A Fed bailout we can all get behind! Fed Disbands Climate Groups Studying Financial Stability Risks
A Fed bailout we can all get behind: “Fed Disbands Climate Groups Studying Financial Stability Risks.” https://t.co/QjZJzwBytn pic.twitter.com/IVPYcOTXMR
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) May 28, 2025
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-28/fed-disbands-climate-groups-studying-financial-stability-risks?srnd=homepage-americas&embedded-checkout=true
(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve has disbanded a number of internal groups set up to help the US central bank identify and respond to financial stability threats posed by climate change.
Among those dismantled are the Supervision Climate Committee and the Financial Stability Climate Committee, which were established in early 2021. That’s around the time the Fed — under President Joe Biden — began to speak more openly about the financial implications of a hotter planet and increasingly erratic weather patterns. Former Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard said at the time that the two committees were part of an effort to build “institutional capacity and knowledge” on climate risks and vulnerabilities.
Both committees were shut down in March, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified disclosing confidential information. Two other climate-focused groups — the Climate Committee on Economic Activity and the Climate Data Committee — were also shuttered around that time, the person said.
A spokesperson for the Fed declined to comment. Stiroh and Michael Kiley, the deputy director of the Fed’s financial stability division who had chaired the Financial Stability Climate Committee, weren’t available to comment, the Fed spokesperson said.
The supervision and financial stability committees had secretariats of fewer than five people each, and a larger group of Fed employees worked part-time on committee projects, the person said. It’s not clear that the winding down of the committees has resulted in any jobs being cut, the person said.
Then and Now
Bill Dudley, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said back in 2021 that the creation of the climate committees showed the Fed “takes climate change seriously” and that “top officials are committed to regularly evaluating and responding to the threat.” Their dissolution comes as the Trump administration openly attacks green policies.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has in the past acknowledged the threats that climate change poses to the US economy and financial system, while also repeatedly stressing that the central bank doesn’t have a mandate to foster a low-carbon transition.
The Fed has come under pressure in recent years from Republican lawmakers, including over concerns that climate considerations have unduly influenced financial regulation, and that the central bank has become increasingly politicized.
“You heard me say over and over again that we will not be climate policymakers,” Powell said in a press conference earlier this month. “Our role on climate is a very, very narrow one.”