Impact Trust • Working glossary

Stranded assets

Investments or infrastructure that lose value prematurely because the world changed around them (like fossil fuel in the ground we can never burn if we want to remain under the carbon budget.

Details

Our Take
Originated in climate finance (unburnable carbon) but now extending to physical infrastructure. 'Most cities' have been provocatively described as potentially the biggest stranded assets on the planet. If major urban areas become uninhabitable, the displacement consequences dwarf anything current humanitarian systems are designed for. The economic face of the shrinking habitation zone.
Examples of Use
Climate finance, Carbon Tracker, Kirsten Dunlop
Synonyms/Variants
Unburnable carbon (original, narrower); Write-offs; Obsolescent infrastructure
Typical everyday wording
Investments that become worthless because the world changed around them