The number of environmentally conscious people has increased by leaps and bounds as the fears over global warming have intensified over the past decade or so. To that end, many investors have also emerged over the years, which have made it their mission to invest in companies that do not damage the environment and stay away from companies that are not ‘green’ enough by their standards.
According to reports, such investors have now decided to stay away from the initial public offering of ride-hailing company Lyft and are all set to do so for the mega IPO of Uber. They believe that both these companies will eventually have a damaging impact on the climate as the number of cars rise after they raise billions of dollars from the stock markets. Lyft was the biggest IPO of the year so far, and when Uber goes public, it is all set to be the biggest one in history with a rumoured valuation of $120 billion.
New Alternatives Fund, which is regarded as socially responsible, is not going to invest in either of these companies and a money manager at the fund, Murray Rosenblith confirmed it. “As far as I can tell, they’re actually putting more cars into the congested areas, and they’re pulling business out of the transit systems. This is not an area where New Alternatives is going to get engaged.” In this regard, it is also important to keep in mind that most ride-hailing companies claim that due to their business model, people will buying fewer cars in the years to come and carbon emissions are going to reduce dramatically. However, researchers do not believe that it is going to be the case since commuters might use these services more than other forms of public transport like train, metro and buses.
In addition to that, many of these funds argue that the fact that drivers often have to drive for long distances before they reach their customers, also leads to higher emissions and that is not factored into the ‘distance travelled’ statistic by these companies. That being said, the companies are also working on bringing in alternative modes of vehicles that will help in curbing carbon emissions and both companies are engaged in electrical vehicles projects that could come to fruition in the years to come. However, as of now, that is a distant dream, and the small group of investors are going to stay away.