@Risk

Yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued ground-breaking guidance that clarifies what publicly-traded companies need to disclose to investors in terms of climate-related material effects on business operations. These ‘effects’ include new emissions management policies, the physical impacts of changing weather, and/or business opportunities associated with the growing clean energy economy.

This new guidance, the first economy-wide climate risk disclosure requirement in the world, comes after more than a dozen investors managing over $1 trillion in assets –plus Ceres and the Environmental Defense Fund –requested formal guidance in a petition originally filed with the Commission in 2007, and then supported by supplemental petitions filed in 2008 and 2009.

“Today’s vote is a clarion call about the vast risks and opportunities climate change poses for US companies and the urgency for integrating them into investment decision making,” says Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 80 institutional investors with $8 trillion in collective assets. “The business risks of climate change cannot be ignored. With this guidance investors can make more sound decisions based on better information – and businesses will have a level-playing field with clear standards and expectations for disclosure.”

The SEC decision is the latest in a series of major policy actions over the past year requiring more robust climate risk disclosure across various industry sectors. Those actions include: (more…)

It’s becoming more and more common for me to hear companies talk about water “footprints” and other water concerns, so I’m happy to report that earlier this month, the World Resources Institute (WRI), in partnership with General Electric and Goldman Sachs, launched an initiative to develop a Water Index, a standardized assessment tool  that  I believe will go a long way to help corporations identify and mitigate their water-related risks.

According to WRI, the Index will offer one of the most expansive measures of water risks currently available. It will aggregate nearly 20 weighted factors capturing (more…)

Companies need to better integrate carbon reduction strategies with their suppliers’ organizational policies, according to a new report by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

The report, “CDP 2009 Public Procurement Report for the UK Government,” released just days before the start of the international climate conference in Copenhagen, stresses that climate change is a business issue and that the UK government now expects its suppliers to disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change related risk. (more…)

A report released yesterday reveals that nearly all (91%) of electric companies studied realize that they are at risk from climate change. Yet, there is little evidence that these companies are taking action to manage these risks and become climate change resilient.

The 32-page report, “Building Business Resilience to Inevitable Climate Change,” was sponsored by IBM and prepared by Acclimatise. It’s the second in a series of four reports that offer insights into how companies around the world are assessing and managing both the risks and opportunities brought about by climate change.

The data used in the report is derived from responses to the 2008 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Information Requests. Last year, the Information Request was sent to more than 3,700 global corporations, and this latest report specifically analyzes the responses obtained from 88 of the world’s largest electric utilities.

According to the report, the global electricity sector faces a long list of varied challenges over the next several decades. This list includes:

(more…)