Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently touted the potential benefits of the Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2019, which would require public companies to disclose key information about exposure to climate-related risks.
On Wednesday, the legislators reintroduced the bill, which was initially presented last year, as a means of aiding investors in assessing climate-related risks, accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner and more efficient energy sources and reducing the risks of both environmental and financial catastrophe.
“We need bold, comprehensive climate action,” Casten said. “Public corporations must take responsibility for the large financial risks posed by the impacts of climate change while embracing the economic opportunity of being global leaders in developing a clean energy economy. Our bill utilizes market mechanisms to incentivize climate action by ensuring that corporations disclose the risks posed by climate action to the benefit of their shareholders and the public.”
Warren said it is time to address corporations that pollute the environment and ask taxpayers to pay.
“I’m reintroducing the Climate Risk Disclosure Act again to give investors, and the American public, the power to hold corporations accountable for their role in the climate crisis,” she said.
The legislators said data determined a major climate-related disaster could trigger severe economic impacts. A recent Moody’s Analytics report reflected climate change could create tens of trillions of dollars in damages to the world economy by the year 2100 and will universally hurt worker health and productivity.