LONDON - More than 200 of the world's largest listed companies forecast that climate change could cost them a combined total of almost US$1 trillion , with much of the pain due in the next five years, according to a report published on Tuesday .
Founded in the early 2000s, CDP - formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project - is a respected voice in a growing coalition of pressure groups, fund managers, central bankers and politicians who believe global warming poses a systemic risk to the financial system. The companies anticipated a total of US$970 billion in extra costs due to factors including hotter temperatures, chaotic weather, and pricing of greenhouse gas emissions. About half of these costs were seen as"likely to virtually certain".
Investor concerns over climate risk have risen sharply in parallel with an upsurge in climate activism in many countries as the heat waves, droughts, wildfires and super-storms fuelled by climate change have become harder to ignore. British-based CDP acknowledges that its research cannot provide a perfect snapshot of companies' thinking since a lack of mandatory reporting requirements on climate risk means it has to rely on whatever figures executives are willing to share.