Corporate responses to climate-related risks: From disclosing public stance to aligning investment

拟议的研究项目将评估企业在气候变化问题上公开披露的立场的透明度，是否与之相匹配，部署具体措施来管理它们面临的相关风险，以及它如何影响它们的财务和运营业绩。它将侧重于能源部门的公司，因为它们直接面临与气候有关的风险，因为它们的业务具有特定的地点、基础设施和排放密集型性质。在这方面，它将考虑气候变化的实际风险，以及与向低排放经济模式过渡相关的风险。将特别关注硬措施，包括对某些类型的基础设施和技术的投资。为此，这项研究将探讨企业资本支出(CapEx)与低排放、气候适应能力强的转型的一致性，并分析气候相关风险在解释企业投资清洁技术和基础设施和/或剥离碳密集型资本的决定中的重要性。作为其核心目标之一，该研究试图促进制定术语和方法，以便能够有效评估企业对气候相关风险的管理，区分为应对有形影响而采取的措施和针对转型风险的措施。这项研究将推动气候变化政策、环境经济学和企业管理之间的跨学科学术思考，探索企业对气候变化的反应是否以及如何与传统的企业风险管理做法不同。研究还将向公共部门通报需要改进的关键领域，以创造有利的政策环境，使企业能够及时应对与气候有关的风险，以及公共部门在支持过渡方面的作用。它将进一步成为投资者和公司的分析来源，提供有关气候变化如何影响能源公司风险收益状况的信息。

The proposed research project will assess the transparency of companies' publicly disclosed stance on climate change, whether it is matched by deployment of concrete measures to manage their exposure to associated risks, and how it affects their financial and operational performance. It will focus on companies in the energy sector, in view of their direct exposure to climate-related risks, given the location-specific, and the infrastructure and emission-intensive nature of their operations. In this context, it will consider the physical risks of climate change, and the risks associated with the transition to a low-emission economic model. Particular attention will be attributed to hard measures, involving investment into certain type of infrastructure and technology. To this end, the research will explore the alignment of corporate capital expenditure (CapEx) with the low-emission, climate-resilient transition, and analyse the importance of climate-related risks in explaining corporate decisions to invest in clean technology and infrastructure and/or divest from carbon-intensive capital.As one of its central objectives, the research seeks to contribute to the development of the terminology and methodology to allow effective assessment of corporate management of climate-related risks, distinguishing between the measures taken to address physical impacts, and those targeting transition risks. The research will advance inter-disciplinary academic thinking at the interface between climate change policy, environmental economics and business management, exploring whether and how corporate responses to climate change differ from conventional corporate risk management practices.The research will also inform the public sector on the key areas for improvement to create an enabling policy environment for a timely corporate response to climate-related risks, and on the role of the public sector in supporting the transition. It will further constitute a source of analysis for investors and companies, providing information on how climate change can affect energy companies' risk-return profile."