Sally Fisk during a session on environmental and energy law at the New York State Bar Association annual meeting held Friday. Photo: Courtesy of the NYSBA

Climate change risk management increasingly is part of enterprise risk management for global corporations such as Pfizer Inc., said the company's assistant general counsel Sally Fisk on Friday at an environmental and energy law panel at the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association.

Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City with more than 90,000 employees and scores of factories worldwide, must contend with environmental impacts on its operations, workforce and supply chain, Fisk said. She is also chief compliance counsel for Pfizer's Global Supply Division and Environmental, Health and Safety Program. 

She spoke at the panel titled "Risky Business: Corporate Strategies for Addressing Environmental and Energy Challenges."

As an example of how severe weather events attributed to a changing environment can affect companies, Fisk said 2017's Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean had a $195 million financial impact on Pfizer because of its three manufacturing plants located in Puerto Rico, which was devastated by the storm, as reported in its 10-K Securities and Exchange Commission filing for the year.

She said Pfizer responded in part by doing door-to-door checks on employees and providing them with portable generators in their homes so that they could return to work. 

"Lawyers must help clients assure a climate-resilient supply chain," and also ensure that climate risk analysis is performed as part of due diligence in acquisitions, she said at the meeting.

Fisk cited a recent letter by global asset manager BlackRock's CEO Larry Fink to the CEOs of the world's largest companies in which Fink said that his firm would change its investment strategy to avoid investing in companies that present "a high sustainability risk." She said the letter has been influential among corporate leaders.

At Pfizer, she said, climate change risk is being assessed as part of its enterprise and business continuity risk management process. The company conducts operational risk evaluations to study those that have the potential to substantially impact the company. 

Climate change operational risk factors look at the external and operational, physical, legal and regulatory, market and technology exposures to harm, she said in a presentation for the audience at the well-attended event at the New York Hilton. The results of evaluations are reported to relevant leadership teams.

Fisk said the company has begun a project to incorporate future-climate modeling as well as historical data, such as projected sea-level rises, in computer models used in its risk management and planning as part of loss prevention.

In addition to her role at Pfizer, Fisk is a founding board member of NYC Climate Action Alliance, a nonprofit group dedicated to reducing the city's carbon emissions, according to her LinkedIn page.

The New York State Bar Association session addressed environmental and energy risks facing companies doing business in New York, including the impact of new regulations on carbon emissions, superfund toxic torts and issues surrounding legacy and emerging contaminants.

A different presentation on builder and owner development risks featured speaker Carl Hum, general counsel and senior vice president of the Real Estate Board of New York. He spoke about the expected costs for co-ops, condos and other housing developments from complying with Local Law 97, which set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in buildings in New York City. He said many older residential buildings may not be able to comply with the required emissions reductions by a 2030 deadline by retrofitting.