Institutional investors with $4 trillion worth of assets are worried about the business risks of global warming, and they're insisting that Congress do something about it. Joined by a dozen top U.S. companies — including BP America, Allianz, PG&E, DuPont, Alcoa, Sun Microsystems, and National Grid — they called for strong federal laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the levels that scientists now say are indisputably needed.
Their immediate concerns are unambiguously businesslike. To them, the current patchwork of half-measures adds up to a climate of uncertainty that undermines their competitiveness. A strong, clear federal framework on climate change would move the automotive and energy sectors toward sustainable business models, help insurance firms and companies with vulnerable infrastructure to manage risk, and make clean tech and climate-friendly investments a safer bet.
Their action items in a nutshell:
Long-term greenhouse gas reductions by 2050, in line with the 60 to 90 percent cuts below 1990 levels that are urgently needed to avoid worst case scenarios — including "mandatory market-based solutions, such as a cap-and-trade system, that establish an economy-wide carbon price, allow for flexibility and encourage innovation."
Realignment of U.S. energy and transportation policies to promote research, development, and deployment of new and existing clean technologies at the scale required.
Clear guidance from the SEC on what companies should disclose to investors relative to climate change.
Note that this whole package comes sans spotted owls, pictures of wide-eyed children, or maps detailing reconfigured coastlines and missing icecaps circa 2050. Not that those things don't matter. But when a bunch of hardnosed, bottom-line-driven financial types roll out a dollars-and-cents argument for getting off our asses on global warming, I'd say the Congress, the White House, and the auto industry are out of excuses. Wouldn't you?
Investor groups seek strict emissions curbs [Boston Globe]
