Sustainability — Regulators target climate financial crisis

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View Online Sustainability Sustainability The Big Story  Regulators take first steps to head off a climate financial crisis  The U.S. financial system just took its first significant step to head off risks of a potential global warming-related financial meltdown. © Istock On Tuesday, three major federal financial regulators released joint guidelines on the steps banks must take to prepare for a climatic assault on their balance sheets.    The potential risks are dire, wrote representatives of the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.    The regulators focused on two ways that a warming climate could lead to financial upheaval. The first was physical damage from floods, fires and storms, while the second involved the "transition risk" related to broad economic changes and slow shifts away from fossil fuels.    In both cases, these "pose an emerging risk to the safety and soundness of financial institutions and the financial stability of the United States," the agencies wrote.    The three regulators collectively called on bank boards to take concrete steps to "control [their] exposure" to the financial risks of climate change.    The regulators also urged banks to conduct a "scenario analysis," in which they would forecast what could happen to their investments — and, by extension, the deposits they hold — under circumstances of extreme climate disruption.    Progressive watchdog group Public Citizen offered qualified praise of the new guidelines.    "These principles have taken far too long to produce, but they are a solid start," group climate director David Arkush said in an emailed statement.    But Arkush noted that the devil would be in the details.     For example, he called on federal regulators to give banks more specific guidance on what kind of climate scenarios to incorporate, as well as how to create "credible" strategies to meet their decarbonization goals.     Republicans have long equated proposed guardrails around climate risk with an assault on U.S. oil and gas, and GOP congressional members attacked the new proposal.    "Banks were not created to be arbiters of public policy, but now environmental activists have seized our nation's financial regulators and are inserting their political preferences into the equation," Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in a statement.     Cramer cited North Dakota's "innovative clean-energy" solutions as evidence that such guidelines are unnecessary. The state gets about 6 percent of its energy from renewables, which include carbon-emitting biofuels.     For the sake of comparison, the state gets 8 percent of its energy from coal, and the lion's share of the rest from oil and gas.    But the agencies said that they had stayed far away from activism.     They emphasized in their statement, for example, that they had ignored public comments calling for them to "promote a transition to a lower carbon economy" — something that they argued went beyond regulators' role.     If banks wanted to keep funding oil and gas, regulators implied, that was their business — so long as the risks were properly accounted for.    "If banking regulators and the Financial Stability Oversight Council pick up the pace, they might still prevent climate-related financial crises," Arkush said.  Welcome to The Hill's Sustainability newsletter, we're Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads  Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond: Most Americans oppose GOP plan to raid climate funds for farm bill A striking majority of poll respondents oppose congressional Republicans’ plans to repurpose conservation funding for non-climate-related farm bill programs. In a poll released exclusively to The Hill on Tuesday, voters across six leading agriculture states opposed those plans by a ratio of 3 to 1. And despite the fact that the GOP is the party pushing to repurpose the conservation funds, likely Republican voters opposed …  Full Story Scientists identify certain 'forever chemicals' as potential risk factor for thyroid cancer Certain types of "forever chemicals" may be associated with a heightened risk of developing thyroid cancer, a new study has found. While scientists have previously identified exposure to these compounds, known as PFAS, as a potential contributor to recent surges in thyroid cancer, limited research has investigated the association in human populations, the authors noted. "We wanted to dive into the potential environmental factors …  Full Story Newsom touts longstanding climate partnerships in Hong Kong, on first day of China tour California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) reinforced his state's commitment to collaborating with China on climate issues on the first day of his trip to the country on Monday. "The long-standing partnership — and competition — between California and China has led to measurable progress," Newsom said in a statement at the end of that day.  The governor, who spent Monday at Hong Kong University, referred to California-China collaborations …  Full Story Remnants of ancient catastrophe show the moon is 40 million years older than we thought The moon’s violent birth may have happened 40 million years earlier than scientists previously thought. That finding is based on remnants of molten crystals recovered from the moon’s surface, according to a study published Monday in Geochemical Perspectives Letters. These slivers of radioactive zircon are almost infinitesimally small — so tiny they must be evaluated atom by atom. But they contain …  Full Story Public Health Warning  Wildlife hunting in China could endanger global health  © Thinkstock Illegal hunting and trade practices in China are not only imperiling domestic biodiversity, but they also pose a threat to global public health, a new study has found.     Since such lawless activity is common nationwide, so too is the prospect of disease transmission from hunted animals to people, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Nature.     International threat: The risk of such disease propagation — which scientists assume contributed to the coronavirus outbreak — does not stop at China's borders, the study authors warned.     "The rest of the world should also be concerned," corresponding author David Wilcove, a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and public affairs at Princeton University, said in a statement.     Crossing borders: Biodiversity loss in China means biodiversity loss for the entire world, Wilcove noted.  In addition, there is no reason to assume that this problem is unique to China, he said. As far as diseases are concerned, wildlife trade-related outbreaks "have the potential to escape the borders of any one country," he added.   Reading between the lines: To understand the extent of both threats, the researchers used Chinese court documents that detailed convictions for illegal hunting around the country.     They then created a series of models to estimate how much illegal hunting is actually occurring — including instances that are not getting caught.     Endangered animals in the mix: The court documents showed a total of 9,256 convictions for the illegal hunting of more than 3 million individual animals from 2014 to 2020, according to the study.   These animals included representatives of more than 20 percent of China's bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species. Nearly a quarter of the species in these categories were endangered.   'The tip of the iceberg': "We were very surprised by the large number of species that were illegally hunted in the space of just six years," lead author Dan Liang, an associate research scholar at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs Center, said in a statement.   Because these results are only a small fraction of total hunting incidents, the findings represent just "the tip of the iceberg," according to Wilcove. "And so, we then applied various statistical methods to show that, in fact, the iceberg is very large indeed," Wilcove added.   Accounting for future threats: By extrapolating from their data, the authors assumed that 10 percent of all illegal hunting incidents were detected and prosecuted.   They concluded that at least 28 percent of China's native terrestrial vertebrates, including 40 percent of its birds, may have been among those taken. The scientists also identified another 781 species, of which about 90 percent were threatened, that would likely be targeted by hunters over the next six years.   Some positive action underway: Stressing that illegal hunting is a clear threat to China's wildlife, Liang also recognized the country's progress in addressing the issue.   The government amended its protected animals list by adding 517 species, including 31 endangered ones. During the early days of the pandemic, the country also enacted a ban on the consumption of "wild-caught species."   A complex quest: But hunting and trade remains common and is most concentrated near urban centers — likely for commercial and resale purposes, the authors noted.     "Illegal activities are inherently very difficult to study because, by definition, people don't talk about them or practice them out in the open," Wilcove said.     "It's quite a scientific challenge," he added.   On Our Radar  Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: Representatives of countries that house the world's major tropical forests — like Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo — will meet on Thursday in Brazzaville, Congo, at the Three Basins Summit. Participating nations from the Amazon, Congo and Borneo-Mekong basins intend to create a "global alliance of ecosystems" among Southern Hemisphere countries.  Also on Thursday, the Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing on the future of federal offshore energy, which will likely include proposals for expanding offshore wind, oil and gas.  In Other News  Branch out with different reads from The Hill: Johnson brings pro-oil, climate-skeptical record to speakership Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who won the gavel Wednesday after three prior Republican nominees failed to reach a majority, is a longtime ally of the oil industry and will be perhaps the most vocal skeptic of the scientific consensus on climate change ever to hold the speakership.  Full Story White House asks Congress for $55B in domestic spending on child care, disaster relief The White House on Wednesday sent a supplemental funding request of roughly $55 billion to Congress for domestic priorities including natural disaster relief and child care providers. Full Story Around The Nation  Local and state headlines on sustainability issues: Maryland researchers invented two new apples to withstand climate change (The Washington Post)  Inside Poland Spring's Hidden Attack on Water Rules It Didn't Like (The New York Times)  Climate change impacting overnight temperatures in Phoenix (ABC15 Arizona) What We're Reading  Sustainability news we've flagged from other outlets: Vivaldi's Four Seasons gets climate change makeover (Reuters)  European Union Advances Mandatory ESG Reporting Standards (The National Law Review)  Ancient rock carvings revealed by receding Amazon waters amid drought (The Guardian)  What Others are Reading  More stories on The Hill right now: Not just a lump: 5 breast cancer signs many people don't know about but should Most people know that a lump could be a tell-tale sign of breast cancer, but other common symptoms may fly under the radar. Read more Here are the most and least energy efficient states Story at a glance Utah earned the No. 1 spot in a new WalletHub ranking of most and least energy efficient states. Some other states that are making good use of less energy are Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, according to the ranking. South Carolina could do better in becoming more energy efficient. Utah is the most energy efficient … Read more What People Think  Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill: Bring hydrogen out of the shadows of the green transition The faith factor: Can religion help to win support for the environment?   You're all caught up. See you next week!  Check out The Hill's Sustainability page for the latest coverage. Like this newsletter? Take a moment to view our other topical products here 📩 Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

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