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Major corporations told to agree climate risk reporting rules

Speaking at a conference held by the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in Tokyo, Mark Carney said that demand for climate risk reporting is now “enormous”.

He warned that the UK and EU have signalled their desire for mandatory TCFD disclosures, and urged companies to use the next two reporting periods to make sure they are ready.

“The TCFD needs to reach a definitive view of what counts as a high-quality disclosure before they become mandatory,” he explained.

“In my view, the next two reporting periods should balance the urgency of the task and the imperative of getting it right.”

The TCFD published recommendations for companies looking to disclose climate risks in 2017, and support has skyrocketed ever since.

Organisations backing the TCFD now control balance sheets totalling $120trn (£98trn), and include some of the world’s largest pension funds, insurers, banks and asset managers.

Four-fifths of the top 1,100 global companies are now disclosing climate-related financial risks in line with at least some of the TCFD recommendations.

However, Carney warned that more is required from the private sector, and said that businesses, banks, insurers and investors must increase the quantity and quality of disclosures.

He also urged stakeholders to refine disclosure metrics to determine which ones are most useful, and spread knowledge on how to assess strategic resilience.

Moreover, he called on investors to disclose the extent to which portfolios are ready for the transition to a net zero carbon economy.

Joanne Etherton, climate finance lawyer at ClientEarth, said that the materiality of climate risks is “beyond doubt”, and that firms must now prove resilience to their investors.

“Carney is crystal clear that companies must raise their game on climate-related reporting,” she continued.

“The TCFD framework is the global industry standard, and to fulfil clear investor and regulatory demands, and companies’ own legal duties, it’s hard to imagine a credible excuse not to use it.

“To get ahead of inevitable regulatory trends and investor pressure, companies urgently need to align their strategies to Paris Agreement goals. Disclosure is an essential first step.

Source: The Actuary

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BlackRock: Investors are underpricing the impact of climate-related risks

New Report Examines the Physical Risks Associated with Climate Change on Municipal Bonds, Commercial Real Estate and U.S. Utilities

Integrating Sustainability Factors into Investment Research Process is Critical to Risk Management

New York, April 4, 2019 – Investors are underpricing the impact of climate-related risks, including more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and need to rethink their assessment of asset vulnerabilities, according to a new report by the BlackRock Investment Institute. Continue reading “BlackRock: Investors are underpricing the impact of climate-related risks”

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Jebi officially the largest Japan typhoon insured loss ever

by Artemis on November 22, 2018
Typhoon Jebi has now officially become the largest Japan typhoon related insurance and reinsurance market loss on record, as the amount of insured claims paid for the storm have now reached almost $5.2 billion.
Typhoon JebiThe latest data from the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) shows that typhoon Jebi has now resulted in a massive 825,091 accepted insurance claims, 108,928 from automobiles, 694,310 from property fire insurance policies and 21,853 from other miscellaneous lines of business. Continue reading “Jebi officially the largest Japan typhoon insured loss ever”

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Swiss Re sees $500bn global property & mortality protection gap opportunity

by Artemis on November 20, 2018

Global reinsurance firm Swiss Re has newly identified an enormous $500 billion global property (catastrophe and non-catastrophe) and mortality risks protection gap, saying that this is an opportunity for insurance and reinsurance markets to boost global resilience.

Of course we’d also say that such a gap is an opportunity for the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds, given the appetite to invest in insurance and risk-linked assets. Continue reading “Swiss Re sees $500bn global property & mortality protection gap opportunity”
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Damage to critical infrastructure is escalating the global cost of extreme weather, earthquakes and tsunamis

By Mami Mizutori *
Much of the success in reducing mortality from disasters across Asia and the Pacific, particularly in the case of storms and floods, is due to improvements in early warning systems, weather forecasts and timely evacuations. This is a significant achievement. Continue reading “Damage to critical infrastructure is escalating the global cost of extreme weather, earthquakes and tsunamis”

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Climate change will exacerbate pandemics, risk transfer a must: Report

by Artemis

Climate change impacts will directly and indirectly exacerbate the frequency and intensity of pandemic outbreaks, according to research, emphasising the importance of the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), reinsurance and other risk transfer solutions.

A group of students from John Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) have collaborated with from reinsurance giant Swiss Re to examine the potential impact climate change could have on the outbreak of infectious diseases across the globe.
“Climate change is a threat multiplier that can increase the exposure to vectors and vulnerability before a pandemic outbreak, and also exacerbate the severity of an outbreak,” says the report. Continue reading “Climate change will exacerbate pandemics, risk transfer a must: Report”