The Financial Stability Oversight Council warned about the risk climate change-driven extreme weather poses to the financial system for the first time in its annual report to Congress last month. “Increased frequency and severity of acute physical risk events and longer-term chronic phenomena associated with climate change are expected to lead to increased economic and […]
Progressives are sounding the alarm about a recently launched right-wing campaign that seeks to preempt green investment policies throughout the United States by portraying the financial sector’s potential turn toward clean energy as discriminatory—and introducing legislation that would punish banks and asset managers for divesting from fossil fuels. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams The Koch-funded American […]
Climate justice advocates suspended fellow activists from 15-foot-tall tripods in Toronto’s financial district on Tuesday, blocking entrances to the Royal Bank of Canada’s corporate headquarters as part of a campaign to pressure the nation’s five biggest banks to “stop funding climate chaos and injustice.” By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams “Bankers’ business-as-usual… is destabilizing the climate, destroying biodiversity, and violating Indigenous […]
Over 450 of the world’s banks have committed to a new initiative at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference which is designed to decarbonise their investments. Overseen by former Bank of England supremo Mark Carney, the banks and other financial institutions signing up to Gfanz (the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero) are pledging to […]
As the ongoing COP26 climate summit draws attention to the financial institutions that enable fossil fuel companies to keep wrecking the planet, a pair of progressive U.S. senators on Friday introduced a bill that would force big banks to stop pouring money into the destructive industry. By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams The Fossil Free Finance Act, sponsored by […]
After months of waiting, environmental groups responded with disappointment tinged with outrage late Thursday after the White House released a report on the financial risks associated with the climate crisis—a document critics say would have been promising at some earlier point in history but that falls “pitifully” short given the urgency of the crisis and just […]
Despite needing to “play a critical role in catalyzing the rapid shift of financial flows away from oil, fossil gas, and coal,” 12 major central banks “have instead tinkered at the edges,” according to a report released Tuesday. By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams The new analysis (pdf) from two dozen advocacy groups including Oil Change International (OCI) examines financing and policies of […]
In the wake of publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report underscoring the imperative to quickly transition to a post-fossil fuel economy, activists in dozens of cities across the U.S. on Friday rallied outside the offices of major banks to denounce their funding of polluting projects including Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline. By Brett […]
In Germany and other parts of western Europe, floodwaters recently destroyed villages and wide swaths of farmland. It was the worst flooding the area had seen in decades. The death toll was nearly 200 people. German Chancellor Angela Merkel used apocalyptic terms to describe what she saw during her visit to the flood zone: “Terrifying.” “Ghostly.” “War […]
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play an important role in financing developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and protect against the effects of climate change, and 2020 was a critical waypoint for MDB climate finance. For one, it marked the due date for the climate finance targets many MDBs set in 2015. 2020 was also the […]
Developing countries rely on the availability of climate finance for their enhanced adaptation, as well as their mitigation actions and plans. As a result, finance communications based on forecasts — or ex-ante climate finance — should help developing countries understand what financial support to expect from developed countries. This information better enables countries to plan […]
Amazon Watch and Stand.earth revealed Thursday that major European and U.S. banks are at high risk of funding corruption, environmental harms, and human rights violations in the Amazon basin—along with exacerbating the climate emergency and escalating deforestation—due to their relationships with fossil fuel companies and traders. By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams The advocacy groups’ new report, […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) annually assesses the economic health of its 190 member countries, making recommendations to address macroeconomic and financial challenges through surveillance processes referred to as Article IV surveillance. By Valerie Laxton and Lauren Sidner World Resources Institute On May 25, the IMF — charged with securing economic stability and effective operation of the international monetary system […]
The climate crisis will affect every aspect of our society—the financial sector very much included. We no longer live in the stable climate that our economy was built upon. In fact, economists and major investors warn that the climate crisis already poses a systemic risk to our financial system. By Michael Brune Sierra Club The […]
In an effort to hold the United States’ development bank accountable for financing “climate-damaging” international projects, a trio of environmental organizations filed suit Wednesday over the Trump administration’s attempt to exempt it from a key federal government transparency law. By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams Congress passed the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) […]