Steyer speaks out after bad press with a little help from green friends

摘要

What began as an election-year clash between billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer and his critics, in the GOP as well as the fossil-fuel industry, is evolving into a public debate over individual responsibility to act on climate change -- with a side order of swiping at the nation's second-biggest newspaper. Steyer responded late yesterday to a front-page story in the New York Times that outlined the massive long-term emissions impact of Australian and Asian coal investments made by the hedge fund he founded in 1986, Farallon Capital Management. His 2012 disengagement from Farallon to focus to climate activism, Steyer wrote, came from a recognition that "I could not reconcile my personal values with managing a fund that by mandate is invested in all sectors of the global economy, including fossil fuels."