By Gabriel Gavin,James Fernyhough,Kathryn Carlson

Copyright politico

It comes as the EU faces increasing pressure to wind back its climate ambitions to compete with countries with looser standards, such as the U.S. and China.

Atkins, whom Trump appointed to head U.S. finance watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, said global warming posed no serious threat to financial stability, and insisted it was not the place of financial regulators to police the climate-related policies of businesses.

“We’re not here to be environmental police or social police or whatever. That’s not our job,” he told POLITICO. That position contradicts the European Central Bank’s stance that climate change poses real risks to the financial system.

As for whether he believes in the science of climate change, Atkins said: “It doesn’t matter what I believe.”

Since moving into the White House in January, Trump has unleashed a barrage of domestic anti-green reforms, from winding back his predecessor Joe Biden’s massive tax breaks for low-carbon technology to withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to stop measuring the emissions of some of the U.S.’s top polluters, including coal plants, steel mills and oil refineries. Trump has also openly waged war on wind power, a key tool in weaning the world off fossil fuel-generated electricity.