Today I want to talk about the urgent need to retool the financial system to address the threat of climate change, focussing on some of the major efforts now underway to move us more quickly in that direction.
These efforts show considerable promise, but I believe we are now in a crucial few months which will set the direction for years to come.
To make real progress, we must be clear-eyed about the obstacles we have to tackle, and how we might do so.
Today I am speaking as Chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the global organisation of securities market regulators. Our members fully recognise that an overarching challenge is how to reorient the information flowing through the financial system so that it better supports capital allocation and investment decisions to support a managed transition to a low carbon economy.
We are only too well aware that differing sustainability reporting standards, and the voluntary and high-level nature of many of these frameworks, have resulted in sustainability and climate change disclosures that are inconsistent and at times misleading. For securities regulators, this challenges our ability to meet a core objective which is to ensure that markets operate efficiently based on accurate disclosure of the material financial risks affecting businesses.
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