Climate Action 2017-2018

FINANCE
CLIMATE
TRANSPARENCY
IN FINANCIAL
MARKETS
Remco Fischer,
UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
62
One of the great challenges of the
next few decades will be to make
economic growth and social
development – and thus human welfare –
compatible with the stability and health of
the world we live in – or even conducive to
it. Achieving that requires nothing short of
greening capitalism: putting the marketdriven
energy, innovation and motivation,
which over the last centuries have forged
modern economies and raised hundreds
of millions out of poverty, at the service
of protecting the global commons. In that
ambitious context, the Financial Stability
Board’s (FSB) Task Force on Climate-
Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
and the recent publication of its Final
Recommendations Report now mark a
real and significant milestone of progress
(www.fsb.org).
The disclosure framework that the TCFD
provides, and the political impetus with
which it is provided, have the potential
to give an unprecedented boost to the
systematic integration of climate factors
into economic and financial decisionmaking.
They will boost the seriousness
with which investors and other
stakeholders consider the future viability
of business in their decision-making. They
will, of course, need to take into account
that tomorrow’s technology policy will be
radically diff erent from today’s as a result
of climate change.
Specifically, there are three core features
in the TCFD Framework that make it stand
out, and mark a new stage in the journey to
full disclosure of climate and environmental,
social and governance issues.
Firstly, it is true – as stated by
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank
of England and FSB Chair – that the
recommendations were developed by
the market, and for the market. It is also
true that the TCFD’s work has been
undertaken explicitly under the auspices
of the financial regulatory community. This
is the first time that international financial