World’s big guns back Mark Carney on climate change
BANK OF England Governor Mark Carney won the backing of more than 100 chief executives pledging to increase financial reporting standards to fend off risk from climate change.
Companies with a combined market value of more than $3.3 trillion (R55.08trln) – equivalent to all the goods and services produced annually by Germany – threw their weight behind Carney’s final report on climate change published yesterday. As chairperson of the Financial Stability Board, which advises the Group of 20 (G20)nations on economic policy, he has warned climate change is a “tragedy on the horizon,” with impacts beyond the typical short-term time scales used by bankers, fund managers and insurers.
“Widespread adoption will provide investors, banks and insurers with that information, helping to minimise the risk that market adjustments to climate change will be incomplete, late and potentially destabilising,” according to a statement from Carney.
The G20 leading economies asked Carney in 2015, shortly before negotiations for the Paris Agreement on climate change, to compile a study weighing the financial risks implied by global warming. The support of chief executives from companies including Royal Dutch Shell, PepsiCo, Bank of America and Dow Chemical may help the Financial Stability Board dull the impact of this month’s decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the landmark deal.
“Companies should be clear about how they plan to be resilient in the face of climate change and energy transition,” Shell chief ecxecutive Ben van Beurden said. “It is right that it should be transparent which companies are truly on firm foundations over the longterm.”
What’s uncertain is how Trump’s decision to stimulate fossil fuels and pull out of the Paris deal will affect the way the G20 treats Carney’s work at its annual summit next week in Germany. – Bloomberg