Earth Equity News

Investors Press for Disclosure of Tar Sands' Climate Risk. By Terry Macalister, London Guardian, September 15, 2008. "F&C Management, the UK's oldest investment trust, has teamed up with a group of U.S. and Canadian fund managers to halt Wall Street financial regulators softening the rules on tar sands, arguing that new rules should take account of the carbon impact of reserves disclosed by oil and gas companies. The move reflects changing attitudes among mainstream investors [about] the impact of commercial activities that could worsen global warming and is aimed at discouraging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from allowing energy firms to include carbon-heavy tar sands in their reserves submissions to the regulator. Elizabeth McGeveran... [of] F&C said it was important for investors to be able to assess accurately the risk profile of reported reserves at a time when governments around the world were taking an increasingly hard line on carbon pollution. 'The energy consumption required to extract a barrel [of] Canadian tar sands is very different [than that of] a barrel of crude from the Gulf of Mexico. Understanding climate risk will assist investors in understanding and evaluating reserves,' she said."