The Covid-19 pandemic is sharpening financial markets’ understanding of the need to address looming threats like climate change. This will likely be the year when investors and financiers decide to mainstream climate-transition analysis in their portfolios. Policymakers must recognise that markets are moving far faster than they are on this critical front.

This year, we have witnessed the biggest shock to the oil and gas market in 70 years. By the end of July, traditional oil and gas shares in the S&P 500 had fallen by 45%, Royal Dutch Shell had cut its dividend for the first time since World War II, and BP had written off $17.5bn from the value of its assets. At the same time, clean-energy stocks had risen by just over 20%, roughly the same as the tech sector.