Central banks and the climate crisis

Date:: 16 March 2026, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Venue:: FAW 9.04, London School of Economics, Clement’s Inn, London WC2A 2AZ

Photo: honglouwawa/istock

Legal Voices for the Future presents the March 2026 Knowledge Session on Central Banks and the Climate Crisis , hosted in partnership with LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and led by LVF Stewardship Committee member Martina Menegat. The session will discuss how lawyers (both within and outside central banks) have played a decisive role in leading to the integration of climate considerations into central banking frameworks, from monetary policy to banking supervision. The session will explore how these legal issues have been addressed in practice, also in light of the current geopolitical context.

Presentation

This session led by LVF Stewardship Member Martina Menegat will explore how law has shaped the way the central banking community has engaged with climate issues.

In recent years, central banks have emerged as unexpected players in the climate agenda. They have begun to address climate change within monetary policy and banking supervision, in light of the macroeconomic and financial repercussions of both climate impacts (physical risks) and the transition to a net-zero economy (transition risks).

Through novel interpretations of central bank mandates, lawyers have helped clarify whether, and to what extent, central banks can contribute to addressing climate-related risks.

Panel discussion

Each of our monthly knowledge sessions will include an interview with guest practitioners/ academics who will bring the topic of the presentation ‘to life’.

Martina will be joined by three experts with different legal backgrounds: Daniel Segoin, Senior Legal Counsel at the European Central Bank, Dan Eziefula, Lawyer at ClientEarth’s Accountable Finance Team, and a leading academic to be announced soon.

Creative content

In our creative content discussion, we will engage with a collective readout of the short novel from Luigi Pirandello “The Train has Whistled”.

The short novel is about the story of Belluca, an office clerk whose monotonous life suddenly cracks open when he hears a train whistle and realises the vastness of the word beyond his routine. This awakening, mistaken as madness by others, is a moment of inner freedom that allows him to ensure his life with new awareness.

This story will offer us some inspiration to discuss the ‘awakening’ of central banks to the climate crisis, and what they are getting right or not when it comes to climate action.

How to join

To be as inclusive as possible, we run our events in a hybrid format. If you are not in London for this knowledge session, please do join us online!