As i mentioned, addressing these risks is critical. You make observations throughout even in the past five or 10 years about more extreme, frequent weather events. A lot of these institutions are doing work to manage climate risk but its important as was mentioned earlier. Climate change is not an issue that can be handled by the private sector or Public Sector alone. Its a problem of the comments have to Work Together and leverage each others tools and authorities and powers to address the issue in a uniform manner soi laid out a pretty clear vision. I had clear targets of what i wanted to accomplish. I was flexible in the sense that i gave the numbers very clear timeline of what i wanted to accomplish and i framed out the issues going across the board in terms of Financial Regulation and how we need to address everything from disclosures to stress testing to Data Organization at taxonomy to international coordination. We started the effort in earnest in november 2019 which was six months after i held a Public Meeting and did the organization will work to get a group together under the leadership of bombardment but the group started to come together in person and we dealt with covid which was a huge challenge. Stealing with issues at home in their personal life and professional life and after having severalconversations it was clear that group wanted to move forward and get this done knowing how important it was so we pushed forward. I focused on the issues at hand on the Climate Change risks that were facing and engaged the group with a clear vision and direction of what we wanted to accomplish with enough flexibility where they want to know they could Work Together, not get too much distraction from the outside from politics or outside input. They just worked together within the group and came up with a remarkable document which like you mentioned is the first of its kind and as i said earlier can hopefully be moved as hopefully 4 politics Going Forward commissioner, go ahead. Commissioner lee, the other information is in asian markets and facilitate capital formation. When it comes to climate risk the secs core Company Disclosure framework has received the most attention. I want to ask you about one component of that conversation. Could you talk about the need to enhance disclosure from Financial Institutions that are financing this and beyond disclosure one of the other levers at the sec as it disposal to address climate risk. Let me start with this. A standardized Company Disclosure framework is a crucial step and rightfully so. The fcc hasnt spoken on this issue since 2010 and then it was a formal position of guidance and a lot has changed since then in terms of what we know about science and the urgency of the issue. There has been an uptick in disclosure but its largely voluntary at this point that poses a number of challenges. At this stage its very clear theres a need for regulatory involvement. I mentioned that before turning to the more specific question of Financial Institution disclosure because i dont want to give short shrift. Theimportance of a standardized public Company Disclosure framework cant be overstated. Its it would be a huge step forward so that said its also very important to focus on Financial Institutions are financing carbon producing activities which is concentration of both risk and opportunity at financial up institutions that need to be better disclosed and understood. Their contributions are unique from those associated with individual companies as measured and managed, they require a unique and different approach. Not only do we need to be able to gauge finance the mission, we have parameters like those developed and provide partnership but weve been encouraged to see that at least one Major Us Bank is joining this International Partnership and volunteering in admissions disclosures but we need to make headway in this area and Financial Institution disclosure is important because of the magnifying effects of these institutions with respect to problems and solutions. You also asked about other areas where they intersect with these issues, in addition to public Company Disclosure and financed disclosures, yes there are additional areas but one, Investment Advice to be considered whether they need specific policies and procedures in place to ensure that their acting consistently with their own representations about how they approach climate and other investments. These could include governing how they will affect the climate preferences with respect to Asset Selection and the exercise of shareholders rolling rights from massive and growing markets. By their products leave confident and transparency around how climate and est matters, another area is credit agencies. Credit agencies are what are called and are sros, nationally recognized rating organizations. Many of these agencies incorporate client and climate and other esd factors so we need to ensure adequate transparency about how this risk factors are weighed and we need to ensure there is consistency in the application of those models. There are numerous areas where i think it directs Climate Change. That old assessment for thefcc. Director gruenberg , i can ask folks to keep muted for a minute. Director gruenberg, the fdic is one of the regulators responsible for ensuring the safety of the Banking System and agencies also charged with protecting depositors deposit insurance fund. How does Climate Change intersect with your agencys mission and are there regulatory and supervisory tools over time could be used too many climate related risk. Finally, theres obviously complexity and risk and could you address that as to the need to act decisively, the need to improve our understanding of these risks itself. Marty . The number of questions pulled it in there i think. First of all the fdic is fundamentally maintaining the publics confidence to work insurance as well as supervision. Climate change as we discussed today presents a fundamental threat to the longterm stability. So engaging with Climate Change and developing the understanding of the risks it poses and incorporating it into the fdics Supervisory Program as well as its deposit insurance is really a key challenge Going Forward and providing guidance now to our supervised institutions in regard to its. And i think you raise the key question. In this case i think we really need to chew gum and walk at the sametime. Weve got an enormous amount to learn in terms of understanding how Climate Change impacts financial risk. I think all of us are in agreement on the need for improved data and the ability to analyze the value and for the industry as well as our self in a greater appreciation. At the same time, we dont want to put ourselves in the spot of delaying actually moving to address these risks. And i think the supervisors and the industry together need to move forward frankly on both fronts. We need to enhance our understanding in regard to the risk but we also think we as supervisors need to provide guidance now to our regulated institutions and the institutions need to begin to engage now with those risks and i do think the argument is a key issue here. We really do need to expect particularly from the large Institutions Development of detailed plans to lay out the risk Climate Change poses to them and that will give agencies the tool to use in evaluating the risks to the institutions so theres a big agenda here. Its a complicated one and whats striking is we are really just beginning. The us is behind the curve and we really do have a lot of work to do. Indeed we do marty. Superintendent, the us is taking leading actions in this area, what actions should federal regulators be taking to make up for the lack of action over the last four years address the challenges your regulated entities brought to you. Thank you andres, a number of these have been articulated today. I know it is true as commissioner gruenberg said that we are behind. Were behind on the issues and we are behind the europeans but the good news is we can learn from the experience of the bank of england and banks as to what their road was because even when they initiated dialogue on this they took a tranny time to study and understand issues before engaging with industry laying out the steps that they were going to take. So i think its critically important as regulators, we are part of government and its importance not to allow ourselves to get bogged down in bureaucracy and ordinary delay matters because you do have to balance the unique and manage the risk. You also want to get right and so i think that if we engage with industries, we talk to each other, shes really been a leader here on disclosure its important because the data that we need is from many of the companies which may be Public Companies about what they are there experiences are and the financial Industry Needs that data so if the fcc is able to engender disclosure can help Financial Institutions get the rigor that they need and also help the regulators. There are other matters such as the departments waiver, the restriction that was imposed on the est like consideration to private pension funds, thats a message in the wrongdirection and i hope and trust that will be reversed. Its importantly its at the top. We tell our industries what is important and they listen. So the combined impact of all the regulators, federal and state to our industries combined with the foreign regulators because we have an internationally significant institutions that many of us oversee and we want to be aligned across the board and we can leverage out and have significantly more impact than we would have to if any of us was working in loan alone or not in combination thats what i am looking forward to the new year focused on Climate Change. I will stay with you for the next question as well. New york has taken bold actions this year. What can you tell us about your plans Going Forward through thenext year . Thank you so much. Were working on detailed guidance. We set out our expectations to industry said you have to focus what is the risk, how do you measure it, how do you