Activist investor and TCI Fund Management Ltd. head Christopher Hohn has urged Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to mandate that banks disclose details of their lending exposure to climate-related risk, the Financial Times reported.
"Failing to act risks endangering the long-term stability of the U.K. banking system. It may also expose banks to litigation for inadequate disclosure under existing law," Hohn wrote in a letter to Carney. A change in disclosure rules should be guided by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, a global initiative that urges companies to voluntarily disclose the potential effect of climate change on their business, he added.
Carney is a member of the taskforce, the FT noted. Hohn acknowledged Carney's efforts to raise awareness of climate-related risk, but said those "must now urgently be translated into concrete and mandatory actions."
Hohn said state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC should serve as an example, with its board acting independently to require borrowers to set out climate-related exposures, according to the report.
