NEWSCORP HEAD CALLS FOR REGULATION ON EMISSIONS DISCLOSURE

James Murdoch, Chairman/CEO, Europe/Asia NewsCorp: “Information is power.”

Some companies might lose investors if it was known they generate more GhGs than entire nations and are doing nothing to change it. Investors might withdraw for environmental, moral, ethical or religious reasons.

Example: How can a committed, pro-life Christian fundamentalist own stock in a coal company that is destroying the mountains to get at coal and destroying the earth’s atmosphere by burning it?

Example: How can a smart investor - knowing a cap-and-trade system that will constrain the generation of GhGs is coming - make a long-term financial commitment to a coal company?

Murdoch, NewsCorp: “Shareholders need disclosure to understand risk. Employees deserve it. Partners will expect it.”

Disclosure, Murdoch convincingly argues, can also be an opportunity to appeal to investors and streamline operations.

Murdoch, NewsCorp: “Saying we can tackle climate change without public-company disclosure is akin to thinking obesity can be solved if people do not weigh themselves.”

He argues for a policy measure in the next UK climate change bill to mandate disclosure: “As we move to a cap and trade scheme, we need to be prepared for the new lower carbon economy that can emerge from the global financial crisis. To make significant reductions in greenhouse gases it is essential to engage the private sector as soon as possible, to drive the world towards that new economy.”

Mandatory disclosure of GhG emissions is an interesting policy initiative. In the U.S., it might be an effective interim measure, a bridge to stronger climate change legislation like a cap-and-trade system or an emissions tax.

Pretty progressive stuff for a Murdoch from NewsCorp.

The CDP 2008 Report

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Carbon disclosure should be mandatory by 2010
James Murdoch, November 16, 2008 (UK Financial Times)

WHO
James Murdoch, Chairman/CEO, News Corporation - Europe and Asia; Rupert Murdoch; Bill Clinton; Angela Merkel;

WHAT
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is the resource through which companies’ global climate change policies and greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) are made public. It offers the companies the opportunity for self-evaluation, investors the opportunity for critical evaluation and innovator an insight into the outcome of different business practices.

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WHEN
- This is CDP’s 6th year.
- Much of the data published by CDP had never been collected before.
- April 6, 2012: Deadline set by the Brown government to require all UK businesses to disclose their GhG emissions or explain the delay.
- 2010: Murdoch advocates requiring disclosure by all UK businesses 2 years sooner and mandating it in the upcoming UK parliament climate change bill.

WHERE
Imperial College, London, Centre for Climate Change Research: biologists, physicists, meteorologists and anthropologists collaborate to better understand global climate change and develop solutions (example: building intergratable thin film solar technology).

WHY
- In pursuit of solutions, some companies are collaborating with rivals or working in new sectors (example: IT businesses working with car companies).
- The CDP collates GhG data disclosed by some of the world’s biggest companies.
- The CDP has published GhG data for 1,550 groups, representing $57,000 billion (€45,200 billion, £38,700 billion) of investor assets and 1/4th of all man-made GhGs.
Transparency about GhGs is essential to predicting a company’s viability in a carbon-constrained economy.
it is in companies self-interest to know their carbon footprints.
- Example: By joining CDP, Wal-Mart discovered the refrigerants in its grocery stores generatre worse emissions than its truck fleet and is moving to rectify.
- Example: Fox Home Entertainment learned the climate impact of a DVD’s manufacture and distribution and was able to reduce it.
- The Aldersgate Group, a coalition of companies and environmental groups, has proposed an internationally consistent framework for disclosure.

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QUOTES
- James Murdoch, Chairman/CEO, News Corporation - Europe and Asia: “Recently I met members of Britain’s Olympic cycling team and was struck by the way they had used data to analyse and improve their performance. This team, a source of pride for the nation, focuses relentlessly on the pursuit of measurable, second-by-second improvements – the difference between winning and losing. Information has turned them into winners.”