mitigate . I think that through as part of your risk analysis, Business Energy and so on and not to forget some of the assets you may be invested in but to become stranded or isolated and orphaned and what is the impact going to be as well as with respect to your counterpart and now its our obligation to follow detailed guidance about what that means and how i should apply this and how youre going to move forward. We do have examination measures with respect to the Insurance Industry i look forward to developing on his next site as well i think if one were to look to the bank of england, one would naturally see all that passed. We may have an ability to move a little faster because of our agility and where estate of independence from a larger sort of government system. We dont want to get ahead of favorite federal regulators, we are talking with the Federal Reserve and im looking forward to it being impactful. Where the doing a number of learning sessions and we had a number of institutions sign up. Theres an appetite and thirst for understanding data is going to be key. Lets shift gears to the scary issue of Systemic Risk. Allison, you noted you think of Climate Change as a Systemic Risk to the Financial System and theres a growing consensusamong domestic regulators that believe the same. What about the nature of climate risk nascent systemic and how important is it for regulators to coordinate with one another domestically and internationally to makethis risk. Were seeing a growing recognition of Systemic Risk that is posed by Climate Change and that recognition comes from the Financial System and banks and international settlements, climate related Financial Disclosures and Market Risk Advisory Committee to the cftc to name a few. Kind of a good primer for how to think about Systemic Risk comes directly from the inlet where we are essentially lays out that Systemic Risk has been broadly characterized by three things. Shock amplification or the notion that a given shock to the Financial System could be magnified and propagate widely. Second propagation comes to a major part of the Financial System and third, this is the important piece that impairment causes spillover effects to the economy and itsincreasingly clear that climate risk as the potential to trigger that chain of events. Most importantly theres evidence that risk is currently not well understood , particularly with respect to long data access and some of this security, missile bonds among many others. So we all know that underpricing can lead to disrupt pricing in the markets. What could trigger that . Large were impressive climate events, important changes in environmental laws and policies or both. We may see gestating events that could trigger repricing rather than the steady and manageable shift towards inability that we would all like to see. We know that climate risk is unique in terms of the scope and complexity. There are environmental, social, economic and geopolitical dynamics at work interacting with one another in a way that makes them difficult to understand so all that i think combines to create the risk of shock to the Financial Systems with systemic implications and that makesregulatory cooperation domestically and internationally imperative. So as i mentioned we have to allowed regulators to come together and think about how to address risk internationally. We have the board standing on assessment of vulnerabilities. We have mechanisms for a National Collaboration which can look thankfully now to the new York Department of Financial Systems and has taken the lead thanks to superintendent left love for her hard work and im looking forward toseeing that detailed guidance. Were talking about specific global challenges werefacing and the need for a collaborative approach thats never been more clear. Rustin, one of the many excellent contributions of the cftc report was highlighting the need to focus on systemic shocks as well. Regulators analyze and address climate through these Systemic Risk lens but policymakers should also care about smaller and perhaps more immediate related shocks that disrupt regional economies. Can you talk about that perspective . Its interesting and marty alluded to this earlier about how the markets react to covid19 directly in the march and april period and when that happened we all had to deal with that very deeply and managing the changes in the volatility in the market in a short period of time. Its made me think of conversations ive had in years past of the onset how ive been thinking about this issue for a number of years and having conversations with academics or economists or market experts and talking at an initial level and in a high level what are their thoughts on the relationship between Financial Market risk and Climate Change and frequently i would get you know, its marginal at best. Its not necessarily clear that will happen. And really an unconvincing response is the best way to put it. I thought now post covid it would be interesting to ask that same group or a larger group if you and i think 10 years back if you asked these individuals what you think the relationship is between a Health Pandemic and Financial Market risk most would probably say its marginal at best i think weve learned above all else how Financial Markets and the economy really underpin everything that goes wrong throughout our country and that with any pandemic anything we face will have a direct impact on our economy and by proxy Financial Markets so your question directly, yes we can think about and commissioner lee spoke about this perfectly. We can talk about a lot of the comments and statements that were made in the m rack report, one of which was direct in saying Climate Change poses a major risk to the stability of the us Financial System and its ability to support the economy but lets think about the systemic shock and how Climate Change is in many respects very regional and were seeing that in the past few years whether its the forest fires in the west coast, living in the midwest and sort of agricultural heartland. Whether its hurricanes in the gulf coast, you have these shots to those regional economies and gives letters to borrowers to asset values, we will experience in the future compounding events, compounding climate events in these regions and how are these systemic shocks and potentially raised to a larger systemic shock across the entire Financial System so i thought that was a brilliant way for the issue to be framed the subcommittee because in many respects we have to be very cautious about what Climate Change is today and how its going to Financial Stability and Systemic Risk of its fuel back a layer or two and think about how Climate Change affects different geographies in different areas of our country and then add different hypotheticals and scenarios as we have seen in just the past year whether its a wet season in the midwest compounded with a wildfire season out west, what does that mean for the larger regional economies and how are they all connected . I mentioned this at the outset, a reason why i did a comprehensive report to the markets whether its at the state level, federal level, security futures and derivatives or bank supervision, everything is connected and our economy is connected and you have to be thinking about it that way in order to address this issue comprehensively and effectively so a very interesting term that was brought out by the report and one that will have lasting effects because it directly correlated to Climate Change and how its going to affect our economy and of course our Financial Markets. We seem to be learning the hard way we need to be proactive in that framing now your holding exercises to help. Director gruenberg, marty, you are the board member of the Financial StabilityOversight Council when you served as chairman of the fdic and given the Financial Stability with Climate Change, do you think what is the role in decisions and could office of Financial Research be deployed from a Research Perspective to help . I believe you are on mute. In many ways the f talk is made for this kindof issue and he does stretch across Financial Systems. It brings together all the federal financial regulators and what its worth noting that the state regulators are also is members of the fsoc and the commissioners are also members all the interested parties need to be engaged but i think that the thing to keep in mind about the fsoc and anybody whos served is aware of is its a little bit like herding cats. The fsoc, the treasury secretary carries the fsoc but the secretary doesnt probably shouldnt have the authority to order around these independent Financial Regulations. You really need to bring people together in a collaborative way and for that to be successful, it depends on individuals leading those agencies. To have a commitment of engagement on this issue. And to understand that success ultimately will depend on the ability of agencies to Work Together and i think if you have that , which i would be hopeful for Going Forward , i think the fsoc has a critical contribution to make here. The office of Financial Research as weve discussed, better data and research is essential to this effort. In some ways i think the potential of the ofr probably has been under realized thus far and i think with greater attention and perhaps investment it can play an increased role and theres i think all of these agencies are going to be investing resources in research and data for their particular part of the Financial System and collaborating with a lot of ofrs looking at the system across the board would have a lot of potential so i think fsoc is a great pool. The question is can we utilize it effectively. Marty, given the nature of our globally interconnected Financial System, how important is it for longstanding bilateral bodies the committee on banking supervision to address this risk in a coordinated fashion. Its obviously central and all of us would agree on that and the fact as you may know the boswell committee on banking supervision has a task force on climaterisk. A person from new york is