This technical bulletin highlights findings related to climate risk arising from research conducted by SASB as part of its standards-setting process. The bulletin provides an overview of where climate-related risk is likely to be present in a typical portfolio, and what types of risk are present, along with the financial implications. It also summarizes the quality of existing disclosure on climate-related risk by SEC registrants. Using this bulletin, investors may better understand the nature of their risk exposures in each industry, as well as in which industries that risk is likely to be uncompensated due to inadequate disclosure in mandatory SEC filings.

SASB's Technical Bulletin on Climate Risk is designed to help investors better understand, measure and manage their exposure to climate-related risk. The research finds that climate change affects 72 out of 79 industries (93 percent of the capital markets, or $27.5 trillion) but manifests differently from one industry to the next. Due to the ubiquity of climate risk, investors can't simply diversify away from it; instead they must focus on managing it-and on encouraging portfolio companies to manage it-in all its forms. The foreword to the guide, authored by former Secretaries of the Treasury Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, emphasizes the need for better disclosure. "If investors are to effectively evaluate climate risk, they need a far better understanding of granular, industry-specific climate impacts, with industry-specific standards by which to evaluate corporate performance on these issues. By adopting a set of industry-based market standards for disclosure, especially in SEC filings, investors will be able to accurately compare and contrast companies," they write. "This latest SASB bulletin is a good next step toward this goal, and offers for the first time a comprehensive guide to understand and measure the unique climate impacts across all industries of the economy."

SASB's Technical Bulletin on Climate Risk is designed to help investors better understand, measure and manage their exposure to climate-related risk. The research finds that climate change affects 72 out of 79 industries (93 percent of the capital markets, or $27.5 trillion) but manifests differently from one industry to the next. Due to the ubiquity of climate risk, investors can't simply diversify away from it; instead they must focus on managing it-and on encouraging portfolio companies to manage it-in all its forms.The foreword to the guide, authored by former Secretaries of the Treasury Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, emphasizes the need for better disclosure. "If investors are to effectively evaluate climate risk, they need a far better understanding of granular, industry-specific climate impacts, with industry-specific standards by which to evaluate corporate performance on these issues. By adopting a set of industry-based market standards for disclosure, especially in SEC filings, investors will be able to accurately compare and contrast companies," they write. "This latest SASB bulletin is a good next step toward this goal, and offers for the first time a comprehensive guide to understand and measure the unique climate impacts across all industries of the economy."

This publication serves as a roadmap for exploring and managing climate risk in the U.S. financial system. It is the first major climate publication by a U.S. financial regulator. The central message is that U.S. financial regulators must recognize that climate change poses serious emerging risks to the U.S. financial system, and they should move urgently and decisively to measure, understand, and address these risks. Achieving this goal calls for strengthening regulators’ capabilities, expertise, and data and tools to better monitor, analyze, and quantify climate risks. It calls for working closely with the private sector to ensure that financial institutions and market participants do the same. And it calls for policy and regulatory choices that are flexible, open-ended, and adaptable to new information about climate change and its risks, based on close and iterative dialogue with the private sector. At the same time, the financial community should not simply be reactive—it should provide solutions. Regulators should recognize that the financial system can itself be a catalyst for investments that accelerate economic resilience and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. Financial innovations, in the form of new financial products, services, and technologies, can help the U.S. economy better manage climate risk and help channel more capital into technologies essential for the transition. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5247742