Category Archives: Statements and Press Releases

News Release: EPA’s Initial Guidance on $27 Billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will Provide Health, Economic, and Wealth-Building Benefits to Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its initial program design guidance for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF or “fund”). This key environmental justice and climate provision of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will help provide direct investment toward climate mitigation and resilience projects in communities across the country.

a dollar bill on top of a pile of money with scrabble pieces spelling out "tax" on top

News Release: Chevron Mega-Stock Buybacks Program Shows Need for Tougher Rules

Washington, D.C. – The announcement that Chevron will spend $75 billion on stock buybacks underscores the urgency of reinforcing a measure Congress created last year to penalize companies that engage in a financial practice that amplifies rampant wealth inequality, and in this case boosts the bottom line of a climate-harming industry.

News Release: Fed Releases Inadequate Inaugural Climate Test for Big Banks

The Federal Reserve pilot climate scenario analysis to spur six major U.S. banks to evaluate their climate risks represents a necessary step towards getting these financial institutions to understand their transition risks and the severe physical threats on their residential and commercial real estate portfolios. But there needs to be a more assertive approach to how megabanks manage their climate risks.

News Release: OCC Should Follow CFPB Lead in Drawing Tough Line on Repeat Offenders

The nation’s big-bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, should help broaden and extend a crackdown on financial institutions that repeatedly violate the law – notably Wells Fargo – with all the tools at its disposal. Comptroller Michael Hsu is speaking on the problem of “too big to manage” today. The speech comes about a month after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Wells to pay $3.7 billion over widespread mismanagement of auto loans, mortgages, and deposit accounts, and promised to work with other federal regulators to find durable solutions to its constant violations of the law.

News Release: Banks Should Heed Fed Warning on Crypto Asset Risks

Washington, D.C. — The Federal Reserve and other banking regulators made the right call Tuesday by issuing a warning regarding the risks that crypto-assets pose to banking organizations. There is widespread volatility, fraud risk, legal uncertainties, unfair and deceptive practices, run and contagion risks, high levels of concentration and interconnections between firms, and poor risk management and governance found throughout the industry – all of which spells danger for investors and consumers alike.