Washington (Platts)--18Sep2007

A coalition of investors, state financial officials and environmental
advocates on Tuesday petitioned the US Securities and Exchange Commission to
require publicly-traded companies to disclose their financial risks related to
climate change.

     The 22 petitioners, organized by lobbyists Ceres and Environmental
Defense, represent more than $1.5 trillion in assets and include the
California Public Employees Retirement System, the California State Teachers'
Retirement System and state treasurers and comptrollers from 10 states
including California, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Kentucky, Maine,
Maryland and Florida.  

     The coalition wants the SEC to make clear that under existing law
companies must disclose material information related to their financial and
physical risks associated with climate change. Information on a company's
legal proceedings related to climate change should also be made available to
investors, according to the petitioners.

     "Our marketplace cannot properly function, our retirees' pensions cannot
be protected, unless investors' right to know is fully enforced," said
California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a board member of CalPERS and
CalSTRS, which together manage more than $400 billion in assets. 

     "We're asking the SEC to vindicate that right so investors can ensure
their portfolios reflect the risks and benefits related to climate change," he
said.

     Ceres said it had found that more than half of the companies in the S&P
500 Index do a "poor job" of disclosing their climate change-related risks. 

     SEC spokesman John Heine said the regulator has "no specific rule in this
area" of climate change-related risks. "However, companies are required to
disclose all material information," he said. 

     Material information is widely held to be information that investors need
to know in order to make an informed decision about an investment.

     The petition from the coalition comes a day after New York Attorney
General Andrew Cuomo released letters to five energy companies he subpoenaed
for what he said was their failure to disclose material information in their
2006 10-Ks filings with the SEC about their increased risks associated with
climate change. Cuomo is a signatory of the Ceres and Environmental Defense
petition to the SEC.