A day before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders on Earth Day, Yellen spoke to an international banking group to outline the administration's approach to the "existential risk."
"After sitting on the sidelines for four years, the US government is fully committed to rejoin the fight against climate change," she said in a speech to the Institute for International Finance.
Delivering on the Paris climate accord goals "will require bold and urgent action -- nothing less than transforming important sectors of the global economy, especially when it comes to how we generate power and move people and goods."
She cited one estimate saying the price tag for making the US economy carbon neutral is $2.5 trillion, and while Biden's proposed $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan provides critical investments, "meeting the total cost over the next 10 years will require substantially more."
"Private capital will need to fill most of that gap," she said.
US climate envoy John Kerry said earlier Wednesday that private funding is the "only place" to find the resources and technology necessary to reduce emissions.
Administration officials said Biden on Thursday would announce an ambitious new US target for slashing emissions that cause climate change over the next decade, and rally world leaders to do likewise.
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