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LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A common set of rules on company
disclosures is needed to help markets price in risks from
climate change, a senior Bank of England official said on
Friday.
It is the latest call from the financial sector to harmonise
standards globally so that investors can better compare and
track how companies are shifting to a lower-carbon economy.
Currently, regulations and rules vary widely across the
world, detailing what information companies need to provide.
"Disclosing your plans can improve your credit rating,
broaden your investor base, reduce your cost of finance, and
economise on the fixed costs of meeting increasingly vocal
investor requests for information," the BoE's executive director
for markets, Andrew Hauser, told an Investment Association
online event on Friday.
Three key building blocks were needed to achieve the goals
of cutting carbon emissions, Hauser said.
Standard setters needed to agree on a single, mandatory
framework for companies to disclose risks from climate change,
he said.
More tools were needed to provide incentives for green
investment, and consensus on terminology for asset-allocation
strategies to provide a "clear and credible" choice for
investors, Hauser said.
"For much of the past decade, those three building blocks
have been slow to develop, or vulnerable to charges of
‘greenwashing’ or projects, vehicles or investment strategies
that are ‘green’ in name only," Hauser said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Andy Bruce, Larry King)