What about credit rating agencies as a market actor to inspire climate resilience? Already, the 11 recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure — sorted into Governance, Strategy, Risk Management and Metrics/Targets — are sinking into the market. Many are turning to the credit rating agencies and asking them if they are even looking for information on climate risk and what they’re doing with any they find ...

In addition to risk, rating services assess municipal resilience that looks for:

  • Long-term management plans with adequately funded emergency funds
  • Proper insurance coverage for the climate related risks for the region
  • Deeper and more diverse economies

It seems we have the market signal we’ve been waiting for in the climate action community. This is a call to arms for all resilience brokers to build security, stability and sustainability in lower-resourced communities.

The key actions:

  • Get ahead of climate risk by making knowledge of it front and center for existing physical asset and future investment planning.
  • Collaborate among sustainability, risk, finance and insurance leaders internally and externally; climate change is no longer an issue to shift to the sustainability officer’s desk.
  • Through actions one and two, make sure that every investment is an investment for resilience, not just a few show ponies.

Read the full article about credit rating agencies assessing climate change risk by Joyce Coffee at TriplePundit.