Coal giant agrees to disclose climate risks

Coal mining company Peabody Energy Corp. has agreed to disclose the risks climate change plays to its business as part of a settlement.

Peabody, the world’s largest privately held miner, made the commitment in order to settle claims by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that the company misled investors by not talking truthfully about climate change.

{mosads}Schneiderman is hailing the agreement as an historic development, following eight years of investigation by his office into whether Peabody’s skepticism about climate change amounted to financial fraud.

“As a publicly traded company whose core business generates massive amounts of carbon emissions, Peabody Energy has a responsibility to be honest with its investors and the public about the risks posed by climate change, now and in the future,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

“I believe that full and fair disclosures by Peabody and other fossil fuel companies will lead investors to think long and hard about the damage these companies are doing to our planet.”

Schneiderman only publicly announced the Peabody investigation last week, when it was reported that he is also investigating Exxon Mobil Corp. for similar allegations that it misled about climate change.

In its own statement, Peabody emphasized that it agreed to nothing other than changing its disclosures to investors.