Ceres

Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. Ceres mobilizes a powerful network of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build a healthy global economy.

<a href="http://www.ceres.org/">http://www.ceres.org/</a>
  2014 calpers<div class="page-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(252, 182, 20); width: 750px; line-height: 25.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Divestment from Fossil Fuels Is Not the Solution</h1></div>July 11, 2014The authors of the July 10 Sacramento Viewpoints piece, "CalPERS should pull money from fossil fuels industry,” call for CalPERS to divest from fossil fuels.We all have a shared concern with climate risk, but our view is that the solution lies in tackling energy companies through an engagement process focused on finding solutions, rather than walking away.We engage with more than 100 companies, on an annual basis to ensure the high standards of corporate governance that underpin effective climate change risk management, and we invest in climate change solutions across our Global Equity, Private Equity, and Real Estate portfolios.The issues raised by climate change are complex and challenging. Over the last two decades, we have been at the forefront of tackling climate change issues through policy advocacy, engagement with portfolio companies, and investing in climate change solutions, something we would not be able to do if we did not have a seat at the table. We have also reduced the carbon footprint of our own operations - since 2006 we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.CalPERS was a founding member of the Investor Network on Climate Risk - a leading network of 100 institutional investors representing more than $10 trillion, addressing a policy agenda that calls on governments and regulators to introduce carbon pricing and disclosure, so that risks can be tackled effectively.CalPERS is also actively collaborating in the Ceres led Carbon Asset Risk Initiative - that draws together 70 global investors managing more than $3 trillion of collective assets. The initiative asks 45 large oil and gas, coal, and electric power companies to assess the financial risks that climate change poses to corporate business plans - companies include ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and Vale.CalPERS has a fiduciary duty to be a principled and effective investor to meet our financial commitments to our members and future members.Addressing climate change is paramount to this commitment, and we will continue to partner with other like-minded investors to advocate for change on this important issue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/warren-buffett-climate-change_us_56d36cade4b03260bf773563

huffpo
<div class="content-list-component text">

Warren Buffett doesn't want you to know how his empire is preparing

to deal with the disastrous effects of climate change. In fact, he said

in a letter released Saturday, he isn't exactly sure this whole "climate

change" thing is real, anyway.

In his <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2015ltr.pdf" target="_blank">annual letter to investors</a>

in his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor fought

back against a proposed shareholder resolution demanding his insurance

subsidiaries measure and disclose the risks that climate change poses to

their business and how the company is responding to the threat. Buffett

compared fears over climate change to the brouhaha around apocalyptic

Y2K predictions.

“It seems highly likely to me that climate change poses a major

problem for the planet,” the 85-year-old wrote in the letter, released

Saturday morning. “I say ‘highly likely’ rather than ‘certain’ because I

have no scientific aptitude and remember well the dire predictions of

most ‘experts’ about Y2K.”

Insurance companies take on losses after major weather disasters

(think droughts, Hurricane Katrina and other big storms), so it makes

sense they'd be <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/business/insurers-stray-from-the-conservative-line-on-climate-change.html?r=0" target="blank">concerned about climate change</a>. If that's true, why would Buffett say he's not so sure this is real? Because skepticism is better business.

Buffett isn’t denying climate change, but rather using <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-maibach-gop-climate-change-position-20151016-story.html" target="_blank">language climate deniers feel comfortable with</a>

and will likely cite in future attempts to derail environmental policy.

Climate change affects Buffett's business: He owns a Nevada utility

that has fought <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-21/buffett-s-utility-wins-as-sun-sets-on-nevada-home-solar-subsidy" target="blank">and won against solar development</a> in that state, and his railroad, Burlington Northern, in large part depends on the <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-13/buffett-trapped-by-oil-plunge-after-bnsf-commits-to-rail-upgrade" target="blank">demand for coal and oil</a>....
Buffett's views against disclosure put him in sharp disagreement with

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who has said that financial

markets can help limit the effects of climate change, but only if

companies -- such as insurers -- supply the kind of information that

Buffett doesn't want to disclose.