cochairing it but the us has not thus far played the International Leadership role. Thats really needed and i do think the rest of the world will be receptive to and in fact is looking for it. And in all of these for whether its the boswell committee on banking supervision or securities area, Financial Stability boards from just an International Perspective to withstand the range of authorities is really critical for the us to play a leadership role and you really have to build up. Each of our agencies needs to engage. We need to work with one another. We have to collaborate across the us domestic agencies and then engage actively internationally and i think that will be a focus. I really do and theres a tremendous opportunity there and youre not going to get the total impact we need without those leaders. Lets stay with this International Theme for a second and ill ask a question for both commissioners lee and for commissioner ben. Which is the former bank of England Governor Mark carney has often discussed the hurdle to financial regulatory action and climate risk that he refers to as the tragedy of the horizon. Thats the idea that the worst effective Climate Change falls outside the traditional decisionmaking window for policymakers. What climate related lessons should regulators glean from the current pandemic as linda was mentioning and can those lessons help overcome this hurdle. Let me start. I know russ will have a lot of points to add to this but the question will be happening for some time so heres a few thoughts. The pandemic and Climate Change are both global problems and they dont respect National Boundaries but they both require us to Work Together and the pandemic has driven home and Climate Change is nodifferent. Also weve watched the effects of this pandemic that disproportionately as has been mentioned affects that population so we need to understand how these largescale problems have had affects and proactively take steps in recognition of that dynamic and then finally theres the pandemic, that government could knew could pose catastrophic risks and that brings home that we cannot afford to wait in the space of a known risk just because it contains significant moments of uncertainty certainly climate risk all. Unknown risk but uncertain in magnitude. To assess climate risk for 20 or 30 years ago we get for more incremental approach to addressing just as we had to do in reaction to the pandemic we can act proactively with respect to Climate Change. We know its real, we know its coming yet as we said we can help get the information into the systems thats needed for investors and for regulators in making decisions on how to disclose capital in those economies. That was well said, theres not much dad there but i would say one specific example and im going to give commissioner lee space but it from the Advisory Committee debate and some of the challenges we face and as commissioner lee pointed out disclosure is a youth part of this exercise and if not the most important. More information, better information, better allocation of capital, worker solution area the debate about disclosure is largely but not entirely falls on materiality and the current standards of the ftc and this is the way i look at their question and how we need to rethink climate risk and how we need to rethink and what we learned from our pandemic. We have existing structures in place, existing rules and laws in play. We have to rethink how we apply those laws and rules to climate risk and its going to take courage. Its going to take a different way of thinking and take collaboration and collecting data and analyzing it in a different way and i think that in many respects is where Governor Carney was going in essence but i think this is a positive thing that we can glean from it and its something we can look forward to is we dont have to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from past experiences whether financial crisis will go away and we have to use existing infrastructure in many respects just weave in climate risk and Climate Change and rethink how we do things with that because its a very global problem and start to react to it in a way we can mitigate the risks and effectively manage them over time. Talking about data and observing, early this month the dfs held the first Global KnowledgeExchange Series and superintendent, can you tell us more about this Knowledge Series andwhat were some of the Key Takeaways from that event . It was important to us that we do as much as possible to help our institutions to confront this issue. In part, the range of institutions that we regulate can be anything from the globally significant publicly traded Insurance Companies to all little upstate Auto Insurance company or a local currency company. Its really acrosstheboard. And there are some who are leaders in the financial industryalready. So the idea was not that dfs is going to tell you from on high let me inform and educate you but rather to bring the actors in industry together and those who have taken steps to share their experiences and those who wanted to act but didnt have the same understanding with, would be able to learn from them together because it is a responsibility of all. And as i mentioned, weve had tremendous turnout the first couple of days and i think people really appreciated the opportunity to hear because knowledge is power and new things are scary. We are taking of course a proportionate approach with respect to our institutions. Were not going to expect the same of one of these smaller entities and of onewith a giant footprint. So one of the things that comes up again and again is the need for data. And the data that they need is from utility companies, car manufacturers, fossil fuel producers and that need is critical and i would say that is the experience in the uk and in france as well that industries are struggling with the need for data and also the nomenclature. What is the taxonomy here which is getting attention and focus in europe. But really, a welcoming environment that industry wants to tackle this and wants to move forward and they need our help. If you think about an Insurance Company theyre dealing with it on both sides of the Balance Sheet many times. They cover the cost of extreme weather and what are they investing is that any kind of hedge or mitigation . Is it part of assets for his renewal and so on and so forth but i think also they were very much looking forward to the federal participation andits going to make a big difference as we move forward. Indeed. So many insights and i think we can all agree that we have such a meaningful and depressing and moving forward. Now, id like to provide the opportunity for each of the panelists to say a few concluding remarks or to make any last thoughts on this issue. So lets go ahead. Maybe i dont know, commissioner lee. Would you like to give us some thoughts . Ill be very brief. I will just say that i take part in this discussion today. I have so much optimism over the last few weeks and im just on by the leadership ive seen from these journalists today so i think the message has been quite clear. Its not going to be easily solved, it cant be solved from the top down. We need everyones help but i feel what we see is the will to get it done and we see a lot of optimism. Wonderful. I dont know marty, would you be interested in saying a few things . Im from new york so i never miss an opportunity to put in my two cents. Let me one thank the center for American Progress or convening this program. Its really the first of its kind ive seen where youve brought together a number of the federal financial regulators to talk about this subject. I think you deserve a lot of credit and its really a pleasure tobe on this panel with my colleagues. I know russ and alex pretty well. Its the first time ive met this superintendent but i look forward to future engagement. Its been a privilege to participate with them. And to underscore a point i think thats been raised by others that we need to keep in mind as we undertake this work. We need to be attentive to potential unintended consequences. Particularly for low and moderate income communities and for communities of color. There many opportunitieshere for investment. And those communities can benefit but there also can be unintended consequences as well and i think thats something we need to be alert and attentive to as weproceed here. But this has been a terrific program and reallyi appreciate the opportunityto take part. So thank you. If i may be so bold to plug, we just came out with a report by 2 analysts on the Community Reinvestment act and the way that we can use the current act to take climate related matters into consideration. And to really not only fight not only for that cost but also against environmental racism which has been a real problem as we know. Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by Climate Change and the situation doesnt look good and on top of that we have to covid crisis that has been unequal in its impact for communities of color so thats an issue we hold near and dear to our hearts here and i believe in the chat we have posted a link to that report but this is very important. We need to make sure the transition to a world with less carbon is a just and fair transition for everyone involved and we have to to take care of those folks who have been historically harmed by these and other structural problems. So ill get off my stand and pass the ball maybe to the superintendent. This talk is very timely in the insurance setting as well. Climate change has had a disparate impact on communities including communities of color and certainly decades of historical redlining and discrimination have resulted in part in underserved communities in areas that are unduly susceptible to flooding and other types of weatherrelated problems and we have to Design Systems to take account, not to mention the extreme heat that comes from Climate Change and leads to Health Impacts including in some occasions death but with respect to cra you are right, new york has its own cra act and we are currently studying whether we can get credit at the cra for actions that mitigate Climate Change and relevant communities. So i do think Environmental Justice, social justice. The one advantage we have is that we are at the beginning looking at the problem and we can design at the beginning consideration of the unintended consequences and yes, how can we be helpful as well and i think in part then the delay is perhaps not as bad but i very much look forward to working with all thepanelists and it was a pleasure and honor to be with each of you. Rustin. Thank you andreas and out the outset id like to thank again forconvening this. This is a great discussion with my colleagues of course im privileged to have been here. Three takeaways and im going to reference the cftc report and things ive learned over the past two or three Years International position was a key take away. Theres many highlights this is an issue we talked about for the past hour but this is a global issue the report and all the other statements that have been made today and the sort of action were starting needs to build over the past few weeks and months. Most recently the feds decision to join the ncss and be part of it now is sending a positive signal to the International Community that the us is here and we want to connect with them. Thats a huge sign for a positive outlook in 2020. Environmental justice which was a huge part of thereport. There are 53 recommendations in the report but i can positively say that Environmental Justice has the three recommendations and the committee was determined and clear that there have been disproportionately impacts on low to moderate income homes and communities in the urban core and also Rural Communities historically from Climate Change policy Going Forward from the regulator federal or state needs to think about those i intended consequences and how we can address those issues Going Forward so very positive take away something we all care about deeply as i said most recently in the past hour and the last thing ill say is the report 200 pages is a risk document and identifies everything from better disclosures to stress testing and taxonomy and data best practices but in many respects is also an opportunities document i think we can all look very positively what the Climate Crisis has been dealing us and how we need to deal with that challenge but also the opportunities on the backend, specifically from an Economic Perspective as we rebuild our economy think about what the future is going to hold as we also have your more commitments in the economy from Different Companies and individuals and governments are a lot of opportunities to rebuild our economy. To support economic productivity, support labor and i think there is a positive spin and opportunity that we can all sort of embrace and the Climate Crisis as we sort of manage the challenges and the years to, also thinking about the decades ahead. How we can really grab the opportunities look forward to a lot of positivethings. Absolutely thank you all for your interesting conversations and your forwardlooking leadership. In this area now, after this panel, we turn to the keynote remarks by governor leo brainard. Governor brainard, to be a member of the board of directors of the federal Research System in 2014, and prior to her appointment to the board, she served as undersecretary ofthe apartment of the treasury. I counselor to the treasury of to the secretary of the treasury. Among other achievements, doctor brainard served as Deputy NationalEconomic Advisor and executive assistant to president clinton. After herremarks , john podesta put q a with governor raynor. John is the founder and number of board of directors for the center for American Progress served as counselor to president obama where he was responsible for coordinating the administrations climate policies. And initiatives. He served as cochair of president obamas transition term previously served as white house chief of staff to president clinton. Governor brainard, thank you for your distinguishedservice the floor is yours. For your keynote address. Iq just for that incredibly kind introduction and i want to thank the center for American Progress and im very appreciative of the opportunity to join andreas and john podesta for a discussion of climatechange. And let me just start by noting these are my own views and dont necessarily reflect the Federal Reserves Climate Change is one of the major challenges of our time Climate Change the transition to a low Carbon Economy as important implications for the Financial System. The Financial System can be a powerful enabler to help the private sector manage climate related risk and investment transition. So its mildly important to strengthen the us Financial System to meet the challenge of Climate Change we briefly touch on the ways Climate Change matters forthe Financial System. The implication for Financial Stability, the work of measuring, modeling and managing climate risk in the Banking System and the important agenda that lies ahead. So extreme weather events related to Climate Change such as routes, wildfires, hurricanes are really on the rise. Climate related events are already adversely affecting the lives of Many Americans were seeing elevated financial losses associated with increased in frequency and intensity of extreme weather. In the interest sector , average annual interim weatherrelated losses have increased notably over the past decade. Because of those increases, insurers are incorporating the impact of Climate Change as their underwriting investment decisions. Climate change is also reducing coverage. Uninsurance have policies and fire areas which changes coownership the risk profiles of previously underwritten mortgages in those areas. Similarly mortgages in critical areas are vulnerable to hurricanes and Sea Level Rise and we see new mortgages issued for coastal homes on aggregate exceeding 50 billion per year in recent years. Recent Research Suggests lenders cant buy hurricanes particularly in areas not typically affected by financial disasters and to subsequently prioritize more of their Mortgage Loans which could have higher risk and higher defaults and lower collateral values and homeowners increase hardships since many policies essentially exclude plenty. Just as there are risks that are also promising opportunities. Was the point that russ was making to close the lastpanel for private Sector Investment in low carbon innovation infrastructure , energy and transportation. With support from standard setters, Credit Rating agencies Financial Systems can provide useful signals to help the private sector manage climate risk and facilitate a smoothtransition. Its increasingly clear that Climate Change could pose important risks to Financial Stability. Thats true for physical and transition risk. A lack of clarity through exposure to specific Climate Risks for physical and Financial Assets coupled with uncertainty about the size and timing of these risks createvulnerability to a corrupt repricing at. I shift in the received frequency or severity of climate related which is storms, floods or wildfires could rapidly change Risk Perceptions lead to repricing of assets. Changes in Investor Expectations about future Climate Policy similarly could lead to rapid unexpected price changes which would ripple throughthe Financial System. Assessing climate risk affects is complex because the predicted path of Climate Change is nonlinear likely points beyond which changes in climate conditions could rapidly climate forecasts based onhistorical data any longer relevant. This uncertainty in turn could reduce the accuracy of risk models and Asset Managers, financial infrastructures leveraged Financial Institutions. So we need to know more. Accounting standards disclosure frameworks for Climate Risks are still in the early stages of development and adoption. So investors dont have enough transparency around the range of climate related exposures facing Financial Firms nonfinancial shortterm investors may be disinclined to fully price in longerterm climate affects. There are some studies that suggest wellinformed investors may underestimate the likelihood of large shocks to related climate. Combined with the uncertainty and timing and magnitude of Climate Change is must lead to financial volatility and when conditions change. Its a high premium on developing consistent comparable and actionable disclosures for investors to understand exposures to climate risk and to accurately price that risk. There is Strong Demand from the private sector and investors were Greater Transparency around those climate related risks. The private sector led task force on climate related Financial Disclosures that tcs b which i participate in provides a consistent global framework to improve visitation of climate related Financial Disclosures. As of october of this year there were nearly 1500 organizations with a combined market of 13 trillion at expressed their support for this tcs b framework and that includes Financial Institutions that manage assets larger than them. Where improving our understanding of climate risk and their impact on Financial Stability to engage with other Central Banks on topics like climateScenario Analysis. This is one useful approach to assessing the effects of climate related risk. In terms of how the Financial System has exposed and how it responds to climate related risk. Climate Scenario Analysis identifies climate related physical and transition risk factors to Financial Firms, formulate appropriate stressors of those risks, factors under different scenarios and measure their effects on individual firms in the Financial System as a whole. In part because of the nature of climate related risk relative to financial and economic downturn and the significantly longer planning horizon, this kind of climate Scenario Analysis would be distinct from established regulatory stress test set backs which are used to assess capital adequacyover a short planning horizon. From a micro prudential perspective supervisors are responsible for ensuring this supervised