\u201cPrivate sources of capital are unlikely to be sufficient to finance the low-carbon economic transition, especially during the 2020s when the effort is new,\u201d the National Academies report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partial financing by a green bank would reduce risk for private investors and encourage rapid expansion of private sources capital, the report said. Because the public money invested under a green bank model is repaid over time, it can be redeployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better align the economy with the risks and benefits of transition policies and climate change, the report\u2019s authors also called for a policy that requires annual Securities and Exchange Commission reporting of these risks and benefits by private companies and their inclusion in stress tests by the Federal Reserve and in all cost-benefit analyses by federal agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the United States currently has no domestic independent development, investment, or federal green bank, it has periodically used them in the past, the National Academies\u2019 report noted, citing the War Finance Corporation, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which later became the capital bank for the 1930s-era New Deal, as past examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n