Vice President Gore Addresses Global Warming Issues at State Treasurer Conference

Oregon State Treasurer Randall Edwards led the national conference in his role as president of the National Association of State Treasurers.

Al Gore

(WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia) - Oregon State Treasurer and President of the National Association of State Treasurers Randall Edwards today thanked Vice President Al Gore for accepting his invitation to talk to state treasurers about the financial risks behind global warming at the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) and College Savings Plans Network Joint Annual Conference in White Sulphur Springs, WV.

“Global warming is the most serious challenge that we face today around the world and in our individual states,” former Vice President Al Gore told financial industry professionals. “State treasurers have the unique capacity, through their influence on the financial markets, to positively affect the current climate crisis.”

For his presentation, Vice President Gore drew on his lifelong research of environmental issues and from his new film, An Inconvenient Truth.

“I’m grateful to Vice President Gore for his leadership in sharing his profound insights on global warming with this community of financial professionals,” NAST president and Oregon State Treasurer Randall Edwards said. “As state treasurers, we should note—and take measures to minimize—the negative impact global warming will have on our local economies. Let there be no doubt that global warming is real and that its implications are both a challenge and an opportunity for all communities, businesses and investors. If we have become so entrenched in our thinking and our culture that we cannot meet the challenge to improve our air, our water and make our businesses more efficient, then we lose a grand opportunity in the race for tomorrow’s innovations only to burden ourselves and our corporations with yesterday’s problems.”

As environmental issues have become more important in boardrooms and in Oregon’s investments, Treasurer Edwards has taken a larger role in calling for accountability and change from corporate America.

Treasurer Edwards, together with financial leaders around the world, first issued in 2003 a 10-point “Call for Action” demanding tough new steps by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corporate boards, and Wall Street firms to require increased analysis and disclosure of the risks posed by climate change to investors in leading companies. This group, now representing more than $3 trillion in assets, renewed their request to the SEC in 2005.

Treasurer Edwards was elected to serve as president of NAST for 2006. For more information on the conference, go to www.nast.net/pressrelease/keyspeakers.pdf.