Climate change poses the largest financial risk of our time.
Corporations face transitional risks, stranded assets and broken supply chains — but that’s just the start of it. At a societal level, the cost of extreme weather, rising sea levels and climate refugees is incalculable.
While the Biden administration will have an uphill battle embracing ambitious climate action without control of Congress, the president-elect can do much by simply aligning finance to address the risks associated with climate-fueling activities.
以下是三个金融杠杆，可以在美国促进清洁能源 - 有或没有国会。
1.使用财政部发出金融风险
珍妮特Yellen，Federal Resert的前负责人和拜登的选秀权前往美国财政部，是气候的朋友，她在母语的舌头 - 经济学中解释了它。
As head of the Treasury, Yellen could add a climate lens to the administration’s tax, regulatory and budget policies. The rationale is climate chaos can hit banks’ balance sheets hard, so governments should consider fossil fuel infrastructure aliability- “作为银行组织的风险。”
"What I see is a growing recognition on both sides of the aisle that climate change is a very serious concern and that action needs to occur," Yellen toldReutersin October.
Yellen是一个创始成员Climate Leadership Council, a policy institute that advocates for a price on carbon with bipartisan support, and she signaled there may be a carbon tax under Biden.
“我们需要排放排放，并且需要惩罚温室气体排放的价格，”Yellen在一个小组中说二月。“[气候领导委员会]赞成碳税，碳税将从约40美元左右开始。”
2. Employ the Dodd-Frank Act to protect consumers
In the wake of the housing crisis, Congress moved to protect consumers from risky financial practices, such as those associated with the subprime mortgage.
Enter the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010.
Among its provisions, the law empowered agencies — the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission — to limit systemic risks that could threaten financial stability.
Justin Guay, omnipresent climate activist and director for global strategy at the Sunrise Project, argues inGreenTech Mediathat this power makes the bill "one of the most powerful pieces of climate change legislation."
Through the power of Dodd-Frank, the Biden administration could slow fossil fuel projects and infrastructure (say, any of the235 natural gas plantsutilities are planning to build) by increasing capital requirements or lending terms from banks.
This wouldn’t be a stretch. The financial risks associated with climate change are well documented, even by the U.S. government, even under the Trump administration. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commissionissued a report9月份说，“气候变化对美国金融体系的稳定性和维持美国经济能力构成了重大风险。”
As Biden inherits a historically bleak economic climate, the money the U.S. government will inject into the economy will be subject to these rules. That means clean energy will become even more financially attractive quickly.
3.拥抱为投资者提供提示的政策优先事项
《出埃及记》的finance from fossil fuels to renewables already has begun — and itacceleratedduring the Trump administration, despite Trump’s support of dirty energy.
That’s because renewables are simplyperforming better比肮脏的能源。根据国际能源局，太阳能是“历史最便宜的电力”，燃料边际成本为零。结果，根据Wall Street Journal, is clean energy significantly outperform dirty energy stocks.
Increasingly, investors large and small aremoving their money清洁技术 - 原则和谨慎。今天，三分之一of all U.S. assets under management take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment analysis, a 42 percent increase over 2018. That feeds a virtuous cycle; the influx of capital drives the cost of technology down, which makes investments more attractive.
The Biden administration can accelerate this financial transition (even without the support of Congress) through regulations and executive orders. In addition to the actions from the Treasury Department and enforcement of Dodd-Frank that will make dirty energy projects less attractive to investors, Biden could create more barriers to new dirty energy projects, such asrestricting drillingon public lands.
此外，当总统说我们要去时，哪种投资者希望投资昂贵的基础设施transitionaway from it?
This essay first appeared in GreenBiz's newsletter Energy Weekly, running Thursdays. Subscribehere。
