Starting in 2025, large companies, banks and pension funds will have to report any risks that climate change has on their operations and how they might affect customers and investors. The U.K. is the first major economy to make climate-risk disclosure mandatory. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: The new requirements are part of the U.K.’s goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions within five years. Companies are expected to use guidelines from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a system designed by former Bank of England and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who is now head of ESG at Brookfield Asset Management and the UN’s special envoy on climate action and finance. While Carney initially encouraged voluntary reporting using the TCFD, he has more recently championed a push for global standards on mandatory climate-risk disclosure. The U.K.’s rules put it ahead of other countries, and Carney has warned they may end up scrambling to implement similar policies if they don’t start planning soon. He plans to have a strategy ready for regulators to adopt in time for the UN climate summit in November 2021.