In January 2023, Preventable Surprises hosted an online dialogue on climate finance and behavior. The week-long conversation was designed to increase our collective understanding of the role of people...

Scenario analysis has dominated the climate finance conversation since the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) integrated it as a core strategy in its 2017 recommendations report. The...

As the Financial Times reports that the world’s four largest asset managers now control 61% of the industry’s assets, we take a look at the relative influence of...

This article originally appeared in Climate 2020, the Path Ahead, and is reproduced with kind permission of UNA-UK and Witan Media. How can asset owners and investors evaluate...

Former insurance executive and climate change enthusiast Praveen Gupta has a message: people should know that Exxon’s plans for Asia are not in line with the Paris Agreement....

For those who say campaigning doesn’t work, just read Larry Fink’s 2020 letter to CEOs and its sister letter to clients, both coming hot on the heels of Blackrock’s...

The Brazilian, Bolivian, Peruvian and Venezuela Amazon have been burning to unprecedented levels, prompting what scientists have been arguing to be an irreversible tipping point. As the largest tropical...

No, this is not about Donald Trump. He is as much a symptom as a cause. Failure to provide leadership – or even just match benchmark standards – is far...

Preventable Surprises is starting a new programme to focus on the analogy between slavery and the climate crisis: https://www.ipe.com/analysis/long-term-matters/long-term-matters-exxons-agm-can-investors-learn-from-the-slave-trade/10031403.article This work is being led by Richard Barker and here...

Preventable Surprises hosted a private seminar in London on 16th May 2019 with the internationally recognised atmosphere scientist Katharine Hayhoe from Texas, USA. Katharine was in London to give...

As G7 leaders prepare to gather in Halifax this week, Preventable Surprises is pleased to share a new Discussion Note about the Canadian market. With Canada’s Expert Panel on...

Frankfurt Roundtable (18th June 2018) Frankfurt Roundtable Report PDF If you have time for nothing else, make sure you see Professor Rahmstorf’s Prezi – click here. Organizational affiliations are...

This is a note of roundtable held on 28 th May 2018 kindly hosted by RMA Asset Management. Organizational affiliations are shown for identification purposes only as participants were...

Boy: Grandpa! Grandpa: Yes, my boy. Boy: What is the global environmental crisis? Grandpa: Have you been listening to the news again? Boy: Yes grandpa. Please tell me what...

Preventable Surprises recently held its sixth online dialogue with a specific focus on the Asia energy utility sector, which is estimated to be responsible for more than 20% of...

Dear Investment Manager, Our company has committed to sourcing 100% of our energy needs from renewables to save money, to save the planet, and to protect our license to...

By committing to RE100, your company is part of an inspirational group of business leaders who are demonstrating that what is good for the planet is also good for...

New research by the 50/50 Climate Project into voting on climate friendly resolutions highlights the disconnect between public positioning of the largest asset managers and their voting behaviour. Axios...

Today we published ten open letters to the largest investment consultants asking for the nine who have not yet signed up to TCFD to act immediately. Willis Towers Watson...

When the Philadelphia Eagles won the Superbowl–after a 57-year drought–the outpouring of joy was magnified by the pride many felt in the “wokest team in the NFL.” The Eagles...

Among those rubbing elbows in Davos this week are the leaders of BlackRock, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, which manage $7.4 trillion between them. The trio represents all that...

The Climate Action 100+ is an admirable effort by institutional investors to step in where governments fear to tread. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, expectations were high...

Research and advocacy organization, Preventable Surprises, has today (Tuesday Dec 12) congratulated organisers of the Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) initiative for harnessing so much ‘financial muscle’ in the cause...

When the world’s two largest money managers, BlackRock and Vanguard, threw their weight behind a successful 2°C scenario resolution at Exxon last spring, the media hailed a shift in...

To be clear, when we say “more”, we don’t mean at the expense of a focus on fossil fuel supplier – simply that there should be a better balance...

