A new report from the American Energy Institute and Consumers’ Research claims that “climate risk scores” featured on homebuying platforms such as Zillow and Realtor devalue houses without authority. The report states that these scores, assigned by the unregulated private company First Street, routinely contradict official FEMA flood maps and undermine property values.

Concerns Over Transparency and Accountability

Sr. Fellow at the American Energy Institute Molly Vogt expressed concerns over the lack of transparency and accountability in the scoring system. “American homeowners deserve to know who is shaping these property valuations, how these scores are calculated, and what safeguards exist to protect them from inaccurate or misleading assessments,” Vogt said.

The report also notes that asset managers such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, which have significant ownership stakes in the platforms distributing these scores, have connections to the real estate platforms and may be using these scores to push a climate agenda.

Executive Director of Consumers’ Research Will Hild stated that “First Street’s politically motivated, unregulated climate-risk scores are eroding American home values by implying federal scientific backing, when in reality they are using their own arbitrary scores to push a climate agenda.”

Call for Congressional Investigation

The report calls for Congress to investigate the matter, citing the need for transparency and accountability in the scoring system. “Congress must investigate before more American families watch their biggest financial asset quietly eroded by an unaccountable, Wall Street-linked scoring system,” Vogt said.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.