Media Center FAFN Leadership

Christine A. Renner | Executive Assistant to the CEO

Investor pressure on companies to evaluate climate-related risks has encouraged more and more companies to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the leading source of climate change information relating to specific companies.

First Affirmative is among the 475 institutional investors (with combined assets of over $55 trillion) that have endorsed the CDP’s annual request for information about company strategies for measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas emissions. This year, the CDP request was sent to over 3,700 of the world’s largest companies.

One element of the climate-related risk companies face is the potential for increased government regulation related to emissions and climate change impacts. Indeed, greater regulation is in the works.

In March, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) approved the world’s first mandatory climate risk disclosure requirement for insurance companies. All insurance companies with annual premiums of $500 million or more are required to complete an annual Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey as a mechanism to disclose the risks each company faces from climate change, as well as the actions it is taking in response to those risks.

Ceres, of which First Affirmative is a member company, has worked closely with the NAIC since 2005. With insurance companies managing $16 trillion in assets globally, the impact of the new mandate could be profound. Ceres continues to press the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require all publicly-traded companies to provide full corporate disclosure of climate-related risks, whether from physical or regulatory impacts.