Black and Latine adults are less able to pay their bills and are more impacted by climate disasters. Living paycheck to paycheck makes any disruptions caused by climate change far more devastating. Efforts to consider vulnerability in the Treasury’s report are missing important contexts, like the barriers for marginalized low-income communities and communities of color to build generational wealth and avenues for financial independence created by the credit system. Additionally, the Treasury report also missed other important financial mechanisms that households use to address financial cost and impacts of climate change: federal disaster assistance and local and state property buyouts.

Senior Researcher Dr. Cristina Muñoz De La Torre, points out how the most recent report from the US Treasury on the impact of climate change on household finances stops short in identifying why financial mechanisms, such as the credit system and insurance coverage, create inequalities and how we can address them through policy. .