Abstract

To achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, the bulk of identified fossil fuel resources cannot be burned and have to stay in the ground. This fact leads to a situation where a significant part of the fossil fuels already recorded in company balance sheets will become stranded assets in the near future. Since 2015, central banks have identified climate change as a large risk for financial stability, stranded assets constituting a significant element of this risk. To protect the economy from this risk, central banks need novel tools. The aim of this paper is to outline a new “climate bailout” tool which would enable fossil fuel industry actors, both in the Global North and Global South to sell their potentially stranded assets to central banks (mainly from the Global North) upon committing themselves to invest the received money into new and additional renewable energy (RE). Multilateral development banks and other development finance institutions would support this process, while central banks would take a new kind of long-term, low-yield green climate asset onto their balance sheets. The newly financed RE would substitute for lost fossil fuel energy supply and stabilise related prices. We demonstrate that a climate bailout would not only be in line with the general mandates of central banks, namely maintaining price stability and preserving the stability of the financial sector, but would also provide a new tool for central banks to counter fossil fuel price shock-induced inflation (fossilflation). We show how countries both from the Global South and the Global North could benefit from the implementation of this new financial tool.

中文翻译：

---

“气候救助”：央行限制气候变化造成的金融风险的新工具

摘要

为了实现《巴黎协定》的气候目标，大部分已确定的化石燃料资源不能燃烧，必须留在地下。这一事实导致公司资产负债表中已记录的大部分化石燃料在不久的将来将成为搁浅资产。自2015年以来，各国央行已将气候变化视为金融稳定的一大风险，而搁浅资产是该风险的重要组成部分。为了保护经济免受这种风险的影响，央行需要新的工具。本文的目的是概述一种新的“气候救助”工具，该工具将使北半球和南半球的化石燃料行业参与者能够在承诺后将其潜在的搁浅资产出售给中央银行（主要来自北半球）将收到的资金投资于新的和额外的可再生能源（RE）。多边开发银行和其他开发金融机构将支持这一进程，而央行将把一种新型的长期、低收益绿色气候资产纳入其资产负债表。新融资的可再生能源将替代失去的化石燃料能源供应并稳定相关价格。我们证明，气候救助不仅符合央行的总体使命，即维持价格稳定和金融部门的稳定，而且还可以为央行提供应对化石燃料价格冲击的新工具。引起的膨胀（化石膨胀）。我们展示了南半球和北半球国家如何从这一新金融工具的实施中受益。