Book Description

SASB's Technical Bulletin on Climate Risk is designed to help investors better understand, measure and manage their exposure to climate-related risk. The research finds that climate change affects 72 out of 79 industries (93 percent of the capital markets, or $27.5 trillion) but manifests differently from one industry to the next. Due to the ubiquity of climate risk, investors can't simply diversify away from it; instead they must focus on managing it-and on encouraging portfolio companies to manage it-in all its forms. The foreword to the guide, authored by former Secretaries of the Treasury Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, emphasizes the need for better disclosure. "If investors are to effectively evaluate climate risk, they need a far better understanding of granular, industry-specific climate impacts, with industry-specific standards by which to evaluate corporate performance on these issues. By adopting a set of industry-based market standards for disclosure, especially in SEC filings, investors will be able to accurately compare and contrast companies," they write. "This latest SASB bulletin is a good next step toward this goal, and offers for the first time a comprehensive guide to understand and measure the unique climate impacts across all industries of the economy."