici University, and an MSc from the University of Oxford with a Weidenfeld- Hoffmann Scholarship. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the European Climate Foundation and Growald Family Fund for providing grants to support our research. We are particularly grateful to Simon Abele (University of Oxford), Kimiko Hirata (Kiko Network), Ted Nace (CoalSwarm), Yuri Okubo (Renewable Energy Institute), Mika Ohbayashi (Renewable Energy Institute), and Kevin Ummel (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) for their help and support throughout the research process. 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Stranded Assets and Thermal Coal in Japan – Working Paper – May 2016 4 Table of Contents ABOUT THE SUSTAINABLE FINANCE PROGRAMME ......................................................................... 2 GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ........................................................................................................... 3 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ....................................................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 4 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD DISCLAIMER .............................................................................................. 4 KEY FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................. 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 8 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................