September, 15 2021, 04:14pm EDT
Advocates Call on Biden to Nominate Fed Chair Who Will Address Climate-Related Financial Risk
Fossil Free Finance Act would require big banks to align emissions financing with U.S obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, prohibit bank financing of all fossil fuel projects after 2030.
WASHINGTON
Today, Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced the Fossil Free Finance Act, legislation to require the Federal Reserve (Fed) to mandate banks and other Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs) align their financing of greenhouse gas emissions with science-based emissions targets. The Fossil Free Finance Act requires the Fed to acknowledge the existential threat climate change poses to the core tenants of its monetary policy and supervisory mandates and act to mitigate the financial stability threats of climate risk.
"The climate crisis poses an existential threat to every aspect of our society, including our economy and financial system," said Congressman Jones. "But for too long, the Federal Reserve has failed to acknowledge climate change as the threat that it is. As climate disasters grow in frequency and intensity, we can no longer afford to stand by while big banks and other financial institutions invest trillions in the companies fueling the climate crisis. That's why I'm proud to introduce the Fossil Free Finance Act, which will end the era of unmitigated emissions financing and ensure financial institutions do their part to address our climate crisis before it's too late."
"For too long, our federal government has looked the other way while our nation's largest banks bankroll the dirtiest fossil fuel projects, exacerbating the climate crisis and setting us up for a massive, climate-induced economic collapse. That must change," said Rep. Pressley. "It's time for a financial system that is truly safe, sound, and just. One that recognizes the existential threat posed by climate change and takes aggressive action to save our economy, save our planet, and save lives. Our bill would do just that by requiring banks put an end to financing fossil fuel projects so we can meet our obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement and begin to confront this crisis head on. We can and must act before it's too late."
"My residents deserve to breathe clean air. For over a decade, Wayne County, Michigan has not met the Clean Air Act standards leaving us with high rates of asthma and respiratory illnesses," said Congresswoman Tlaib. "Our planet is burning. Over the last five years, financial institutions under the Federal Reserve's supervision provided trillions in direct fossil fuel financing--and each new project brings us closer to the brink. The Federal Reserve's role is not to surrender our planet to corporate polluters and shepherd our financial system to its destruction. The Federal Reserve's role is to act. I am proud to join Rep. Jones and Rep. Pressley in introducing the Fossil Free Finance Act to require the Federal Reserve to finally address the risks climate change poses--and act at the scale this crisis demands."
The Fossil Free Finance Act requires the Fed to mandate that all bank holding companies with more than $50 billion in assets and all nonbank SIFIs align their financing of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation risk commodities with science-based emissions targets.
Specifically this bill mandates alignment with America's obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement and the emissions financing reduction targets below:
- 50% reduction in financed emissions by 2030
- 100% reduction in financed emissions by 2050
- Prohibits new or expanded fossil fuel projects after 2022
- Prohibits the financing of all fossil fuel projects after 2030
- Prohibits thermal coal financing after 2024
In addition to Reps. Jones, Pressley, and Tlaib, the Fossil Free Finance Act is co-sponsored by: Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Marie Newman (D-IL), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia (D-IL), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Mark Takano (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
The Fossil Free Finance Act is endorsed by Public Citizen, 350.org, Evergreen Action, Zero Hour, Stand.earth, Friends of the Earth US, Future Coalition, Action Center on Race and the Economy, Revolving Door Project, Sunrise Movement, Americans for Financial Reform, and Sierra Club.
"The Federal Reserve's mandate includes protecting our communities and economy, and no longer propping up the culprits of climate chaos," said Tracey Lewis, 350.org Senior Climate Finance Policy Analyst. "The historic Fossil Free Finance Act will blaze a trail in addressing the climate crisis at scale, and we thank climate champions Reps. Jones, Tlaib, and all co-sponsors of this Act for their visionary leadership. It's time for a Fossil Free Federal Reserve that steers our economy away from investment in high-risk fossil fuels, incorporates climate risk across policies and lending, and prioritizes racial justice, including through full employment, ahead of COP26 this November."
"Wall Street banks have made it clear that, without strong federal oversight and regulation, they plan to continue pouring money into the fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis and pushing us toward another financial crisis," said Sierra Club Fossil-Free Finance Campaign Manager Ben Cushing. "The Federal Reserve has long failed to use its existing tools to adequately rein in Wall Street's risky fossil fuel investments. We applaud Representatives Jones, Tlaib, and Pressley for their leadership in pushing the Fed to do its job and protect our financial system from a climate-driven crash."
