Despite U.S. Retreat From Paris Agreement, Shareholders Require Climate Change Assessments

In the midst of President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, shareholders are demanding greater transparency regarding climate change risks. While publicly-traded companies are often adept at disclosing boilerplate climate change risk factors in their security filings, investors are beginning to demand more as evidenced by a recent, successful stockholder resolution mandating that Occidental Petroleum Corp. produce a report detailing how climate change threatens its business. This is the first time that shareholders of a U.S. oil company have successfully required a climate stress test, and it could not have come without the support of both state pension funds and asset managers.