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By Ernest Scheyder
WILLISTON, N.D., April 17 (Reuters) - Calpers, the largestAmerican public pension fund, and nearly 60 other institutionalinvestors will ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionon Friday to require oil and natural gas companies to publishdetailed analysis of the risks posed by climate change to theirbusiness models.
The letter, also signed several U.S. state treasurers, asksSEC Chair Mary Jo White to require oil producers to publish"meaningful, substantive carbon asset risk disclosures," much inthe way they already disclose information on factors outsidetheir control, such as commodity and currency price swings.
Some oil companies provide general information already abouthow much they could lose if climate change worsens andregulation or cultural shifts reduce consumption. This letterseeks concrete details about how they reached those conclusions.
Calpers and other investors will tell the SEC more specificsare needed to better gauge whether to invest in the sector,according to a draft letter seen by Reuters.
"I would be surprised if companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron are not doing some kind of internal analysisalready of what the impact on their reserves would be if wechange our fossil fuel use," said Shanna Cleveland of nonprofitCeres that worked with investors to craft the letter.
"It's that kind of information, the really technical,down-in-the-weeds information, that investors are trying to getto."
The letter was timed to coincide with the Monday start ofIHS CERAWeek in Houston, the world's largest energy conferencewhere major oil executives, politicians and regulators willappear.
With crude prices down more than half sincelast summer, pressure is on the sector to justify costly oil andnatural gas projects. Getting access to specific climate changedata, the investors hope, may show that the sector has a costadvantage to invest more in solar and wind projects.
The request comes the day after Calpers sponsored asuccessful shareholder resolution at BP's annual meetingthat requires the oil company to begin stress-testing itsoperations against climate change risks.
Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, saidlast year climate change poses little risk to its reserves, but agreed to start providing some information about how it arrivedat this conclusion.
"Fossil fuel companies can't acknowledge climate change andtheir role in it, but then act as if it won't affect them andtheir investors," said Thomas DiNapoli, New York's comptroller. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