In <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/844.aspx">September remarks</a>

to the insurance industry, the chief overseer of the world’s

third-largest insurance sector warned about the numerous economic and

financial risks posed by climate change. Carney urged companies,

particularly insurers, to start taking seriously their responsibility to

measure their potential losses. Their own solvency could be at stake,

Carney warned.

Insurance companies invest their money in places like the stock

market. But “stranded" oil, gas and coal reserves, left in the ground

due to the world’s commitment to halt rising temperatures, could render

related financial assets worthless. Or the disruption of trade resulting

from an extreme weather event could affect related investments.

Cynthia McHale, director of the insurance program for <a data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/get-investors-to-save-planet_us_5672c8b9e4b0688701dc60a4">Ceres</a>,

a nonprofit group that pushes investors to pay attention to the

financial risks of climate change, said in an interview earlier this

month that neither insurers nor their government overseers have a good

handle on the risks that climate change poses to insurers’ various

financial assets.

McHale compared the situation to the one faced by big banks in 2008,

when few sufficiently realized the magnitude of potential losses from

the U.S. property bust.
</div>  ==<a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2016/02/26/major-investors-pressure-exxonmobil-consider-climate-impacts">http://www.desmog.uk/2016/02/26/major-investors-pressure-exxonmobil-consider-climate-impacts</a>For the first time, in my memory, we are actually seeing oil and gas

majors talk about climate change as an existential threat. Today for

example the minister for oil and gas for Saudi Arabia, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2016/02/ihs-ceraweek-saudi-oil-minister-is-confident-global-oil-market-will-rebound-but-short-term-is-here-to-stay.html">Ali Al-Naimi,</a>

actually got up on stage in front of this entire group and said that

climate change is more of an existential threat to the industry than any

down cycle.”

This is what Shannon Cleveland, head of <a target="blank" href="http://www.ceres.org/issues/carbon-asset-risk">Ceres’ Carbon Asset Risk Initiative</a>, told DeSmog from Houston where she is attending the premier annual oil industry gathering known as <a target="blank" href="http://ceraweek.com/2016/">CERAweek</a>.

“That is just a message  — that even with things as bad as they were in 2015 — no one was talking about here at CERAweek last year,” Cleveland continued. “I think there is actually an opportunity for this industry to start shifting.”

Ceres is a group that, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ceres.org/about-us/who-we-are">according to its website,</a>

works with investors “to weave sustainable strategies and practices

into the fabric and decision-making of companies, investors and other

key economic players.”

Another sign of the shift was Al-Naimi <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2016/02/ihs-ceraweek-saudi-oil-minister-is-confident-global-oil-market-will-rebound-but-short-term-is-here-to-stay.html">saying</a> that, “Solar is definitely going to be the answer to energy’s future.” This hasn’t been the typical messaging at past CERAweek events. However, the question that is critical for addressing climate change is — how far in the future?

Because Al-Naimi also noted that Saudi Arabia is exploring fracking

technology to produce oil and gas and promised that, “We will produce it

one of these days.” It’s unlikely Al-Naimi will join the “<a target="blank" href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/04/introducing-keep-it-ground-bill-sanders-goes-big-climate">keep it in the ground</a>” movement any time soon. 

