Bank of England: Put your money where your mouth is - unleash green investment now!
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
Your recent warning about the “devastating effects” of climate change has provided a much-needed wake-up call to the world’s banks, investors and regulators. It’s brilliant to see you set a powerful example by announcing that the Bank of England will disclose its own climate risk.
But we know you can and must go further. You rightly acknowledge that meeting even the modest targets of the Paris Agreement will require a “massive reallocation of capital”. But this is unlikely to happen unless central banks play a leading role.
We therefore call upon the Bank of England to commit to the following:
Use your power to create money to decarbonise our economy, rather than strengthening the fossil fuel industry
Introduce tougher regulation to actively penalise high-carbon lending while encouraging investment towards a low-carbon transition
If the Bank of England is serious about addressing climate change, it must escalate its efforts to support a green transition. Taking the measures above would not only help avoid recession, but would help secure a long, stable and healthy future for Britain and the world.
How can the Bank of England help unleash a green transition?
Since 2009 the Bank of England has created £445bn of new money, which it has used to buy assets from financial markets, in a process termed ‘quantitative easing’ or QE. But with its corporate QE programme launched in 2016, money created by the Bank of England has helped subsidise fossil fuel companies which are knowingly accelerating the climate crisis, including the likes of Shell and BP.
Speculation is mounting that the Bank of England will undertake more QE in response to a Brexit shock or another recession. If more QE is necessary, surely we should use this creation of billions of pounds of new money to help fund the green transition, instead of fuelling more financial speculation? It’s this kind of investment that could build the foundation for a Green New Deal.
Furthermore, as the most powerful regulator in our financial system the Bank of England must use all the powers at its disposal to stop banks pouring more money into fossil fuels, and encourage them to lend towards more sustainable ends. The Bank already uses these tools to reduce risk in the housing market. Why not use them to tackle climate change?
To truly address the climate crisis, the Bank of England must stop funding fossil fuels and must use its regulatory power to compel others to do the same.
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To:
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
From:
[Your Name]
Your recent warning about the “devastating effects” of climate change has provided a much-needed wake-up call to the world’s banks, investors and regulators. It’s brilliant to see you set a powerful example by announcing that the Bank of England will disclose its own climate risk.
But we know you can and must go further. You rightly acknowledge that meeting even the modest targets of the Paris Agreement will require a “massive reallocation of capital”. But this is unlikely to happen unless central banks play a leading role.
We therefore call upon the Bank of England to commit to the following:
Use your power to create money to decarbonise our economy, rather than strengthening the fossil fuel industry
Introduce tougher regulation to actively penalise high-carbon lending while encouraging investment towards a low-carbon transition
If the Bank of England is serious about addressing climate change, it must escalate its efforts to support a green transition. Taking the measures above would not only help avoid recession, but would help secure a long, stable and healthy future for Britain and the world.
How can the Bank of England help unleash a green transition?
Since 2009 the Bank of England has created £445bn of new money, which it has used to buy assets from financial markets, in a process termed ‘quantitative easing’ or QE. But with its corporate QE programme launched in 2016, money created by the Bank of England has helped subsidise fossil fuel companies which are knowingly accelerating the climate crisis, including the likes of Shell and BP.
Speculation is mounting that the Bank of England will undertake more QE in response to a Brexit shock or another recession. If more QE is necessary, surely we should use this creation of billions of pounds of new money to help fund the green transition, instead of fuelling more financial speculation? It’s this kind of investment that could build the foundation for a Green New Deal.
Furthermore, as the most powerful regulator in our financial system the Bank of England must use all the powers at its disposal to stop banks pouring more money into fossil fuels, and encourage them to lend towards more sustainable ends. The Bank already uses these tools to reduce risk in the housing market. Why not use them to tackle climate change?
To truly address the climate crisis, the Bank of England must stop funding fossil fuels and must use its regulatory power to compel others to do the same.