Newsletter: New On-Demand Climate Risk App

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 t o 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

Join the Four Twenty Seven team at these events:

Mar 9 - 11 – GARP Risk Convention, New York, NY: Global Director of Client Services, Yoon Kim, will present on climate risk for investors and Editor, Natalie Ambrosio, will host Four Twenty Seven's booth.
Mar 10 – Sustainable Investment Forum Europe 2020, Paris, France: Director, Europe, Nathalie Borgeaud, will attend.
Mar 11 – Moody’s Credit Outlook Conference 2020, Melbourne, Australia: Chief Revenue Officer, Lisa Stanton, will speak.
Mar 13 – Moody’s Credit Outlook Conference 2020, Sydney, Australia: Lisa Stanton will speak.
Mar 17 - 18 – Atlantic Council's Forum on Global Resilience, Miami, FL: Yoon Kim will attend.
Mar 18 – Business Roundtable CEO Innovation Summit, Washington, DC: Four Twenty Seven will host a booth in the Demo Village.
Mar 25 - 26 – Ceres Conference, New York, NY: Senior Analyst, Lindsay Ross, will attend.
Mar 31 – Sea Level Rise and Climate Change Conference, Miami, FL: Yoon Kim will present on climate risk in real estate portfolios.
Apr 1 – Corporate Climate Risk: Assessment, Disclosure, and Action, New York, NY: Lindsay Ross will speak about financial climate risk.
Apr 15 - 16 – Responsible Investor Tokyo 2020, Tokyo, Japan: The Four Twenty Seven team will present on risk disclosure and host a booth.
Jun 8 - 12 – Notre Dame Center for Accounting Research and Education Conference, Heron Island, Australia: Editor, Natalie Ambrosio, will speak.
Jun 9 - 10 – Responsible Investor London 2020, London, UK: Members of the Four Twenty Seven team will attend and host a booth.

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