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By Ross Kerber

May 14 (Reuters) - Of the 11 stories listed on Tuesday as top Sustainable Finance pieces on our wire at midday, I counted nine as being about government or public policy. These included news about a U.S. House budget proposal that would reduce government support for clean energy and other climate efforts, and a story that the Pentagon is halting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender troops as it moves to implement President Donald Trump's plan to kick them out.

To state the obvious, all of these relate to how U.S. Republicans led by Trump swept last fall's elections and now are using that power to remake policy agendas, causing others to react.

For instance the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a financial oversight body, will focus on the financial risks posed by climate change as the U.S. pulls back from such efforts, according to my colleague's story linked below. And don't miss other political-financial-sustainability coverage like our story about Qatar's gift of a new Air Force One aircraft.

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Global banking regulators focus on climate risk

Global banking regulators said they would intensify efforts to better understand the financial risks posed by climate change even as Trump pulls Washington out of the fight against global warming.

The oversight body of the world's forum for banking regulators met on Monday to take stock of the committee's work on climate-related financial risks and agreed to prioritize efforts to understand financial risk implications of extreme weather events, the Bank for International Settlements said in a statement.

The agreement comes as policy makers and banking regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are debating the extent to which climate change should be embedded into central bank policy, a tussle analysts say is likely to shape central bank decision making around the world.

Click here to read more about the efforts reported by my colleague Virginia Furness.

Company News

UnitedHealth Group UNH.N CEO Andrew Witty quit suddenly as the healthcare conglomerate suspended its 2025 forecast due to surging medical costs. The company's challenges include a cyberattack, and the CEO of its insurance unit was shot dead in New York City last December.

The U.S. will cut "de minimis" tariffs for low-value items imported from China, further de-escalating a potentially damaging trade war between the world's two largest economies. The tariff relief affects big Chinese e-commerce players like Shein and Temu.

Shipping giant Maersk MAERSKb.CO is set to buy part of the production of the world's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant now beginning operations in Denmark. Maersk needs a low-emission fuel for its fleet of container ships.

On my radar

The passing of corporate governance pioneer Robert Monks at 91 years old on April 29 led to an outpouring of tributes including from Institutional Shareholder Services, the influential proxy adviser he founded in 1985, and from ValueEdge Advisors, which he created in 2014.

Ten former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor officials called misguided a recent order by President Trump to eliminate the use of "disparate impact liability," a legal concept that can be used to hold employers liable for discrimination. The former officials called it "a necessary element of advancing equal opportunity for all, consistent with America’s national commitment to equal justice."

Trump's administration plans to accept a Boeing BA.N 747-8 airplane from Qatar to use as Air Force One, one of the most valuable gifts ever received by the U.S. government and eventually set to be donated to Trump's presidential library. Democrats and good government advocates said the gift from the Qatari royal family was unethical and likely unconstitutional.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio)

((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))