Increasingly frequent and severeweather events are symptomatic of a wider shift in global weatherpatterns. The uncommonly destructive Atlantic hurricanes Harvey,Irma, and Maria are a few examples from the past year.

As the damages resulting from global weather trends compoundyear by year, international credit markets have begun to takeclimate change more seriously. Environmental and climate (E&C)risks—as well as opportunities—may affect an entity's capacity andwillingness to meet its financial commitments. Therefore, S&PGlobal Ratings incorporates these considerations into our ratingsmethodology and analytics. We factor projected short-, medium-, andlong-term E&C impacts into various analytical inputs used inour credit analysis methodology. And where these factors have amaterial impact, they can result in a change to the rating.