“If you are an executive who has not developed an innovation strategy to address your impact on the climate, then you are failing in your duties as a leader.”
Insurance premiums high because of government misspend | The New Daily
The insurance industry has already declared Australia’s second bushfire ‘catastrophe’ of the season despite summer not yet arriving, renewing calls for more government mitigation work
Has Australia ‘over-invested’ in renewable energy? | Renew Economy
No. Minister Angus Taylor clearly hasn’t looked at the history of our electricity infrastructure. Renewable energy policy has been poorly designed, to some extent because of politicisation, and to some extent because no-one imagined it would grow this fast, driven by astounding cost reductions and technology developments.
The hot topic of climate change | The Saturday Paper
“The failure to have a coherent national energy policy is a major problem but it is founded on this rock of climate denialism inside the Liberal Party and inside the media, including by the newspaper you [the interviewer] work for.” Malcolm Turnbull
Mark Carney: banks should stress test clients for climate risk | Financial News
Just one in four of the companies surveyed in the task force’s 2019 status report provided the “fuller set” of information it recommended, the BoE governor highlighted, adding that progress across different sectors was “uneven”.
Thinking Ahead Institute reveals top fifteen extreme risks for investors | GARP
Non-financial threats loom larger, relative to economic or banking worries, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute.
Global temperature change ranks No. 1 on a list of 15 extreme risks compiled by the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI).
The institute, a not-for-profit outgrowth of Willis Towers Watson Investments' Thinking Ahead Group, which dates back to 2002, raised the climate issue two places higher than it was in a 2013 ranking of “potential events that are very unlikely to occur but could have a significant impact on economic growth and asset returns should they happen.”
Currently placing second is global trade collapse, up from fifth in 2013, followed by a new entry, cyber warfare.
Tim Hodgson, head of the Thinking Ahead Group, pointed to a general trend of “financial risks falling down the rankings and non-financial extreme risks growing in significance. Global temperature change becomes the highest-ranked risk due to our assessment of higher likelihood coupled with significant impact – in the extreme this would mean mass extinction.”
Continue reading on GARP website.
Scorched Earth: Cities Seek to Protect Themselves from Climate Change | SPIEGEL ONLINE
For a long time, climate change was merely an abstract phenomenon for many people, one that future generations would be affected by, if at all. But the perception has changed dramatically in recent months.
Corporate boards that pay lip service to climate change do so at their peril | SMH
This Victorian surf club is under threat as climate change eats away at the coast | The Age
Scorched Earth: Cities Seek to Protect Themselves from Climate Change | SPIEGEL ONLINE
For a long time, climate change was merely an abstract phenomenon for many people, one that future generations would be affected by, if at all. But the perception has changed dramatically in recent months.
Why Vladimir Putin Suddenly Believes in Global Warming | Bloomberg
The processing trains and storage tanks at Yamal LNG sit atop 65,000 piles driven up to 28 meters into the permafrost. These are kept cold by a so-called “thermosyphon system” designed to ensure that the soil’s load-bearing capacity is maintained throughout the project’s life.
Australia has dodged global attention on fossil fuels because of assiduous diplomatic efforts | The Guardian
It’s a testament to the effectiveness of Australia’s assiduous diplomatic efforts on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. Not only does Australia encourage other countries to buy its toxic coal and gas, but it works tirelessly in international forums including the G20 and the UN climate system to ensure that its huge fossil fuel exports are not discussed, let alone criticised.
'Low-carbon future' will arrive within a decade: APRA exec | AFR
Warming to prayer | The Saturday Paper
This government is not serious about climate change. It treats the science as a punchline. Its policies are a joke. It will fail to meet its Paris commitments. On the latest United Nations models, climate change will be worse than was predicted even a few years ago. Whole ecosystems will collapse. Natural disaster will ravage half of Australia.
The Third Degree | Breakthrough
Following Breakthrough’s widely-reported policy brief on Existential Climate-related Security Risk, this latest discussion paper provides supporting evidence for the contentious 3°C scenario. A 3°C scenario, developed in 2007 by US national security analysts, is reproduced in this paper highlighting a proven prescient in foreseeing some of the major socio-political events that have emerged in the last decade.
Directors put on notice over climate change related disclosures | JDSupra
The hardwiring of climate change-related disclosure guidance in ASIC's regulatory regime marks a new direction for the corporate regulator, and follows a series of other milestones in the push to include climate change on the global regulatory agenda.
Redburn says Big Oil no longer a ‘buy’ as peak demand looms | Financial Times
Redburn, the equity research house, has removed all “buy” ratings from the biggest integrated oil companies, arguing that the industry faces an “existential risk” as long-term forecasts for oil demand are up to 30 per cent too high.
Climate risk and sustainability: ASIC guidance developments | MinterEllison
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has released revised guidance on climate change-related financial disclosures.
ASIC has released revised guidance on climate change-related financial disclosures made in both offer documents and Annual Report Operating & Financial Reviews:
Regulatory Guide 228 Prospectuses: Effective disclosure for retail investors; and
Regulatory Guide 247 Effective disclosure in an operating and financial review.
ASIC has updated its guidance to, amongst other things:
incorporate the types of climate change risk developed by the G20 Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) into the list of examples of common risks that may need to be disclosed in a prospectus appearing in Table 7 of RG 228; and
in RG 247.66, highlight climate change as a systemic risk that could impact an entity’s financial prospects for future years and that may need to be disclosed in an operating and financial review.
BHP pressured by investors to suspend membership of groups including Minerals Council | The Guardian
BHP pressured by investors to suspend membership of groups including Minerals Council.
Climate Change: Evolution and Impact on Financial Risk Management | GARP
The presidential nominee of the European Commission recently endorsed the idea of creating a European bank focused on climate change, and the European Union is trying to figure out how to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. What's more, as part of a green finance push, the U.K. is considering rules that force companies to disclose their climate-related risks.
All of this follows on the heels of comprehensive climate risk regulatory guidance issued by both the Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Clearly, the transition to a low-carbon economy is coming, but how are financial institutions responding to these significant developments?
In a recent interview with Mike Barber (see full video, below), a partner in Deloitte's U.K. sustainability services group, GRI co-president Jo Paisley said the survey clearly showed that firms have different levels of maturity. “Some firms were doing an awful lot and had really thought about [climate risk] and had embedded it in their day-to-day operations,” she said. “Others, frankly, had not started and were really looking for help.” This video interview was first published on Deloitte U.K.'s dedicated climate change website.