Monday 20 July 2020

Morgan Stanley ‘to become first major US bank to publicly disclose climate impacts’

Morgan Stanley claims it is to become the first major US bank to publicly disclose the climate impacts of its loans and investments.

The bank is to join the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) and its Steering Committee, which was set up in 2019 to standardise carbon accounting across the financial sector and focus "on the complex challenge of measuring financed emissions".

As well as committing to measuring and disclosing its approach to climate change risk and opportunity, the bank will also lend insights and expertise to help PCAF develop global accounting standards to measure and reduce the climate impact of all financial institutions.

Audrey Choi, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Sustainability Officer and CEO of the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, said: “We are excited to join PCAF and to support the important work they are leading to build a methodology for global banks’ efforts to track and measure climate change risks."

“We are very excited about Morgan Stanley’s leadership in sustainability and believe they will bring an important voice to our management group,” said Giel Linthorst, Executive Director of the PCAF secretariat. “As we work towards COP26, and a critical year ahead in aligning the finance sector with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, we believe that PCAF and member financial institutions will play an important leadership role in that work.”

PCAF’s 66 formal members currently represent more than $5.3 trillion (£4.2tn) in assets.