climate risk Archives - Americans for Financial Reform

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.

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: Department of Labor to Allow Retirement Plans to Consider Sustainability, Jobs, Equity, and Worker Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule takes an important step to safeguard the savings of millions of workers who participate in private-sector employee benefit plans by allowing workers’ private retirement plans and pensions to consider sustainability factors like climate change, workers’ rights, racial, economic and environmental justice, and corporate governance when investing and voting proxies.

News Release: New Scorecard Shows Private Equity’s Race to the Bottom on Climate

The Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus, and KKR are the top three offenders on climate among private equity firms, continuing to invest in polluting industries and exposing investors to significant climate-related risk, according to a new scorecard developed by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF).

Media Memo: The SEC’s regulatory agenda is under attack, and Chair Gary Gensler is appearing before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow.

The SEC’s regulatory agenda is under attack, and Chair Gary Gensler is appearing before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. This memo for the media addresses the SEC’s work across eight different areas.

News Release: Coalition tells SEC Rules Must Stop Wall Street Greenwashing & Other Exaggerated Claims that Mislead Investors

More than 90 organizations—including the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) —submitted two comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today urging the agency to enshrine stronger rules for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing to stop the current practice of “greenwashing.”

News Release: SEC Takes on Mutual Fund ‘Greenwashing’ with New Transparency Rules

WASHINGTON — As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) closes a comment period on two proposed rules that would create a standard framework for funds classified as environmental, social, and governance (ESG), advocacy groups today called on the agency to adopt stricter standards for the fastest-growing investment asset sector in the world.

News Release: Community Reinvestment Act Regulatory Update Offers Opportunity to Address Climate Crisis

A coalition of groups aiming to further financial inclusion, affordable housing, and racial and climate justice called for strengthened environmental justice provisions as the comment period for an update of the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) comes to a close.

News Release: Organizations Garner Over 60,000 Signatures Urging SEC to Strengthen Climate Risk Disclosure Rule as Comment Period Closes

Over 60,000 people support strong climate disclosure rules proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and over 10,000 individual comments were submitted during the public input period, which closes today.

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Letters to Regulators: Letter to PCAOB in Response to Request for Comment on Interim Analysis of Estimates and Specialists Audit Requirements

AFREF and Public Citizen sent a letter to PCAOB in response to their request for comment on their Interim Analysis of Estimates and Specialists Audit Requirements.