ExxonMobil Still Fighting Climate Change Action
LI<header style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: middle; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); display: inline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?title=Regional+Administrator&trk=prof-exp-title" name="title" title="Find others with this title" dir="auto" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;">Regional Administrator</a></h4><h5 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-weight: normal; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(67, 70, 73);"><span data-tracking="mcp_profile_sum" class="new-miniprofile-container /biz/miniprofile/4495?pathWildcard=4495" data-li-url="/biz/miniprofile/4495?pathWildcard=4495" data-li-getjs="https://static.licdn.com/scds/concat/common/js?h=a1ktvk9o0qh0fprqbtphg9c0c&fc=2" data-li-miniprofile-id="LI-7485268" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/4495?trk=prof-exp-company-name" dir="auto" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 70, 73); font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;">US Environmental Protection Agency</a></h5></header><span class="experience-date-locale" style="margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17px; display: block; color: rgb(102, 105, 106); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><time style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">1999</time> – <time style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">2001</time> (2 years)<p class="description summary-field-show-more" dir="ltr" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Prior to Ceres, Mindy held various leadership positions in government, financial services and the not-for-profit sector. Mindy joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1995 as a senior policy advisor and was named regional administrator under President Bill Clinton in 2000. As regional administrator, she was responsible for the administration and management of the EPA’s New England Regional Office and its then $450 million annual budget. Additional key priorities in her role included organizing aggressive cleanups of hazardous waste sites with a goal of redevelopment, new jobs and urban revitalization as well as ensuring the long-term protection of drinking water supplies.
=4/15 forbes mag<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: none 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 22px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">I am President of Ceres, a nonprofit organization that leads a national coalition of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change and water scarcity. I also direct the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a group of over 100 institutional investors managing $10 trillion in assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change. Under my leadership, Ceres launched The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability, highlighting critical corporate environmental and social performance improvements for integrating sustainability across capital markets and the economy.<a class="ajaxify launch_email_contrib" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/mindylubber/2015/04/21/fortune-500s-hitting-the-hill-on-earth-day/#" data-enable-contact="true" data-contrib-name="Mindy Lubber" data-contrib-email="" data-user-name="" data-user-email="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: none 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(15, 45, 95); text-decoration: none; line-height: 22px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255);">Contact Mindy Lubber</a><p class="disclaimer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: none 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); line-height: 22px; font-style: italic; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255);">The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the yada
The group organized by my nonprofit group Ceres represents a powerful cross-section of our economy, including food, consumer and manufacturing giants such as Kellogg Co., Unilever, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Nestle, Mars and Owens Corning.

Joining them are familiar and not-so-familiar businesses such as Eileen Fisher, Gap Inc., JLL, L’Oreal, Seventh Generation, Vulcan, Aspen Skiing Company, Ben & Jerry’s, Burton Snowboards and Dignity Health.The companies traveling to Washington believe that reaching a strong global deal on climate change in Paris this December is critical for the long-term stability of their businesses and the overall economy. They also recognize the imperative of U.S leadership on climate change, which is why most of them signed a letter – along with 200-plus other companies – supporting EPA’s Clean Power Plan, a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to reduce carbon emissions....=. Bonds are lifeblood for any company that wants to raise capital so it can grow. Solar company execs have talked for years about selling bonds backed by solar electricity contracts, but it’s been hard to pull off. That all changed when solar installer SolarCity got the go-ahead from Standard & Poor’s to issue first-ever bonds backed by electricity payments from its solar rooftop panels. The company has since issued more than $300 million of bonds, including<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-25/solarcity-raises-201-5-million-in-bonds-backed-by-panels.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">$201.5 million</a> sold in July with interest rates ranging from 4 to 5.45 percent.These capital market breakthroughs are in line with what Ceres has been working on since launching 25 years ago and will help catalyze sustainability across entire industries and the broader economy.Looking into 2015, I have some wishes: a U.S. stock exchange adopting a sustainability listing standard; the <a href="http://ensia.com/features/heres-a-way-to-pay-for-a-healthier-planet/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">green bond market</a> <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2014/10/23/green-bonds-expected-top-100-billion-2015/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">eclipsing $100 billion a year</a>; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalizing its carbon-reducing rule for existing U.S. power plants.

