Category: Climate Risk Disclosure

Newsletter: New On-Demand Climate Risk App

Posted on by Christina Guo
 

Four Twenty Seven's monthly newsletter highlights recent developments on climate risk and resilience. This month we announce our new on-demand climate risk scoring application, discuss RCP 8.5 and highlight developments in climate risk disclosure.
In Focus: Four Twenty Seven Announces its On-demand Climate Risk Application

Score thousands of assets in minutes with Four Twenty Seven’s new on-demand physical climate risk application.
We're delighted to announce that our new on-demand climate risk scoring tool is now live! This application responds to the financial sector’s growing call for the integration of granular, forward-looking climate data into investment decisions and risk management practices. Users enter addresses and facility types to receive information on their assets’ exposure to floods, sea level rise, hurricanes & typhoons, heat stress and water stress to mid-century. Detailed facility scorecards include data on the underlying risk drivers for each hazard and users can toggle between maps and tables to identify regional trends and multi-hazard exposure. This tool informs due diligence, risk management, enhanced portfolio construction, resilience investment and pre-loan evaluations to support the integration of climate risk into financial decision-making across use cases. “We are excited to bring our on-demand physical climate risk application to the market. Our app provides access to sophisticated climate model outputs in easily understandable metrics with just a few clicks,” says Founder & CEO Emilie Mazzacurati. “Real-time access to forward-looking, location-specific data on climate risk enables investors, banks and corporations to manage their risk and invest in resilience.”
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Moody's ESG and Climate Risk Businesses

Moody's Announces Global Head of ESG and Climate Risk Businesses
Moody's Corporation announced yesterday that Andrea Blackman has been appointed Moody's Global Head of ESG and Climate Risk Businesses. Andrea comes from a leadership position in Moody's Analytics CreditView. In her new position Andrea will lead Moody's strategy and vision for long-term growth in line with market demands for ESG and climate risk services. Moody's ESG and climate risk affiliates, including Four Twenty Seven and Vigeo Eiris will be part of this new business unit. Learn more about Moody's broad ESG and Climate Risk offering here.
RCP 8.5 - Still a Valid Possibility

Extracting the Scientific Uncertainties from the Policy Uncertainties
An article published in Nature last month sparked confusion about the legitimacy of Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5, but there are compelling reasons RCP 8.5 remains an important part of scenario analysis. The study's authors explain that the initial design of RCP 8.5 was to capture growing rates of coal production in China. They assert that since the rate of coal production has actually slowed, it's not appropriate to continue using this scenario as the "business-usual" scenario and rather it should be considered a highly unlikely extreme scenario. However, the article focuses on the policy drivers, rather than the scientific drivers, of warming. The authors do not explore the physical phenomenon, such as sudden release of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) due to thawing of permafrost. This is one of several tipping points that could lead to RCP 8.5 outcomes by 2100, independent of how coal production evolves.

While the initial design of RCP 8.5 was intended to capture growing rates of coal production, it doesn’t mean the scenario can’t be a stand-in for other sources of emissions that could quickly accelerate due to tipping points. Bob Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University, has previously pointed out on Twitter that "from a climate science perspective, RCP 8.5 is very useful, since we would like to know how models simulate a 5C world.”

It's important to note that under any scenario, we are committed to a certain amount of physical climate impacts to mid-century, regardless of RCP scenario. Temperature outcomes don't differ significantly under different RCP scenarios until after mid-century. For longer-term projections it is valuable to model impacts under several scenarios, such as RCP 4.5, RCP 7 (forthcoming in the latest generation of climate models) and RCP 8.5.
New Survey on the Quality of Climate Risk Reporting

Climate Risk Disclosures Lack Transparency
Companies tend to disclose more details on their exposure to transition risk than physical risk and disclosures still lack transparency on which models and assumptions companies use to assess risk, according to the recent European Financial Reporting Advisory Group report on How to Improve Climate-related Reporting. The report highlights that when firms approach disclosures solely from a compliance perspective, they miss an opportunity to genuinely identify their risk and improve their resilience. It also identifies best practices and current maturity of disclosures in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the EU Non-financial Reporting Directive's non-binding guidelines on climate risk. The Climate Disclosure Standards Board also released an EU Environmental Reporting Handbook sharing examples of environmental and climate disclosures under the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive.
Regulatory Action & Oversight on Climate Risk Disclosure

Australia and UK Each Announce Plans for New Disclosure Regulation

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority joins regulators calling for climate stress tests, announcing that its banks will be required to conduct stress tests for climate risks under several scenarios. After a devastating bushfire season followed by damaging floods, regulators are increasing the urgency around implementing stress tests and plan to release more details within the next few weeks. Earlier this month the UK's Department for Work and Pensions announced its consideration of an amendment to the Pension Schemes Bill that would mandate that pensions disclose their approaches to climate change in line with the TCFD.

