US Treasury-led watchdog dismantles climate advisory panels

11/9/2025 12:32

U.S. financial regulators voted on Wednesday to disband two committees charged with monitoring financial risks brought on by climate change, ending a multi-year Biden administration effort to embed climate threats into financial regulations.



The Financial Stability Oversight Council, a multi-regulator risk watchdog body chaired by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, rescinded the charters of its Climate-Related Financial Risk Committee and its Climate-Related Financial Risk Advisory Committee by voice vote without dissent or abstentions during a public session.



The committees were set up by Bessent's Biden administration predecessor, Janet Yellen, who warned repeatedly that increasingly severe storms, wildfires and other climate events were causing large economic and financial impacts on the U.S. economy and could trigger destabilizing asset losses.



Bessent said the dismantling was part of his "back to basics" approach to financial regulation, meant to remove burdensome rules and ease capital requirements for banks and other lenders to unlock more economic growth.