Stand Up for Sustainable Investing & Corporate Climate Action
Institutional Investors and Businesses Reaffirm Commitment to Sustainable Investing and Corporate Climate Action
DATE
We the undersigned companies and investors from across the nation proudly represent the backbone of the U.S. economy. We take seriously our role as business leaders and stewards of our client’s or beneficiaries’ assets and make decisions in the interest of our stakeholders.
We remain wholly committed to sustainability and addressing the financial impacts of climate change because we factor relevant considerations in our business, investment, and risk management decisions that have a material impact on our own operations and investments. Climate change poses a threat to the safety of our communities and the long-term value creation of the economy. Rising global temperatures are contributing to extreme weather, deadly heat waves, excessive drought, crop failure, rising sea levels, and other economic and public health catastrophes. Failure to address these growing threats will wreak havoc on our workforces, supply chains, business models, and capital markets. We are already seeing the consequences: extreme weather damages reached more than $165 billion in 2022, a staggering sum that is only projected to grow moving forward.
Likewise, neglecting the robust economic benefits of the clean energy economy — and the substantial public and private investment opportunities that are necessary to achieve this shift — would represent a failure to build a stronger, more resilient U.S. economy and a betrayal of the interests of our stakeholders, shareholders, beneficiaries, customers, and the communities where we do business and live. Indeed, researchers have found that strong climate action will bring tens of trillions of dollars in additional value to the global economy along with millions of new jobs in the coming decades.
Our consideration of material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors is not political or ideological. Incorporating these issues into financial decision-making represents good corporate governance, prudent risk management, and smart investment practice. We factor financially material considerations, including the impacts of climate change, into our standard investment and risk management decisions, in order to protect our operations and our investments.
We re-commit ourselves to prudent consideration of material factors relevant to the sustainability of business, including the economic impact of environmental changes and the corresponding need to reduce emissions. We support policy and regulatory action consistent with the Paris Agreement. Doing so will allow us to better preserve the performance of our companies and our investment portfolios, to help ensure our ability to deliver strong returns for our shareholders and beneficiaries long into the future, and to build a prosperous, resilient, and competitive U.S. economy.
We look forward to working with you to advance strong and effective policies to support these shared goals.
Sincerely,
Company and Investor Names (Not CEO’s)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Please contact Stephanie Erwin at ASBN (stephanie@asbnetwork.org) with further questions.
Background Reading:
BlackRock: Energy Investing: Setting the Record Straight
Bloomberg: One-Time Trump Appointee Helps Spark Sweeping ESG Backlash
Bloomberg: Anti-Woke Republicans Aren’t Making Business Sense on Climate
The Hill: ESG Shows Free Markets Are Working
The Hill: Most Voters Don’t Want GOP to Punish ‘Woke’ Companies
Wall Street Journal: ESG Investing is Consistent with Fiduciary Duty
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