Better Market Information Can Help Combat Climate Change

Markets do more than help nations prosper. They can help solve our most pressing problems. Case in point: climate change. Financial markets have the potential to improve our prospects for tackling climate change, but only if we make climate risks and opportunities more transparent. Public policy, technology and consumer preferences are advancing, but this backdrop is complex and dynamic. Climate policy can be made and unmade, disruptive technologies can create and destroy value. Along with analysis of wider market conditions, investors need accurate data. The more incomplete or opaque the data and analysis, the more inefficient are markets. Yet the climate-related risks and opportunities businesses face are currently shrouded in secrecy. Having information on such risks would allow investors to back their convictions with their capital, whether they are climate optimists or pessimists, evangelicals or sceptics. It would also permit corporates not only to meet investor demand for information, but also to position their businesses to win, rather than be left behind in, the transition to a low-carbon economy. 

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To read more about the FSB Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, click here.