Finance Ministers Grapple Over Economic Threat of Climate Change

In recent months, Mr. Mnuchin has faced questions about the consequences of failing to safeguard the environment. He has generally demurred, noting that while he used to drive an electric car — a Tesla — he is not an expert on climate science.

However, he has cast doubt about climate policies that he believes could inhibit growth and under his watch the Treasury Department has rejected policies such as carbon pricing to fight climate change. In December, he said he did not believe that studying the economic risk of climate change fell under the purview of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the interagency panel he oversees that is charged with monitoring risks to the financial system.

Over the past three years, the Trump administration has systematically disengaged the Treasury Department from all aspects of addressing climate change.

In 2017, it reversed an Obama-era guidance restricting the United States from supporting the financing of coal plants through the World Bank and other global investment institutions. The new policy calls for the United States to “promote universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy, help countries access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.”

The administration also eliminated the agency’s Office of Environment and Energy, reassigning its staff elsewhere within the Treasury Department.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Mr. Mnuchin garnered headlines when he mocked Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist, for expressing views on fossil fuel investments without a degree in economics. Mr. Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, took to Instagram to defend Ms. Thunberg and her environmental views before deleting the posts.

While in Davos, Mr. Mnuchin also told Christine Lagarde, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, that she was incorrect in pinpointing the risks of climate change as a critical issue for the global finance community.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/us/politics/g20-climate-change.html