Preventable Surprises Founder Raj Thamotheram argues that institutional investors have largely failed to make their voices heard in the climate debate. As universal owners of the world’s largest publicly...

Preventable Surprises recently concluded its fifth online dialogue, a three-day virtual gathering of 67 positive mavericks representing a cross-section of stakeholders in the responsible investing world. We put forth...

As Dickens said, the best of times, the worst of times. A whopping 62% of Exxon shareholders told the company to disclose its exposure to climate change risk. This...

Nearly half of the shareholders at Southern Company have a message for the Atlanta-based gas and electric utility company: Clean up your act! At Wednesday’s annual general meeting, 46%...

By Preventable Surprises Board Member Rich Pancost The challenges arising from growing carbon dioxide concentrations and climate disruption are clear to scientists and to the nearly 200 nations that...

The many organisations working to force utilities to confront climate change risk scored a major victory this week, when 56.8% of shareholders at PPL Corp. voted in favour of a...

Preventable Surprises warmly welcomes the focus CalPERS is giving to the issue of climate disruption as a risk to mainstream investors . We particularly welcome the support for the...

Investment firms that voted their clients’ proxies to increase transparency around climate risk–then reversed course last year when management at Exxon and Chevron opposed such measures–found themselves in an...

By Casey Aspin As AGM season approaches, so does the road to Damascus moment for asset managers that participated in the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure. They can...

As 2016 dawned, the glow of the Parisian accord still radiated among the many activists working toward a 2°C-compliant economy, Preventable Surprises included. We held an online dialogue in...

Climate-related risk is building throughout global markets, just as the contagion effect of excess housing debt led to the Global Financial Crisis. To fend off another destructive chapter in...

Using your voice as a shareholder By PS Chair Carolyn Hayman, OBE The divest-invest campaign has helped foundations focus on the contribution of fossil fuel producers to climate change...

Guest blog By Casey Aspin, Communications Director In the wake of Donald Trump’s election in the United States, those of us fighting to rapidly shrink greenhouse gas emissions are...

Short-term consultants needed to test transition planning guidance with energy utility companies and investors–£5,500 (Europe) $7,000 (North America) Preventable Surprises is a nonprofit ‘think-do’ tank seeking to accelerate the transition...

 A message from Preventable Surprises Chair Carolyn Hayman No one really knows what a Trump presidency will be like. Given his ‘man of action’ positioning, we may find out...

Proxy votes from the spring AGM season became public last month, drawing attention to the 60% of voters who supported climate-risk stress tests at non-US companies but reversed course...

The Centre for The Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge is holding a workshop on shareholder engagement strategies for the auto sector. The workshop’s goal is to develop...

This guest op-ed is from Professor Rich Pancost, organic geochemist, biogeochemist and palaeoclimatologist. Since 2012, he has been the Director of the interdisciplinary University of Bristol Cabot Institute, which...

Asset owners are, rightly, frustrated with how many investment managers actually “do” stewardship. Rather than engage assertively with managers about their stewardship performance, however, asset owners are outsourcing these...

Leading up to COP21, companies faced investor pressure to report on stress tests or scenario analyses that acknowledge the potential for regulations limiting global warming to no more than...

The individuals listed below have signed in their personal capacity. Organisational affiliations are shown for identification purposes only. Prof Michael ASHLEY, Department of Astrophysics, University of New South Wales...

Obama’s top science adviser, John Holdren, is right and wrong. Yes, we will need fossil fuels for some time and some (gas) could be better than others (if pipeline...

Bloomberg New Energy Finance and McKinsey have both concluded that a rapid take-up of electric vehicles will lead to a late 2020s peak in oil demand. This was part of...

Preventable Surprises has released its latest report “Climate Related Systemic Risk: A Guide for Investor Action Report“. This report takes investment decision-makers through key questions to consider on climate-related...

