A group of 22 state pension funds, environmental groups, and other investors are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public companies to report on their financial risk from global climate change.
The coalition--which includes Ceres, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, F&C Asset Management, and New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson--sent a petition on Sept. 18 to the SEC asking for more comprehensive disclosure of what it calls “climate risk” in public companies’ earnings and operations statements. Accounting for climate risk would mean detailing new regulatory costs and procedures, reporting on physical damage to facilities because of changing weather, and citing any shifts in demand for products or services related to climate change.
“The days are long past when climate risk can be treated as a peripheral or hypothetical concern,” the petition reads. “Companies’ financial results increasingly depend on their ability to avoid climate risk and to capitalize on new business opportunities by responding to the changing physical and regulatory environment.”
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