LONDON (Reuters) – Larry Fink, chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, said on Tuesday he backed the UK’s recent move to make the reporting of corporate risk related to climate change mandatory, and urged the United States to follow suit.
“We welcome the UK Chancellor’s announcement yesterday (of) mandatory TCFD reporting,” Fink told the Green Horizon Summit in London, referring to the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, which will be required from large companies and financial institutions by 2025.
Also on Monday, the Financial Conduct Authority said premium listed companies would need to make the disclosures from January.
“The United States, for its part, should move faster so we can achieve greater global coordination.”
Examples of action could include U.S. regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking companies to provide clear, standardised climate risk information consistent with the TCFD requirements.
The Department of Labor could also make it “easier, not harder” for asset managers to integrate sustainability issues into their investment strategies, Fink added, referring to a recent, contentious move to curb such investing.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks should also bring climate risk into their prudential and supervisory oversight processes, he added.
As climate change drives a “tectonic shift” in capital allocation across the financial system, Fink said he welcomed the decision by the UK government to join the growing number of countries to issue green bonds.
“We see clear demand for such assets from investors worldwide.
(This story has been refiled to correct full name of Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Matthew Green; Editing by Jan Harvey and Bernadette Baum)
