US senators pressure Treasury to get more aggressive on climate crisis
risks
Send a link to a friend
[September 26, 2023]
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and four other
U.S. senators are pressuring the U.S. Treasury Department to step up
oversight and offer more guidance to financial institutions on
addressing climate change risks threatening the U.S. financial system.
In a letter sent to the Treasury last week, Democratic senators Warren,
Martin Heinrich, Edward Markey, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeffrey Merkley,
as well as Sanders, an independent, welcomed the department's work on
the issue so far but called for "added urgency" given increasing risks.
The Treasury should act now - including through its role as head of the
multi-regulator Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) - to
address systemic risks becoming evident in a crash in coastal property
values, insurance market failures, and uninsurable wildfire risks, they
said.
"As climate financial impacts grow, the Climate Hub and Treasury must
pursue with added urgency all available measures to address the climate
crisis and its threat to the stability of our financial system," the
senators wrote in the Sept. 20 letter, which was first reported by
Reuters.
A Treasury spokesperson did not respond to any specific concerns raised
by the senators, but underscored the department's commitment to tackling
climate change.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/26/images/ads/current/lincolnprinters_sda_FOOTBALL_2023.png)
“Under Secretary Yellen’s leadership, the Treasury Department has been
at the forefront of addressing the climate crisis. From implementing the
clean energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act to unlocking
billions in public and private financing, combating climate change
remains a top priority for the department.”
The senators called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and newly
appointed climate counselor Ethan Zindler, a climate and clean energy
research executive, to do more to protect the U.S. economy from what
Yellen has described as the "existential threat" posed by climate
change.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/092623PIX/news_k82.jpg)
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at
the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2023.?
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/26/images/ads/current/chicagostreet_quarter_FAIR_2023.png)
Recent climate disasters and financial disruptions have underscored
the rising cost and impact of climate change, with one study showing
only 40% of direct weather-related costs suffered worldwide in 2022
were covered by insurance providers.
The senators said they were particularly concerned about nonbank
financial institutions, which also played a critical role in the
2008 global financial crisis, and said the FSOC should finalize and
immediately implement a new analytic risk framework for
climate-related financial risks.
The Treasury should also develop better climate risk scenario
exercises for banks, and ensure that all FSOC members can access
data gathered by Treasury's Climate Data and Analytics Hub under a
pilot project launched in July 2022, they wrote.
The senators welcomed the Treasury's new voluntary principles for
"net-zero" financing commitments, but said there were gaps in the
guidance and that the department should make clear all large
financial institutions should have a credible transition plan.
They also repeated earlier calls for stronger Internal Revenue
Service enforcement of rules on political activity by nonprofit
organizations, citing efforts by special interests to fuel climate
change denial, and investigations into how such funding could be
obstructing more action on the climate crisis.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, editing by Deepa Babington and Chris
Reese)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/26/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png) |