Stranded assets are "assets that have suffered from unanticipated or premature write-downs, devaluations or conversion to liabilities". Stranded assets can be caused by a variety of factors and are a phenomenon inherent in the 'creative destruction' of economic growth, transformation and innovation, as such they pose risks to individuals and firms and may have systemic implications. Coal and other hydrocarbon resources may have the potential to become stranded as the world engages in a fossil fuel phase out.
The term is important to financial risk management in order to avoid economic loss after an asset has been converted to a liability. Accountants have measures to deal with the impairment of assets (e.g. IAS 16) which seek to ensure that an entity’s assets are not carried at more than their recoverable amount. In this context, stranded assets are also defined as an asset that has become obsolete or non-performing, but must be recorded on the balance sheet as a loss of profit.
In the context of the environment
The term stranded assets has gained significant prominence in environmental and climate change discourses, where the focus has been on how environment-related factors (such as climate change policy) could strand assets in different sectors. According to the Stranded Assets Programme at the University of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, some of the environment-related risk factors that could result in stranded assets are:
In the context of upstream energy production, the IEA defines stranded assets as "those investments which are made but which, at some time prior to the end of their economic life (as assumed at the investment decision point), are no longer able to earn an economic return, as a result of changes in the market and regulatory environment."
The carbon bubble is one popular example of how an environment-related risk factor could create stranded assets.
In discussions of electric power generation deregulation, the related term stranded costs represents the existing investments in infrastructure for the incumbent utility that may become redundant in a competitive environment.