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Australian Investors Demand Corporate Climate Change Transparency

Phil Mercer

   SYDNEY - Three major investor groups representing some of Australia's
   biggest finance firms are calling forgovernment regulators to forcebig
   companies to disclose how they plan to address financial risks from
   climate change. The coalition of investors is warning climate change is
   becoming a major threat to the global economy.

   In a new report,thegroup of major investorsfrom Australia and New
   Zealandis demandingregulatorssetnew standards for companies reporting
   on howclimate change andglobal warming affect their businessand change
   the value of investments.

   Theauthorsbelievethecurrent voluntary disclosure of climate-related
   risksis failing to provide investors with confidence.

   Erwin Jackson is the director of policy at the Investor Group on
   Climate Change, which contributed to the report.

   "Essentially what investors are asking companies are they ready for the
   impacts of climate change, are they ready for the transition to net
   zero emissions? But unfortunately,at the momentthe information that
   investors are getting from companies isreally inadequateand it is not
   really allowing investors to 'kick the tires' of many companies to see
   if they are adequate investments in the face of climate risk," Jackson
   said.

   Australia has suffered devastating bushfires in recent years. The
   2019-20 bushfire season burnedmore than 18 million hectares of land and
   cost more than$6billion dollars.

   The investorgroupsaysit isconcerned about the long-term impact of
   bushfires and droughtsin Australia.The majority ofAustralian company
   chief executives now consider global warming to be a hazard to economic
   growth.

   All Australian states and territories have a set a target of net-zero
   emissions, but the federal government has yet to commit to such an
   ambition.

   Prime MinisterScott Morrisonhas insisted his environmental policies are
   responsible and will notdamage the economy.

   Coal still generates most of Australia's electricity, but major
   retailers, including supermarket giant Woolworths and Telstra, a
   dominant telecommunications company, have all set ambitious renewable
   energy targets.

   Analysts have said that going green was popular with customers and
   investors, was good for a company's public imageand alsomade sound
   financial sense.

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