New Standards Enable Retirement Managers to Better Protect People’s Retirement Savings, Including from Climate-Related Financial Risk

(Washington, D.C. – November 22, 2022) The U.S. Department of Labor today finalized standards that will help retirement fund managers better protect people’s retirement savings from all types of financial risks, including those related to climate change.

“Climate change poses a serious and growing threat to our economy and financial systems,” said EDF climate risk and financial regulations attorney Stephanie Jones. “The standards finalized today restore a longstanding regulatory framework that retirement fund managers can use to protect Americans’ financial futures, and they reaffirm that those managers can consider all risks – including climate-related risks – when making investment decisions. That will help retirement fund managers make the best possible decisions when investing our money.”

The standards are called Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights. They received widespread support from the public and from a range of experts – including EDF – when they were proposed last year