LONDON: European investors managing assets worth more than £1 trillion ($1.28tr) are pressing top auditors to take urgent action on climate-related risks, warning that failure to do so could do more damage than the financial crisis.

The case for tighter auditing has been bolstered by public statements from regulators and accounting watchdogs highlighting the potentially systemic risks that climate change could pose.

In a letter sent in January to the so-called Big Four — EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC — the investors said they were concerned that climate change was being “ignored” in accounting and audits. The letter was seen by Reuters and its contents are being made public for the first time.

“The overarching thing is that we don’t want another financial crisis, and this could be a lot worse,” said Natasha Landell-Mills, head of stewardship at asset manager Sarasin & Partners, which is spearheading the campaign by 29 investors.

Auditors are not giving enough weight to a potentially rapid transition toward a low-carbon future as governments implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb climate change, they said.

The investors said they had decided to release the letter as they prepared to broaden their campaign by writing directly to the audit committees of leading oil and gas companies to demand they also take a more robust approach to climate risk.

They want auditors to challenge assumptions about long-term prices for oil and gas, which underpin shareholder returns.

“This time around, we need our auditors to be on the front foot and raise the alarm where executives fail to reflect foreseeable losses or liabilities,” Landell-Mills told Reuters.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) said on Thursday that its International Financial Reporting Standards do address issues related to climate change risk, even if they are not addressed explicitly.

“We would expect management to report on environmental and societal issues to the extent necessary for primary users of financial statements to form their own assessment of the company’s longer-term prospects and management’s stewardship of the business,” IASB board member Nick Anderson said.

EY said it was “committed to ensuring that the audit profession is able to continue to serve the evolving needs of investors, business, and the public interest”.

A spokesperson for Deloitte said it recognised that climate change posed a significant risk for its clients and factoring it into its “audit challenge”.

KPMG and PwC did not respond to emailed requests for comment from Reuters on the letter.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019