WASHINGTON- Janet Yellen plans to tackle the potential risks to the financial system posed by climate change by pushing tax incentives to reduce carbon emissions. Yellen is looking at Sarah Bloom Raskin, a veteran of the Obama Administration, to head a climate 'hub'. The Biden Administration has already taken steps to address climate change by rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and suspended oil and gas leases on federal land. Yellen calls climate change "an existential threat" to the U.S. economy.

Officials have yet to reach a consensus on whether climate change can be mitigated through regulation. Republican members of Congress worry banks will use 'climate stress tests' to deny loans to the oil and gas industry.

Stress will begin to be put on the economy as mortgages in coastal areas become more vulnerable to sea level rise. Another example of this stress could include people and companies beginning to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, creating a more widespread use of electric cars which could reduce the value of assets owned by oil and gas leaders.

“There is opportunity in pre-emptive, early and bold actions by federal economic policy makers looking to avoid catastrophe,” Ms. Raskin wrote in the report’s foreword. “The tools exist. They are available now, and ready to be picked up and deployed.”

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