WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today introduced a pair of bills to protect the long-term health and well-being of the American people and their economy from the catastrophic effects of climate chaos, by tackling the risky financial investments that are fanning its flames.
Companies around the world currently hold trillions of dollars of risky fossil fuel “assets”—investments similar in size to the subprime home mortgage bubble that sparked the Great Recession in 2007—that pose a looming threat to the American and global economy. Today’s introductions follow a report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission that climate chaos could “pose systemic risks to the U.S. financial system.”
“How we invest our money reflects our values today and will drive our future tomorrow,” said Merkley. “Fossil fuel investments play a key role in accelerating climate chaos, which continues to spiral further and further out of control and claim lives and livelihoods in the process. It’s time to prioritize the interests of the American people and the planet above the wishes of fossil fuel CEOs who want to hold our economy hostage.”
The Protecting America’s Economy from the Carbon Bubble Act of 2020 would help safeguard the economy by prohibiting financial companies from making new investments in fossil fuels—investments that are not only accelerating climate chaos, but also risk destabilizing the global economy. The Sustainable International Financial Institutions Act of 2020 would elevate that priority to the international stage by ensuring that the United States uses its voice and vote in international financial institutions to divest from fossil fuel investments. The introduction follows years of the Trump administration deepening the climate crisis by sabotaging international efforts to reduce dangerous carbon pollution.
The release was supported by Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of over 130 organizations working to end the financing of climate destruction. For statements of support, click here.
The full text of the Protecting America’s Economy from the Carbon Bubble Act of 2020 is available here.
The full text of the Sustainable International Financial Institutions Act of 2020 is available here.
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