institutions are resilient to all material risk including those associated with Climate Change. The economic and Financial Market conditions, consequences of Climate Change and the accompanying transitions will have to applications work out shes, strategies and operations could increase credit, market liquidity and Operational Risk at next. Climate related developments may affect the creditworthiness of household and government borrowers. Those risks may reduce a borrowers repayment capacity or the value of assets collateralized alone exposing banks losses. Climate risk impact the level of volatility of asset prices affecting the value of banks and of course Severe Weather events could disrupt banks data centers or operations in p ability to provide Financial Services to customers. Although the transmission channel through which climate risk impacts banks are increasingly apparent, quantification of the risk is still challenging. Today measurement efforts have been hampered by the logical hurdles , which are unique to Climate Change. For instance, assessment of the potential impact of Climate Change on a may require precise data on the geolocation of a counterparties assets and operations as well as information weather patterns for those applications also have knowledge of the Carbon Emissions and policies and industries and jurisdictions. Data available to define. Exact two thirds of respondents to do a survey of members of the Committee Task force on climate related financial risk indicate they sufficiently granular data. Filling these data gaps is critical. So as a result of staff are participating in a new network for reading the Financial System workstream that will create a detailed list of data gaps that are needed to model climate risk. Climate change also poses a unique or challenging modeling hurt. Several decades over which Climate Risks are projected to materialize exceed next typical Risk Management and planning time horizon. Financial risk models are often backward looking and extrapolate historical trends which may not be so valuable or reliable indication of Climate Change. So we need new tools and forwardlooking approaches. We continue to strengthen our understanding of how banks are measuring and managing climate risk over time is going to be important to develop a framework for evaluating how banks are taking into account related risk and modeling and management of credit marketing risk. Some jurisdictions have developed programs to provide banks supervisory expectations to communicate risks. The Federal Reserve cochairs that the scr which i mentioned earlier, currently that group is mapping the transmission channels studying the measurement methodologies of climate related financial risk to the Banking System. Next year that the scr will use its Analytical Framework to develop recommendations for effective supervisory practices to be climate related financial risk taking into account the extent to which these might be incorporatedin the existing framework. Turning to Community ReinvestmentFinancial Institutions and help communities and individuals deal with greater resilience to climate risk. Recent Research Highlights the significant ways in which lower income communities and communities of color are affected by natural disasters climaterisk. Low and moderate income households with low levels of liquid savings tend to be less resilient to the temporary loss of income and Health Challenges thatare faced from natural disasters. Outlying communities and communities of color are often located in areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate related risk. Specific Health Related impacts or have been more susceptible to disaster related damage. Under the Community Reinvestment act cra backs affirmative obligation to me the needs of their local communities involving online communities. This regulation allows banks to receive cra credit for activities to revitalize and stabilize communitiesafter natural disasters. Its particularly in in federally designated disaster areas and for natural disasters have caused widespread devastation such as Hurricane Katrina area , the uniting regulators together have extended that consideration to investments in stabilization and revitalization more broadly. Its important to lmi communities of color to be proactive in working to mitigate xequitably the risk of Climate Change in advance. Reflecting best our recent advanced notice of rulemaking on the cra for the first time exceeds that on providing cra credit to encourage loans and investments to promote Climate Resilience. We want to encourage lenders to invest and rebuild in ways that will increase resilience to future climate risk in underserved lmi communities are looking forward to receiving commentson those questions. I think the deadline is february 16 of next year. So a year ago i laid out some of the important areas where Climate Change matters for our statutory responsibilities at the Federal Reserve. Since that time ive seen important progress in laying the groundwork to incorporate climateconsideration. Where they are well relevant to our statutory responsibilities both today and in the future. Across the system, we sought to deepen our understanding of the financial and economic implications to a variety of seminars. We recruited economists with expertise in climate and weve also obtained climate data resources. Last month, the Financial Stability incorporated for the first time analysis delays Climate Change present risks to Financial Stability. Similarly last month the supervision report describes how climate related risk make micro potential risk and how supervisors are workingto better understand measures and mitigate those risks. Last quarter, rcra proposal for the first time proposed providing credit for investments in Climate Resilience this week the Federal Reserve board came a full member of the ngs f and were looking forward to working from collaborating with essential banks and regulators addressing data gaps undertaking research on the implications of Climate Change for Financial Stability of the economy. In the years ahead going to be important opportunities for collaboration across the us military agencies. These efforts will help with the Financial Market in the world and support our dynamic private sector in addressing climate related risks investing in the transition to a greener economy. So with that john handed over to you. Thank you. I have my voice but not my picture. There we go. Its like it took me eight months tolearn how to get off mute. People i think well remember 2020 for the the pandemic but we also may remember it as a most active atlantic Hurricane Season on record, 30 named stores, 13 hurricanes. We are feeling pressure on southern border right now because of two devastating hurricanes that hit last month in central america, produced climate refugees. Its true across the world, more than a Million People were displaced in east africa because of flooding. The black summer in australia looks to be repeating itself. 47 million acres burning in siberia coined a new term, zombie fires, because the fires never go out, they repeat. The crisis is here, it is now and its really to your credit that youre addressing it both in your personal work at the fed and overall the institutional work. I want to pick up some of the threads you have discussed. I think one of the things you have said in previous forums, you noted that its time that we appropriately assess and address the quantitative implication of the risk today but youve also suggested we need to actively mitigate that risk by adopting policies, and your comments i think on the cra are reflective of that. But i want to start by noting that in the last panel Martin Gruenberg noted the fsoc annual report has yet to identify Climate Change as Systemic Risk. You noted the Financial Stability report for the first time identified climate risk as an important Systemic Risk. Why was that important . What are the next steps . You talked about the data gaps but from the feds workplan perspective, having identified it, what comes next for the fed . I think, john, the fact the was identified for the first time in our Financial Stability report, that reflected a lot of work after we extensively analyzed climate related risks, we concluded Climate Change could pose risks to Financial Stability. The Financial Stability report lays out the analysis of that. So it talks about how it could increase, in terms of the way we think about Financial Stability, both shocks hitting the system and questions about how resilient is the system to any kind a shock. Climate change hits on both fronts. As the climate related shock materializes, particularly at High Frequency and severity, they reveal new information that investors have to scramble to incorporate, and that could trigger very abrupt repricing events. Because its of that inherent uncertainty and complexity we talked about, it can also exacerbate vulnerabilities. It has features that could lead to a wide dispersion of use, mispricing of risk, potentially increase leverage or financial contagion and that all comes on that lack of clarity about true exposures to climate risk for both physical and Financial Assets. You have those vulnerabilities in the Financial System that are also associated with Climate Change. What are we doing . Good question Going Forward. We are investing in much more granular data that we are going to need, or certainly investing in the expertise, the research, resources were going to need. We are working to support enhanced, more standardized disclosures that will contribute to Greater Transparency and more efficient pricing of risk. That should reduce the probability of sudden changes in asset prices. And then we are also looking at that broader question about how Climate Change could interact with financial exposures and interconnections between Financial Institutions in broader Financial Markets. Thats where that climate Scenario Analysis really comes in. You really need to be able to identify those climate related physical and transition risk factors and then understand how