April 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve has blocked

a push by a global banking watchdog to make climate risk a focus

of financial rules, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing

people familiar with the matter.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision had proposed that

starting January 2026, banks publish detailed information about

the impact of climate change on their business to help investors

and regulators check on how the risks are managed.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is also pushing for the

committee to further propose that lenders disclose their

strategies to meet climate commitments, but U.S. officials cited

concerns that the watchdog was overstepping its purpose, the

Bloomberg report said.

There has been fierce resistance against tough proposals on

climate disclosures from U.S. companies. Last month, 10

Republican-led states sued the Securities and Exchange

Commission, challenging new federal rules that require

U.S.-listed companies to report climate-related risks.

Critics of tougher climate proposals accuse the watchdogs of

prioritizing political objectives over sound financial

regulation, but supporters say the disclosures are required to

limit financing to the fossil fuel industry.

The committee's members include central banks and banking

regulators. It writes high-level rules for members, but any

agreement reached at Basel has to be approved by regulators and

legislators in each individual jurisdiction.

The ECB declined to comment on the Bloomberg report. The

Fed and the Basel Committee did not immediately respond to

Reuters requests for comments.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)