European Union Opens Public Consultation on Non-Financial Reporting Directive

Meanwhile the European Commission opened a public consultation on updates to its Non-Financial Reporting Directive. This is part of the EU's commitment to increasing sustainable investment in Europe under the European Green New Deal and the review will explore how adjusting disclosure guidelines can support these goals. Feedback is due by April 28.

UK's Financial Reporting Council to Review Climate Disclosures & Audits

Amid concerns that firms are not complying with increased regulations around climate risk disclosure, the UK's financial watch dog, the Financial Reporting Council, will review corporate disclosures and audits to ensure that they address reporting requirements. “Auditors have a responsibility to properly challenge management to assess and report the impact of climate change on their business,” FRC Chief Executive Jon Thompson said in a statement.
Financial Risks of Climate Change are Underpriced
Australia's bushfires are expected to reduce national GDP by 0.1-0.4 percentage points through this March. Meanwhile the UK confronts damaging floods, Europe had its warmest January on record and sea level rise threatens to inundate airports around the world. These are just a few of the many multifaceted impacts that climate change has on global economies. Recent commentaries published in Nature Energy discuss the global implications of climate change's potential impact on the energy sector, which drives much of the interconnected global economy. One commentary by UC Davis Professor Paul Griffin, highlights the particular exposure of this sector to physical climate risks, with fossil fuel infrastructure in the Gulf Coast and the exposure of California's utilities to wildfires, as noteworthy examples. Authors assert that if these risks continue to be underpriced, we risk a recession on par with the 2008 housing crisis.
Inside the Office at Four Twenty Seven

Meet Director, Financial Data Systems - Oren Israeli
Four Twenty Seven welcomes Oren as Director, Financial Data Systems. Oren leverages his 20 years of experience in the fintech industry to guide Four Twenty Seven’s product development agenda for financial and business data.

Oren is a strategic data and content expert, adept at launching and overseeing products and solutions to serve the top investment firms globally.
Upcoming Events

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Copyright © 2020 Four Twenty Seven, All rights reserved. Four Twenty Seven sends a newsletter focused on bringing climate intelligence into economic and financial decision-making for investors, corporations and governments. Fill in the form below to join our mailing list. As data controller, we collect your email address with your consent in order to send you our newsletter. Four Twenty Seven will never share your mailing information with anyone and you may unsubscribe at any moment. Please read our Terms and Conditions.Our mailing address is: Four Twenty Seven 2000 Hearst Ave Ste 304 Berkeley, CA 94709
   
 

Four Twenty Seven Announces its Physical Climate Risk Application

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

February 27, 2020 – BERKELEY, CA – Four Twenty Seven, an affiliate of Moody’s and the leading publisher of climate data for financial markets, today announces the release of a new on-demand climate risk scoring tool. This application responds to the financial sector’s growing call for the seamless integration of granular, forward-looking climate data into investment decisions and risk management practices.

Users are able to enter location and other data via an intuitive interface and immediately receive information on their assets’ exposure for floods, sea level rise, hurricanes & typhoons, heat stress and water stress to mid-century. The application allows users to browse and download detailed facility scorecards that include data on the underlying risk drivers for each hazard. The application also enables users to toggle between maps and tables to identify regional trends and multi-hazard exposure. Users can perform analyses for large volumes of locations via an API and integrate the outputs into downstream risk management and portfolio analysis applications.

As the material financial impacts of climate change become increasingly evident, understanding and preparing for climate risks is essential.  Real estate investors can use Four Twenty Seven’s physical climate risk app for due diligence and proactive risk management across their portfolio of properties. Portfolio managers can leverage the application to report climate risk exposure and enhance portfolio decision-making. Asset owners can evaluate long-term risk exposure and engage with corporations and managers to improve resilience. Banks can score thousands of locations at once to identify risk in commercial and residential lending portfolios. Corporations can identify risk hotspots and opportunities to build resilience in their global operations.

“We are excited to bring our on-demand physical climate risk application to the market.  Our app provides access to sophisticated climate model outputs in easily understandable metrics with just a few clicks,” says Four Twenty Seven’s  Founder & CEO, Emilie Mazzacurati. “Real-time access to forward-looking, location-specific data on climate risk enables investors, banks and corporations to manage their risk and invest in resilience.”

Learn more about the app or request a demo.

Download the Press Release.

Demystifying Climate Scenario Analysis for Financial Stakeholders

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

December 4, 2019 – 427 REPORT. Scenario analysis is an essential yet challenging component of understanding and preparing for the impacts of climate change on assets, markets and economies. When focusing on the short term, the warming and related impacts we have already committed to calls for scenarios that are decoupled from economic and policy activities and instead focus on the impacts that are already locked in. This report explores which impacts are already locked in, identifies how Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios fit into the conversation, and describes an approach to setting up scenario analysis for near-term physical climate risks.

