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Energy Markets Need Winter, and Climate Change Is Taking It Away

  • The northern hemisphere winter has been unusually mild
  • That’s making life difficult for oil and gas traders
Cable car cabins travel over artificial snow on a ski slope at the Alpine skiing resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Jan. 8, 2020. Like other resorts at relatively low altitude, global warming has left its mark on Garmisch-Partenkirchen — the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics—putting the town’s identity and affluence at risk.

Cable car cabins travel over artificial snow on a ski slope at the Alpine skiing resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Jan. 8, 2020. Like other resorts at relatively low altitude, global warming has left its mark on Garmisch-Partenkirchen — the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics—putting the town’s identity and affluence at risk.

Photographer: Michaela Handrek-Rehle/Bloomberg
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Even before the deadly virus struck, another menace confronted the global energy industry: the warmest winter anyone can remember.

Russia’s winter was so balmy that snow was trucked into downtown Moscow for New Year, and bears came out of hibernation. In Japan, ski competitions were canceled and the Sapporo Snow Festival had to borrow snow.