@Risk

Doug Cornelius writes a blog called “Compliance Building,” and he has done a fantastic job of summarizing sessions from this week’s Global Ethics Summit 2010, hosted by Dow Jones and Ethisphere.

In today’s increasingly complex and often unpredictable business environment, corporations are taking a long, hard look at their compliance practices. After all, effective compliance is a fundamental component of any supplier risk management program.  It reduces the likelihood of an offense.  And in some cases, it also can mitigate penalties (and negative perception) if noncompliance does occur. The conference was designed to help companies learn about current trends and best practices so that they can conduct business both successfully and ethically. (more…)

Yesterday, the Department of Defense released its Quadrennial Defense Review, and for the first time, this document –prepared periodically by the Pentagon to update Congress –addressed the threat of global warming, stating that climate change will accelerate instability and conflict around the world.

Specifically, the QDR identifies “crafting a strategic approach to climate and energy” as a key issue requiring attention:

Climate change and energy will play significant roles in the future security environment. The Department is developing policies and plans to manage the effects of climate change on its operating environment, missions, and facilities. The Department already performs environmental stewardship at hundreds of DoD installations throughout the United States, working to meet resource efficiency and sustainability goals. We must continue incorporating geostrategic and operational energy considerations into force planning, requirements development, and acquisition processes. (more…)

Aon Risk Services, the global risk management and insurance brokerage business of Aon Corporation has launched its 17th annual Political Risk Map, and it shows that political and financial instability remain a feature of the business landscape.

There are 18 downgrades in this year’s map, driven mostly by rising risk levels in 2009, which in turn led to a significant volume of credit and political risk claims in international insurance markets.

The 18 countries with worsening conditions are: Algeria, Argentina, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

“For instance, non-payment of sovereign and sub-sovereign debt obligations is a major issue for underwriters insuring risks in Ghana, and underwriters continue to experience a multitude of claims stemming from payment defaults by private sector banks in Ukraine,” explains Miles Johnstone, director of Aon’s Political Risk team. (more…)

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…)