Bankers, policymakers and economists are flocking to Jackson Hole, Wyo. today, Aug. 21, for one of the highest-profile events in monetary policy.
A regional Federal Reserve bank is putting on its annual economic symposium, this year focusing on the changing labor market. But some critics say the official agenda misses the mark by not mentioning climate change.
That includes Sarah Bloom Raskin. The former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury said severe temperatures are already hurting labor markets.
“ Extreme heat alone is costing the U.S. economy approximately $100 billion per year in labor productivity impacts,” Bloom Raskin, also a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said in a press call.
She joined scholars, activists and Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois) in sounding the alarm about the everyday impacts of climate change on the economy.
”When we look at the price of coffee, when we look at the price of olive oil, these are the kinds of effects that are, in part, climate driven,” Bloom Raskin added.
David Arkush, the director of the climate program at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy nonprofit, said the symposium is missing an opportunity.
“Despite these significant impacts, the Federal Reserve has altogether ignored climate change as a factor in monetary policy making,” Arkush said.
This isn’t the first time critics have cited the omission of climate change at a high-profile Federal Reserve event.
The criticism comes after the U.S. central banking system left a global climate organization of international central banks and disbanded committees studying the issue earlier this year.
Arkush and others urged the Federal Reserve to research and consider climate change’s impacts on the economy.
A representative of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which is putting on the event, and also has a branch in Denver, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a highly anticipated speech tomorrow, Aug. 22, potentially signaling what's next for interest rates. That starts at 8 a.m. MT and can be livestreamed here.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
