Energy Security and Climate Change: Alternatives for the Clean Car Evolution

Merrill Lynch’s automotive research team, in collaboration with World Resources Institute’s Capital Markets Research team released a report this week titled *Energy Security and Climate Change: Alternatives for the Clean Car Evolution.* The report presents a framework for understanding the regulatory and market dynamics driving the demand for more fuel efficient and less polluting automobiles, and highlights investment ideas that are levered to this long-term theme. The report argues that the auto industry is not well served by weak and vacillating regulations, which only perpetuate regulatory uncertainty as the need to address rising GHG emissions is intensifying. The report goes on to state that it is better for the industry, and for investors, for Washington to develop a clear, coherent and long term regulatory path for the industry to reduce oil consumption. Merrill Lynch relied heavily on the Capital Markets Research team’s deep understanding of the complex and changing regulations that dictate the development of cleaner, more economical automobiles. This report is the second in an annual series produced by Merrill Lynch and WRI focusing on energy security and climate change in the auto sector.