Creating a Climate Resilient America: Strengthening the U.S. Financial System and Expanding Economic Opportunity
The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a hearing titled “Creating a Climate Resilient America: Strengthening the U.S. Financial System and Expanding Economic Opportunity” on Thursday, October 1st, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. This hearing will take place remotely via Cisco WebEx video conferencing.
This hearing will explore the ways that the climate crisis exacerbates economic harm and injustice, and identify strategies to strengthen financial systems and enhance access to capital to support community resilience and economic recovery.
"Financial markets, federal regulators, and business leaders recognize the risks posed by climate change, but they’re also publicly optimistic about the opportunities to solve the climate crisis - by directing capital toward climate-smart investments and making our economy more resilient and stronger than ever." - Chair Kathy Castor
READ REP. CASTOR'S OPENING STATEMENT
The committee will receive testimony from:
Rostin Behnam, Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As sponsor of the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC), Commissioner Behnam engages leading market experts and public consumer groups on issues relating to evolving market structures and movement of risk across clearinghouses, exchanges, intermediaries, market makers, and end-users. Commissioner Behnam convened the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee to provide a report to the MRAC on climate-related financial and market risks.
Joanna Syroka, Senior Underwriter and Director of New Markets, Fermat Capital Management. Dr. Syroka has extensive experience in structuring and placing risk transfer programs in both emerging and developed markets. Prior to joining Fermat Capital in 2017, she was the director of research & development at African Risk Capacity (ARC), Africa’s first sovereign insurance pool, which she helped design and establish in 2012. At ARC, she led the development of their parametric drought, flood, cyclone, pandemic, and climate insurance initiatives.
Maggie Monast, Director of Working Lands, Environmental Defense Fund. Monast works with farmers, food companies, agricultural organizations, and others to create an agricultural system that drives climate stability, clean water, and food security. Specifically, Monast works to quantify the farm financial impacts of conservation practice adoption, collaborates with major corporations to develop sustainability initiatives, and develops innovative financial incentives to advance sustainable agriculture.
Rich Powell, Executive Director, ClearPath. Powell leads ClearPath, whose mission is to develop and advance conservative policies that accelerate clean energy innovation. Rich served as a member of the 2019 Advisory Committee to the Export Import Bank of the United States. He is also on the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center’s Advisory Group.