"The Fossil Free Finance Act sends a powerful message that Congress won't accept the Federal Reserve's failure to do its job," said Yevgeny Shrago, Policy Counsel at Public Citizen's Climate Program. "The agency has tremendous power to protect the financial system from the effects of the climate crisis and to make sure it's prepared for the coming clean energy transition. But just like with the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed is standing by as banks increase their risky bets on toxic assets. We applaud the sponsors of this bill for addressing this threat and directing the Fed to use the tools at its disposal to protect vulnerable communities from the financial impacts of the climate crisis, instead of safeguarding Wall Street profits.
"Regulators' refusal to rein in Wall Street's reckless risk-taking drove our economy off a cliff in 2008, and now, Wall Street's climate-risky behavior could lead to an even bigger financial disaster if financial regulators don't act," said Evergreen Action Campaigns Director Lena Moffitt. "The Fed must fulfill its mandate to protect the American economy from a climate-fueled crash by using every available tool to limit climate risk in our market, but so far, it hasn't done nearly enough. The Fossil Free Financing Act will bring us one step closer to sound financial regulation by ordering the Fed to do something it already has the authority to be doing--limiting how much greenhouse gas pollution a bank can finance, which is absolutely essential to reducing the climate risks that the financial sector, and all of us, face. We applaud Representatives Mondaire Jones, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib for their work on this important legislation, and we look forward to their continued work to protect working Americans from Wall Street's short-sighted greed.
"Right now, a future free from the shackles of the fossil fuel industry is at stake because big banks continue to fund carbon polluters like Exxon, with no oversight or repercussions," said Sunrise Movement Advocacy Director Lauren Maunus. "As banks make billions funding climate polluters, one in three Americans are facing a climate catastrophe right now. We must hold bad actors accountable by passing the Fossil Free Finance Act so we can finally put a stop to the endless funding of fossil fuel companies who pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink."
"Addressing our global climate catastrophe requires an all-of-government, all-of-society approach that creatively pulls every available lever, and this legislation is a critical step in that direction," said Katie Eder, Co-founder and Executive Director of Future Coalition. "By holding accountable the financial institutions underwriting the destruction of our planet, we can win a significant battle in the fight against climate change and show how collective action and climate justice can create a more sustainable economy that benefits everyone."
Rep. Jones has consistently called for the federal government to address the role of the financial system in perpetuating the climate crisis. In April, he led a group of lawmakers in calling on the Fed to take action to prepare financial institutions and the broader economy for the risk and destabilizing impact of climate change. In June, he led colleagues in urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to restore and expand the designation of Systemically Important Financial Institutions ("SIFIs") to account for the existential threat of climate change to the stability of our financial institutions.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
California's $20 Fast Food Worker Minimum Wage Kicks In
"Fast food companies can afford to pay $20/hour without raising prices or cutting hours," said the California Fast Food Workers Union. "Doing either is a choice. Don't let them tell you otherwise."
Apr 01, 2024
A new California law raising the minimum wage for most fast food workers from $16 to $20 an hour took effect Monday, a move cheered by labor advocates who dismissed—and debunked—claims by an industry reaping record profits that the pay hike would force restaurant chains to raise prices and cut jobs.
The law applies to restaurants at national fast food chains with at least 60 locations and that have limited or no table service. Restaurants inside supermarkets and establishments that bake and sell bread are exempt. Twenty dollars is just a starting point, as a state law also established a Fast Food Council that can raise wages by up to 3.5% annually through 2029.
"The vast majority of fast food locations in California operate under the most profitable brands in the world," Joseph Bryant, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement. "Those corporations need to pay their fair share and provide their operators with the resources they need to pay their workers a living wage without cutting jobs or passing the cost to consumers."
As the California Fast Food Workers Union noted:
- From 2015 to 2023, California raised the minimum wage by 72%, from $9 an hour to $15.50 an hour;
- While the minimum wage was rising, fast food restaurants in California added 142,000 jobs; and
- The minimum wage has increased every year in California since 2015, and so has the number of fast food jobs in California, except for 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit.
