Five Energy Stocks to Watch After Paris Climate Agreement

onDec 12, 2015 @ 11:04 PST

With a new global agreement on climate change gaveled into the history books in Paris tonight, many people including me believe we have just witnessed the end of the fossil fuel era.

So-called “pure play” fossil fuel companies that have not significantly diversified into other areas of energy production will be huddled in boardrooms this coming week trying to figure out what the Paris Agreement means to their bottom line.

Your guess is as good as mine what will happen given how fickle global commodity markets can be, but here are five stocks to watch this coming week to get a good idea of how the energy market is reacting to the Paris Agreement:

1. Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU). This US-based pure play coal company has already taken a beating, but will likely drop even lower this coming week:

2. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP). Another large coal company, this one headquarted in Australia:

3. Suncor Energy Inc. (TSE: SU). The second largest Canadian company by market cap, this company mainly deals in the extraction of Canada’s carbon-instesive oil sands. While Suncor’s stock is pretty healthy and not as prone to wild fluctuations, it will be interesting to watch how markets view the Canadian oils sands on Monday morning.

4. Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI). This pure play American coal company is already on the rocks and the Paris Agreement may be the clincher that sees them removed from the New York Stock Exchange.

5. First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR). On the flip side of the Paris Agreement are the renewable energy players. While I suspect the bounce up for renewables will be slower than the drop in the fossil fuel sector, I think it will be interesting to watch for an effect.

And of course we’ll be watching the Big Oil companies, especially ExxonMobil which is facing intense scrutiny for its role in delaying this very day through its campaign to sow doubt through funding climate denial organizations and individuals.

Image credit: The History Bank

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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