Download the report.

As the effects of climate change increasingly threaten financial stability, investors and regulators are seeking to understand what impacts lie ahead, and calling for an increase in physical climate risk assessment and disclosure in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). To assess the scale of financial risk posed by physical climate change it is important to quantify risks under different climate scenarios. How will changes in extreme weather patterns, longer droughts and rising seas differ under various scenarios? Answering these questions through scenario analysis helps uncover the range of risks, allowing investors to identify assets and markets that are more likely to become stranded over time and to begin developing forward-looking resilience strategies. However, science-driven, decision-useful scenario analysis poses many challenges for businesses and financial stakeholders today, due to complex feedback loops, varying timescales, and multiple interacting factors that ultimately determine how global climate change manifests.

 

Figure 2. Distribution of daily extreme temperature changes in 2030-2040, expressed as a percent change, relative to a baseline of 1975-2005 under RCP 8.5. This map shows statistically downscaled global climate models averaged together, for this time frame and scenario. NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections statistically downscales climate model outputs to a ~25 kilometer resolution (see full details here) White areas are excluded because they lack potential for significant economic activity.

This new report, Demystifying Climate Scenario Analysis for Financial Stakeholders, explores which physical impacts are already locked in, identifies how Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios apply, and describes an approach to setting up scenario analysis for near-term physical climate risks. Scenario analysis is often approached from the perspective of transition risk, where policy developments and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets are the key drivers of risk pathways over the near-term, in the next 10 to 30 years. Physical risk, however, requires a different approach.  Impacts over the coming decades are largely locked in, making the emissions scenarios less relevant. Unlike transition risk, GHG emission pathways play a minimal role in the behavior of the near-term climate and GHG emission pathways only begin to meaningfully influence global temperatures near mid-century. The uncertainty in physical climate risks in the near-term is driven by uncertainty in physical processes, rather than in policy decisions.

For organizations looking to construct physical climate risk scenarios for risk management and strategy purposes, it is critical to understand the scientific phenomena driving our plausible climate futures. This report outlines an approach called percentile-based analysis, which allows users to explore the range of potential outcomes based on climate model outputs within a single RCP. This offers a flexible, data-driven approach, suitable for portfolio-level screenings, reporting, and in some cases, direct engagement with asset managers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Quantifying climate risks under different scenarios is a key element in understanding how physical climate risks pose financial risks.
  • Scenario analysis is often approached from the perspective of transition risk, where policy developments and greenhouse gas emission targets are the key drivers of risk pathways in the next 10 to 30 years. However, physical climate impacts over the coming decades are largely locked in, so physical risk requires a different approach.
  • Even if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide tomorrow, many physical climate impacts, such as increasing temperatures, more severe droughts, and rising sea levels, would already be locked in because of the time carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere and the time it takes the atmosphere to respond.
  • The uncertainty in how physical climate risks may manifest in the next few decades is driven by model uncertainty, which should therefore be the focus of scenario analysis for physical climate risks in the near-term.
  • Percentile-based analysis offers a flexible, data-driven approach, suitable for portfolio-level screenings, reporting, and in some cases, direct engagement with asset managers.

Download the report.

Download the press release.

 

Four Twenty Seven Opens a Tokyo Office |フォー・トゥエンティー・セブンが東京オフィスを開設

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

OCTOBER 23, 2019 – BERKELEY, CA – Four Twenty Seven announces opening of Tokyo office and hires senior country representative.

Four Twenty Seven, an affiliate of Moody’s and the leading publisher of climate data for financial markets, is pleased to announce the opening of its office in Tokyo, Japan. Four Twenty Seven’s Tokyo office opens as investors and businesses in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region face increasing market pressure to assess and disclose the risks physical climate hazards pose to their investments.

In conjunction with the opening of its office in Tokyo, Four Twenty Seven is also pleased to announce that Toshi Matsumae will serve as its Director of Japan. Toshi brings 30 years of experience leading financial services organizations in Japan. He leverages this expertise to lead Four Twenty Seven’s effort to provide climate risk screening to investors, asset managers, banks and corporations striving to understand their risk to physical climate hazards throughout Japan.

“We’ve seen growing demand from Japanese markets over the past year for transparency around exposure to physical climate risks in corporate assets, investment portfolios and in credit portfolios,” says Emilie Mazzacurati, Four Twenty Seven’s Founder and CEO.  “Four Twenty Seven’s on-the-ground presence in Japan will allow us to bring asset-level risk data to support this demand and inform global resilience-building.”

