John Tobin

Professor of Practice at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

John Tobin-de la Puente is a professor of practice at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business, and a former Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability at Credit Suisse. He says long-term investors are unlikely to rely on EPA’s announced reversal to change their investment portfolios. 

Tobin-de la Puente says:  

“Utilities making long-term investments in generation capacity, and companies purchasing capital goods expected to be used decades into the future, will not want to base those decisions on short-term policy changes such as EPA’s recent proposal, particularly when those policy changes are inconsistent with prevailing trends in global business and with the scientific consensus.

“What is doubtful is the long-term stability of reversing the endangerment finding. Like most changes brought about through executive orders rather than legislation, in theory EPA’s reversal could be, in turn, invalidated on the day a new administration is in the White House. In practice, it is likely to be more complicated because of the court challenges that EPA’s proposed reversal, as well as any future invalidation of that reversal, are sure to attract. Still, it is fair to say that EPA’s announced action is, at best, on shaky ground in the longer term.”