According to one study, by the year 2100, the cost of unchecked climate change could be as high as $551 trillion. This is broader money than currently exists on earth, yet to date the Federal Reserve has failed to take any meaningful action on climate. This Article argues that the Fed not only has the authority to insulate our financial system from the contagious collapse of a dead-end fossil fuel industry, but also that it cannot act in accordance with its congressional mandates and statutory obligations without doing so. Through legal and historical analysis, this Article examines how the structure of Fed independence—far from requiring the Fed to eschew climate policy, as many have claimed—militates for the Fed to take a leadership role in protecting the U.S. economy from the ravages of climate change. Finally, after describing the regulatory and monetary-policy strategies the Fed could utilize to address climate threats, this Article analyzes the resistance of these tools to judicial review. This review results in the somewhat paradoxical strategic recommendation that the Fed’s use of its more sweeping monetary powers may, in fact, be better able to withstand challenge than the deployment of its arguably less controversial regulatory tools.
The Federal Reserve’s Responsibilities in a Warming World: A Normative Case and Strategic Primer for Fed Action on Climate Change