“The opening of Four Twenty Seven’s Tokyo office comes at a time when the financial sector is calling for better integration of forward-looking climate data into decision-making,” says Toshi Matsumae, Four Twenty Seven’s Director of Japan. “I look forward to working with investors and businesses throughout Asia to better understand and serve the needs of this evolving market.”

Download the Press Release.

2019年10月23日 –カルフォルニア、バークレー拠点の フォー・トゥエンティー・セブンが東京オフィスを開設

ムーディーズの関連会社で、気候変動に関するデータを金融業界に提供する業界のリーダー的存在のフォー・トゥエンティー・セブンは、この度東京オフィスの開設を発表した。これは日本及びアジア太平洋地域の投資家及び事業主が、彼らの投資物件と運用資産に対して日増しに増大する気候変動に伴う災害リスクと、それに対処するためのリスク評価及びディスクロージャーへの市場の要望に対応したものだ。

東京オフィスの開設に伴い、フォー・トゥエンティー・セブンは、この度、松前俊顕を日本事業の代表として起用することになった。松前は金融情報サービス業界での30年余りの経験を活かし、日本の投資家、資産運用会社、銀行、あるいは一般企業が今日抱える気候変動からの物理的リスクに対する科学的な理解と対応が可能となる気候リスクスクリーニングを提供していくことになる。

フォー・トゥエンティー・セブンの創業者で社長のエミリー・マザキュラティは「この一年日本の市場からは、企業資産、運用ポートフォリオ、債券ポートフォリオの気候変動の物理的リスクへの感応度に関する透明性を求める声が日増しに拡大してきた。」とコメントしている。さらに、「日本の市場でのフォー・トゥエンティー・セブンの存在で、銘柄レベルで提供される予想リスクデータにより、こうした要望に答え、他の主要地域での事例を伝えることができる。」と語っている。

さらに松前は「この度のフォー・トゥエンティー・セブンの東京オフィス開設は、まさに今日の金融業界からの要望のタイミングにマッチしている。日本及びアジア地域にて、気候変動インパクトに対するアプローチが確立されていなかった従来の状況から、気候データと科学的な対応が統合した意思決定に導かれる一助にフォー・トゥエンティー・セブンがなれることを希望する。」と付け加えている。

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Newsletter: Keeping Up with Regulatory Developments on Climate Risk

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

Four Twenty Seven's monthly newsletter highlights recent developments on climate risk and resilience. This month we feature factsheets on regulatory action for financial climate risk, news from Four Twenty Seven and an update on the latest extreme heat.
In Focus: Financial Regulators Take on Climate Risk

Factsheets: Financial Climate Risk Regulation - What You Need To Know
Our new series, Financial Climate Risk Regulation, provides a summary of key recent and upcoming regulatory actions related to climate risk. From the European Union's directive on disclosure and the Bank of England's insurance stress tests, to France's surveys of its insurance and banking markets and the consultations of the European Supervisory Authorities around integrating sustainability into oversight requirements, regulators are moving quickly on climate risk with global implications for financial actors.

Staying up-to-date on these developments will provide early indications of regulatory action to come and give insight into potential rippling market impacts. Four Twenty Seven's factsheets on regulatory developments in the European Union, France and the United Kingdom, summarize each nation's stance on the financial risk of climate change, outline key actions and highlight upcoming dates to remember.
Read the Factsheets

NGFS Releases Technical Supplement on Climate Risk Assessments
Last week, the Network for Greening the Financial System published an overview of current approaches to assessing climate change's macroeconomic impacts and summarized key topics for further research. The supplement outlines ways for central banks and supervisors to assess climate-related risks through macroeconomic modeling, scenario analysis, stress testing, risk indicators and financial stability assessments.
"This is a Big Deal" - Media Coverage of Four Twenty Seven's Acquisition by Moody's
“This means the old paradigm of discussing climate change as part of so-called ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) risks is inappropriate. The risks are increasingly physical and specific – the heat waves, the tsunamis, phenomena like the effect on Germany’s economy of two consecutive years’ low water in the Rhine. Models need to be adapted to them, new hedging opportunities created and ratings adjusted. It’s not a matter of fashion or reputation management but of basics like sales, cash flow and profit. Moody’s acquisition is a sign that the financial industry is beginning to take this on board," Leonid Bershidsky writes in a Bloomberg op-ed.

"Moody’s Corporation has purchased a controlling stake in a firm that measures the physical risks of climate change, the latest indication that global warming can threaten the creditworthiness of governments and companies around the world." The New York Times' Christopher Flavelle writes. 

