Global Investor-Director Survey on Climate Risk Management

26 Pages Posted: 7 Jan 2021 Last revised: 12 Apr 2021

See all articles by Kristin Bresnahan

Kristin Bresnahan

Columbia University - Law School

Jens Frankenreiter

Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law

Sophie L'Helias

International Corporate Governance Network; Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance; LeaderXXchange

Brea Hinricks

Columbia Law School

Nina Hodzic

Allianz Global Investors

Julian Nyarko

Stanford Law School

Sneha Pandya

Columbia Law School

Eric L. Talley

Columbia University - School of Law; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: November 1, 2020

Abstract

Changes in the global climate are having profound impacts on business operations, governance, and organizational management around the world. Boards of directors are searching for ways to account for these changes as they help guide their organizations, and investors are increasingly concerned about how these changes might impact their portfolios. This global survey, conducted by a team of researchers at the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School and experts at LeaderXXchange, seeks to understand how — if at all — institutional investors and board directors incorporate climate-related issues in their investment decision making and their oversight responsibilities, respectively. It is among the first global survey of its kind targeting both investors and directors to probe their responses on climate risk management using two tracks aggregated in a single survey. The survey collected data on a broad range of topics, including demographic information of respondents and their views on issues such as materiality of climate change, training on climate change issues, disclosure of climate risks, climate risk management, board oversight and engagement and proxy voting on climate-related issues. We find a strong majority of respondents across groups rank climate issues high up on their list of important considerations. That said, climate issues appear to attract stronger attention among investors (as opposed to directors), women, younger respondents, and European respondents.

Keywords: climate change, renewable energy, corporate governance, corporate stewardship, risk management

JEL Classification: G30, G34, Q5

Suggested Citation

Bresnahan, Kristin and Frankenreiter, Jens and L'Helias, Sophie and Hinricks, Brea and Hodzic, Nina and Nyarko, Julian and Pandya, Sneha and Talley, Eric L., Global Investor-Director Survey on Climate Risk Management (November 1, 2020). Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 650, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3722958 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3722958

Kristin Bresnahan

Columbia University - Law School ( email )

435 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10025
United States

Jens Frankenreiter

Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law ( email )

Campus Box 1120
St. Louis, MO 63130
United States

Sophie L'Helias

International Corporate Governance Network

London W1B 1AH
United Kingdom

Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance ( email )

P.O. Box 506767
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

HOME PAGE: http://www.hawkamah.org

LeaderXXchange ( email )

P.O. 726 North Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.leaderxxchange.com

Brea Hinricks

Columbia Law School ( email )

435 West 116th St
NEW YORK, NY 10027

Nina Hodzic

Allianz Global Investors ( email )

555 Mission Street
Suite 1700
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

Julian Nyarko

Stanford Law School ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Sneha Pandya

Columbia Law School ( email )

435 West 116th St
NEW YORK, NY 10027

Eric L. Talley (Contact Author)

Columbia University - School of Law ( email )

435 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10025
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.erictalley.com

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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