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.

Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to compel the disclosure of climate change-related information related to projects financed by the International Finance Corporation.

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

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

Filed

United States of America

California

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

The processes through which enterprises can identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their actual and potential adverse impacts. Due diligence is the idea that reasonable precautions should be taken to avoid causing harm to people, the environment, or society. It also involves identifying and mitigating risks before they occur.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

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

Policy instrument

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance