Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2016
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

The Climate Custodians

By: Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:18
ShareBar

Abstract

Can custody banks become key players in climate change? Custody banks joining the battle against climate change will signal a significant shift in governance ideology for this highly regulated industry so critical to the global financial system. While global custody banks provide the unseen but essential support system that ensures the proper functioning of the capital markets, they have great untapped potential to become change-makers in climate change. This paper expands on our idea of the "Climate Custodians" first presented in the MIT Sloan Management Review within the governance context of the "Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality (The Statement)" for these subsidiaries of large bank holding companies. By focusing on the Big Three global custody banks—State Street, BNY Mellon, and JPMorgan Chase—we make the case for large custody banks assuming the role of climate custodians. In this role, these banks would report, among other things, a measure of carbon embedded within their institutional clients’ assets under custody to help clients understand the climate risk in their portfolios.

Keywords

Pollutants; Climate Change; Capital Markets; Investment Banking; Institutional Investing; Policy

Citation

Eccles, Robert G., and Tim Youmans. "The Climate Custodians." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-138, June 2016.
  • SSRN
  • Read Now

More from the Authors

    • 2015
    • Faculty Research

    Integrated Reporting for a Re-Imagined Capitalism

    By: Robert G. Eccles and Birgit Spiesshofer
    • 2015
    • Faculty Research

    Materiality in Corporate Governance: The Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality

    By: Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans
    • 2015
    • Faculty Research

    Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

    By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim
More from the Authors
  • Integrated Reporting for a Re-Imagined Capitalism By: Robert G. Eccles and Birgit Spiesshofer
  • Materiality in Corporate Governance: The Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality By: Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans
  • Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.