Janet L. Yellen , the president-elect’s pick to run the treasury at a critical time, may play a crucial role in getting corporations to take global warming seriously if confirmed by the Senate. Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, has sounded off on the need to address climate change. Climate activists now hope the department will guide the Biden administration’s tax, regulatory and budget policies with that in mind. Climate change can hit the balance sheets of banks when fires and floods damage indebted homeowners and business — and when regulators take steps to cut emissions that leaves some companies, such as oil drillers, in a lurch. Governments, Yellen said earlier this month, need to consider those liabilities “as a risk to banking organizations,” too. The choice of Yellen, made public Monday , is both another sign of Biden’s government-wide approach to addressing climate change and the […]