Read more stories below and in our In the News page:
Heat Records Broken...Again

Extremely Hot Days are Expected to Continue
Last week, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands all experienced their highest temperature ever recorded. Paris also hit a record high of 109°F (43°C), after France had its highest ever temperature 45.9°C (114.6°F) during a June heatwave made at least five times more likely due to climate change. Meanwhile, Anchorage, Alaska's 90°F temperatures surpassed previous records by five degrees. The city had at least 34 consecutive days of above average temperatures, with ice melt negatively impacting fishing and hunting and wildfires threatening human health. The eastern and midwest U.S. endured their first heat wave of the season this month, as thunderstorms and record heat disrupted power and took lives.

“There is likely the DNA of climate change in the record-breaking heat that Europe and other parts of the world are experiencing. And it is unfortunately going to continue to worsen,” Marshall Shepherd, professor of meteorology at University of Georgia told the AP. Earlier this month, the Union of Concerned Scientists released data projecting the number of days that will surpass extreme heat indices by mid-century and late century for every U.S. County. Under a 2.4°C (4.3°F) scenario, Los Angeles County may experience an average of 55 days annually with a heat index above 90°F, Dallas County would average 133 days and Broward County, FL 179 days. 

Extreme Heat Has Extreme Impacts on Economies and Human Health

The total cost of lost output due to extreme temperatures is projected to be $2.4 trillion annually according to the International Labor Organization's recent report. Agriculture and construction are expected to lose 60% and 19% of global working hours by 2030, with southern Asia and western Africa expected to experience the greatest losses.

Increasing average temperatures are already affecting industries around the world, as the alpine tourism sector takes a hard look at its climate risks and opportunities, France declares a water shortage and water restrictions affect agriculture and industry across Europe.
Inside the Office at Four Twenty Seven

Meet Chief Revenue Officer, Lisa Stanton

Four Twenty Seven welcomes Lisa Stanton as our Chief Revenue Officer. Lisa oversees sales, client support, marketing and professional services globally. She brings over 25 years of experience in sales and client services for data analytics and investment products in the financial sector. 
Previously, Lisa spent twelve years with Barra, Inc. leading their client service, sales, consulting and partner relationships globally.  She has also led investment strategy and client relationship teams for Blackrock, AXA Rosenberg and, most recently, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo, Inc., working with many of the world's leading institutional investors.

Four Twenty Seven Wins Wealth & Finance Award

Wealth & Finance Magazine recognized Four Twenty Seven with a Best in Climate-Related Economic Risk Reporting award. For six years the Alternative Investment Awards have acknowledged firms and individuals that positively shape the industry’s growth. “Historically considered an undervalued industry, the alternative investment has grown over the past few years. Behind this prominent growth and success, are the leading lights whose innovation, dedication and inventive ways has delivered some award-worthy results,” Wealth & Finance writes.

The award highlights Four Twenty Seven’s climate risk scores for listed instruments and on-demand scoring of real assets, that assess financial firm’s exposure to physical climate risk and inform risk reporting.
Upcoming Events

Join the Four Twenty Seven team at these events:

  • Aug 5 – Climate Risk and Sovereign Risk in Southeast Asia, Singapore: Editor, Natalie Ambrosio, will present on sovereign climate risk. Invite-only.
  • Sept 10 - 12 – PRI in Person 2019, Paris, France: Stop by the Four Twenty Seven booth to meet with Chief Development Officer, Frank Freitas, Chief Revenue Officer, Lisa Stanton, Director Europe, Nathalie Borgeaud and other members of the team. 
  • Sept 16 – Insurance & Climate Risk Americas 2019, New York, NY: Lisa Stanton will attend.
  • Sept 23 - 29 – Climate Week NYC, New York, NY: Lisa Stanton and Senior Analyst, Lindsay Ross, will attend.
  • Nov 7-8 – Building Resilience 2019, Cleveland, OH: Director of Advisory Services, Yoon Kim, will speak on a panel about public-private partnerships.
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Copyright © 2019 Four Twenty Seven, All rights reserved.
Four Twenty Seven sends a newsletter focused on bringing climate intelligence into economic and financial decision-making for investors, corporations and governments. Fill in the form below to join our mailing list. As data controller, we collect your email address with your consent in order to send you our newsletter. Four Twenty Seven will never share your mailing information with anyone and you may unsubscribe at any moment. Please read our Terms and Conditions.
 

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Factsheet — Financial Climate Risk Regulation in the European Union

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

July 29, 2019 – 427 FACTSHEET. Regulation on climate risk in Europe is likely to have a rippling effect across markets globally. There has been key legislation in the past few months, with more action on the agenda. Staying up-to-date on these developments will provide early indications of regulatory action to come. This factsheet on regulatory developments in the EU provides key background to the EU’s sustainable finance agenda, outlines key actions and highlights upcoming dates to remember.

