Proper carbon tax could wipe billions from polluters' profits

To achieve Paris climate agreement's limit of 2C rise, pricing will have to increase to more than $100 a tonne, claims Schroders

More than $1.5tn (1.2tn) in company profits worldwide could be erased by taxes required to meet the Paris climate agreement, according to analysis by Schroders.

In a stark warning to investors to back more sustainable companies, the fund management group said total earnings of 12,500 global companies could fall by 20% were the world to limit itself to the 2C temperature rise target agreed in Paris through higher taxes. Schroders found prices in emissions trading would need to rise to "well over" $100 a tonne of CO2e from current levels, about $5, to encourage the move away from fossil fuels on the scale that was needed.