Sylvie Goulard: Central banking in the Anthropocene - how to re-embed our economic and financial systems within planetary boundaries?

Speech by Ms Sylvie Goulard, Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Conference "Frontiers of climate and nature in macroeconomics and finance", organised by the Bank of France, the NGFS, sustainable macro and INSPIRE, Paris, 24 October 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
25 October 2022
by Sylvie Goulard
PDF full text
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  |  14 pages

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to open this conference, as nature is a topic close to my heart.

I would like to start by thanking the organizers from the Banque de France, the NGFS, the Sustainable Macro initiative and the INSPIRE research initiative for putting together this important event on the frontiers of macroeconomics and finance with regard to climate and nature.

In addition, I truly appreciate the presence of many young researchers. It is key to transform the study of macroeconomics and finance for a new ecological era.

I would also like to use my time with you this morning to pay tribute to the next speaker at today's conference, Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, who published an incredibly powerful report last year.

The introduction of the so-called Dasgupta Review makes it clear that (and I quote): "My reader is the concerned citizen. She is someone who has watched television documentaries on the state of the biosphere and has read reports in newspapers and magazines on the extent to which Earth is being degraded and biodiversity is being lost. What she wants now is an explanation for how and why we have come to this pass, and she wants to know how to translate that explanation into recommendations".

When I read this sentence (maybe in part because of the "she" used by Professor Dasgupta), I recognized myself. I am not an ecological expert, I am just "a concerned citizen" who does her best to understand what is happening and what I could do in my current position.

So please allow me, as a non-expert, to adventure myself into three lines of thought today:

  • (i) what scientist tell us about the current situation of the biosphere;
  • (ii) what this means for central bankers and supervisors;
  • (iii) and what may be required to address the situation.

The situation is challenging, to say the least. Urgent action is needed.