The first in a two-part series published in 2020, this report is designed to provide central banks and financial supervisors with options to align their crisis response measures with sustainability goals.

Central banks and financial supervisors are playing a crucial role in shaping the responses to the crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To avoid lock-in to a high-carbon recovery and to fulfil their mandates for financial stability, central banks and supervisors need to align their COVID-19 response measures with the Paris Agreement on climate change. This new guide provides a framework for doing so.

The guide has been designed to help ensure that climate risks are accurately reflected in central banks’ balance sheets and operations, to minimize climate-related risks for regulated financial institutions, and to support governments’ efforts to scale up sustainable finance in line with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. It is produced by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS, University of London.