Transition Finance Weekly - 7/24/2025
Billionaire Bullies, Dominion’s IRP, Florida Housing Market Skids
BREAKING: Proxy voting advisor Glass Lewis is suing Texas AG Ken Paxton to block the state’s latest anti-ESG law, SB 2337, alleging that the law violates the First Amendment. The law seeks to muzzle proxy advisors, preventing them from collecting and making recommendations based on real, material financial factors.
1. Just a Bunch of Bullies: Exposing the Right-Wing Playbook to Chill Climate Finance
In private, they admit it: threats work.
A top Texas official bragged about pressuring Wells Fargo to quit its climate commitments — and warned they’d be next if they didn’t follow BlackRock out the door. One week later, they caved.
This isn’t isolated. It’s part of a coordinated political effort to prevent an honest financial reckoning with climate risk and the clean energy transition by any means necessary. Backed by Leonard Leo’s billions, groups like Consumers’ Research are working hand-in-hand with GOP AGs, ALEC, and oil-funded front groups to threaten companies into abandoning basic risk management. Their goal? Silence companies’ right to invest responsibly — and punish them if they don’t.
Our latest Pleiades Statehouse Report documents how this agenda plays out in legislatures across the country, where climate denial, fossil fuel protectionism, and corporate censorship are dressed up as “free market” values. But what kind of “free market” demands “taking the scalps” of bank CEOs — as ALEC’s own CEO just did — as part of a political campaign to constrain investor behavior?
Read the full 2025 Pleiades Statehouse Report (PDF)
2. Home Prices Are Falling in Florida
Guess why!
Florida’s housing market isn’t faltering because of smart policy or new supply. It’s starting to be crushed under the weight of climate risk. In Punta Gorda — where 99% of homes face flood risk and 63% face wildfire exposure — home prices have dropped nearly 12% year-over-year. Nearby Cape Coral, also at high climate risk, has seen a similar decline.
The multiple bearish markets across the state are a climate risk management failure. Skyrocketing insurance premiums, coupled with high mortgage rates, are pushing homeowners to the brink. Florida now has a record number of homes for sale, because as insurers exit risky markets and housing costs surge, an increasing number of people are forced to sell — driving purchase prices down and eroding local economies. This is what unmanaged climate risk looks like.
Jacksonville real estate agent Bryan Carnaggio: “With this many houses for sale, a home basically needs to look like it’s out of a magazine — and be priced fairly — to get multiple offers.”
3. Virginia Regulator Approves Dominion’s “Legally Sufficient” IRP
“The SCC swallows Dominion’s IRP and serves stakeholders a nothingburger.”
Virginia’s top utility regulator has signed off on Dominion Energy’s long-term plan, calling it “legally sufficient” — even though it fails to explain how the utility will meet the statutory mandate, from the Virginia Clean Economy Act, for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. Dominion’s blueprint ends in 2039, includes a massive gas expansion, sets an arbitrary cap on solar development, and conceals the true cost of stranded assets. But instead of requiring a fix, the State Corporation Commission gave Dominion a gentle reprimand — and a green light.
This is what regulatory capture looks like. Dominion, one of Virginia’s most powerful political players, got its plan approved despite its manifest failure to comply with Virginia law.
There are some silver linings: regulators told Dominion to aim for more battery storage, invest in grid improvements, and pursue greater energy efficiency. We hope they do! But the plan is still much less than Virginians deserve — and are entitled to under law — and consumers will pay the price.
“Acceptance does not express approval… of Dominion’s future spending plans,” said the order. But it’s a pretty clear indication of what they’ll be able to get away with.
4. Texas Isn’t Serious About the Root Causes of Flooding
Not on the calendar in this week’s special session: climate change.
Texas is holding a special legislative session after record floods killed more than 130 people — but climate isn’t on the agenda. Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed bipartisan groundwater legislation earlier this year and is now prioritizing redistricting, deregulation, and culture war nonsense over meaningful climate action. Even Abbott’s limited flood proposals avoid root causes: more warnings and disaster prep, but no investment in resilience, let alone emissions reduction.
Meanwhile, this month’s floods aside, drought is always in the background in Texas, and the state’s groundwater crisis is accelerating. Farmers, cities, and data centers are competing for limited cubic footage, and aquifer withdrawals are spiking with few or no fees or restrictions, putting the Texas economic boom at risk. In many parts of Texas, groundwater is the only water, and it’s running out.
Climate Cabinet Texas Lead Denisce Palacios: “This isn’t just happening in Texas. North Carolina, New Mexico, and New Jersey have recently experienced unprecedented 1000-year floods. And these deaths are caused by the climate crisis.”
5. Data Centers Reshape the Energy Demand Curve
How do you plan for demand that’s both immense and speculative?
Speaking of data centers, Texas is doing one thing right: it has passed a landmark law to contend with the energy demands of enormous data centers. SB 6 will fund studies to make demand forecasting more precise in a speculative environment, and give grid regulators a “kill switch” so that when supply drops in emergencies, data center demand doesn’t overwhelm the grid.
Other states are starting to follow. Ohio approved a new tariff class for large electricity users like data centers, requiring them to pay for their impact on the grid regardless of usage and imposing financial penalties if a project is canceled. Lawmakers in Maryland and Oregon have taken similar steps to ensure that tech companies bear their fair share of energy infrastructure costs.
The stakes are massive: data centers are reshaping electric demand across the country. Without proactive regulation, hyperscale growth could overwhelm local grids, spike electricity prices, and derail clean energy progress. Load flexibility and accountability must go hand in hand.
SPOTLIGHT: COMMUNITY-BASED EMISSIONS REDUCTION WORKS
A new study from Redstone Strategy Group finds that community-based climate strategies deliver real, scalable emissions reductions with strong returns on investment. These efforts don’t just drive local projects forward — they keep up momentum on broader initiatives and build grassroots power when federal action stalls.
“According to the analysis, community-based strategies are essential to making progress at the state and local level, which is necessary given federal roadblocks. Moreover, because federal policy makers pay close attention to constituent feedback, community-based strategies help defend gains already made at the federal level (e.g., clean energy tax credits). The analysis also found that community-based investment can protect organizations on the ground under attack and lead to civic engagement.”
