Marsh has called on firms to manage their carbon footprint more effectively in the wake of the Stern Review.
Warren Diogo, climate change expert at Marsh, commented: “Companies that are prepared for the far reaching impacts of climate change now will be in a better position to manage the physical and economic impacts predicted by the Stern Review and the more stringent international policy measures that may have to follow.
"As the UK and the rest of Europe looks towards broader climate related policy measures, including a furthering of the EU Emissions Trading scheme, companies that take steps to address their climate risks will find themselves at a significant advantage over their competitors.
"For proactive companies, climate change can be more of an opportunity than a threat.”
And climate change preparations have a major impact on investment decisions, said Diogo.
“A company that ignores climate risk may find itself burdened with higher compliance and energy costs, stuck with outmoded technology, mired in shareholder litigation, and risk damage to its reputation through being labelled as environmentally unfriendly.
"Of growing importance will be the way companies report and disclose climate risk and opportunities to investors. This needs to be done in a more transparent and standardised manner to meet investor expectations.
"As pressure grows for better climate risk disclosure there will also be opportunities for companies to demonstrate good climate risk management that could have a corresponding positive impact on share price and company valuation.”
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