| By Brian Eckhouse Warren Buffett will exit the CEO chair at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. later this year with a complicated climate legacy. The Omaha-based investor runs a conglomerate that is a clean energy heavyweight, with wind and solar assets across the US, and he has written that climate change is “highly likely” a “problem for the planet.” Yet Berkshire is also a major investor in oil, gas and coal — a position poised to endure well after the 94-year-old retires. Buffett has been opportunistic, said Ethan Zindler, who leads country and policy research at BloombergNEF. “He’s obviously one of the world’s most legendary investors because he sees opportunities. Some have been climate-coincidental, and some have not.” Berkshire, of course, has invested in solar and wind. Its MidAmerican Energy Co. built a big portfolio of wind farms to help power Iowa and parts of nearby states. Those turbines were responsible for more than 60% of the utility’s generation capacity last year. Over the weekend at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, Greg Abel — Buffett’s anointed successor and the company’s energy boss — highlighted $16 billion in renewables investments in Iowa to retire five coal units. But he added that five other such units were still needed “to keep the system stable. We cannot have a Spain-Portugal situation.” The crowd applauded. While Buffett has written about the risks of climate change, Berkshire has over the past decade made investments in Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Corp. despite fossil fuels being a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions. The company also made a deal for Dominion Energy Inc.’s gas assets in mid-2020. It was a contrarian bet at a time when the presidential candidacy of climate-minded Joe Biden was ascendant. Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan surmised then that Berkshire wanted “to be bigger in renewables, but it’s going to take time.” The Dominion deal was “a bet that the future doesn’t come as fast as some people think.” Read More: Clean No Longer Tops Agenda for Utilities, Exelon CEO Says Berkshire isn’t alone in that regard: ESG investing has fallen out of favor while fossil fuels have regained some traction. The war in Ukraine underscored the importance of energy security — and the AI boom is driving a surge of new electric demand, which has led some power companies to extend the lives of old and dirty coal-fired plants. “It doesn’t seem like ESG investing is too high a priority on their list,” Matthew Palazola, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said on Monday of Berkshire. “They would view energy as a necessity for society.” During the annual meeting Saturday, Abel said the company works with states on the paths they want to chart — and plans that honor federal standards. Berkshire didn’t respond to a request for comment.  Greg Abel, center, during a shareholders shopping day ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2022. Photographer: Dan Brouillette/Bloomberg In 2022, Abel touted Berkshire’s businesses as “exceptionally well positioned to deliver on ever-changing customer expectations regarding sustainability.” It was months before Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark US climate law. But things have changed markedly since. The introduction of ChatGPT signaled the arrival of the AI era, which upended expectations for power demand. And Donald Trump’s return to the White House triggered a prompt overhaul of federal climate policy toward fossil fuels. Still, Berkshire is not immune to the impacts of climate change. In its 2024 report released in February, the company preliminary estimated its insurance group could incur pre-tax losses of approximately $1.3 billion from the wildfires that ravaged Southern California in January — events that were made more likely by global warming. Climate change is an increasing risk for insurers, which gives Buffett’s successor a new problem to handle. Abel has been vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, but as CEO he will oversee all corners of the company. In his annual letter to shareholders in February, Buffett noted that property-casualty insurance pricing strengthened during 2024, “reflecting a major increase in damage from convective storms.” “Climate change may have been announcing its arrival,” he wrote. “Someday, any day, a truly staggering insurance loss will occur — and there is no guarantee that there will be only one per annum.” — With assistance from Mark Chediak and Alexandre Rajbhandari Share this story with your friends and followers here. For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe. | 
