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DRAFT EMAIL
Subject: Our Town's Bonds May Be Leaving Investors — and Residents — in the Dark
Dear [Official Name / Title],
As a resident of [Town/City], I'm writing to share a new report that has real implications for our community's finances — especially with heatwaves, wildfires, and tornadoes causing record damage across the country right now.
The report, Can Investors Price the Risk? Assessing Municipal Bond Climate Disclosure and Financial Resilience, examined municipal bond disclosures across 20 major U.S. metro areas with high climate risk exposure.
Download the report here: https://ceres.org/municipal-bond-disclosures-analysis
It found:
33% of bond offerings studied made no mention of climate or extreme weather risk at all.
Only 12% included measurable climate targets; just 15% disclosed who's accountable for managing that risk.
Many municipalities already doing resilience work — like moving infrastructure out of flood-prone areas — aren't disclosing it, so they may not be getting financial credit for the risk reduction they've already achieved.
This matters to residents like me because clearer disclosure could help our town attract investors by giving them a better understanding of the risks we face and the resilience measures already underway, and because these bonds often run 20-30 years — squarely within the window where climate impacts are expected to intensify.
I'd ask that our town leadership review this analysis and consider whether our current disclosures reflect the risk that we are facing and the resilience work we're already doing.
Could this be added to an upcoming meeting agenda?
Thank you,