Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A call to action for U.S. financial regulators – September 17th

Systemic risks have the potential to destabilize capital markets and lead to serious negative consequences for financial institutions and the broader economy. Climate change is  indisputably a systemic risk.  Climate is the largest, most all-encompassing system in the world.  Wide-ranging physical impacts now becoming evident, combined with expected transitions to a net-zero carbon economy and other socio-economic ripple effects,  are likely to manifest in both cumulative and unexpected ways and present clear systemic risks to U.S. financial markets — and the broader economy.

A recently-published Ceres report combines a clear explanation of the case for climate change as a systemic risk with a call to action to US regulators.  It is ground-breaking in breadth, with specific recommendations to eight federal-level regulators and state insurance regulators.  In July, the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Markets coordinated letters to the regulators from a broad-based and bipartisan collection of businesses, former regulators, former elected officials, nonprofit leaders and 40 investors managing a combined $1 trillion in assets.  The letters were a  next step in a multi-pronged effort to spur regulators to act on climate change, catching up to their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere.

Join CFA Society of Boston on September 17th from 1:00 – 2:30 pm for a conversation with Steven Rothstein, the Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and report lead author Veena Ramani about “Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A call to action for U.S. financial regulators“.   Our conversation will provide a concise description of the systemic risk of climate change, followed by a discussion of the recommendations in the context of the specific roles of the different regulators, and closing with actions investors can take.

Panelists:

• Steven Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets
• Veena Ramani, Senior Program Director, Capital Markets Systems, Ceres (Lead Author)
• Michael Greis, Principal, Riverbend Advisors (CFA Boston Host & Moderator)

View the webinar replay on the CFA Boston YouTube page.