Transition Finance Weekly - 3/21/2025
Fossil Fuel Accountability, USDA Funding at Risk, Unsellable Homes
1. Fossil Fuel Industry Pushes for Legal Immunity from Climate Lawsuits
Big Oil is lobbying for an iron shield against accountability.
Fossil fuel companies and their allies in Washington correctly see climate litigation as a real threat as states and municipalities press to make polluters pay for billions in damages. Vermont and New York have climate superfund laws on the books, and both California and Hawaii have introduced bills this year allowing individuals (and insurers) to sue for climate damages. While these efforts are a step forward, these billions of dollars will not come close to covering the trillions of dollars in costs created by the fossil fuel industry.
The companies are lobbying Congress to grant them blanket immunity from legal liability, following the gun manufacturers’ playbook. They’ve been trying for a waiver for a long time, and now, with a friendly Congress and administration, it just might happen.
But not without a fight: More than 200 climate groups sent a letter calling on Congressional Democrats to block any such waivers, warning that waiver legislation could shield the industry unfairly from accountability.
From the letter: “Our communities across the country are suffering grave threats to our public health, safety, and economic security as a result of Big Oil’s climate deception and pollution. Governments, residents, businesses, and others must have access to legal and legislative remedies in order to hold fossil fuel companies accountable, seek justice, and make polluters pay.”
2. The USDA Freeze Hits Rural Communities Hard
Farmers and their communities are paying the price for politics.
The Trump administration’s USDA funding freeze is impacting farmers, rural utilities, and the communities they call home, with billions in clean energy, conservation, and infrastructure investment held up, maybe permanently. Just two examples: the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which helps farmers afford clean energy installations and energy independence, and the New ERA program, which funds clean energy expansion for rural electric co-ops.
The freeze puts critical infrastructure projects at risk, placing financial uncertainty on small business owners, farmers, and community-owned utilities: Maine farmer Kevin Leavitt, for example, was days away from receiving a reimbursement of $48,000 to support energy efficiency work that’s already been done.
These programs are key to delivering low-cost, clean energy in rural areas and helping farmers deliver cheaper groceries to the rest of the country. These investments also act as a multiplier driving economic development: New ERA is spurring at least $35 billion in private investment into rural communities.
Mike Kruger of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association: “Certainly nothing good comes from this. Projects will be delayed. That will have impacts such as higher costs, layoffs and a delay in cleaning up our air and water. If you are looking for energy dominance, freezing everything is not the way to do it.”
3. California’s First New Steel Mill in 50 Years Will Run on Clean Energy
A much-needed win for jobs, industry, and the climate.
In Kern County, California, Pacific Steel is breaking ground on the Mojave Micro Mill, the state’s first steel mill in fifty years — and the first powered by renewable electricity. The mill will generate 515 construction jobs and 400 permanent positions, provide a new source of domestic steel, and prove that steelmaking – one of the world’s dirtiest industries – can be decarbonized.
This project was boosted by the Biden administration's industrial policy. States like California are forging ahead, even as the federal government backpedals, by advancing “Buy Clean” laws requiring state-funded projects to use low-carbon building materials.
Construction is a dirty industry, with an estimated 11% of global emissions coming from building materials. That’s because manufacturers consume huge amounts of fossil fuels to make products like steel and cement. Yet these materials are the building blocks of the global economy — and products we need to meet global clean energy deployment goals.
A plant like this, which makes seismic-grade rebar using renewable power, is a sustainability win we can celebrate.
4. Angelenos Want a Resilient Rebuild
As Newsom and local leaders waive regulations, citizens want to build better.
A new poll from UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles Times found that 80% of Los Angeles County voters, including in areas hit hard by wildfires, support tougher building codes — even if they increase construction costs. Angelenos just lived through one of the most destructive, costly, and traumatic wildfires in the state's history, and they want to see long-term resilience prioritized so the next fires won’t be so destructive.
Unfortunately, that isn’t what lawmakers have in mind. Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended some environmental regulations to speed up reconstruction, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass paused clean energy rules. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas introduced legislation to freeze building code updates until 2031, delaying already approved clean energy, electrification, and efficiency standards critical to climate resilience and protection.
Here’s what’s actually slowing construction: old zoning laws, permitting delays, and land use restrictions. In contrast, building codes are designed solely to keep people safe, and throwing them out to speed recovery in a high-risk area invites the same kind of weather damage again. Have we learned nothing?
5. The Insurance Blacklist Freezing Condo Sales
What does it mean when 5,000 condo properties are “unsellable”?
Government-sponsored Fannie Mae has a "blacklist" of thousands of condo properties it won’t buy mortgages from, making it nearly impossible to sell units in those buildings. The properties are either deficient in property insurance coverage or need “critical building repairs.” Loans that don’t meet Fannie Mae standards are more expensive for borrowers, and many lenders won’t issue them at all.
The list ballooned after the tragic Surfside condo collapse that killed 98 people in Florida, which has 1,400 properties on the blacklist. Properties in California, Colorado, Texas, and Hawaii are also included.
Often, insurance is a reason for blacklisting. Premiums are spiking, so some condo associations settle for less coverage than they need. And when disaster hits, insurers want to pay only the depreciated value of damages rather than the full replacement cost. This is a problem for Fannie Mae because it requires a certain minimum insurance level to ensure debts can be repaid if there’s property damage.
Jinah Kim, a board member at Shadow Ridge, a Southern California complex blacklisted in December: “The timing of the blacklisting is horrific. Even though we were spared in the fires, we now don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting affordable insurance.”
CALLOUT: Trump’s Assault on Clean Energy Has Already Cost 42,000 Jobs
A new report from Climate Power reveals the economic carnage Trump’s energy policies have already wrought. By the numbers:
42,493 lost or stalled jobs
$57 billion in lost investment
64 clean energy projects stopped
States hit hardest:
Arizona: 7,000 jobs lost
Michigan: 2,200 jobs lost
Georgia: 1,500 jobs lost
Dollar impacts:
Electricity prices are on track to hit their highest level since the 1990s.
Trump’s proposed tariffs could raise gas prices by at least 15 cents per gallon.
See the Clean Energy Impacts Tracker here.
