Investors Want Companies Like Exxon to Be Open About Risks Posed by Climate Change

Exxon Mobil finally agreed in December to disclose the risks climate change posed to its business after losing a landmark shareholder vote in the spring. But a growing number of companies are embracing this kind of disclosure without the threat of a messy proxy fight.In the last decade, it has become standard practice for companies to report their own environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions that accelerate climate change. Major pension and investment funds, however, are now demanding more from companies. Fund managers who have staked hundreds of millions of dollars want to know how climate change might affect those businesses, from supply chain disruptions to changing customer demand. Such disclosures, they say, would help investors better understand the long-term risks involved in investing in a given company.   Continue reading...