Here is some media commentary relating to the Missing 60% campaign: Prof Bob Eccles explains why Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard are well placed to lead the investment community in...

At the US Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in 2016, approximately 40% of investors voted in favour of resolutions asking for better disclosure of climate risk. In contrast, more than 96% of investors...

Despite some increase in votes for more transparency about the strategic engagement by energy companies with climate change challenges, investors have failed to send as clear a signal to...

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Commenting on Shell’s ‘below 2C’ climate change scenario, Preventable Surprises CEO Raj Thamotheram said:  Preventable Surprises strongly welcomes Shell’s ‘below 2C’ climate change scenario.  This recent statement is in stark contrast...

The Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) clearly wants to understand how the relevant industries tick, and also key challenges and potential solutions. You could...

Preventable Surprises will be watching carefully how investors stand on climate risk issues with respect to the proxy vote at the Southern Company on May 25th, 2016. In our...

Investors and others (regulators in particular) should want to do a careful “lessons learnt” exercise about this latest corporate implosion. Some questions they should ask include: How strong is the...

Some good news from the USA! The SEC have ruled against Exxon and shareholders will now have the right to vote on a resolution which asks the company to...

The Guardian reports on a new study by leading economists on the cost effectiveness of taking action to force the transition to a low carbon world. The paper, published in...

Global energy-related CO2 emissions stayed flat for the second year in a row, according to a report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Howard Covington, a senior...

Sir David King, UK Special Representative for Climate Change, spoke to the International Energy Authority this morning on what happens after COP21. While recognising the large implementation challenges, as...

A helpful publication from the CFA Institute on ESG investing has data from a very interesting survey of 44,000 CFA members conducted in 2015. This survey reveals the challenges...

I was rather surprised to hear the message from Paris that 1.5 degrees is within reach.  Not being a climate specialist, I talked with two of our scientific advisers,...

Finally, it appears the industry is hearing! But even now, there is no North American involvement in Oil & Gas Climate Initiative. This sectoral leadership group is definitely welcome –it...

More and more investment experts are now accepting that robust engagement is the most effective way for investors to help manage climate-related systemic risk. To deepen this momentum, Preventable Surprises...

The fight to keep global warming to less than 2C is such that we need all the allies we can find so the announcement by Bill Gates that...

First came the coal divestment campaign and now comes the call for a moratorium on new coal mines. Its advocates say it has the unique political and diplomatic upside...

Strategies for maximum impact This slide sbows the result of a survey of 77 investment and other specialist from 15 countries who were selected for being well informed about climate...

The EAPF’s new policy says that “Climate change presents a systemic risk to the ecological, societal and financial stability of every economy and country on the planet, with the...

Preventable Surprises strongly welcomes this leadership action on climate risk by PFZW, the second biggest pension fund in the Netherlands. Whilst institutional investors are divesting – which typically takes...

Equity portfolios may lose as much as 45 percent of their value due to shifting investor sentiment about climate change, according to a report by Cambridge University’s Institute for...

Last week at a gathering of Europeans for Divest Invest[i], of which my own foundation is a member, Christiana Figueres gave two clear messages1. The first was a positive...

“Mark Carney and the Bank of England have warned of the implications of climate change for the UK insurance sector. But the message is relevant for Canadians too and...

The CFA Institute recently commissioned market research into how investment professionals in different countries/regions consider ESG risks. The country level data shows remarkable variation, Canadian respondents, for example, coming on...

“Mark Carney has offered a worthwhile challenge to institutional investors: Become part of the solution to climate change by acting as fiduciary capitalists. Preventable Surprises applauds this call to action, and will...

We are delighted to see that Aviva, a major insurer, is supporting the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to study portfolio value at risk from climate damage.  As we described in our paper (“The...

CFA Institute thought leader Jason Voss highlights the on-going addiction of investment professionals to earnings estimates: Despite all the talk about long-termism and ESG, the figures speak for themselves...