"Banks Still Fail To Incorporate Climate Risks in Lending, Report Says"

"It's been more than a year since Boston Common Asset Management published a report on the financial sector's response to the climate change crisis. While it may not seem readily apparent how an industry with relatively low emissions from its own operations could be at risk, such a perspective fails to take into account the importance of Scope 3 emissions; specifically, in the case of banks, the emissions from their lending and underwriting portfolios.

'The banking industry has not successfully integrated climate change risk into its long-term strategic planning or understood the implications of this game-changing phenomenon for its business operations,' last year's report stated. As a result of its findings, Boston Common undertook the organization of an investor initiative that has since grown to include 80 global institutional investors with $500 billion in assets under management.

"Shareholders should urge banks to be more transparent about the climate risks embedded in their business models, and call for comprehensive action," Lauren Compere, Director of Shareholder Engagement at Boston Common, said at the time."

Robert Kropp reports for GreenBiz November 9, 2015.