Since establishing the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG) in 2016, the European Union (EU) has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable finance. It has made rapid progress on integrating climate change into its financial sector, simultaneously addressing it from several angles, including risk disclosure, green bond labels, a taxonomy for adaptation and mitigation, and risk management oversight directives. As global financial actors operate, and are regulated, in Europe, EU regulations are likely to propel a development in best practices for addressing climate risk that reaches beyond the EU. Likewise, regulators and financial actors across the world are watching carefully as EU regulation may influence their own action. This factsheet, Financial Climate Risk Regulation in the European Union, summarizes the EU’s stance on the financial risk of climate change, notes key regulatory players and highlights recent and upcoming regulatory action applicable to financial markets.

Key Takeaways

  • The EC completed several milestones from its Action Plan in June 2019, including publishing updated nonbinding guidelines for incorporating climate risk into the non-financial reporting directive and releasing the Technical Expert Group report on a taxonomy for activities that contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation.
  • In April 2019, the European Parliament and Council agreed on text for regulation on disclosures relating to sustainability risks and investments, explicitly stating that climate change demands urgent action.
  • The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority have provided technical advice on proposed changes to oversight requirements, suggesting that sustainability be explicitly integrated into risk management, operations, investment strategies and governance.
  • The European Banking Authority will spend two years assessing environmental, social and governance risks and their management in the banking sector. The assessment will be used to develop a draft amendment requiring “large institutions” to disclose their risk and the disclosures will be required three years after the regulation is implemented.

Read the Factsheet.

Read Four Twenty Seven’s other Factsheets on Financial Climate Risk Regulation.

Factsheet — Financial Climate Risk Regulation in France

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

July 29, 2019 – 427 FACTSHEET. In 2015 France laid the groundwork for legislating climate risk disclosure with Article 173 of its Energy Transition Law, mandating that publicly traded companies and asset managers report on their physical and transition risks from climate change. Building on its track record as an early mover, France’s financial regulators are now actively involved in national and international endeavors to frame climate risk as a financial risk and determine the most effective response.  Staying up-to-date on these developments will provide early indications of regulatory action to come. This factsheet on regulatory developments in France provides background on France’s sustainable finance agenda, outlines key actions and highlights upcoming dates to remember.

France’s Art. 173 helped build support for the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures recommendations, prompted firms to begin disclosing climate-related risks early and set an example for other nations considering regulation on climate risk disclosure. Since this landmark legislation, French financial regulators have become engaged on addressing financial risks from climate change and the Banque de France was a co-founder and provides the Secretariat for the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), which is focused on propelling the transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy. By providing the Secretariat for the NGSF, the Banque de France identifies itself as a key player in international efforts to address climate risk. This factsheet, Financial Climate Risk Regulation in France, summarizes France’s stance on the financial risk of climate change, notes key regulatory players and highlights recent and upcoming regulatory action applicable to financial markets.

Key Takeaways

  • Banque de France was the first central bank to release an assessment of its climate risks in line with the TCFD and Art. 173, aiming to set an example of best practice for the French financial sector.
  • ACPR’s fall 2018 survey of the French insurance sector found that disclosures in Art. 173 reports varied between firms and lacked reporting on long-term climate strategies and yearly progress. ACPR made suggestions for insurers to improve their climate risk management based on this review.
  • In summer 2018, ACPR surveyed its banking sector on banks’ climate risk management, identifying “advanced institutions,” larger banks with ample resources that have integrated climate into risk management, and “wait-and-see” institutions, which are largely domestic, retail-oriented banks still focused on a corporate responsibility approach to climate change.
  • France’s stock market regulator, AMF, released a report asserting that climate change has been identified as a financial risk, it is still not sufficiently assessed by the market, and the regulator’s role is to inform and raise awareness on the topic.

Read the Factsheet.

Read Four Twenty Seven’s other Factsheets on Financial Climate Risk Regulation.

 

Factsheet — Financial Climate Risk Regulation in the United Kingdom

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

July 29, 2019 – 427 FACTSHEET. The Bank of England’s views on climate risk provide an indication of how the broader financial sector will likely approach the issue. The Bank propels this conversation by framing issues and convening stakeholders around the challenges and uncertainties of climate risk. With the integration of climate change into its insurance stress tests, the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) has shown that the Bank’s declarations are starting to influence regulatory requirements. Staying up-to-date on these developments will provide early indications of regulatory action to come. This factsheet on regulatory developments in the United Kingdom (UK) provides background on the Bank of England’s approach to climate risk, outlines key actions and highlights upcoming dates to remember.