they would affect individual firms and interconnections between firms so that you can see how that would lead to losses and other stresses as a whole. As i mentioned earlier we are investing in work to ensure supervised institutions at the frameworks and placed identify and manage the risks, and, of course, collaborating with other jurisdictions that it made a lot of progress in this arena. Clt commissioner behnam noted in the panel that their subnational climate disasters can add up to creating risk not only in those regional areas but they can latter up. Are you thinking about quote the country and the globe that way, that hard system crashes in one place kind of cascades into the economy through other chains and mechanisms . That cascading impact is just one of the core features of potential Climate Change scenarios. We have to think about that. That is one of the reasons those Macro Financial approaches to climate scenarios are probably a very Fruitful Research avenue and scenario kind of analysis avenues to explore. It also is very important that we working across borders for the reasons you say, because those Financial Systems stresses spill across borders very clearly. We have seen that repeatedly. But also Climate Change is a global phenomenon, and the way that those cascading events occur really has very little to do with national borders. We are certainly learning that with covid. Thats just absolutely. Just out of curiosity, what do you feel like the level of actual climate prediction and expertise is at the fed . Good question. Where do you draw your information from . And if i could, sometimes i go from one room to another from climate site is to people or in the Financial Community and i feel like im getting dizzy because their sense of the risk, climate scientists sense of risk, and so much more profound than, at least up until recently, the financial, not just financial regulators but people in the financial world. I think you have always done a good job of being rooted in that climate arena, but reaching out to other areas. For our part, sitting what we do with responsibilities and the economy and the Financial System, we have to invest in those bridges, invest in those data sources, invest in those relationships so that we better understand how to think about how to measure, how to model climate related risk. And then of course our expertise is how that ripples through a Financial System, for instance. But what we are learning is that there is a lot of expertise in government organizations, and we have tapped into that. We have hired a number of Climate Science expert into our research and other divisions. I really should just note we have a much broader set of Research Activities go on because we have not just the board but the 12 reserve banks and theres a lot of rich interactions they are. Our staff are in contact with members of the u. S. Global change Research Program which includes a variety of federal agencies. We are also exploring ways in which Scientific Data models and other information that might be available in that Intergovernmental Network can supplement our existing data on weatherrelated disasters and climate related risk where we have already done quite a bit of research. Our staff relied on data from fema, noaa, the atmospheric administration, on the department of energy so were really accessing data sources broadly, but even so we have those data gaps i mentioned earlier. I will just note a few research conferences, the Federal Reserve bank of San Francisco is really active there. We just did a conference on economic risk to Climate Change and Financial Regulation. We were working also out of the Federal Reserve bank of new york and so richmond, atlanta, they have all done some really Interesting Research collaboration. As the new administration begins to rebuild the scientific enterprise around Climate Change, which has suffered a lot of blows over the last four years and restore scientific integrity, i think your insights into the baby gaps would be very valuable to cross over as we are thinking about what investments to make in terms of that scientific enterprise more generally. You mentioned that the fed just joined the network on a greening the Financial System. They got some low back. There was a letter sent by 40 some members of how suggested that the fed was succumbing to outside political pressure and that the intention of this was will just do target and savored industries. How to answer the critics . Yeah, so i would actually say that this was one of the recommendations that was made in the cftc report, and, in fact, we saw a statement from a number of u. S. Banks supporting our membership in the ngfs. I do think that private sector entities do understand the value of our participation in that network. We have already participate in the network in a sort of status, research level. I mentioned earlier the work we have been doing on data gap ngfs. We get a lot of groundwork laying over the last few years and on the strength of that apply for and were accepted as full members. I think it will be incredibly valuable to us. Its a research and best practice sharing forum. A lot of our peers around the world have already that huge amount of work, and we can benefit from network. As you were noting so importantly earlier, Climate Change is not confined to any particular jurisdiction, and the Financial Impact most certainly cross borders theres a lot we can learn from our counterparts. And i think this is a very beneficial organization for us to participate in as full members. Were looking forward to learning a lot. Several foreign Central Banks are moving forward with climate related stress testing for large Financial Firms. I would say that is certainly early days, some growing pains in the work that is been done. Do you think Going Forward thats going to be a helpful tool for judging things, exposures and resilience to climate risk . Is that where we are headed . I do think Scenario Analysis this potentially useful to assess the effects of Climate Change related risks of both Financial Institutions and Financial Markets more generally. As we were saying earlier, Climate Change is inherently complex and is very uncertain. And so with that high degree of uncertainty come Scenario Analysis is valuable. It allows you for a range of possible different scenarios to understand how the Financial Institutions might be exposed and like respond differently to different scenarios on climate and don transition period in terms of what advantages does that kind of work bring to us, it gives us flexibility and explain multiple scenarios over different time horizons potentially. It gives us a views into the size of the risk to individual Financial Institutions, the system overall. That might provide insights into a banks, Insurance Companies other types of Financial Firms might adjust their Business Model under various scenarios. Its a reasonable because there are both opportunities as well as risks, its reasonable to think that could be a range of outcomes. We need to understand that. We know banks are investing in some of these capabilities. Theyve talked about wanting to work with the official sector to develop their own capacity. So i think there is a lot of benefit here. As you said, early days. We are following closely the work of our peers and other jurisdictions, and the bank of england is that restarting their climate biannual export for a scenario next year. Cbps complained to conduct an exercise in 2020 and the ngfs has provided since theres that can be used by the International Community. I think all those things are valuable potentially. I will also say that because the nature of climate related risks are different than financial and economic downturns because of a very different planning horizon, that kind of work would be distinct from the existing regulatory stress tests which are used to assess capital adequacy over relatively shorter horizons. Right. You noted that some banks are stepping up to this. They are trying to understand their own exposure. They are trying to manage that risk. Do you think, which a part of sound banking, but do you think those efforts are accelerating at a pace that is adequate to what the problem is in terms of potential for risk . How would you judge the private sector . We are certainly canvassing our banks. Our supervisors are interacting with our banks to understand how they are proceeding, and we do expect banks to identify measure, control, monitor all material risk. For many banks that is likely to extend to climate related risk. We are interested in seeing whether some banks overhead develop best practices. We are seeing some banks beginning to adapt their Risk Identification and management come , the Scenario Analysis and their disclosures in the climate risk area. We have seen a broader shift among banks to approaching climate not from a purely reputational perspective but actually recognizing from a financial risk perspective, which is really what were talking about here. Some are already doing preliminary Scenario Analysis to understand the sensitivity of their portfolios to physical and transition risk. Some banks are stressing their mortgage portfolios to understand sensitivity to chronic flooding or Sea Level Rise or their energy portfolios, to understand the potential impact from policy changes. In some cases were seeing the results of those actually appearing to influence business decisions. Boards of directors are increasingly focused on risk posed by climate. We have seen some internal climate groups inside some banks, and weve seen some enterprisewide climate Risk Management frameworks to integrate climate considerations into strategic decisionmaking. All of the largest banks in the u. S. System has signed on to the gcfd, Financial Disclosures. We also know that many of our banks have expressed to us that they are struggling with some data issues such as the geographic exposure, that often arise in which they are not accustomed to working with and that uncertainty we talked about earlier. So thats where our work, cochairing the basel