Abstract
As the world works to build resiliency to the impacts of climate change, it is increasingly important that companies, in addition to communities, consider and manage risks from such impacts to their assets and infrastructure. Discussion of climate change as a financial risk presents opportunities to engage companies and their investors on climate-related issues. Coastal oil-refining operations, in particular, face tremendous risks from the impacts of climate change, which can damage or destroy coastal energy facilities, curtail or stop production, and inundate nearby communities. Here, five oil refineries’ risk to sea level rise, and climate change-enhanced storm surge is assessed for the present day, 2030, 2050, and 2100. Risk assessments are compared against the degree to which the five companies have publicly disclosed climate-related risk to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as recommended. Finally, suggestions are offered for better company consideration and disclosure of climate risks.
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Carlson, C., Goldman, G., Dahl, K. (2016). Stormy Seas, Rising Risks: Assessing Undisclosed Risk from Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge at Coastal US Oil Refineries. In: Drake, J., Kontar, Y., Eichelberger, J., Rupp, T., Taylor, K. (eds) Communicating Climate-Change and Natural Hazard Risk and Cultivating Resilience. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 45. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20161-0_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20161-0_19
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