The Bank of England is asking the public to share their opinion on making some of its policies greener – it needs a push to be more ambitious. So hundreds of us are going to respond.
You’ll see six questions on the Bank’s survey, but we suggest you only answer question six, on the “overall approach”. (The other questions are quite technical. Our research team are making their own submissions responding to all six questions in finer detail).* Please respond as an “Individual” and we strongly encourage you to personalise your response. The Bank is more likely to take individual messages seriously.
For some inspiration on your response, here are some tips from Positive Money:
- It’s encouraging the Bank’s looking into options to green its schemes, but its current approach doesn’t go far or fast enough.
- The Bank’s approach to greening this scheme is flawed – simply ‘tilting’ it will not be enough to make carbon-intensive companies like Shell and BP change their whole business models to be sustainable. The bank is naïve to think these companies will willingly be part of the solution and that they can transition quickly enough to be aligned with our climate targets.
- A smarter approach would be to ‘blacklist’ these companies to send a strong signal to other investors that they are not climate-safe investments.
- The Bank needs to take a market-shaping approach in order to meaningfully support the government’s net zero target and a swift and orderly green transition.
- The Bank should work with other public bodies to stop banks and financial institutions from funding environmentally harmful companies and instead incentivise investment in sustainable jobs and companies.
- You could point towards the proposals laid out in this recent report by Positive Money and the New Economics Foundation: “Greening Finance to Build Back Better: A UK Roadmap Ahead of COP26″: https://positivemoney.org/publications/greening-finance/
- Finally, consider why this issue is important to you. Do you think it’s important that the Bank plays a leading role in making our financial system climate safe?
*The Bank gives background on the consultation here, and Positive Money’s view on the Bank’s approach is here. The deadline to respond is Friday 2nd July.
For everyone who’d like to make a response step by step with us, David and Rachel from the Positive Money team are hosting a friendly drop-in zoom call on Wednesday 30th June. We’ll be going through how to respond together, and learning more about the Bank’s Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme along the way. We’re running through it three times that evening, with short sessions starting 6pm, 6.20pm, and 6.40pm. This walkthrough session is open to everyone, and will be a great opportunity to learn a bit more about these Bank of England policies, looking at how they could be fairer and more sustainable.
Sign up to join the Zoom walk-through here.