The Bank of England has been on the forefront of acknowledging climate change as a material financial risk since before it was commonly discussed in the financial sector. Its Governor Mark Carney coined the term the “tragedy of the horizon” in 2015 referring to the economic risks of climate change. Since then, the Bank has become known for emphasizing climate change as an urgent threat to financial stability and financial regulation in the UK is beginning to reflect this stance. Paying close attention to developing perspectives at the Bank will help prepare financial actors for future regulatory changes to come. This factsheet, Financial Climate Risk Regulation in the United Kingdom, summarizes the UK’s stance on the financial risk of climate change, notes key declarations and highlights recent and upcoming action applicable to financial markets.

Key Takeaways

  • The PRA included scenarios for physical and transition climate risks in its “Scenario Specification, Guidelines and Instructions” for life insurance and general insurance stress tests released in June 2019.
  • In April 2019, Carney announced that banks and insurers will be “expected to embed fully the consideration of climate risks into governance frameworks, including at board level.” This was followed by a supervisory statement outlining these expectations and asking firms to have preliminary plans by Oct. 15 2019.
  • In May 2019, the PRA’s working group of insurance industry experts released a framework for assessing the impacts of physical climate change in the insurance sector and is seeking feedback by Nov. 22 2019.
  • The PRA and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) developed a Climate Financial Risk Forum, including banks, insurers, asset managers and other financial stakeholders, that will promote capacity building and knowledge sharing for responding to financial climate risks.

Read the Factsheet.

Read Four Twenty Seven’s other Factsheets on Financial Climate Risk Regulation.

Four Twenty Seven Wins Alternative Investment Award

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

JULY 8, 2019 – LONDON, UK – Four Twenty Seven receives Wealth & Finance Magazine’s Alternative Investment Award for Best in Climate-Related Economic Risk Reporting 2019. 

Wealth & Finance Magazine recognized Four Twenty Seven among the winners of their 2019 Alternative Investment Awards. For six years these awards have acknowledged firms and individuals that positively shape the industry’s growth. “Historically considered an undervalued industry, the alternative investment has grown over the past few years. Behind this prominent growth and success, are the leading lights whose innovation, dedication and inventive ways has delivered some award-worthy results,” Wealth & Finance writes.

The Best in Climate-Related Economic Risk Reporting award highlights Four Twenty Seven’s climate risk scores for listed instruments and on-demand scoring of real assets, that assess financial firm’s exposure to physical climate risk and inform risk reporting. Our analysis leverages best-in-class climate data at the most granular level and scores assets on their exposure to physical climate impacts based on their precise geographic location. Investors use this data to drive investment strategies, forward-looking risk management and TCFD/risk disclosures.

Newsletter: Bank of England Publishes First Stress Test for Climate Risks

Posted on by Natalie Ambrosio

Four Twenty Seven's monthly newsletter highlights recent developments on climate risk and resilience. This month we feature developments in scenario analysis for physical risks, highlight the European Union's guidance on climate risk disclosure and share the latest on financial climate risk and the need for resilience.
In Focus: Scenario Analysis for Physical Risk

Bank of England Publishes First Climate Risk Stress Test
Yesterday the Bank of England released specifications for integrating climate risk scenarios into its insurance industry's biennial stress tests. This "exploratory" exercise is an enormous step towards catalyzing a growing understanding of possible impacts of transition and physical climate risks on financial assets.

The guidance lays out potential impacts by providing sector-specific percentages of potential loss under three scenarios by sector and by region. These quantitative financial impact assumptions are not a projection but a starting point for the insurance industry to explore potential impacts of climate change on their portfolios.

The Bank of England leveraged Four Twenty Seven's analytics on climate risk exposure in equity and real estate markets to inform its assumptions about which sectors will experience the largest impacts. We explain how data on risk exposure in equities can be leveraged for this type of analysis in our new blog series on scenario analysis.

The Bank of England also recently released a practitioner's guide for assessing the financial impacts of physical climate change, to help the insurance sector address climate risks.

Blog Series: Scenario Analysis for Physical Climate Risk
Our new blog series provides our reflections on how corporations and financial institutions can integrate physical climate risk into scenario analysis. Scenario analysis for physical risk is fundamentally different from transition risk. Corporations and investors increasingly recognize the need to integrate physical risk into scenario analysis but are looking for guidance and best practices on how to proceed.

Our first blog focuses on the foundations, demonstrating how characteristics of climate science affect how climate data can be used to inform scenario analysis. We argue that because physical risks over the next 10-20 years are largely independent from policy decisions and emission pathways, investors would be better served by scenario analysis that focuses on the inherent uncertainty of projected impacts, independent from assumptions on GHG emission scenarios. 

