Today, Evergreen Action Executive Director Jamal Raad released the following statement in response to President Biden’s plans to nominate Graham Steele as assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions:

“President Biden has chosen the right person to lead on financial regulation. Throughout his career, Graham Steele has proven that he understands the systemic risk that climate change poses to the financial system, and is committed to leading federal regulators in confronting these dangers. He is prepared to rein in Wall Street’s risky, high-carbon investments and deploy regulatory tools to ensure that financial institutions are appropriately weighing climate risks. As federal regulators work to deliver on President Biden’s executive order to mitigate climate risk, Steele will be an invaluable asset in the effort to shield our country from a climate-fueled recession and drive the sustainable transition.

“The Senate must confirm Graham Steele without delay so that he can begin the urgent work of protecting our financial system from a climate crash.” 

In May, President Biden issued an Executive Order directing his administration to develop a whole of government approach to identifying and mitigating climate-related financial risk—but that work has only just begun. The President’s order called for the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, to issue a report in the coming months recommending actions to reduce risks to financial stability. Evergreen has laid out five concrete action steps for the Treasury Department to lead the national mobilization against the climate crisis as part of its ‘Five To Mobilize’ project.

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