Mark Carney: TCFD - strengthening the foundations of sustainable finance

Speech by Mr Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, at the TCFD Summit 2019, Tokyo, 8 October 2019.

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

Central bank speech  | 
08 October 2019
by Mark Carney
PDF full text
(894kb)
  |  12 pages

Introduction

It is an honour to join this inaugural TCFD Summit. There could be no better host than Japan. Prime Minister Abe made climate change an important theme of the Japanese G20 presidency, calling on nations to put 'promises into practice'. And Environment Minister Koizumi recently said Japan is "committed to realising a decarbonised society."

Japanese companies are heeding these calls. In the past year, almost 200 Japanese firms have joined the TCFD, bringing Japan to the top of the TCFD league table.

This welcome progress, and that of the TCFD more generally, must be set against growing challenges. Over the past five years, global carbon emissions have risen by 20% and sea levels by over 3.3mm per year. Global temperatures are on course to increase by 3.4°C by 2100.