US ELECTIONS: Biden could use financial system against climate woes: activist

A Biden administration could do a lot to act on climate change without acts of Congress, such as adjusting the federal financial system to look at climate as a systemic risk similar to trade or currency risk, according to Mindy Lubber, CEO and president of Ceres, a nonprofit organization that works with investors and companies to address climate change and other sustainability issues.

Additionally, a new administration could bring the sheer size of the US government to bear in purchasing decisions which could have significant greenhouse gas emissions reduction impacts, Lubber said in a Nov. 11 interview with S&P Global Platts.

"The difference on climate is probably greater than any [presidential] transition I've seen in the last 20 to 30 years," Lubber said.

The federal financial system can be a powerful climate action tool, which is a strategy other countries have taken.

"The federal financial system needs to look at climate as a systemic risk not unlike trade risk, currency risk or inflation risk," Lubber said, adding "those risks need to be integrated at the Securities and Exchange Commission where we need to mandate the disclosure of climate risk, which the UK did as a country days ago."

The Federal Reserve Bank needs to work with the other comparable banks around the world to make sure the US Federal Reserve is integrating climate risk into their analysis and how they regulate banks and other enterprises, she said.

Additionally, the incoming administration could get started on their first day with getting the US back into the Paris Agreement on climate change goals. That alone would put us back within the global debate on addressing climate change, which requires global participation, Lubber said.

Regulatory action

There is a lot that can be done through formal regulatory processes at the administrative agencies, things that are not so radical that they would need massive policy changes that would need an act of Congress, she said.

Specifically, at the highest levels, the new administration could bring the sheer size of the US government to bear.

"If every decision made at every agency in the government factored climate into their purchasing, like making sure the next 10,000 vehicles purchased for the government are hybrids or fully electric vehicles and making sure that school buses or any bus or truck purchases involving federal funding are more climate sensitive, that alone could change things," Lubber said.

Additionally, the government could focus on selecting vendors that are looking at how to address climate concerns and how to act on them, along with how to deal with energy purchasing for the US government, she said.

"The kinds of things that can happen just from an executive order requiring cabinet-level secretaries to reduce their emissions through procurement are huge and that will be a big deal," she said.

The US is one of the largest GHG emitters and purchaser of goods and services in the world and the US government can make a difference just in what it purchases, Lubber said.

There are also multiple things on the regulatory front "whether it's fuel economy standards, methane standards or consumer appliance efficiency standards that will make a huge difference in overall US emissions," she said.

"We can make enormous changes without congressional battles. If in fact we change some of the Environmental Protection Agency rules and change federal financial market rules I think there is an enormous amount that can be done," Lubber said.

"We'd also like to see a [federal] price on carbon, but that will take an act of congress that will be controversial and could be debated for several years, but we don't have to wait for acts of congress to move eight or nine or ten major regulations forward that will make a huge difference," she said.