Financial regulators have not taken seriously their role in protecting the financial system from the imminent threat of climate change, argues this report from the Roosevelt Institute.
In order to safeguard financial stability amid the unprecedented economic transition necessary to reach near-zero emissions, they must guide the disinvestment in fossil fuel assets that will soon be defunct, the report states.
This paper discusses how the financial regulatory conversation has understated the severity of the climate crisis and ways in which the main regulatory policies under consideration are likely to fall short. It then lays out a path to respond to the crisis more effectively.
The paper contends that regulators’ inaction has been the result of a mischaracterisation of climate threats as ‘risks’ to be minimised, rather than as unavoidable harms. It calls for regulators to start orchestrating an orderly clean-energy transition that will close the wide gap between the financing of fossil fuels and science-based climate targets.
This page was last updated October 22, 2021
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