Climate activists have scored another win in an ongoing wave of court cases against governments. This time they targeted the bond market.
The federal government has agreed to acknowledge that climate change is a systemic risk that may affect the value of government bonds in settling a class action over allegations it misled investors.
In settling the case, the government agreed to publish a statement on the Treasury website acknowledging that as the impacts and costs of climate change on the Australian economy over the coming years are unknown, there was “uncertainty about whether the fiscal impacts of climate change may affect the value of Commonwealth Government Securities”.
Kathleen O’Donnell, who was among those who began the action against the government in 2020, said: “This is the first time a country with a AAA credit rating has acknowledged climate change is a systemic risk when talking about risks to government bonds.”“When I purchased these bonds as a 23-year-old in 2020, the government did not mention climate change. This was remarkable given that my bonds mature in 2050 and by that time Australia will be facing increasingly serious climate impacts.
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