Climate change governance by central banks in an era of interlocking crises

In this article, we survey the literature on central bank action on climate change, focusing particularly on how the combined crises of COVID-19, inflation, and Ukraine have affected this action. We argue that the current situation is a critical juncture in which recent crises have created a highly indeterminate situation regarding what central banks might do regarding climate change. To date, some central banks have used these crises as opportunities for expanding their role while others have succumbed to pressure to withdraw from climate action. We explore three dynamics that generate this openness to various potential trajectories for climate action: competing interpretations of inflation’s implications for climate policy; shifting forms of expertise within central banks; and attempts at global coordination of central bank activity. We then argue that how this critical juncture is resolved depends critically on national variations in the institutional character of central banks and their political context.

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Publication Details

Journal
Environmental Politics
Published
2025-03-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2025.2481713
Citations
19
Primary Topic
Sustainable Finance and Green Bonds
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
13.25
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article

Climate change governance by central banks in an era of interlocking crises

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19 citations
Environmental Politics
Sustainable Finance and Green Bonds
13.25
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Climate change governance by central banks in an era of interlocking crises

Sylvain Maechler, Daniel Bailey, Jacqueline Best, Ilias Alami, James Jackson, Paul Langley, John Morris, Matthew Paterson, Eric Helleiner, Jens van ’t Klooster, Sarah Bracking, Robert Watt, Stine Quorning, Stanley Wilshire, Adrienne Roberts, Jeremy Green
article en
19 citations

Abstract

In this article, we survey the literature on central bank action on climate change, focusing particularly on how the combined crises of COVID-19, inflation, and Ukraine have affected this action. We argue that the current situation is a critical juncture in which recent crises have created a highly indeterminate situation regarding what central banks might do regarding climate change. To date, some central banks have used these crises as opportunities for expanding their role while others have succumbed to pressure to withdraw from climate action. We explore three dynamics that generate this openness to various potential trajectories for climate action: competing interpretations of inflation’s implications for climate policy; shifting forms of expertise within central banks; and attempts at global coordination of central bank activity. We then argue that how this critical juncture is resolved depends critically on national variations in the institutional character of central banks and their political context.

Environmental Politics
Manchester Metropolitan University (GB), University of Nottingham (GB), University of Waterloo (CA), University of Ottawa (CA), Copenhagen Business School (DK), King's College London (GB), Durham University (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), University of Manchester (GB), University of Amsterdam (NL)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Sustainable Finance and Green Bonds
13.25
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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