Central banks and financial supervisors have taken extraordinary measures to respond to the financial and economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to do so into the recovery phase. Building upon the first edition of the Toolbox of Sustainable Crisis Response Measures for Central Bank and Supervisors published by the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance in June, this INSPIRE policy brief finds that while central banks have introduced and scaled up climate initiatives this year, less than 1% of central banks from 188 economies have connected their crisis response with wider measures to align finance with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This webinar will explore possible reasons for this divergence between crisis response and sustainability, before deep diving into how sustainable considerations may be further integrated into both crisis response measures and general operations of central banks and supervisors in Europe. The discussion will focus on the four priority actions recommended within the policy brief, namely the greening of: collateral frameworks; asset purchase programmes and refinancing operations; prudential measures; and finally portfolio management.

Schedule
Presentation of the Toolbox by Simon Dikau (Grantham Research Institute, LSE) and Ulrich Volz (Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS)
Panel discussion and Q&A moderated by Nick Robins (Grantham Research Institute, LSE) with insights from:

  • Irene Heemskerk – Senior Policy Advisor, Climate Risks and Sustainability, De Nederlandsche Bank and Advisor to the Chair of the NGFS
  • Danae Kyriakopoulou – Chief Economist & Director of Research, OMFIF
  • Pierre Monnin – Senior Fellow at the Council on Economic Policies and member of the INSPIRE advisory committee

    The event forms part of the Sustainable Crisis Recovery project led by E3G, the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance, the SEACEN Centre, and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. The project examines the options available to monetary and financial authorities in order to respond to the current economic crisis in a way that is consistent with national commitments to environmental and sustainability goals. The project is funded by the International Network for Sustainable Financial Policy Insights, Research & Exchange (INSPIRE).
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