Can central banks save the planet?

Central bankers now seem keen to take on responsibility for
policy objectives they have previously shied away from – in
particular, tackling climate change. European Central Bank
President Christine Lagarde acknowledged in January that central
bankers will have to look beyond their traditional duties to
address the challenge. ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel
said in September 2020 that central banks should be an active
part of the collective effort to reduce carbon emissions.
Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta said ECB analysis can help
make climate-risk valuations more accurate.



Should central banks continue accommodating corporate bonds and
bank loans of high carbon companies as collateral, or should they
reduce them?



Giuseppe Porcaro, is joined by Rebecca Christie, Jean
Pisani-Ferry and Dirk Schoenmaker to discuss the hot topic of the
role of central banks in greening finance and possibly contribute
to decarbonisation.



The three guests of this episode recently published a series of
blog posts which tackle the issue from complementary
perspective:



Christie, R. (2021) ‘US separates climate concerns from financial
oversight in contrast to EU activism’, Bruegel Blog, 18
February



Pisani-Ferry, J. (2021) ‘Central banking’s brave new world’, 24
February



Schoenmaker, D. (2021) ‘A brown or a green European Central
Bank?’ Bruegel Blog, 24 February