Tag: climate change
Happy Earth Day!
Climate Action 100+ reports that, last year, there were 22 climate-related weather disasters in the U.S. that “each caused more than $1 billion in damages—far and away a record. To investors, climate change poses not only physical risks of damage to assets, supply chains and infrastructure but also transitional risk if portfolio companies do not adjust rapidly enough as the economy decarbonizes and systemic risk posed to the entire economy.” According to environmental nonprofit Ceres, as of April 21, 408 businesses and investors “with a footprint” in the U.S. have signed an open letter to the President indicating their support for the administration’s commitment to climate action and for setting a new climate target to reduce emissions. The signatories collectively represent over $4 trillion in annual revenue, over $1 trillion in assets under management and employ over 7 million U.S. workers across all 50 states. The letter states that to “restore the standing of the U.S. as a global leader, we need to address the climate crisis at the pace and scale it demands. Specifically, the U.S. must adopt an emissions reduction target that will place the country on a credible pathway to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. We, therefore, call on you to adopt the ambitious and attainable target of cutting GHG emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.” As reported by the NYT and others, the President announced today that the U.S. is setting a new climate target with a goal of reducing U.S. emissions by 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030. The target “calls for a steep and rapid decline of fossil fuel use in virtually every sector of the American economy and marks the start of what is sure to be a bitter partisan fight over achieving it.”
The Business Roundtable shifts position on action to address climate change
Last year, the Business Roundtable created quite a buzz when it released a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation that moved “away from shareholder primacy” as a guiding principle and opted in to a kind of “stakeholder capitalism” (see this PubCo post). Now, just in time for climate week, in another striking sign of changing perspectives, the Business Roundtable has released a new principles-and-policies guide endorsing a new approach to action on climate change. According to the press release, the BRT is now advocating “new principles and policies to address climate change, including the use of a market-based strategy that includes a price on carbon where feasible and effective. Such a strategy would incentivize the development and deployment of breakthrough technologies needed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To combat the worst impacts of climate change, Business Roundtable CEOs are calling on businesses and governments around the world to work together to limit global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In the United States, this means reducing net-greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 as compared to 2005 levels.” As this article in the WSJ observes, it’s not that the principles and policies break new ground—they don’t—rather, “the significance of the statement is that it shows how business is shifting from a source of resistance to a force for action on climate.”
How do activists get corporate boards to focus on climate change issues? Talk softly and carry a big stick
by Cydney Posner With today’s signing of the Paris climate change accord, one question that now arises is how do activists get corporate boards to focus on climate change issues? They talk softly and carry a big stick. And, according to this article in BNA Accounting Policy and Practice, that […]