The next blog focuses on Equity Markets, with concrete examples of how available data can inform financial stakeholders ready to start putting scenario analysis into action. We look at data on climate risk exposure by sector to explore how climate risk analytics can inform early developments of stress test assumptions, as done by the Bank of England.  
Read the Blogs
EU Technical Expert Group
Releases Guidance
Yesterday the European Commission released its final guidance on integrating climate change into corporate disclosures. This guidance applies to 6,000 companies, banks and insurers in Europe and maps to the TCFD recommendations. The guidance includes key recommendations from Advancing TCFD Guidance for Physical Risks and Opportunities, published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and GCECA last year, for which Four Twenty Seven was a lead author. 
The EU also released the Technical Expert Group (TEG) report on a taxonomy for activities that contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation. The taxonomy aims to help investors and policymakers understand which economic activities contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy, through both mitigation and resilience. It outlines qualitative screening criteria to identify adaptation of economic activities and adaptation by economic activities, providing activity-specific examples for a range of sectors. The proposed taxonomy is still under legislative review.
Second TCFD Status Report
While more firms are releasing TCFD disclosures, investors call for an increase in informative disclosure of the financial impact of climate risks. The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) released its second progress report earlier this month, emphasizing that the quality of risk disclosures must continue to improve as firms build their understanding and capacity to address climate risks. 91% of surveyed firms said they plan to at least partially implement the TCFD recommendations, but only 67% plan to complete implementation within the next three years. This progress must be accompanied by continued knowledge sharing and research on financial risk pathways for climate impacts, meaningful exposure data and best practices for reporting.

Even as TCFD reporting increases, quantitative assessment of physical risk exposure lags behind. Explore physical climate risk reporting by French firms in our analysis of physical risk in Article 173 reports and stay tuned for Four Twenty Seven's forthcoming analysis on physical risk disclosure in TCFD reports.
Investors Factor Climate Risk into Decisions
The past month has seen a flurry of news around the business risks of climate change and the financial sector response. CDP's annual climate change report estimates that 215 companies could incur around $1 trillion in climate-related costs if they don't prepare for these impacts. Companies expect these costs to begin accumulating in around five years. While some are not yet acting, others are, such as Japanese Hitachi Ltd preparing for increased rainfall in Southeast Asia and Brazilian Bank, Banco Santander, considering how increased water stress may damage borrowers' ability to repay loans. 

Alison Martin of Zurich Insurance Group told a meeting of CFOs that physical risks such as drought, extreme heat and flooding will be "incredibly meaningful." She emphasizes that the first step in integrating climate change into planning is for a company to understand its risk exposure. Meanwhile investors say they are increasingly factoring physical climate risk into their decision-making to minimize their risk and increase returns. Four Twenty Seven's on-demand scoring of real assets and analysis of asset-level risk in equity portfolios enables both corporations and investors to understand their exposure and strategically address physical climate risks.
Devastating Impacts Call for Preparation

Catastrophic Midwest Flooding Has Rippling Impacts
At the end of May only 58% and 29% of the U.S. corn and soy crops had been planted respectively. After persistent flooding beginning in Mid-March, inundated fields delayed planting. This means that some farmers will miss the planting window, which closes in June due to the heat and dryness of later summer months.
Those crops that do get planted will have to overcome soggy soil conditions and will remain at the peril of the summer's weather. It's already clear that this will be a below average crop yield, which translates into  more expensive corn in cattle feed and higher prices in grocery stores.

The Climate Connection
While the Mississippi River continues to swell, extreme precipitation has recently hit Houston and the Southeast with damaging floods. The past 12 months have been the wettest on record for the U.S. The national average of 37.7 inches since last June is 7.7 inches above average. 
A weak El Niño likely contributed to increased rainfall, but climate change also plays a role as warmer air holds more water. This month also saw record high temperatures in the western U.S., caused by a bulging jet stream making warm air flow south to north. While this does happen naturally, it may be happening more often due to warming ocean waters. This jet stream activity also contributes to other extreme events like the Midwest flooding.

The Need to Rethink Preparedness
From floods and heat waves to fires and hurricanes, federal recovery efforts for extreme events have cost almost half a trillion dollars since 2005. As disasters become more common and costs increase, there is an urgent need to invest in resilience proactively rather than spending billions on recovery. Last fall's Disaster Recovery Reform Act made an
important step by allowing FEMA to use a small portion of its disaster relief funding for risk mitigation ahead of disasters. However, this is the start of what must be a systemic shift in addressing extreme events. “If we don’t want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on recovering for disaster, we need to spend tens of billions [on resilience],” Four Twenty Seven Strategic Advisor, Josh Sawislak, told Bloomberg.

"There is a silver lining to our climate challenges — economic growth. Americans are very good at innovating and building and we can leverage our need to be more resilient by growing the economy with good resilient and sustainable jobs," Sawislak wrote.
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