Fossil fuel companies are failing in their legal duty to address climate risk in their financial reports, according to a group of non-profits.
ClientEarth, The Carbon Tracker Initiative, CDP and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board have this week issued an open letter to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) calling on it to ensure companies in the oil, gas and coal sectors are complying with the reporting rules that require them to provide information on climate-related risks.
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The FRC is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for ensuring the financial accounts of companies comply with legal reporting standards.
“We believe many companies in the oil, gas and coal sectors are not satisfying existing mandatory reporting requirements by failing to adequately report on climate risk,” the letter states.
It accuses the fossil fuel companies of only planning for future demand growth for fossil fuels, and ignoring the risk to their business models posed by climate targets and the growth of clean energy.
“The risk to fossil fuel companies from climate change is that preventing warming of more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels will cause declines in the demand for, and price of, their commodities,” the letter reads.
Founder of the Carbon Tracker group, Mark Campanale, said current reporting from fossil fuel companies was not compatible with the national climate action plans, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, currently being submitted by governments ahead of the Paris Summit later this year.
The vast majority of fossil fuel companies don’t provide commentary on what the plans and the prospect of an international climate change treaty might mean for their business models, he told BusinessGreen.
He argued this information is vital for investors to make sound business decisions. “Without proper disclosure and consideration, there’s the potential for investors to completely misprice these risks,” he said.
Campanale urged the FRC to review the disclosures being made by fossil fuel companies, and following a consultation, draw up new reporting guidelines specific to fossil fuel companies. For instance, he said fossil fuel companies should be required to disclose how much embedded carbon dioxide lies in their fossil fuel reserves.
Pressure is mounting on the financial world to take into account the potential impact of climate change. In November a major report from the Royal Society recommended that business should report their exposure to extreme weather events such as typhoons and superstorms.
It said businesses should be required to report on how prepared they are for increasingly frequent and severe weather events to allow investors to make better-informed decisions about where they place their money.
Technically, listed firms are already required to provide comprehensive information on material risks to their business, but many continue to provide only limited information on the extent to which environmental impacts could damage their operations.