Jesuits join calls for Bank of England to lead on climate change

Wimbledon College students in climate protest

Source: Jesuits in Britain

The Provincial of Jesuits in Britain, Fr Damian Howard SJ, has joined more than 100 academics, scientists, and public figures in calling on the incoming Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, to "lead the way" on climate change.

Positive Money, a not-for-profit campaign group set up in the wake of the financial crisis, coordinated a jointly signed letter urging Mr Bailey to make climate change a top priority at the central bank. Other signatories include Greece's former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, former UK government science adviser Sir David King, primatologist Jane Goodall, and Citigroup's former chief economist.

The letter calls for Bailey to: make it mandatory for firms under the Bank of England's supervision to disclose climate risk; exclude fossil fuels assets from quantitative easing and ban it as pledged collateral at the central bank; and penalise high-carbon emissions through the central bank's macro-prudential framework.

The letter was published ahead of Bailey's confirmation hearing in parliament today.

Read the letter here: www.jesuit.org.uk/sites/default/files/open_letter_to_andrew_bailey.pdf