‘Basel III’ bank rules could pose unexpected threat to Biden’s green energy plans [Video]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On a rooftop overlooking Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., Julian Torres stands next to row after row of solar panels his company, Scale Microgrids, helped install as part of a larger system of renewable energy that has saved the college about $1 million per year in utility costs.

Torres, the company’s chief investment officer, is among many people and institutions worried that such projects will be nearly impossible in the coming years due to a planned change in banking regulations.

The plan, part of an international agreement widely known as “Basel III endgame,” is meant to prevent a global financial crisis by increasing the amount of capital that banks must hold for certain investments to cushion them against potential losses.

Torres said the proposed rule “potentially makes projects unfinanceable with the implied costs” and that he’s already heard from bankers who have said they won’t be able to …