Bank Climate Advocates v. U.S. Department of the Treasury

The court so-ordered the parties' stipulated schedule for the production of records. The schedule required that production be completed no later than June 30, 2026.

Bank Climate Advocates (BCA), a non-profit public benefit corporation "devoted to helping drive the systemic change in finance needed to avert the worst effects of climate change and help transform the global energy system," filed a lawsuit to compel the U.S. Department of the Treasury to produce documents under the Freedom of Information Act regarding 13 projects financed since 2016 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). BCA requested documents "that provide information, analysis, details, opinions, studies, or deliberations regarding climate change impacts or mitigation; or greenhouse gas emissions, figures, alternatives analysis, impacts, avoidance measures, or mitigation." BCA alleged that the requested records, including internal Treasury Department documents and documents exchanged between the Treasury Department and IFC staff and directors, would provide BCA and other entities with "further evidence and deeper insights into the routine failures of the IFC, and the United States government more broadly, to adhere to their climate change commitments, requirements, and legal obligations for, and in the approval of, IFC investments, including in regards to securing adequate, credible, and supported greenhouse gas ('GHG') emissions estimates, alternatives analysis, and mitigation analysis prior to IFC financing decisions." BCA also alleged that the requested records would assist BCA and other entities in their efforts to demonstrate that the U.S. and IFC's claims regarding the infeasibility of renewable energy sources were false and to improve U.S. and IFC accountability and transparency in decision-making and meeting climate change commitments.