Bluelining: Climate Financial Discrimination on the Horizon

Bluelining occurs when financial institutions increase prices or withdraw services from regions they perceive to be at high environmental risk. As climate risk mitigation increasingly factors into business strategies, low-income communities are increasingly excluded. Populations disproportionately represented in high climate risk areas due to decades of redlining are unable to access critical resources such as mortgage capital. This report offers nine policy recommendations for state lawmakers to mitigate systemic financial risk and societal harm to climate-vulnerable communities, by leveraging existing federal legislation, standardizing climate risk modeling practices, and increasing the accountability of financial institutions.