DITCHED: How Financial Regulators Can Protect Against Climate Risk

Financial regulators have a key role to play in addressing the systemic risks presented by climate change. Arguably, it’s part of their mandate to safeguard financial markets and the real economy from disruptive shocks. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, change change has the potential to wreak havoc on asset valuations and economic stability, as well as the lives and livelihoods of millions of people — particularly if these events are poorly managed.  We discuss the steps regulators can take to protect against potentially devastating climate-related impacts in this episode of DITCHED, a Political Climate miniseries on fossil fuels, money flows and the greening of finance. What exactly do those regulatory actions look like? Who is responsible for taking them? What is the upshot for fossil fuels use? And how does this play politically? Steven Rothstein, managing director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, explains. Episodes of DITCHED air on Mondays. To catch all of these shows, subscribe to Political Climate wherever you get podcasts! Recommended reading: NYT: Climate Change Poses ‘Systemic Threat’ to the Economy, Big Investors Warn Politico: Ottawa seizes Covid-19 opportunity to require climate risk reporting Bloomberg: Fed opens door for oil company loans after lobbying campaign Ceres: Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk Political Climate is produced in partnership with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! This episode is brought to you with support from Lyft. Lyft is leading the transition to zero emissions vehicles with a commitment to achieve 100% electric vehicles on the Lyft platform by 2030. Learn more at lyftimpact.com/electric.