Systemic Climate Risk and West Coast Wildfires (Chris Merker, CFA Enterprising)

https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2020/11/09/systemic-climate-risk-and-west-coast-wildfires/

Is 2020 the watershed year when the world begins to understand the concept of systemic risk in our interactions with the natural environment? What explains the recent drumbeat of headlines in the financial press and the accompanying fund flows?

COVID-19 is one reason. The pandemic has accelerated interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and influenced government policy, economic activity, and markets in a dramatic, swift, and entirely global way. This is in marked contrast to climate change–associated systemic risk, the awareness of which has developed over a much longer time frame.

Author: Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

Christopher K. Merker, PhD, CFA, is a director with Private Asset Management at Robert W. Baird & Co. and executive-in-residence and co-director of the Marquette S-Lab. He is also founder and chair of the board of Water + Energy Forward, a green bank focused on market-based climate solutions. He holds a PhD in investment governance and fiduciary effectiveness from Marquette University, where he has taught “Sustainable Finance” since 2009. He publishes Sustainable Finance and is co-author of The Trustee Governance Guide: The Five Imperatives of 21st Century Investing.

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