Public Citizen and Allies Protest Fed Chair Powell Sleepwalking on Climate Chaos

Public Citizen and allies today rallied in front of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to tell Fed Chair Jerome Powell to take seriously the threat that climate change poses to our financial system. Advocates said that Powell has been a zombie "sleepwalking on climate chaos" and wore costumes to illustrate their point.

The impacts of climate change, along with the necessary transition to a clean energy economy, pose a systemic risk to the U.S. financial system. Dozens of community members attended the rally in support of stronger regulatory action by the Fed.

"The Federal Reserve is the most important regulator when it comes to preventing financial crises. Its job is to protect the economy from excessive, unsafe risk-taking. The Fed could have stopped banks from selling bad subprime mortgage loans in 2007, and it can stop them from financing emissions that the economy cannot survive now. With a Chair who appreciates the threat, the regulator has the power to mitigate both the damage climate change does to the financial system, and the damage the financial system is doing to the planet," said Yevgeny Shrago, policy counsel with Public Citizen's climate program.

View images from the event here.