California Fast Food Worker Union also pointed out that "numerous academic studies confirm: When states and cities pass big minimum wage increases, employers either add jobs or there is no or minimal effect on employment."
BREAKING: Today hundreds of fast food workers from across California are in LA to officially launch the California Fast Food Workers Union
We've won a Fast Food Council
We've won $20/hr
Now we're doing whatever it takes to win annual raises, just cause, and more#UnionsForAll pic.twitter.com/pykRKZF0PV
— California Fast Food Workers Union (@CAFastFoodUnion) February 9, 2024
The union highlighted various studies, including one in 2024 that found no fast food jobs were lost when California and New York increased their minimum wage to $15; another in 2018 that showed a slight increase in restaurant and food service employment in six cities that raised their minimum wage; and yet another in 2021 revealing hikes in state and local minimum wages had no effect on McDonald's opening or closing restaurants.
"According to the data, there's no reason why the new fast food minimum wage of $20 per hour in California should mean layoffs or increased prices," Alà Bustamante,deputy director for the Worker Power and Economic Security program at the Roosevelt Institute, said last week. "Profits in the fast food industry are sufficiently high to absorb the greater operating costs and ensure industry workers are paid fairly."
As More Perfect Union noted, McDonald's made $8.5 billion in profit last year, while Burger King's parent company raked in $1.2 billion, and Starbucks enjoyed $4.1 billion in profits.
Additionally, a new Roosevelt Institute analysis co-authored by Bustamante found that the 10 largest publicly traded fast food companies spent $6.1 billion on stock buybacks last year alone. This, while fast food prices soared by 46.8% over the past decade compared with 28.7% for the average of all prices. In 2023, fast food companies charged their customers 27% above their production costs. Critics have accused these and other corporations of "greedflation."
"In 2022, fast food industry employment in California had increased to approximately 553,000 workers—a 20.1% increase since 2014," the analysis notes. "Trends in the California fast food labor market have mirrored the national averages. Yet between 2014 and 2023, the federal minimum wage remained stagnant at $7.25 per hour, while California's minimum wage increased from $9 to $15.50 an hour—further evidence that California fast food firms can readily adjust to minimum wage increases."
The U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not been raised since 2009, and that amount is worth far less now than it was then due to inflation.
"This is an insult to American workers and bad for our economy," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said in a video published Monday by the Gravel Institute.
"It's simply a myth that raising the wage automatically means lost jobs," Reich asserted. "Here's the bottom line: If your business depends on paying your workers starvation wages, you should not be in business."
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"By focusing mostly on economic statistics that benefit mostly the wealthy... the nation's political and media elites blithely overlook the hard evidence that the economy is still structurally unsound for large swaths of the public."
Apr 01, 2024
A U.S. anti-hunger group marked April Fools' Day on Monday with a snarky statement suggesting that hungry Americans "can eat positive economic statistics about the soaring stock market or the growing gross domestic product."
"Let them eat GDP reports," Hunger Free America declared of the 44 million Americans—including 13 million children—who live in food insecure households, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
GDP is the market value of all the finished goods and services produced in a country over a certain time period. Critics have long argued against using it as the premier indicator of how a nation is doing.
"The old school way of the elites fighting hunger was to say, 'let them eat cake,'" said Hunger Free America CEO Joel Berg. "But the more modern approach is to say, 'let them eat a report of the nation's growing GDP, although the report offers empty calories.'"
"By focusing mostly on economic statistics that benefit mostly the wealthy—like stock indexes—the nation's political and media elites blithely overlook that hard evidence that the economy is still structurally unsound for large swaths of the public, and then those same elites are flummoxed as to why the public tells pollsters they are still not satisfied with the economy," Berg explained.
"The country's impoverished multitudes can now get all they can eat—assuming they can digest paper report pages."
"But the good news is that, none of that matters now, because truckloads of positive economic reports are being shipped to food banks, soup kitchens, and food pantries nationwide, and the country's impoverished multitudes can now get all they can eat—assuming they can digest paper report pages and cardboard report covers, and don't mind a bit of poisonous ink," he quipped.
While inflation has eased in the United States over the past two years in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, corporations have engaged in price gouging that has kept costs high for Americans, everywhere from gas pumps to grocery stores to fast food restaurants.
