The WWF charity alongside the Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) have urged the Government to lay down new carbon disclosure requirements for oil, gas and power companies. With investors in carbon trading beginning to take climate risk more seriously, mainstream financial markets and investment practices are still failing to adequately take account of the long-term liabilities of carbon investment strategies.
The WWF and CFS are calling for new legislation requiring oil, gas and power companies to disclose their future carbon liabilities. This information should than be included in company financial reporting, which will then in turn allow investors to factor these risks into their appraisal strategies. The aim is to highlight the environmental and financial risks associated with unconventional fossil fuels such as tar sands, thus ensuring investments move towards projects that will not only provide a low carbon future.
WWF-UK’s Director of Campaigns, David Norman, said:
Industries like tar sands are a long-term lose-lose: the planet loses and the economy loses. The UK already has assets tied up in tar sands. Yet in the long run, money invested in tar sands is money wasted. With the Climate Change Act already in place, and a new global deal on climate change on the horizon, the world is going green. Carbon-intensive industries, and those who invest in them, will face ever-increasing carbon costs. This is a chance for government to take the lead and shape London as the centre of finance for our low carbon future.
