Investors, Environmentalists Form Coalition for Climate Change Risk Reporting
September 24th, 2007
You know the seriousness of the climate change issue for the enterprise when the New York Times runs a story that a coalition of environmental groups and investors has asked the SEC to compel companies to disclose risks to their business models from climate change. This comes on the heels of a story widely reported about the disappearance of ice in the Arctic and the surmise that the Northwest Passage, which was sought but never found by generations of explorers, might end up being an open channel for intercontinental shipping. The Arctic has less ice than at any time since measurements began.
More than half of the S&P 500 are inadequately reporting climate change risk, according to Ceres, the coalition of investors and environmental groups. And New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has begun an investigation of five energy companies to find out if they were adequately reporting their risk from the operation of coal-fired plants, which are known to emit gasses that cause global warming.
This is just the beginning of a trend to acknowledge that business will be threatened by climate change. And it’s why I believe that business will take the lead in trying to reverse its effects.
Tags: ceres climate change new york times northwest passage secEntry Filed under: Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Corporate Responsibility
1 Comment Add your own
1. Thomas Laprade | September 25th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Dear Editor, Sept. 24/07
Recent research by Henrik Svensmark and his group at the Danish National
Space Center points to the real cause of the recent warming trend. In a
series of experiments on the formation of clouds, these scientists have
shown that fluctuations in the Sun’s output cause the observed changes in the
Earth’s temperature.
In the past, scientists believed the fluctuations in the Sun’s output were
too small to cause the observed amount of temperature change, hence the need
to look for other causes like carbon dioxide. However, these new
experiments show that fluctuations in the Sun’s output are in fact large
enough, so there is no longer a need to resort to carbon dioxide as the
cause of the recent warming trend.
The discovery of the real cause of the recent increase in the Earth’s
temperature is indeed a convenient truth. It means humans are not to blame
for the increase. It also means there is absolutely nothing we can, much
less do, to correct the situation.
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/the-discover-interview-henrik-svensmark
http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11462
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188993.php
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