Like the G20 Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones believes in the importance of evaluating the exposure of investment portfolios to transition risks. There are a number of metrics available for performing such an evaluation, as well as a number of inputs that can impact the results. As part of its Climate Risk Carbon Initiative, the Department of Insurance is presenting results from a threshold analysis prepared in conjunction with Mercer Investment Consulting LLC (Mercer).
With respect to the threshold analysis, the Department of Insurance and Mercer identified and classified the fossil fuel related securities owned by insurers. Insurer investment data was sourced from the annual financial statements as of December 31, 2017, and provided to Mercer for its identification and classification. In identifying and classifying the fossil fuel related securities, Mercer relied on third party data obtained via licenses from third party data providers, including MSCI ESG Research LLC and HIP Investor, Inc. (the “Third Party Data Providers”). Where information was not available from one of these Third Party Data Providers, Mercer relied on publicly available information or on information that was self-reported by insurers in a Department of Insurance data call conducted in 2016. The identification and classification of fossil fuel securities has also allowed for the presentation of year over year data. However, changes in holdings may be at least in part attributable to fluctuations in market values and not necessarily reflect changes in the number of fossil fuel securities held by insurers. There are also differences in third party data product coverage across years.
In connection with this analysis, the Department of Insurance, and Mercer are not acting as investment advisers, are not providing any investment advice, and make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any particular company, investment fund or other vehicle. The information contained in this website does not constitute an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities, commodities and/or any other financial instruments, or products or constitute a solicitation on behalf of any of the investment managers, their affiliates, products or strategies that have been evaluated. Further, neither of the Department of Insurance, Mercer, nor the Third Party Data Providers make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or correctness of data. The Department of Insurance, Mercer, and the Third Party Data Providers also do not warrant that the information is up to date or take liability for errors in third party data.
Source Attribution
To the extent applicable, the following source attribution applies to the information on this website.
©2018 MSCI ESG Research LLC. All rights reserved. Although the Department of Insurance’s information providers, including without limitation, MSCI ESG Research LLC and its affiliates (the “ESG Parties”), obtain information from sources they consider reliable, none of the ESG Parties warrants or guarantees the originality, accuracy and/or completeness of any data herein. None of the ESG Parties makes any express or implied warranties of any kind, and the ESG Parties hereby expressly disclaim all warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to any data herein. None of the ESG Parties shall have any liability for any errors or omissions in connection with any data herein. Further, without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall any of the ESG Parties have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.
© 2006-2018 HIP Investor, Inc., licensed from HIP Investor Ratings LLC. All rights reserved. HIP Ratings cover 121,000 investments, including 112,000 municipal bond issuers and 7,000 corporates globally.