Dr.Ben Meng, EVP, Chairman, Asia Pacific represented Franklin Templeton at the 27th session of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27). Held between Nov. 6 and Nov. 18 in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh, this year’s event was attended by close to 40,000 people. Conference themes included decarbonization, energy transition, innovative solutions, pro-climate finance and nature and biodiversity.
“I was honoured to represent Franklin Templeton at COP27,” Ben said. “With our firm’s 75-year legacy of forward progress for our clients, it was fitting that we speak on behalf of the investor in these global discussions on the role of finance in achieving climate goals.”
Ben participated in two discussions during the conference. In A Session on “Climate Accounting: What Are We Still Missing?” Ben and other panellists discussed why so few highly emitting companies consider the impacts of material climate-related matters in preparing their financial statements.
The panel agreed that it is essential for corporate accounts to be open and accurate about a company’s carbon intensity, and that today’s financial reporting does not adequately reflect the scale of the climate challenge or its material impacts on companies’ financial accounts. To help mitigate climate change, they agreed capital must be shifted away rapidly from carbon-intensive activities.
Ben commented “Financial data disclosures are mandatory, audited and standardised. But when it comes to climate risk information, things are far from ideal. There are no clear international standards yet, and not all the jurisdictions have made it mandatory—yet. I highlight ‘yet’ because there is positive momentum in getting data related to climate risk disclosure.”
During an official side event titled The Investor Agenda: Scaling Up Investor Climate Actions to Achieve Net Zero, panellists explored how investor climate action plans can help make net-zero investment portfolios a reality.
Beyond direct investment decisions, Ben described Franklin Templeton’s efforts in policy advocacy, one of the reasons for signing the Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis.