Trump EPA Sued Over Refusal to Release Heartland Institute Communications.

Two environmental groups filed suit Thursday to force the Environmental Protection Agency to disclose its correspondence with the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that has led a years-long campaign to discredit climate science.

The lawsuit suggests that contact between the EPA
under Scott Pruitt and the Heartland Institute is more
extensive than previously known.

The complaint by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) suggests that contact between the EPA and Heartland has been far more extensive than previously known. An EPA Freedom of Information Act official told EDF last year that an agency search had yielded "between 200 to 600 records" of such correspondence, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Virginia.

"EPA's efforts to promote climate change deniers and undermine peer-reviewed science behind closed doors is not only a failure of its mission, it is illegal," said Kym Hunter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "The public has a clear and protected right to know what the EPA is doing and with whom they are communicating, including those pushing a climate-denier agenda.”

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Trump EPA Sued Over Refusal to Release Heartland Institute Communications.”

Sarah Barker in Shepparton on Monday night, on Radio National today

Minter Ellison special counsel Sarah Barker was in Shepparton on Monday night and today she was part of a discussion on Radio National.

Minter Ellison special counsel was in Shepparton
on Monday night at a Slap Tomorrow event
and today she was on Radio National discussing
similar financial risk and climate change. 

Financial regulators are urging companies to disclose what assets are at risk from climate change, warning insurers, superannuation funds and banks that they place their futures in jeopardy if they fail to understand the real risks of environmental and economic change.

Meanwhile, a Sydney based company that specialises in measuring risks from extreme weather and climate change on critical infrastructure and essential services is trialling a website to test the vulnerability of any property to coastal inundation.

Listen to the discussion on Radio National - “Climate risk.”

Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, says report

Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, according to recommendations in a new report by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

 A new report outlines how companies should disclose
 climate-related information in their financial filings. 

The TCFD report – part of a G20 initiative led by governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg – outlines how companies should disclose climate-related information in their financial filings, with the aim of allowing economies to properly value climate-related risks.

It recommends companies disclose all of their direct and and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and describe the risks and opportunities caused by climate change under a range of potential scenarios.

Read Michael Slezak’s story on The Guardian - “Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, says report.”