U.S. and European companies in polluting industries rarely disclose the financial risks they face related to climate change even though a global task force called on them to do so two years ago, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report on Monday.
The analysis of the public filings of 28 building materials, oil and gas and utility companies comes after the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures in 2017 recommended voluntary disclosure by companies of the financial impact of climate change.
The FSB coordinates financial rules for G20 countries.
Though 80 percent of the companies in the Moody’s sample said climate change was affecting strategic decisions, just two of the 28 linked their climate projections with an effect on cash flows and balance sheets, the report said.
Those companies were a European utility and U.S. oil and gas company, the report said without giving names. Companies the credit ratings service used in its analysis have a combined $877 billion of debt. They included Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Duke Energy Corp and Eletricite de France SA, among others.
“Although companies have made some progress in the level of disclosure they provide, standardized and consistent quantification of the financial impact from climate risks is still in a nascent stage,” Vincent Allilaire, one of the authors of the report, said in a statement.
While climate-related disclosures overall are up, the quality and depth of reporting varies widely, Moody’s said.
Many investors have called on companies to provide better information on how climate change could impact their businesses amid concerns that assets are being mispriced because the risk is not being factored in.
Nevertheless, Moody’s characterized the widespread adoption of climate-related financial disclosures as “slow and gradual.”
(Reporting by Nichola Groom)
Related:
- Exxon Faces Trial Over Claim It Misled Investors About Climate Change Risks
- Companies Failing to Disclose Exposure to Risks of Climate Change: Global Task Force
- UK Insurers, Banks Need ‘Credible Plans’ for Climate Change Risks: Bank of England
- More Firms Report Climate-Related Risks, but Few Disclose Financial Impact: G20 Report
- Businesses Should Prepare for Consequences of Climate Change, Zurich Says
- Bank of England Governor Warns Investors Failing to Consider Climate Risks
- G20 Task Force Develops Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Framework Supported by Insurers
- Companies May Soon Be Required to Disclose Financial Impact of Climate Risk
- Many Large Investors Tackle Climate Risks with Greener Investments
- More Insurers Disclosing Climate Change Risks, Report Shows
- G20 Task Force to Ask Firms to Disclose How They Manage Climate Risks
- Insurers, Banks & Pension Funds ‘Must Address’ Climate Risk Exposures
- Institutional Investors Ignore Climate Risks Despite Bank of England Warning
- Bank of England Governor: Insurers Face Huge Exposure to Climate Change Risks
Topics Climate Change
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.