Being transparent about climate risks

How transparent do organisations need to be about climate risks, and why does it matter? Where do banks and the ECB stand on sharing this information?

Our host Katie Ranger speaks with Executive Board member and Supervisory Board Vice-Chair Frank Elderson in this episode of The ECB Podcast.

The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.

Published on 13 May 2023 and recorded on 8 May 2023.

In this episode:

01:27 – What are climate disclosures and why do they matter?

What information organisations should share about their climate-related risks, the forms these disclosures can take, and why they’re important for people, companies, investors and institutions.

05:52 – Greenwashing and making sure disclosures aren’t misleading

How we can make sure organisations are acting – and not just sounding – green, and how to know if the climate information can be trusted.

13:32 – How well are banks disclosing their climate risks?

What our latest report reveals about the progress banks have made in becoming more transparent when it comes to climate risks, and what we expect from them as their supervisor.

17:50 – The ECB’s own climate disclosures

What our first set of climate disclosures shows about the carbon footprint of corporate bonds we bought as part of our monetary policy and other investments.

22:38 – Our guest’s hot tip

Additional material:

Press release: Banks must continue improving climate risk disclosures as new EU rules take effect, ECB report shows

https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2023/html/ssm.pr230421~213bf10fbe.en.html

Press release: ECB starts disclosing climate impact of portfolios on road to Paris-alignment

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2023/html/ecb.pr230323~05efc3cf49.en.html

Explainer: What are climate disclosures?

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/educational/explainers/html/what-are-climate-disclosures.en.html

Speech by Frank Elderson: Policymakers as policy takers – accounting for climate-related and environmental factors in banking supervision and monetary policy

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2023/html/ecb.sp230421~489cd977e0.en.html

The ECB Podcast: Greening the financial system: milestones in our climate change journey, 9 July 2022

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/tvservices/podcast/html/ecb.pod220709_episode36.en.html

Climate change and banking supervision

https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/about/climate/html/index.en.html

Climate change and the ECB

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/climate/html/index.en.html

European Central Bank

www.ecb.europa.eu

European Banking Supervision

www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu