Climate Safe Lending Network Blog
Big ideas from across the climate-safe lending system
A Bit of Empathy for the Central Banker; They Just Might Save the World
By James Vaccaro, Executive Director, Climate Safe Lending Network, July 2021
Spare a thought for the central banker, won’t you?
It’s not an easy job. It’s something, we assume, that suits the technocrats rather than the entrepreneurs. That feels like an unfair tag to place on many central bankers I have met who are frequently inquisitive and passionate about what they do. But it’s probably a fair categorisation to consider them as analytical and fact-seeking; poring over the ever-growing volumes of data being produced. Central bankers also tend to be mostly invisible to the public unless something goes wrong where the central bankers get blamed and labelled as “experts” who failed to predict the future clearly enough. But, how can central bankers become the new climate heroes? Read the full blog here.
From the Archive
Bitcoin has Helped ‘Mine’ a Capital Idea for Fossil Fuel Finance
By James Vaccaro, June 2021
Central Bankers who form the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued a proposal to increase the capital held against cryptocurrencies that a bank holds by 1250%. That’s the equivalent of holding full equity against the risks of holding or trading currencies like Bitcoin on its books. Commentators have said that the move amounts to saying to banks: “don’t do it, but if you do, put your own money at risk - not other people's”
Why would the central bankers step in with such consequential action? Read the full blog here.
Stories from the Front Lines of Bank Climate Action
By Jacqueline Lim, June 2021
Reflections from climate concerned bankers on why the Climate Safe Lending Fellowship is needed in the banking sector right now. Read the full blog here.
400 Reasons to be Hopeful
By James Vaccaro, May 2021
Another day, another report. The field of climate finance is producing a deluge of literature. White papers, articles, statistics, reports. Like watching the evening news, we can often become desensitised from the content. It can feel abstracted and remote.
But this month has felt different….Read the full blog here.
Net-Zero Banking: Doing the Time Warp
By James Vaccaro, April 2021
The launch of Net Zero Banking Alliance took place this month with 43 banks now officially in the Race to Zero, committing to net zero portfolios by 2050. The UN Principles for Responsible Banking (which has over 200 signatories) commits banks to aligning to the Paris Climate Agreement. But this wasn’t as specific or detailed as the guidelines for how to achieve alignment as this new commitment which sets out a path to 1.5-degree alignment across full scope-3 emissions….Read the full blog here.
