G20 handed roadmap for tackling climate-linked financial risks

July 07, 2021 | 22:57

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A leading international finance body on Wednesday urged G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs to better respond to growing climate-related financial risks, warning of their "far-reaching" impacts.

G20 handed roadmap for tackling climate-linked financial risks

General view taken at the start of a G20 foreign and development ministers meeting in Matera, on June 29, 2021. ANGELO CARCONI / ANSA / POOL / AFP

The Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board submitted a roadmap ahead of a G20 meeting in Venice later this week.

The FSB, created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, said global climate-related risks are "far-reaching" and require a coordinated response.

"They are global in nature, and will have effects across all entities, sectors and economies," it said in the document.

It pointed specifically to disclosure requirements for companies, data and the use of consistent metrics, vulnerabilities analysis and regulatory and supervisory practices.

"The goal is that all financial risk decisions appropriately take account of climate change," it said in the roadmap addressed to finance ministers from the Group of 20 -- the world's 19 biggest economies plus the European Union.

Ahead of the Venice meeting, the FSB also called for the G20 to accelerate efforts to transition away from the scandal-hit Libor interbank rate.

In addition, it urged them to examine vulnerabilities laid bare by the Covid-19 crisis, including in money market funds.

"The global financial system has weathered the COVID Event thus far, thanks to greater resilience brought about by the G20 financial regulatory reforms, and the swift, bold and determined international policy response," FSB chair Randal Quarles said.

But he warned there were areas where the coronavirus pandemic had brought up vulnerabilities that need to be urgently addressed.

The FSB is to publish later this month an interim report on the lessons learnt from the crisis and how it has impacted global financial stability.

AFP

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