Dollars and Sense

Big Institutional Investors Press for Info on Climate Change Risks

Officials controlling the largest pension funds in the U.S. on Friday called on publicly traded companies, federal regulators, and Wall Street to get serious about assessing and disclosing the financial risks posed by climate change. The comptrollers of New York state and New York City, the treasurers of California, Connecticut, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont, and the heads of two big union pension funds have formed a new organization to press their case: the Investor Network on Climate Risk. "In global warming, we are facing an enormous risk to the U.S. economy and to retirement funds that Wall Street has so far chosen to ignore," said California Treasurer Philip Angelides. The pension-fund officials say that a wide variety of industries could be affected by climate change and climate-change regulations, and they want companies to work aggressively to identify and address potential problems.