U.S. Central Bank's Leading Climate Advisor Departs, According to Bloomberg Reports

The Federal Reserve, the United States' central banking system, has found itself at odds with its international counterparts over climate action, as hostility from the Trump administration has put a strain on relations. This tension came to a head during a Financial Stability Board meeting in June.

Recent developments have seen the closure of the Fed's supervision climate committee earlier this year, along with other internal groups focused on financial stability and economic impacts. This move has raised concerns among experts, who view it as a step away from evaluating the financial risks of climate change.

Kevin Stiroh, the Federal Reserve's most senior official focused on climate change, has recently left the US central bank. Stiroh, who served as senior adviser to Michael Gibson, director of the supervision and regulation division at the Fed, had moved from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to the Fed's board of governors in 2021 to take on a newly-created leadership role on climate.

Stiroh's departure has been met with criticism from analysts, who argue that the Fed is trying to placate the anti-climate views of the Trump administration. Graham Steele, a policy expert and former Treasury official, stated that Stiroh's departure is a sign that the Fed is walking away from the important work of evaluating the financial risks of climate change.

In his role, Stiroh had led the Fed's supervision climate committee, bringing together senior staff from across the Fed system to focus on the implications of climate change. His speeches, such as the one delivered at Harvard Business School in March 2020, warned about the impacts of climate breakdown on various business sectors, asset classes, strategies, operations, and financial firms.

In 2022, Stiroh advocated for more sophisticated models in research, greater examination of how climate change impacts bank risk, and the use of forward-looking scenario analysis. His efforts to address climate change within the Fed were not without controversy, as even before Trump's election, Powell had come under fire from environmental advocates for his views on climate.

The Fed's attempts to navigate the hostility of US President Donald Trump to any green transition efforts have also seen the central bank leaving the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a global group of central banks trying to help the financial sector mitigate the risks of climate change, in January.

As of the latest update on July 10, 2025, the new leader of the Fed's Supervision Climate Committee has not been identified. Fed governor Michael Barr, however, has stated that the central bank needs to ensure that banks are measuring and managing climate-related risk as they do other risks.

This article was updated on 9 July 2025 to include comments from Graham Steele.

U.S. Central Bank's Leading Climate Advisor Departs, According to Bloomberg Reports