WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Climate change is already having a major economic and financial impact on the United States and may trigger asset value losses in coming years that could cascade through the U.S. financial system, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will warn on Tuesday.
"As climate change intensifies, natural disasters and warming temperatures can lead to declines in asset values that could cascade through the financial system.
She said severe storms and wildfires in states like California, Florida, and Louisiana, tornadoes across the South and intensifying storms on the West Coast show how climate change is accelerating.
Yellen said the new Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee, set up last October by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), would boost U.S. efforts to mitigate the risks that climate change poses to financial stability.
That in turn could spill over to other parts of the financial system, she said.