A group of 22 state pension funds, environmental groups, and other investors are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public companies to report on their financial risk from global climate change.

The coalition--which includes Ceres, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, F&C Asset Management, and New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson--sent a petition on Sept. 18 to the SEC asking for more comprehensive disclosure of what it calls “climate risk” in public companies’ earnings and operations statements. Accounting for climate risk would mean detailing new regulatory costs and procedures, reporting on physical damage to facilities because of changing weather, and citing any shifts in demand for products or services related to climate change.

“The days are long past when climate risk can be treated as a peripheral or hypothetical concern,” the petition reads. “Companies’ financial results increasingly depend on their ability to avoid climate risk and to capitalize on new business opportunities by responding to the changing physical and regulatory environment.”

Specifically, the coalition, which manages more than $1.5 trillion in assets, would like to see detailed disclosure of physical risks material to financial condition, risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse gas regulation, and legal proceedings relating to climate change. The petition explicitly states that disclosure would be different for each company, depending on industry and operations.

While companies now are required to provide “material” information to investors, the coalition contends that corporate disclosures on climate change have been “scant and inconsistent.” The petition urges the SEC’s Corporation Finance Division to “begin closely scrutinizing the adequacy” of these disclosures.

The coalition pointed to ExxonMobil as an example of a company where more disclosure would be helpful for investors. The oil giant’s 2006 annual report noted that its worldwide operations could be affected from time to time, by factors like “laws and regulations related to environmental or energy security matters, including those addressing alternative energy sources and the risks of global climate change …” ExxonMobil’s filing mentioned the effects of severe weather, though it was not specifically tied to climate change.

Linking catastrophic events like hurricanes or wildfires to climate change can be difficult when trying to assess causation.

“I think the issue is partly [theoretical] and partly factual,” said David Snyder, vice president and assistant general counsel for the American Insurance Association (AIA), an advocacy association for property and casualty insurers. “There are many scientists who believe that it’s all linked; other scientists aren’t so sure.”

The AIA has not officially taken a position on the investor petition, but Snyder said that qualitative rather than quantitative disclosure on the material effects of weather events may be easier for companies to make accurately.

Environmental groups, including Ceres, have written to the SEC twice before--in 2004 and again in 2006--requesting more disclosure on climate change risks.

The SEC has not indicated what specific action it will take in response to the petition. "The SEC is committed to robust disclosure by companies of material environmental issues," commission spokesman John Nester told The Washington Post. "The key requirement for triggering disclosure is that the impact or potential impact will be material to a company and is therefore material to investors."