Resource Database

This document contains an introductory note and a survey of the climate-related policies and practices that have been implemented or are under consideration by governments with regard to their investment treaties. The survey forms part of the 2022 work program on investment treaties and climate change.

Jurisdictions are invited to complete the survey using the Lime Survey application as described in this note by 14 December 2022.
Update: The date for responses was recently extended to 31 January 2023

This conference agenda includes descriptions of the themes and issues for discussion considered by governments, stakeholders and experts during an OECD May 2022 public conference.  The Conference considered a new topic —  the application of the art. 2.1(c) finance flows alignment under the Paris Agreement to the 2500 investment treaties in force, as addressed in a separate paper.  It also considered the impact of investment treaties on government “policy space” to adopt new regulations to achieve climate goals, taking account of specificities of the climate crisis.

The videos of the conference sessions on investment treaties and climate change are available here.

This paper considers art. 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement (finance flows alignment) and the 2500 investment treaties in force. Investment treaties (including investment provisions in trade agreements) typically provide covered investors from all economic sectors with insurance-type coverage for certain risks. The paper describes increasing climate disclosure requirements, the notions of financed and insured emissions, and the growth of public and private sector net zero commitments — including for insurance portfolios. The extensive finance flows associated with investment treaties, their climate impacts and the lack of alignment of investment treaty portfolios of covered investors with climate goals are noted.

The OECD held a public consultation on investment treaties and climate change in Jan.-Mar. 2022 to contribute to on-going government, stakeholder and expert work on those issues. This compilation includes the 40+ submissions received from scholars, stakeholders and others from around the world together with a link to the consultation document.   The submissions also provided background for a public Conference on Investment treaties and climate change in May 2022.

In the context of responding to the Financial Conduct Authority Consultation Paper 21/17 on implementing TCFD disclosure standards in the UK for fund managers and investors, this webinar considers the challenges and solutions including suitable metrics for real estate and associated disclosure standards under the EU SFDR.

These slides were presented during the webinar.

Financial sector risk leaders, risk managers, and board risk committees are increasingly aware of climate-related legal risks to financial institutions. In Canada, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has identified liability risk as a source of climate-related financial risk facing deposit-taking institutions, insurance companies, and pension funds. These risks include regulatory orders and/or fines, enforcement of securities disclosure and financial supervisory capital adequacy requirements, and lawsuits by investors alleging the directors failed in their fiduciary duties to manage material risk, among others.

Globally, financial risk arises for financial institutions as investors, government authorities, and civil society groups seek monetary damages from companies for alleged misrepresentation, breach of directors’ duties, tort/nuisance liability, or violation of securities laws for failure to disclose material financial risks. In some cases, firms are being held to account for historic and current contributions to global warming.

This executive note briefly examines a number of different types of liabilities that may arise for financial institutions, provides illustrative case examples, and offers ideas for effective governance.

This publication is the ninth edition of the research published annually by CSRone since 2013. Each year, the research team collects all corporate sustainable development reports, corporate social responsibility reports, or environment safety reports (collectively, hereinafter referred to as the “sustainability reports”) published across Taiwan, and establishes the analysis indicators according to the latest trends in sustainability and registers the collected information in the database accordingly. Furthermore, every year in March the team publishes the latest key findings as source of reference for industry experts, government officials, and academia in Taiwan.

A new report from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) prepared by the United Nations Global Compact and CDP, takes stock of corporate climate ambition in the Group of Seven (G7), an intergovernmental organization consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to a new legal opinion by Randy Bauslaugh, pension funds have a duty to understand and manage the financial risks and opportunities that climate change poses to funds and beneficiaries. Mr. Bauslaugh identifies the legal obligations of pension fiduciaries to consider and manage climate risks, as with any foreseeable financial risk, and discusses the practical approaches they might consider to meet their legal obligations and improve effective fund management of these risks.

This opinion was written in response to the Canada Climate Law Initiative asking Mr. Bauslaugh for his professional assessment of the legal obligations of Canadian pension fiduciaries regarding climate risk.

Two years after investors representing more than $11 trillion in assets called on six of the largest fast-food companies to mitigate climate and water risks in their meat and dairy supply chains, five of those fast food chains (McDonald’s, Yum! Brands, Chipotle, Domino’s and Wendy’s) have either set, or stated they will set, science based emission reduction targets (SBTs). Last year, only McDonald’s had set an SBT, and Yum! Brands had announced its intention to set an SBT. This rapid uptake of ambitious pledges in just one year shows the fast food sector is accelerating action on climate amidst rising pressure from investors. Despite this progress, further progress is needed on analyzing and mitigating water risks and performing climate scenario analyses as recommended by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Read this report to see how the six companies have progressed against investors’ requests.

Understanding the potential scale and direction of climate change impacts will improve the quality of estimates for the 2021 NSW Intergenerational Report (IGR) and contribute to prudent and transparent fiscal management.

This paper sets out an approach to assessing physical climate risks for the NSW Intergenerational Report and deploys this approach with respect to four initial areas of physical climate risk:
1. selected costs of natural disasters
2. property and land damage from sea level rise
3. the effects of heatwaves on workplace productivity
4. the effects of climate change on agricultural production.

This is intended to provide an initial analytical framework, evidentiary foundation, and reference case for long-term economic and fiscal risks. This approach provides a foundation that can be extended in the future to cover a broader range of climate risks and deeper analysis of the risks identified in this paper.

Computer-based models are valuable tools for investigating scenarios for aligning near-term actions and policies with long-term goals. This
issue brief provides guidance to nonexperts on what to look for in reading and evaluating studies that model climate mitigation