Agnès Bénassy-Quéré: Speech - "Research conference on climate- and nature-related risks in the economic and financial systems"
Speech by Ms Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Research conference on climate- and nature-related risks in the economic and financial systems, Paris, 12 March 2026.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Let me thank all of you for your contributions and for attending this two-day conference. I'm impressed by the speed of knowledge-building in this area of research.
We received nearly 200 submissions.
The volume and the quality of the work show that research on climate and nature-related economic and financial risks remains extremely dynamic.
Policymakers in general, and central banks in particular need to rely on solid research and data when they incorporate climate and nature-related issues in their strategies and policy decisions. So, thank you for your efforts.
Consistently, let me start with my takeaways from the conference
From the different contributions, I would like to highlight three key messages.
1. Climate- and nature-related physical risks cannot be ignored from a macroeconomic standpoint
Physical risks, whether related to climate or to ecosystem degradation, are no longer a distant concern. They are already disrupting economic activity and affecting inflation, productivity and fiscal sustainability.
One paper [by Sarah Duffy] presented here showed how climate-related physical risks are reflected in sovereign borrowing costs.
Countries that are most vulnerable to climate shocks face higher borrowing rates, especially when their adaptive capacity is limited.