Leading resource financier Rick Rule predicts a commodity boom, downplays political risk and calls on extractive companies to embrace diversity.

In an article published by Project Syndicate, Critical Resource Founder & MD Daniel Litvin warns that after a year of extreme weather events, the political pressure on oil and gas producers will grow.

The proposed Carmichael thermal coal project – potentially the largest in Australia – will need to address stakeholder concerns around climate change, land use and environmental impacts in order to come to fruition.

The west’s influence over the behaviour of big resource exporters such as Saudi Arabia is increasingly limited, argues Daniel Litvin, Founder and MD of Critical Resource.

Bunny McDiarmid, Greenpeace International Executive Director, calls for companies to step up their game on sustainability and warns of climate risk in the extractive sector.

Vietnam has cancelled Repsol’s major Red Emperor oil project in Vietnam in response to pressure from China, hitting investor confidence in the oil and gas-rich South China Sea.

Lord Browne, former CEO of BP, warns that political risk is inescapable in the oil business and predicts that renewable firms will face mounting stakeholder pressures.

Nur Energie’s solar project in Tunisia could help Europe meet its needs for low carbon power but will have to overcome political and commercial hurdles.

Rachel Kyte, CEO of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All and new member of Critical Resource’s Senior Advisory Panel, calls for more climate progress from IOCs, NOCs, and the mining industry.

Vedanta’s Gamsberg zinc project is set to start production amidst positive political developments in South Africa with the recent election by parliament of a pro-business president, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mining Journal report of a speech by Critical Resource founder and Managing Director Daniel Litvin – in which he argues that resource investors should assess each individual project on its own risk profile.

Two leading industry figures have joined Critical Resource’s Senior Advisory Panel, reflecting the critical importance of sustainability and ‘license to operate’ challenges now facing the energy and mining sectors.

Corruption in oil and mining, real or perceived, fuels resource nationalism, which in turn undermines socially beneficial resource investment, argues Daniel Litvin.

Saudi Arabia is planning to sell shares in state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco in a high-profile IPO – but investors will need to get comfortable with growing political risks.

WWF Director General Marco Lambertini makes the business case for sustainability, and shares his thoughts on water stewardship, environmental protection and civil society.