<div>==

</div><div>http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20141023/us-insurers-meet-climate-risk-deeply-troubling-silence</div><div>
</div><div><div class="content" style="min-height: 190px; color: rgb(35, 31, 32);">Even though insurers are in the business of protecting others from risk, <a href="https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/insurer-climate-risk-disclosure-survey-report-scorecard-2014-findings-recommendations/view" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">a new report</a> shows that most major United States players are turning a blind eye to a serious threat to their own bottom line—climate change."It's shocking...most of the industry continues to be far behind where they need to be in terms of understanding and articulating [climate risk]," said study author Cynthia McHale, insurance program director at the Boston-based nonprofit Ceres.This stands in stark contrast to <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140929/big-business-climate-change-movement-grows-size-and-heft" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">other big businesses, from carmaker General Motors to candymaker Mars Inc.</a>, that are increasingly taking a public stand on climate change and devoting resources to combat it. The heads of insurance departments in five states—California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York and Washington—required large insurers to fill out climate risk disclosure surveys in 2013. The states wanted to know how the companies regard climate change, and what they might do in the face of it. <a href="http://www.ceres.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Ceres</a>, which works with investors and businesses on issues concerning the environment and sustainability, organized, analyzed and ranked the responses,<a href="http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/0300-insurers/0100-applications/financial-filing-notices-forms/annualnotices/ClimateSurvey.cfm" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">which are publicly available</a>. The participating 330 companies make up 87 percent of the American insurance industry. They are mostly U.S.-based and include both insurers and reinsurers, companies that cover against other insurers' losses. All companies fall under three large umbrellas of business: property, life or health. According to the report "Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Report & Scorecard" released this week, around 90 percent of participating companies have yet to issue a public statement on their approach to climate change. To this point, the report said: "This near total silence on climate change is deeply troubling and is thwarting constructive public engagement on appropriate responses."American-based Allstate and Europe's Zurich are the only two major companies that have issued such statements from <a href="http://www.naic.org/documents/research_top_25_market_share_pc.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">America's top 10 list of property insurers</a>. State Farm, the country's No. 1 property insurer, has remained silent. So have Berkshire Hathaway Group and Nationwide, two other companies in the top 10. These three companies are also among a majority of property insurers whose top executives don't publicly acknowledge the issue.The situation is more grave for life and health insurers.Despite increasing evidence that changes in climate, such as longer and more intense heat waves, are likely to affect human health and lifespan, the report said these "insurers show widespread indifference to climate risk, both in regard to their core business" and their investments.But it's not all bad news. Nine companies have emerged as clear leaders in the industry and 50 more are taking steps in the right direction. The nine top companies include four American companies (ACE, The Hartford, Prudential and XL Group) and five international companies (Allianz, Munich Re, Sompo Japan, Swiss Re and Zurich Insurance). McHale told InsideClimate News, "When you do have a breakaway group like that...industry competition kicks in and it can sort of create a bit of a tipping point. "We [at Ceres] are of the mind that competition rather than science is going to move this industry at the end of the day and motivate insurers to take visible action on climate." One of those leaders is <a href="http://www.swissre.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Swiss Re</a>, a major reinsurer based in Zurich. The company started tracking the issue closely 25 years ago when it considered protecting insurers against extreme weather events. The company's mindset is "anything that can potentially make [extreme weather] worse is something we need to understand," and climate change fit the bill, said Mark Way, head of Swiss Re's sustainability department. "We spend a lot of time peering over the horizon to see what new risks are coming," Way said. Franklin Nutter, president of the industry trade group <a href="http://www.reinsurance.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Reinsurance Association of America</a>, points out that European reinsurers like Swiss Re have a corporate culture that's more open to "forward thinking" on emerging risks like climate change than many American counterparts.Some of the risks bring new business opportunities. An example is the property insurer <a href="http://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance/financial-services" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">The Hartford</a>, based in Hartford, Conn. Another Ceres-named leader, Hartford's leadership on the issue includes offering insurance coverage to renewable energy companies. These two companies also have initiatives to limit their own carbon footprints. In fact, so do many of the companies surveyed. But unlike Hartford and Swiss Re, these other companies often said their plans were motivated to save money and don't acknowledge the climate implications. "It's quite hypocritical," said study author McHale. "It really begs the question: Why would you care if [you say] climate change isn't real and matters?" Spreading the BlameNext year, insurers operating in Illinois, and possibly New Mexico and Maryland, will be required to fill out the climate risk disclosure survey.Every time a new state signs on, it's a sign that their insurance leaders "are really looking at this and thinking about this and publicly coming forward saying climate risk is really relevant to the insurance industry," said McHale.The fact that only a handful of the 50 states require this survey suggests regulators are not yet fully committed to addressing climate change.Nutter hinted at this when he explained that an American insurer who doesn't consider climate change as a risk to a business customer might simply blame the regulators."The regulatory system will not let [companies] factor in a risk or price rate for climate change," he said. "It's too speculative." It's not just state regulators, apparently. National politics is also at play. Mark Way, the Swiss Re executive, said, "it would be a lot easier [for other companies to discuss the issue] if the leadership from D.C. was less adversarial on the topic at the policy level." He also called for more formal guidance on ways the industry could and should be approaching climate change.American insurers and reinsurers often see climate change as a "red flag for energy policy," said McHale. These companies will actively talk about extreme weather and behind closed doors they are even talking about changes to observed extreme weather, said McHale, but they are reluctant to discuss the potential drivers of that weather, namely climate change.In Europe, "it's such a dichotomy," she said. For example, last year, the insurance and risk think tank Geneva Association put out a <a href="https://www.genevaassociation.org/media/878686/ga2014-climate-risk-statement.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">statement on climate change that affirmed the latest science</a>. Of the 66 major insurance companies that backed it, <a href="https://www.genevaassociation.org/media/890679/signatories-of-the-climate-risk-statement-of-the-ga.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">less than a handful</a> were from the U.S.</div><div class="seealso" style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 31, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="toggleFlyout">See Also<div class="seealso-each" style="margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140929/big-business-climate-change-movement-grows-size-and-heft" style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Big Business Climate Change Movement Grows in Size and Heft</a></div></div></div>

