Sue Biniaz, a longtime career State Department climate official, already has accepted a job to work on Kerry’s staff, according to a person familiar with the move. Biniaz, who was the chief lawyer working on the Paris climate accord, did not return a request for comment. Jonathan Pershing, who was the State Department special climate envoy under Obama, is also in discussions for a top role […]
By Zack Colman
15 posts
The crossfire erupted this week after reports that Biden would appoint Brian Deese to lead the National Economic Council. Deese is a former Barack Obama adviser who spearheaded some of the former president’s most successful climate moves, but he has since joined BlackRock to help the investment management giant bring climate change into its decision-making. Many greens have also already preemptively warned against offering any administration […]
“Anybody who believes in science knows that global warming is only going to cause increases in future risks for major storms,” said Stevens, the former Freddie Mac official, who also was president of the Mortgage Bankers Association trade organization. “I think the key is, what’s predictive here?” Making those decisions would put the mortgage giants in a position to write off whole communities. Susan Wachter, a […]
Trotter accused Yarnold, a former newspaper editor who has led the organization since 2010, of fostering a workplace that concentrates decision-making among a tight group of mostly white male allies. “No one investigates. There’s no accountability. My complaints would just fall on deaf ears and into the hands of David Yarnold,” Trotter said. “There was no real avenue for recourse.” Trotter told POLITICO that Yarnold’s behavior […]
“In general there has been increasing concern on increasing flood and storm risk on mortgage markets,” said Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. She co-wrote the Fannie Mae working paper on post-Harvey mortgage defaults and presented the findings to the two government-sponsored entities and its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, at a virtual conference last […]
Their effort is built on the premise that the younger Rockefeller generations and their wealthy contemporaries who control tremendous amounts of capital want to put their money behind environmentally and socially conscious companies. And they predict that financial regulations addressing climate change, which are beginning to take root in Europe, are destined to come to the U.S., and that climate change will fundamentally reshape markets and […]
“It doesn’t indicate that we love everything. It indicates where we think we have the best chances of pushing our agenda,” 350 Action Executive Director May Boeve told POLITICO in an interview. “We’ve already seen movement and we’re going to keep pushing.” Background: The group, which rose to prominence opposing the Keystone XL oil pipeline and led the “Keep It In The Ground” movement to halt […]
“We call on all countries to pursue innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all, seize the historic opportunities presented by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, achieve a green economy of the world economy in the post-Covid era and thus create a powerful force driving sustainable development,” Xi added. The comments come as Trump prepares to officially pull the U.S. […]
A person with knowledge of the organization’s plans said Business Roundtable will frame its position as the “best way to address climate change while also delivering long-term economic, environmental and social benefits” through policies that begin with “a well-designed market-based mechanism, which includes a price on carbon across most of the U.S. economy.” Business Roundtable spokesperson Rayna Farrell said in an email that “multiple versions of […]
The nearly three dozen members of the task force convened by CFTC Commissioner Rostin Benham include officials from U.S. banks, asset managers, academia and environmental groups. The report’s findings are non-binding but are intended to shape the regulator’s understanding of how climate change could strain markets. The report says regulators should be concerned about “what we don’t know,” including how changes in the climate may drive […]
The sparring over the fossil fuel language reflects a deeper mistrust between the DNC and progressive climate activists who contend the Democratic Party has failed to take aggressive positions against oil, gas and coal companies who have lobbied against policies to swiftly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), both support ending fossil fuel tax breaks and subsidies, but the […]
Background: While the group has more than 3,200 signatories around the world, it is sharpening its U.S. focus given how exposed many funds and companies are to the U.S. economy, said Heather Slavkin Corzo, the head of U.S. policy for the group. It plans to double down on Capitol Hill and with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve. The U.S. has lagged action […]
Experts such as floodplain managers, risk management officials and climate scientists have complained for years that FEMA has failed to consider those climate-driven changes and that the agency underestimates even the current flood risks because of long delays in updating its maps. “We’re trying to democratize this data so that everyone has the same set to be able to make decisions with,” said Matthew Eby, First […]
The panel’s chair countered that such ambitious proposals would resonate with Democratic voters. “This is good politics for Joe Biden and for the Democratic Party,” said Michelle Deatrick who led the panel and was a surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primaries, calling climate change “one of the top two issues for Democrats and a lot of independents.” “Trump’s going to call Biden a lefty […]
Trump’s efforts to push the OPEC-Russia deal to completion — including his pitch late last week to contribute U.S. oil reductions to Mexico’s share of the cuts — won him praise from shale oil producers, even though many companies are still expected to suffer. “It’ll provide him with temporary respite from the pain — from the excruciating pain — from the oil patch. He emerged as […]