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ARTICLE · 22 JUNE 2021

President Biden Signs Executive Order On Addressing Climate Change Risk Through Financial Regulation

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On Thursday, May 20, 2021, US President Biden signed an Executive Order, entitled "Climate-Related Financial Risk" (Climate Risk EO), ...

United StatesEnvironment
Thomas Delaney
Thomas Delaney
J. Paul Forrester
J. Paul Forrester
Andrew Olmem
Andrew Olmem
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On Thursday, May 20, 2021, US President Biden signed an Executive Order, entitled "Climate-Related Financial Risk" (Climate Risk EO), that sets the stage for the US federal government, including its financial regulatory agencies, to begin to incorporate climate-risk and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into financial regulation. The Climate Risk EO further demonstrates the priority the Biden administration is giving to addressing climate change and will likely accelerate ongoing efforts by federal financial regulators to adopt new, climate risk-related regulations. Of particular note, the executive order directs Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to utilize the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to coordinate the adoption of regulatory measures to address climate change on the part of the federal financial regulatory agencies. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is already actively preparing a proposal to revise public company

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