<div>

Leaders of some of the largest pension funds in the U.S. are calling on fossil fuel companies to detail how they will manage the switch to cleaner energy, worried that the companies won’t be as profitable in the future as the world shifts away from oil and coal and towards clean energy.

The <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pension-funds-fossil-fuels-20673046" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">70 funds</a> are asking 45 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal and electric companies to conduct detailed studies of how policies to curb climate change will impact the fossil fuel business. The funds <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/major-pension-funds-climate-change-study-20668494?singlePage=true" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">notified</a> the fossil fuel companies of their wishes last month, and asked for the studies to be finished by spring 2014. The push is being led by Ceres, a network of investors, companies and public interest groups that’s been <a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/03/ceres-insurance-industry-unprepared-climate-change/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">outspoken</a> about climate change’s threats to the insurance industry in the past, and the <a href="http://www.carbontracker.org/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">Carbon Tracker Initiative</a>, whose goal is to “improve the transparency of the carbon embedded in equity markets.”

Carin Dehne-Kiley, the director of Corporate Ratings for Standard & Poor’s, told the AP that the financial clout of the pension funds makes it more likely that the fossil fuel companies will comply with their requests. So far, 30 fossil fuel companies have responded to the pension funds’ letters, but it’s unclear so far how many will agree to complete the studies.

The request comes as pressure on governments, organizations and universities to divest their stock from fossil fuel companies increases. This week, the Ann Arbor city council in Michigan <a href="http://annarborchronicle.com/2013/10/22/ann-arbor-oks-fossil-fuel-divestment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ann-arbor-oks-fossil-fuel-divestment" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">approved</a> a resolution to divest its stock from fossil fuels. A recent University of Oxford study <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/08/campaign-against-fossil-fuel-growing" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">found</a> that the campaign for fossil fuel divestment is growing more quickly than any previous divestment campaign and could end up being a significant threat to fossil fuel companies.

“Stigmatisation poses a far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies — any direct impacts of divestment pale in comparison,” Ben Caldecott, a research fellow at the University of Oxford and an author of the report told the Guardian. “In every case we reviewed, divestment campaigns were successful in lobbying for restrictive legislation.”

But not all news has been good news on the divestment front — this month, Harvard University announced it<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/23/2813331/bargain-harvard-faust-fossil-fuels/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 183, 243);">would not</a> be purging its investments of fossil fuels.

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One would think the insurance industry would be<a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/10/insurance-companies-link-hurricane-sandy-climate-change/" target="_blank" style=" color: rgb(102, 143, 131); font-weight: bold;">proactive</a> confronting and preparing for the long term effects of climate change. The mounting costs of hurricanes, droughts and floods have already reached catastrophic levels. But last week’s assessment by<a href="http://www.ceres.org/issues/climate-change" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Ceres</a> on <a href="http://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/naic-report/view" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">insurance and climate change</a> revealed insurers are “not very” prepared for climate change’s impacts on their business.

The Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey queried over 180 companies with at least $300 million in direct written premiums. These agencies filed documents related to climate-change risks in California, New York or Washington because insurance regulators in those states require insurers to disclose climate-related material information. The report’s findings, as well as Ceres’ suggestions, are important because without a viable insurance sector, business–everywhere–STOPS. With climate volatility on the rise, and trends still witnessing populations moving to at-risk coastal and arid regions, insurance companies have got to take more action in planning for climate change in order to withstand future disasters.

<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Some of Ceres’ conclusions include:</h2>

<li style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Only 23 of the 184 companies Ceres surveyed have a “comprehensive” climate change strategy. Most of those firms, not surprisingly, are in the property and casualty (P&C) segment. Health insurers as well as those companies that primarily underwrite life insurance and annuities (L&A) are far less prepared than their P&C counterparts, and often view climate change as an environmental concern, not as an overall business risk. <a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/topic/kaiser-permanente/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Kaiser Permanente</a> is one health insurer pushing the envelope on climate-related disclosures.</li>

<li style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Insurers that do take action on climate change planning cited energy savings (i.e. “cost efficiencies”) as the main reason to take action. Reduced exposure to extreme weather events, not a holistic approach to climate change, was the second most common motivator.</li>

<li style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Very few insurers actively engage their stakeholders on climate change issues. Such an “inward-facing” approach suggests insurance companies are vulnerable to the dangers change climate patterns pose because they lack the information needed to plan for the long run.</li>

<li>Rather than taking a hard look at <a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/06/insurance-rates-offshore-drilling-oil-spill-bp/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">carbon-intensive industries</a> that could become susceptible to future regulations and market realities, insurers instead will sooner screen out vulnerable regions such as Florida’s coast.</li>

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<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Recommendations Ceres makes to the industry are as follows:</h2>

<li>Climate change should be a corporate wide strategic issue, for all functions and across all levels. If current trends prove correct, natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity: insurers must work with the insured to protect everyone’s assets.</li>

<li>The focus cannot just be on disasters, however; disease pathways, population migration and infrastructure failure also should factor into insurers’ future scenario plans. Companies also need to develop their own internal modeling to plan for this brave and hot new world and not rely so much on outside vendors.</li>

<li>Transparency and complete disclosures, as well as partnering with governments at the local and federal levels, will help build an economy and business climate braced for resilience.</li>

<li>Climate change is not just about threats: companies have an opportunity to create products and services tailored for a low-carbon economy prepared for climate change.</li>

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The insurance companies may keep their <a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/insurance-industry-climate-change/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">heads in the sand</a> for a while, but that sand is washing away figuratively–and literally. Insurers and regulators should partner and share the information necessary to prepare for new developments that will rock the industry in future years. The time to do it was yesterday: Ceres had issued a report in <a href="http://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/stormy-future/view" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">fall 2011</a> with similar warnings, and yet nothing has changed despite even worse disasters. It should not take more events such as <a href="http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/10/insurance-companies-link-hurricane-sandy-climate-change/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Hurricane Sandy</a> for insurers to get a clue.

Based in Fresno, California, Leon Kaye is the editor of <a href="http://greengopost.com/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">GreenGoPost.com</a> and frequently writes about business sustainability strategy. Leon also contributes to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/leon-kaye" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Guardian Sustainable Business</a>; his work has also appeared on <a href="http://www.sustainablebrands.com/user/79655" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Sustainable Brands</a>, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/author/leonkaye/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Inhabitat</a> and <a href="http://earth911.com/news/author/lkaye/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Earth911</a>. Most recently he explored children’s health issues in India with the <a href="http://internationalreportingproject.org/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">International Reporting Project</a>. You can follow Leon and ask him questions on <a href="http://twitter.com/leonkaye/" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Twitter</a> or Instagram (<a href="http://instagram.com/greengopost" style=" color: rgb(49, 102, 176); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">greengopost</a>).

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