The US Treasury Department’s failure to act more swiftly to counter climate risks have been condemned by three US senators, who have urged Secretary Janet Yellen to appoint a new climate counselor to lead the effort.
In a letter to Yellen seen by reporters, the work done by John Morton, Yellen’s first climate counselor who stepped down in December was heavily criticized by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Edward Markey.
The senators expressed their concerns that nearly two years had passed since Treasury created a “Climate Hub” and named Morton to coordinate its strategies, but the results have been disappointing.
Although Treasury has dozens of people working on climate-related issues, including some in key senior positions, Yellen is yet to name a replacement for Morton.
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However, the central role the department had played in advancing the Biden administration’s climate agenda, including through passage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax incentives and work to better understand climate-related financial risks, has been affirmed by its spokesperson Julia Krieger.
Given Morton’s leadership on key initiatives, including $279 billion in clean energy tax credits under the IRA and in mobilizing capital for climate-friendly energy transitions around the world, another official at the department said the criticism he has been subjected to was “frustrating and unfair.”
The senators faulted Treasury’s leadership of climate efforts by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which identified climate change as an “emerging and increasing threat to U.S. financial stability” in October 2021 and also condemned Treasury for failing to use its power as the largest shareholder in the International Monetary Fund to halt lending that enabled fossil fuel expansion in other countries, noting that other countries were moving faster in the letter seen on Thursday.
They want Yellen to respond to over a dozen questions on Treasury’s efforts to mitigate risks posed by accelerating climate change to the U.S. economy.
Yellen had earlier this week told an advisory panel that climate change was already having a major economic and financial impact on the United States and may trigger asset value losses in coming years that could cascade through the U.S. financial system.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