committee, the task force of climate related financial risk we think that we really important. Its already looking at analytic or looking to issue analytic reports on transmission channel and measurement models. And then based on that it will be in a position to develop recommendations for effective supervisory practices to mitigate climate related financial risk. We think theres a lot of work going on in this space within the private sector and in the Public Sector and i think that work will grow. Obviously not unique to the Banking System. Last Panel Discussed that in terms of the broader economy and we are doing some work, will release the report said on affect the federal government doesnt have a plan arising commensurate with the trajectories on climate both in terms of the way the build up but you come that cbo assesses the potential investments both from a cost and benefit perspective. Its a problem with large across writ large across people are trying to anticipate what the future is going to look like. Albany as your specific question. Question. Do you think client specific supervisory guidance would help ensure banks are beating expectations to properly assess risk . Whose job is that . Is that an fsoc job, if the answer to the first part of the question is yes . For banks, the banking agencies of course. That is, generally speaking, the work that the tse are is doing will help us actually inform our approach pictures also number of foreign regulators who have established supervisor expectations already. Were certainly looking to that but the groundwork is the most important thing right now. We have to understand best practices. We have to understand how those risks flow through the traditional risk stripe as you try to forget what that right framework is. In your remarks he talked about cra and utility of the cra as building resilience in communities. I want to take advantage of your experience in the white house and come at treasury as well as your current position at the fed to ask you about how the new administration might think about integrating, again, maybe wita focus on cra, think about integrating resilience and Community Planning into what their task is. You had a lot of experience over the years and maybe you can give us some advice about the. So at the fed we are super careful not to stray outside our lane. I thought i could sneak in answer out of you. I think thats a good practice. I will say that its certainly something that has been relevant to my work earlier, and it is today. As i look back during my time working in treasury, for instance, i had the portfolio that included climate finance internationally your and so we just did a tremendous amount of work actually on these issues of Climate Resilience and putting communities in the drivers seat to chart a path towards greater resilience. Over the time i was there i think we increased funding at the Climate Trust funds by fivefold, and we also negotiated staff worked with me and was her First Executive director to the Green Climate fund which is really all about giving internationally much greater resources to communities that are likely to be particularly impacted, greater resources and greater capacity to plan their futures in a way that will make them more resilient. We also rolled out the clean Energy Guidance that governed the financing at Multilateral Development banks, and really switched the focus entirely to clean energy. That was very important as well. I would think when we look at what were learning here in the u. S. , it is true that Climate Change will have a negative impact on elimite communities and communities of color in their fright at intersecting reasons for that lmi communities. We do want to think about how to provide incentives to help communities make investment in the own resilience. Just exposure of Health Disparities during this covid crisis i think points also to the need to kind of make those kinds of investments to improve both the quality of the economy but also the health of the American People across the country here we have a year that is right up to glasco, cop 26, so time of enhancement the first were going to go through g7 and g20. Certainly coordinated recovery will be at the top of the agenda, and in addition to trying to find the sources of money, do you think Financial Stability, the debt loads of the highly burden economies were trying to recover from covid, how do those conversations intersect that court made sustainable recovery that we need coming out of covid with the need to invest and build back better . Yeah, so i think certainly when we have major global shocks like we had with covid, you know, that have affected every country and disproportionately affected vulnerable communities, i think there is an opportunity for International Cooperation to both sort of make those most vulnerable parts of the world more financially resilient by looking at their overall financial sustainability, but also to make investments, make investment in the future that now are informed i just how rapidly and how devastating you see this kind of transmission of these global shocks. The pandemic is also something that the Scientific Community is very well informed about these kinds of events, and we see the benefits of actually planning, preparing, creating resilience, and the pain that ripples through the most vulnerable communities when those kinds of preparations are not, i mean, i think that can inform her efforts going for. Forward. Going back to the cra, that is where we have seen a lot of our Early Learning about Climate Resilience came from the wakeup natural disasters. And now we have more Systematic Research there. We do see those communities being exposed, not just because they have better financial buffers but because they are often located in more climate exposed areas and because of the Health Vulnerability you mentioned earlier. I know actually that i saw your publication i think it was michelle and zoe just yesterday published a piece from cut talking about the vulnerability of particular communities of color but thats why cra is a good tool. You can see that natural progression from recovering from natural disasters to proactively investing in Climate Resilience being the way to build back better in those communities and providing credit to banks to do that. We are almost out of time and i see senator brown has joined us that i will ask you one last question, and then we will turn it over. With enhanced Disclosure Data collection, they can help improve modeling for better quality to find a financial risk of Climate Change. There will always be significant uncertainty in this arena. So is it important for regulators ultimately to take concrete steps to bolster the resilience of the Financial System, even if this type of uncertainty remains . Do we need to enhance stability so that without regard necessarily to specifics of the climate transition, and how do you think we are doing on that . Yeah, so i think, i think youre exactly right. We are absolutely need more standardized and more actionable disclosures. We need the research on those interconnection and those exposures between climate, Financial Institutions, Financial System, we need that granular data. But even with that their substantial uncertainty in this space. It is important to ensure, as regulators, as having responsibility for Financial Stability, we do need to continue to try to make the Financial System and Financial Institutions as resilient as possible to shocks associate with Climate Change risk, just as we do for other risks. It should recognize the prevalence of that uncertainty but we do need to have resilient Financial Institutions and a resilient Financial System. That is going to inform our work Going Forward. Lael, thanks so much for joining us today. Its really, really been deep and terrific. Thank you for all the work you are doing at the fed to make sure that these programs actually happen and move forward. So now i am going to take the opportunity to turn things over to marilyn waite, the Program Officer for climate and clean energy at the Hewlett Foundation and she will introduce senator brown. Lael, thanks, good to see you. Hope to see each other in person someday. Hello, everyone, and thank you for attending the Financial System and Climate Change. My name is United States and im delighted that progress on the horizon. At the foundation we understand when he financial regulatory tools to leverage Economic Opportunity of solving Climate Change. This is a more critical now as a sit in december 2020 with over wealthy people unemployed, and those job losses falling artis t on women and workers of color at the same workers feel the impacts of climate impact. During the past few years there have been International Financial regulators collaborate on climate finance, setting the groundwork for oversight tools that can unlock trillions of dollars for the green economy. These tools include but are not limited to mandatory disclosure of finance emissions for all Asset Managers and lenders, requirements based on carbon and a Daily Community focus lenders including cooperative banks and Credit Unions to move capital to Climate Change mitigation at the community level. Theres a Climate Finance Task for the entire sector at the sec, the Federal Reserve, the occ, the cfpb, fdic and more. The truth is theres been very little financial policy action on climate globally. So the u. S. Is wellpositioned to take on a leadership role and implement these ideas in 2021. And with that its a place introduced senator Sherrod Brown to close out today stupid. Senator brown has been a leader on so many progressive priorities throughout his distinguished career in Public Service including on Financial Regulation. He currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking committee where he has continued his tireless advocacy for a for a less predatory and more stable Financial System to help fill the needs of the workers across the country. Im looking for to hearing his thoughts in a financial regulators can integrate Climate Change into their core