The petition to Congress reads:
"Pass the Climate Risk Disclosure Act."
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Climate change is one of the biggest economic threats the world will ever face. Yet under our financial system, companies are incentivized to ignore it completely.
The longer they wait to face reality, the greater the chances that all of us will face what Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called “a global catastrophe that will put the 2008 crisis to shame.”1
That's why Sen. Warren recently introduced the Climate Risk Disclosure Act. The bill would require companies to evaluate and report their climate risks, which would inform responsible investors and deter them from putting money into companies that don't manage them responsibly.
Our financial system incentivizes behavior that will lead to catastrophic climate change. Not only does the United States subsidize fossil fuel production, but it allows companies to ignore the harm they are causing to the climate and hide the ways that climate change could disrupt their business from investors.
The Climate Risk Disclosure Act would help change that. The bill would require every public company to disclose greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel assets, plans for managing climate risks and an analysis of how the company's value would be affected by climate change and climate policies.2 It would force companies to be transparent about their environmental impact and give investors the information they need to make responsible decisions about whether they want to invest in companies that are fueling climate change.
Under the bill, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) would set requirements for each business sector and enforce penalties on companies that don't comply. Although the SEC already passed a rule in 2010 that requires companies to include climate risks in their annual filings, the agency has not enforced it and companies have largely ignored the rule.3 We need Congress to take action.
Passing progressive environmental legislation like this today will be tough, but we don't have much time to lose. if we start building support for the Climate Risk Disclosure Act in Congress now, we can help make it a reality once progressives are in power.
To do that, we need to let our representatives know that we demand that companies be held accountable for the climate risks they are imposing on us all. Along with Sen. Warren, the bill is already co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz, Ed Markey, Sheldon Whitehouse, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Jeff Merkley.4
Tell Congress: Pass the Climate Risk Disclosure Act. Click the link below to sign the petition:
- Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action
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