"It's one thing for corporations to pass reasonable increased costs to consumers. It's another for them to line their coffers by exploiting Americans who are just trying to get by," the Groundwork Collaborative's Liz Pancotti said in January, as the group released a related report. "It's time to rein in corporate price gouging—or families will continue to pay the price."
Data released last month by the Federal Reserve shows that the top 1% of Americans are the richest they have ever been, with a collective $44.6 trillion in wealth, a record largely driven by the stock market. President Joe Biden and some progressive Democratic lawmakers recently renewed calls for wealth taxes, but such proposals are not expected to pass the divided Congress.
Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and has been so since 2009. Although state policymakers have taken action to raise pay for some or all workers, national legislation to boost wages also has not been able to get through Congress.
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"Floridians will have the opportunity to reclaim their bodily autonomy and freedom from government interference!" said Florida Planned Parenthood Action.
Apr 01, 2024
The right-wing Florida Supreme Court on Monday effectively greenlighted a six-week abortion ban—but the justices also determined that state voters can weigh in on a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to abortion care in November.
Early last year, the court agreed to hear a challenge to the state's 15-week abortion ban—filed by the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and others on behalf of healthcare providers. Just a few months later, the Florida Legislature passed and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the six-week ban. Because of the court's ruling, the stricter ban is now set to take effect in a month.
In response to the court's decisions on Monday,
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern noted that "the justices came mighty close to abolishing constitutional protections for abortion AND barring the citizenry from enacting new ones in one fell swoop."
Reproductive rights advocates pointed to the court's approval of the ban as proof of the need for Floridians to turn out in November for the abortion rights ballot measure, which requires 60% voter support to pass. It states:
No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature's constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
"Today the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Amendment 4 meets the requirements for this year's ballot," the Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign, which
spearheaded the fight for the measure, said on social media. "Floridians WILL get a chance to vote to reject government interference with abortion."
The campaign—organized by the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising, Women's Voices of Southwest Florida, Florida Women's Freedom Coalition, SEIU 1199 Florida, and Planned Parenthood organizations in the state—also promoted its Rally to End the Six-Week Abortion Ban in Orlando planned for April 13.
Florida Planned Parenthood Action also celebrated the ballot decision, saying, "Floridians will have the opportunity to reclaim their bodily autonomy and freedom from government interference!"
Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, called the state court's Amendment 4 decision "fantastic news for the movement to defend and expand reproductive rights using ballot measures," which has become an increasingly popular strategy since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022.
"The dedication Floridians Protecting Freedom has shown to fight for abortion rights is remarkable and inspiring, and the Fairness Project congratulates them on this victory," she continued, noting the campaign has gathered over 1 million signatures. "These dual rulings demonstrate why the initiative process is so important."
"Without citizen-initiated ballot measures, the cruel ban affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court today would go into effect with no recourse," Hall added. "Thankfully, voters will have the opportunity to decide in November whether healthcare decisions should be made by doctors and patients, or by politicians and judges."
The Center for Reproductive Rights pointed out that "EVERY SINGLE TIME that states have put abortion directly on the ballot, voters have chosen to protect it, and now, Florida voters will have the chance to do the same."
"A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all the reproductive rights advocates in Florida and across the country on this major victory," the center added. "This ballot measure could fundamentally reshape abortion access across the U.S. South and now, the power to make that happen is in the people's hands."
Before DeSantis signed the 15-week ban in 2022—just a couple of months before the Roe reversal, which amplified the efforts of right-wing state policymakers to cut off access to abortion—Florida was long "an oasis of reproductive care in the South."
Reproductive Freedom for All president and CEO Mini Timmaraju stressed Monday that "even as extremists like DeSantis try to impose their backward agenda, the people won't stop fighting for their rights."
Pro-choice Democrats in the state also chimed in. Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-42), said that "the stakes for reproductive rights in Florida are incredibly high. Onward to November for a state where reproductive freedom is a reality for all."
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Democratic congresswoman now challenging U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), highlighted her opponent's support for the six-week ban, which she warned would devastate reproductive care in the state.
"We HAVE to vote this November. We have the chance to protect our rights, and we have to vote like it," she said.In addition to the abortion rights amendment, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday that voters can decide on a measure that would let adults legally buy and consume marijuana—which Smart & Safe Florida called a "big win for liberty and cannabis advocates."
Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) declared: "There you have it Florida! Abortion rights and adult-use marijuana are going to be on the ballot this November. There's so much at stake, we can't stay home."
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