Recently Ceres concluded that while large companies that register with the SEC have overall improved their climate change risk disclosures in recent years, more work needs to be done. Most public companies are still very vague about risks associate with climate change, despite the SEC’s directive issued last year.
Last year advocates for corporate social responsibility were abuzz over the Security and Exchange Commission’s directive that advised public companies to articulate any risks associated with climate change. The GOP Congress, however, wants the US business climate to lurch backwards.
Weather has had an ugly impact on the world so far this year. Flooding in Pakistan, Australia, and now Brazil have killed thousands. The flooding in Pakistan has caused even more misery in a place where millions of people already suffer; the Queensland disaster has covered an area the size of France; and now flooding in the state of Rio de Janeiro has killed at least 500 people.
Joining many national and local governments, Massachusetts has embarked on a goal of reducing greenhouse emissions. The plan is ambitious–25% below 1990 levels–and has attracted plenty of attention in the press. Supporters and detractors have had plenty to say about the initiative.
In case you missed it, much of the Balkans region has suffered from flooding, and in some areas, this has been the worst in over 100 years. Flooding has hit Albania and Montenegro hard as well.
The SEC is looking for an “investor advocate,” which intuitively seems redundant since the SEC is supposed to advocate for investors large and small. Nevertheless, the new posting could have a role the helping small investors who face all kinds of problems when dealing with financial services and investment advisory firms.
Should municipalities disclose their carbon footprints? According to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), such reporting is a no-brainer. CDP has already become the global carbon disclosure platform for multinationals and large corporations: 3000 of them reported their climate change related information in 2010, including 80% of the largest 500 companies in the world. That information in turn is sliced and diced by investors, stakeholders, and governments. Now CDP is focused on cities.
Al Gore has plenty of critics—I liked him more when he first ran for President in 1988 when he was barely of the age that qualified him to hold the nation’s highest office. His 150 second video gets straight to the point, and I suggest you watch it and vote No on Prop 23.
The National Rifle Association is a case study for political success. According to Robert Walker, the former President of Handgun Control, Inc., climate change advocates could learn from the NRA’s tactics.
While the American Power Act bill of the US is widely believed to have no chance of sailing through in 2010, it is pertinent to note its key provisions as future versions might carry several of its most important points.