Overnight Energy: Biden signs order directing studies of climate-related financial risks | Biden administration takes step toward light bulb efficiency standard

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Today we’re looking at an executive order requiring government departments to assess climate risks on the financial system and government, the Energy Department’s step toward a lightbulb efficiency standard and some of the U.S. Park Police getting body cameras soon.

RISKY BUSINESS: Biden signs order directing studies of climate-related financial risks

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order directing several federal departments and agencies to analyze the risks climate change poses to the U.S. financial system and federal government, the White House announced.

The order from Biden mandates a range of studies meant to expose the ways climate change, the severe weather it spurs, and the measures taken to fight it could threaten the financial stability of both the U.S. and the federal government. 

Like what?

• Biden’s order calls on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to work with the leaders of financial regulatory agencies to assess climate-related financial risks and potentially develop recommendations to “improve climate-related disclosures and other sources of data, and to incorporate climate-related financial risk into regulatory and supervisory practices.”
• The order also directs the Labor Department to consider scrapping any rules imposed by the Trump administration that would limit the ability of investment firms to consider environmental, social or governance risks to pension funds they manage. The department was also asked to report on ways to protect savings and pensions from climate-related financial risks. 
• Biden’s order additionally calls on the White House National Climate Advisor and director of the National Economic Council to develop “a comprehensive government-wide climate-risk strategy to identify and disclose climate-related financial risk to government programs, assets, and liabilities,” and for other studies into climate-related threats to federal finances.

Read more about the executive order here.

BULBING BACK BETTER: Biden administration takes first step toward light bulb efficiency standard

The Biden administration is taking the first step necessary to instate an energy efficiency standard for light bulbs, a move that’s expected to undermine incandescent bulbs in favor of LEDs. 

On Thursday, the Energy Department issued a pre-publication version of what’s known as a request for information asking stakeholders to weigh in on reinstating the standard. 

Specifically, it asks for details like how long it will take stores to sell through their bulb inventories and what industry needs to do to avoid “stranded” inventory.

So what do people think? Supporters of reinstating the standards argue the move will reduce greenhouse gas emissions with less energy being used, as well as save consumers money on their electricity bills. 

In 2019, the Trump administration determined that it did not need to instate the updated standard for incandescent light bulbs.

Then-Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a statement at the time that he was choosing to “protect consumer choice.”

Read more about the first step here.

CAMERA READY: San Francisco Park Police officers to adopt body cameras this week

The United States Park Police’s (USPP) San Francisco Field Office will be the first in the department to adopt body cameras this week, with the rest of the rank and file to follow by year’s end, USPP Chief Pamela Smith announced Thursday.

Smith said in a statement that all officers assigned to the San Francisco office will be equipped with the cameras by May 23, and that all public-facing officers ranked captain or higher will be equipped with them by the end of the calendar year. 

The background: The move followed incidents in which the Park Police came under scrutiny, including a 2017 shooting death and the 2020 clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square.

Read more about the body cameras here.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Documents reveal natural gas chaos in Texas blackouts, E&E News reports

Mexico Open to Working With U.S., Canada on Energy Law Concerns, Bloomberg reports

EU Parliament Backs Citizens’ Legal Challenges to Protect Environment, Reuters reports

California weighs electric car mandate for Uber and Lyft, CalMatters reports

Trump EPA took eleventh-hour look at endangerment finding, E&E News reports

ICYMI: Stories from Thursday….

Biden administration takes first step toward light bulb efficiency standard

Biden signs order directing studies of climate-related financial risks

Judge cites threat to sea turtles, halts Georgia dredging plan

GOP senators introduce bill to reimpose waived Nord Stream sanctions

San Francisco Park Police officers to adopt body cameras this week

NOAA predicts another above-average hurricane season

Arctic warming three times faster than planet as a whole: research

World’s largest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica

EPA holding biofuel blending mandates steady due to pandemic: report

OFF-BEAT AND OFFBEAT: Never drive hungry