Tackling climate change as a central bank: Between motivation, obligation and limitation

How can we as a central bank contribute to tackling climate change? What's our role as a central bank and supervisor?

Our new host Katie Ranger discusses these questions with Executive Board members Isabel Schnabel and 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 12 May 2021 and recorded on 7 May 2021.

In this episode:

01:14 – Where we stand in the fight against climate change

What motivates our guests Isabel Schnabel and Frank Elderson to be vocal in the fight against climate change, what has been achieved so far and where we need to go from here.

13:10 – Legal aspects and the price stability mandate

What our price stability mandate tells us about our commitment to tackling climate change, and what our obligations and limitations are.

20:41 – What monetary policy can do

How climate change affects our mandate to maintain price stability, how our asset purchases could become greener, and why this is easier said than done and what market neutrality has to do with it.

35:16 – What banking supervisors can do

Why banks play a key role in the transition towards a green economy, how supervisors support banks to manage climate risks, and why good data and thorough stress tests play a key role.

Further reading:

Christine Lagarde: Towards a green capital markets union for Europe

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2021/html/ecb.sp210506~4ec98730ee.en.html

Frank Elderson: All the way to zero: guiding banks towards a carbon-neutral Europe

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2021/html/ecb.sp210429~3f8606edca.en.html

Frank Elderson: Greening monetary policy

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2021/html/ecb.blog210213~7e26af8606.en.html

Isabel Schnabel: From green neglect to green dominance?

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2021/html/ecb.sp210303_1~f3df48854e.en.html

Isabel Schnabel: Never waste a crisis: COVID-19, climate change and monetary policy

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200717~1556b0f988.en.html

Isabel Schnabel: When markets fail – the need for collective action in tackling climate change

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200928_1~268b0b672f.en.html

Luis de Guindos: Shining a light on climate risks: the ECB’s economy-wide climate stress test

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2021/html/ecb.blog210318~3bbc68ffc5.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.www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu

You can also listen to The ECB Podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Deezer, Stitcher, YouTube, Amazon Music and many more: https://pod.link/ecbpodcast