Warren Buffett and His Train Play: Good or Bad for Climate?

Back in November, Warren Buffett invested $26 or $34 or $44 billion to buy the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad (BNSF) (I saw several different values and didn't waste a lot of time trying to figure out which one was right). Last week Rolling Stone Magazine lampooned him for being a "Climate Killer." About a quarter to a half (again, conflicting figures) of BNSF's business is hauling coal, the antichrist of the climate change battle--300 million tons of it.

Elena Schor at World Changing blog presents both sides.
Green Energy Reporter reports on a couple of angles.

So what do you think? Is Warren a "Climate Killer" by buying BNSF or is he supporting a lower carbon future by investing in greener transportation?

I welcome your comments.

(photo attribution:http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfsullivan_1056/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)

1 comment:

  1. I think Warren Buffett is an opportunist. He saw climate legislation stalling out and figured that the end of coal was farther away. So he factored that into his evaluation of BNSF (among other factors) and jumped in.

    I'm not sure this makes him a bad guy. Just another investor who doesn't pay attention to CSR.

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