PGGM investment chief joins Bloomberg-led climate disclosure task force

Eloy Lindeijer, Chief of Investment Management at Dutch pension management giant PGGM, has joined the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the high-level group that is headed by former New York Mayor and data mogul Michael Bloomberg.

The task force was created by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, at the behest of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who chairs the FSB.

Lindeijer, a former senior executive of the Dutch Central Bank who joined PGGM in 2011, was in 2012 involved with the Enhanced Disclosure Task Force (EDTF), a collaborative effort of preparers and users of financial reports to enhance risk disclosures by large international banks.

He’s among a raft of new members of the TCFD recruited for the second stage of its work. Other leading names that have now joined include the likes of Bruno Bertocci, Head of Sustainable Investors at UBS and Stephanie Leaist, Head of Sustainable Investing at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) (full list below). Asset owners had previously been conspicuous by their absence from the panel.

The group’s first report at the start of April surprised observers with the revelation that it would develop recommendations about how institutional investors and asset managers should report their exposure to climate change risks. This was of interest because the TCFD’s initial remit was to develop voluntary climate financial disclosures for use by corporates.

“More effective disclosures will help to reduce financial stability risks by avoiding an abrupt re-pricing of financial assets as the impact of climate change becomes clearer,” the FSB said today.It said the membership includes a balance between preparers and users of financial disclosures, and comprises members from both financial and non-financial companies.

Members of the Task Force act in a personal capacity and the newcomers take the TCFD to 31 members from the original 22.

The new members took part in the recent meeting of the group in Washington on May 4-5, at which it was announced that its consultation will stay open until May 31. There will be further meetings on July 12-13 (New York), September 13-14 (Paris) and November 15-16 (London).

The new TCFD members:
• Bruno Bertocci, Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Investors, UBS
• Richard Cantor, Chief Risk Officer, Moody’s Corporation and Chief Credit Officer, Moody’s Investors Service
• Eric Dugelay, Global Leader, Sustainability Services, Deloitte
• Udo Hartmann, Senior Manager, Group Environmental Protection & Energy Management, Daimler
• Diane Larsen, Assurance Partner, Ernst & Young
• Stephanie Leaist, Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Investing, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• Mark Lewis, Managing Director, Head of European Utilities Equity Research, Barclays
• Eloy Lindeijer, Chief Investment Management, Executive Committee, PGGM
• Jon Williams, Partner, Sustainability and Climate Change, PwC