OPINION: Instead of pouring money into destabilizing subprime mortgages, major financial institutions are bankrolling climate-warming fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, legislators and regulators pledged to ensure that the reckless banking giants that crashed our economy couldn’t do so in the future. And yet, just over a decade later, the same banks are at it again, and regulators have largely failed to recognize the urgent need for them to step in to rein in Wall Street before history repeats itself.
Just like the 2008 crash, the people who will be most affected by the economic effects of climate change are the people who did the least to cause it: communities of color and low-income communities in the United States and other industrialized countries, as well as the residents of developing nations.
In fact, despite voluntary moves toward greater transparency, financial institutions are actually increasing their support for polluting industries: total fossil fuel financing from banks in 2020 was higher than in 2016.
Regulators must also work to phase down financed emissions so that major U.S. banks truly align their portfolios with the climate targets laid out in the Paris Agreement and stop exacerbating climate risks. Regulators should impose higher capital requirements for riskier, high-carbon assets in order to make banks more resilient to climate risks and to remove incentives for financial institutions to make these kinds of investments.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Asia-Pacific markets set to trade cautiously following overnight losses on Wall StreetThe Bank of Japan is due to announce its monetary policy decision today and analysts say they do not expect any substantive changes.
Read more »
Wall Street weighed down by economy-sensitive cyclical stocksWall Street's main indexes fell on Friday, weighed down by cyclical stocks linked closely to the economy, as investors digested the Federal Reserve's decision to end its pandemic-era stimulus faster.
Read more »
Texas to build permanent border wall 'in a matter of days,' land commissioner says'In the coming days, we'll make an announcement in Starr County, which is in the Rio Grande Valley, where roughly 40 percent of all illegal immigrant apprehensions in our country occur,' Land Commissioner George P. Bush said.
Read more »
Young Dolph Remembered By Friends, Family at Memphis Street Re-NamingThe slain MC’s name, Adolph Thornton Jr., is now on a stretch of road near Memphis International Airport.
Read more »
A Florida couple saw bees coming out of their shower. A massive beehive of 80,000 was in the wall.A bee relocation expert removed a 7-foot-tall beehive containing about 80,000 bees from a family's bathroom wall in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Read more »