Missing lens: markets must put a price tag on the climate risks that companies face
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Investors in Indian markets react instantly to quarterly earnings, oil prices, elections or monetary policy signals. A weak monsoon can move food stocks. A geopolitical crisis can rattle the rupee within hours.
Yet climate risk, one of the biggest long-term threats to India’s economy, barely shows up in how markets price companies and assets. This is becoming harder to justify.India is among the world’s most climate-exposed major economies. Heatwaves are getting longer and more extreme.
Floods are becoming more frequent and expensive. Water stress is worsening across industrial regions. Coastal infrastructure faces rising risks.These are no longer distant environmental concerns.
They are business risks that have already started affecting their operations, supply chains and productivity. The World Bank has repeatedly warned that climate change could affect labour output, agriculture, infrastructure and living standards across India. The Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged that climate-related shocks can threaten financial stability.
Yet Indian markets still behave as though these risks sit somewhere in the distant future.Consider the disconnect. A factory operating in a water-stressed industrial cluster may still attract capital at roughly the same cost as one with more secure access to water. Real-estate projects in flood-prone cities continue to command premium valuations.
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