functions. Senator brown, the floor is yours. Ms. White, thank you. Its a pleasure to be here, thank thank you so much. Ms. White, thank you for the understanding and insight and activism give exhibit on the intersection of finance in climate and how important that is and how not nearly enough policymakers recognize it which office do. Thanks to c. A. P. , thanks to my friend senator brian schatz m. O. I. Whos just one of the great Young Leaders in this country on a whole lot of issues but especially on climate. John podesta, its always nice to share a stage, remote or not, with you. Getting to speak what after governor brainard is an honor because i wish that that a few more people at the Federal Reserve has a good since she does about regulation and deregulation and the role of workers and climate and all that she has stood up for at the fed over the years. Thanks to the panelists on all these issues. Americans know that Climate Change is real. They see it hurting their lives, whether you live on the coast or in the midwest or the south or the far west in this country. They are demanding that Congress Deliver results. They have endured four years of the president that essentially sets government up to fail. I was just speaking with the secretary of the veterans administration, denis mcdonough, used to be president obamas chief of staff, and we were talking about how at the v. A. And Everything Else the president and republicans essentially set up government in a in a way that l fail, then turn around and say, government cant work. We have seen it pretty much everything what we need federal leadership rickettsia take on the issue of Climate Change. Trumps appointees wouldnt even let career scientist, as you know, used the words Climate Change, let alone do anything about it. Its one of the reasons i think joe biden won a resounding, one a commanding, resounding 7 million vote victory. 80 million americans vote on the client who made taking on the climate is central to thank the days of republicans scary to me of her allies talking about this are over. Jill biden was clear it was going to be one of his Top Priorities as president. He won in michigan, he won in michigan, he won pennsylvania and wisconsin. I stood on a debate stage in ohio and said Climate Change is one of the defining issues of our time. I won by some seven points in a state trump has carried twice by eight points. So climate, which is not going to be scared anymore on that issue. Ohioans are expensing the effects of Climate Change, if you know. People in my state see toxic algae blooms on lake erie getting worse, threatening their drinking water. Farmers are dealing with even more and ever more uncertain growing seasons. The politics of this are changing and they are going to change even faster when we show people that theres a real opportunity even with climate, theres a real opportunity to make our lives better. Big oil, big corporations has been billions as you know trying to convince people that we have to choose between investment that grows the economy on the one hand, preserving the planet for our grandchildren. They want people to think Climate Change either isnt real or its an unsolvable problem. We see it instead as a huge opportunity. As a result he goes at that weve had a failure of imagination. All trump and the Republican Party and is so workers a bunch of empty promises that coal mines and long shuttered plants would reopen. Instead of treating the public with respect and honesty. They let peoples hard earned savings be invested in shrinking industries without their knowledge. United states has allow china to take the lead on clean energy manufacturing. We have to change event starting january 20 and we dont need Mitch Mcconnells blessing to do it. Theres a lot the Biden Administration be able to do on his own particularly in the financial spacecraft to ensure that banks and Insurance Companies are factoring the catastrophic risks of Climate Change in their investments and on their Balance Sheets, not just physically passing the risks onto customers come to shareholders and as we know always, always to taxpayers. If Peoples Pensions or 401 k s are invested in fossil fuel assets whose value shrinking come instead of investing Green Industries that will create jobs in their communities in the midwest and throughout the country, and a better return on their investment they need to know about it. As you heard from grub under greater the fed is looking at the ways we must act of Climate Change from governor brainard states are doing this as we heard from Commission Agreement and commissioner orielly some of the cftc and fcc recognize the urgency of taking action and other records must be on board. To make Real Progress we will have to take on corporate power, way better than this congress has picked weve watched for years as wall street and the Biggest Companies by congress and Agency Action on climate. Their ceos make lots of money in the short term by endangering our planet in the long term. In the boards that oppose supposed to be Holding Banking executive candles, the court purports all too often of members with deep ties to the major greenhouse polluters. A niche of regulations do more than prod wall street to protect itself from climate risk, breaking of the big banks can live and the risky they invest in with clear the way for congress and agency to take bolder action to it would make it easier to stop wall street from finding industries to fuel Climate Change and put all their assets at risk. This is going to take and all of government approach. Thats what im optimistic about the Biden Administration. Its about housing policy in transit policy and financial policy. Maybe more than most but no that fundamentally fighting Climate Change isnt just and if i made the issue. It is an economic one and i dont just mean economic innocence of sterile to statistics about risk calculation. Its about communities, about how people live and work. We are not going to build a durable Political Coalition for change if regulators in suits in washington or brussels ignore the people who make this country work every day. Everyone listening today takes climate risk seriously. So did the people joe biden has appointed and will appoint, including the people hes looking at the our financial watchdogs. One of the things im doing for my role in the banking and Housing Committee is to encourage those regulators to insist that those regulators think about climate that only as a risk that also as an opportunity, an opportunity to build a sustainable economy that makes peoples lives better in every community. Its not enough to think about the Climate Risks to a companies Balance Sheets or stock prices the government has to take it to cut the risk to peoples livelihoods and communities that live in, the food to eat, the investments they have made for the retirement. Its all of that. We have to think about the Political Risk of our country becoming more divided if we allow fighting climate to come at the expense of entire communities. We see what happened with globalization and with trade agreements, how corporations were about to write rules that funnel all the benefits to a smaller and smaller sliver of the wealthy in our country. We simply cant allow that come same thing happened again. I want the people and our financial agencies thinking about the steelworker in mansfield, in middletown about the worker in the coal barges on the river that borders my state, the Restaurant Owner who is worried their towns fracking is about to bust. We just cant think about moving investment away from the technology and fuels of yesterday. We have to sell people on a positive vision of where we are moving that investment to peer we put tradespeople to work to make our homes more Energy Efficient and bring down Peoples Energy costs. Those are jobs that cant be sent to china. We create hundreds of thousands highquality domestic manufacturing jobs come building of a dr. Carson batters as were doing in youngstown. Charging stations come not to mention the solar panels and the Wind Turbines and other parts of Renewable Energy supply chain. We could replace our entire bus fleet, 60,000 city buses, 60,000 smaller rural transit buses if we could replace that entire fleet with new to emission buses all made in the United States. We could build better faster Public Transportation that gets people to work faster with less hassle and cleaner if you will and we can trick more investment to the kinds of communities that have been overlooked for decades by washington and wall street, whether its a small town in appalachia or a black and Brown Community anywhere in this country. I believe the Biden Administration is serious about marshaling our talents and our resources and ingenuity throughout the government and beyond to do this. Thats what it will take. I have always refuse the idea you have to accept the false choice between Good Environmental policy and good paying jobs. We have proven that in states like ohio here we proven it around the country. It is simply not true. We have proven in my state where we have Wind Turbines made with americanmade sku. We have proven it in toledo where we are one of the Biggest Solar Energy manufacturers in the nation. We have proven in the Auto Industry which is making more fuelefficient cars. We seize this opportunity instead of running from them. We put americans to work. We create a growing economy is a list of all workers. If you buy the country, if i for the people to make it work if you make sure they get decent wages with decent benefits. You put more of them to work. Thats what a Clean Energy Economy is all about. Thats the way we address Climate Change. Thank you so much for having me today. Its an honor to appear in front of all of you and with so many distinguished guests. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, senator. Future mobile devices and go do cspan. Org the latest video, live and ondemand to follow the transition of power, president trump, president elect biden, news conferences and event coverage at cspan. Org. Montana governor gray