U.S. PIRG helps introduce Fossil Free Finance Act

Sen. Edward Markey (MA) and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (MA) and Rashida Tlaib (MI) last week reintroduced the Fossil Free Finance Act. The bill would direct the Federal Reserve to require big banks to stop financing fossil fuel emissions by 2050. Mike Litt, U.S. PIRG’s consumer campaign director, joined the press conference with the three legislators, Public Citizen, and the Hip Hop Caucus for the bill’s reintroduction in front of the Capitol. As we explained in Sen. Markey’s press release for the bill:

“Despite numerous warnings about the risks climate change poses to consumer finances and the economy, too many Wall Street banks have only been adding fuel to the fire. The longer banks continue to finance dirty fossil fuel projects, the more lives, homes and communities will be lost to or damaged by extreme weather. The Fossil Free Finance Act is just what we need to make large banks finally take climate-related financial risks seriously. This act would help us get and stay on the course that science indicates is necessary to stave off climate disaster for current and future generations,” said Mike Litt, Consumer Campaign Director at U.S. PIRG.

Banks with more than $50 billion in assets would be required to meet the following targets:

1. Reduce 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions they finance by 2030 and 100% of such emissions by 2050;
2. Discontinue new or expanded fossil fuel-based projects 60 days after the bill is enacted;
3. Stop financing all fossil fuel projects by 2030.

The bill has also been cosponsored in the Senate by Sens. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Bernie Sanders (VT) and endorsed by 64 organizations.