www.incr.com [2]

Risky business
More than fifty thousand investors in the US have got together to share their concerns about climate change. Their anxiety is palpable. They are, of course, talking about insurers, real estate investment managers and companies in key carbon-emitting sectors, for as this website under review sees it, "climate change may appear to be an environmental problem. In actuality, it's a problem that has significant economic and competitive risks and opportunities for companies'.

The website is ostensibly fighting against climate change, but its idea of success is the identification of measures that will keep investors happy, not ones that will reverse this frightening trend. Not surprisingly, therefore, the site identifies regulations as a major risk. The members of the web-based Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) after all collectively manage more than US $ 3 trillion.

There are also news articles on economic consequences of climate change, and downloadable publications by the organisation's coordinator CERES, whose motto is "for sustainable prosperity'. The ten principles governing CERES do make the protection of the environment a priority, INCR's ten point action plan aims to "sustain the viability of corporate assets'.