Resource Database

CFOs and finance function professionals may perceive sustainable business initiatives and reporting as outside the scope of their external reporting responsibilities and too burdensome. As a result, this work has fallen on a separate, sustainable business or corporate responsibility team outside the CFO function. Members of the finance function, however, have unique and critical skills to contribute to make the work of the sustainable business team more complete, accurate, and business-relevant. Establishing an internal partnership allows the corporate finance and accounting team to serve as business partners for improved decision making across the enterprise.

Climate Risk is a complex topic for the Banking Industry, combining social and environmental aspects, and two distinct concepts of physical and transition risk. Several months of research have led to the identification of challenges that are impairing the sector from addressing this complex topic and effectively transitioning to ‘Greener’ financing models.

Thinking about ways to remediate these challenges, the conclusion was that one of the key success factors was to involve international authorities and regulations. The 7 principles described in this document propose a novel approach to do so.

The 2020 edition of the World Water Development Report entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation.

The scientific evidence is clear: the climate is changing and will continue to change, affecting societies mainly through water. Climate change will affect the availability, quality and quantity of water for basic human needs, threatening the effective enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation for potentially billions of people. The alteration of the water cycle will also pose risks for energy production, food security, human health, economic development and poverty reduction, thus seriously jeopardizing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2020 United Nations World Water Development Report focuses on the challenges, opportunities and potential responses to climate change, in terms of adaptation, mitigation and improved resilience that can be addressed through improving water management.

This paper outlines the top 10 risks to mining and metal companies, including the challenges associated with changes in energy mix.

This study develops a new methodology to conduct an energy transition risk stress test for financial institutions and applies it to the financial system of the Netherlands. The stress test is conducted by analyzing four severe but plausible energy transition scenarios. Each scenario is first translated into an impact on key macroeconomic variables and then disaggregated to a industry specific impacts by using industry-specific Transition Vulnerability Factors. The stress test results suggest that the losses for financial institutions in the event of a disruptive energy transition could be sizeable, but also manageable. Individual financial institutions can mitigate the risks for their portfolio by taking energy transition risks into account. In addition, policy makers can help to avoid unnecessary losses by implementing timely, reliable and effective climate policies. As stress testing energy transition risks is a relatively new field of study, future work could help to further refine the results.

CPA Canada sat down with Diane Larsen, partner at EY, to discuss her experience as an auditor and member of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Diane Larsen is a partner in EY’s Global Professional Practice with more than 30 years’ experience. Her role as an audit partner affords her a unique perspective on the TCFD. This interview gives a better understanding on how climate-related issues may impact financial statement audits and why it is important for auditors to understand the risk management and performance implications related to climate change.

This paper assesses direct global energy sector water use and thermal water pollution across a broad range of energy system transformation pathways to assess water impacts of a 2°C climate policy. The model framework is applied across a broadrangeof2°Cscenariostohighlightlong-termwaterimpactuncertaintiesoverthe21stcentury.

This article considers the issues surrounding climate change and the rail industry. Firstly, the role that railways could play in reducing overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and secondly, the effect of climate change on the operation of the railway in the next few decades and the adaptations that will be required.

This paper analyzes the global consequences of climate change to crop yields and production, and the associated risk of hunger linked socio-economic and climate scenarios.

This paper develops a new climate-impact model, the Global Impact Model (GIM), which combines future scenarios, detailed spatial simulations by general circulation models (GCMs), sectoral features, climate-response functions, and adaptation to generate country-specific impacts by market sector.

In this edition of the blog series on the implication of climate change for various sectors, Mantle explores the issues as they relate to power utilities. The TCFD identified electric utilities as one of the sectors potentially most affected by climate change with a wide range of possible financial implications. This blog explores climate change risks and opportunities for power utilities, discussing both the financial and non-financial drivers and translating them into decision-useful considerations.

This first entry in Mantle’s blog series explores the implications of climate change for various economic sectors and the organizations, and individuals within them. Climate change is recognized as a global challenge and a “threat multiplier” to other existing challenges. Climate change’s magnitude can make it seem like an overwhelming topic, especially if all you want to know is what the next steps should be for your organization or your specific role. Throughout this series, Mantle delves into the significance of climate change for particular sectors, discussing both the financial and non-financial impacts, and translating them into decision-useful considerations to provide clarity on relevant issues and help propel internal discussion and management of climate-related risks and opportunities.