The BoC Governor previously chaired the federal government’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is ideally placed to steer the central bank as a leader in climate policy, according to industry observers.
This is largely due to Macklem’s turn as chair of the federal government’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance, a stint that led to comprehensive climate-responsive recommendations for Canadian financial institutions in 2019.
With the BoC having recently joined the Network for Greening the Financial System, Macklem is “off to a pretty strong start,” according to Clean Energy Canada senior advisor Joanna Kyriazis.
“[Macklem] has very clearly declared that climate change and the transition to a net-zero economy presents a systemic risk to Canada’s financial system and it’s going to have profound effects on every sector across the economy,” Kyriazis told The Globe and Mail.
Kevin Quinlan, senior adviser at climate consulting firm Manifest Climate, said that Macklem has shown clear signs of putting his substantial clout behind the global movement of climate finance.
“I would say that he’s spoken more about climate change in seven months than the previous governor did in seven years,” Quinlan said. “He has spoken about wanting to have the bank play a bigger role internationally in terms of the organizations that are working on climate finance.”
And while the COVID-19 pandemic has justifiably occupied much of the bank’s attention for the past few quarters, “as the economy starts to recover, there could be some more high-profile things on the climate front,” Quinlan predicted.
“Those of us who follow climate issues in Canada are betting that sustainable finance is now part of his DNA, and are eagerly anticipating Bank of Canada leadership in this area,” said Linda Coady, executive director of the Pembina Institute.
