THE GREEN CENTRAL BANKING SCORECARD 2022 EDITION

The 2022 Green Central Banking Scorecard evaluates G20 monetary and prudential authorities, finding that most remain insufficiently ambitious in mitigating climate risks. While research and advocacy have improved, the report argues that central banks prioritize analysis over action and are hindered by a commitment to 'market neutrality' and flawed taxonomies. The Banque de France is the top-ranked institution, while Saudi Arabia is the lowest. The report recommends implementing green lending schemes, increasing capital requirements for fossil fuel exposures, and adopting a 'double materiality' framework to account for the financial sector's impact on the environment.

• The Banque de France is the highest-ranked G20 central bank in the 2022 Scorecard, primarily due to aligning its non-monetary portfolios with 1.5 degrees of warming and adopting fossil fuel exclusions.
• Most G20 central banks and financial regulators are not implementing impactful environmental measures, with all except the Banque de France scoring Grade C+ or below.
• The People's Bank of China (PBoC) has innovated with a carbon emission reduction facility (CERF) that subsidizes lending for carbon reduction, but its overall score was negatively impacted by continued support for coal.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) is leading in greening asset purchase programmes by tilting corporate bond holdings toward a 1.5-degree pathway, though it has not fully excluded the most polluting assets.
• Central banks are criticized for prioritizing risk analysis, such as climate scenario analysis, over concrete regulatory action, meaning these exercises have not yet led to changes in capital requirements.
• The principle of 'market neutrality' is argued to be a myth that effectively supports carbon-intensive sectors by preventing central banks from distorting asset prices to favor green investments.
• The report identifies a failure in green taxonomies, specifically noting that the PBoC supports the 'green and efficient use of coal' and the EU Taxonomy includes certain gas and nuclear activities as sustainable.
• The report advocates for a 'double materiality' framework, which requires central banks to consider both the financial risks climate change poses to the sector and the environmental impacts the financial sector causes.
• The report suggests that Global North central banks should acknowledge their historical role in colonialism and slavery, which provided the financing for extractive industries that contributed to current climate crises in the Global South.

APA

Eames, N., & Barmes, D. (2022). THE GREEN CENTRAL BANKING SCORECARD 2022 EDITION. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Positive-Money-Green-Central-Banking-Scorecard-Report-2022-3.pdf

Chicago

Eames, Nikki, and David Barmes. THE GREEN CENTRAL BANKING SCORECARD 2022 EDITION. Reclaim Finance, 2022. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Positive-Money-Green-Central-Banking-Scorecard-Report-2022-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Eames |first1=Nikki |last2=Barmes |first2=David |title=THE GREEN CENTRAL BANKING SCORECARD 2022 EDITION |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=November 2022 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Positive-Money-Green-Central-Banking-Scorecard-Report-2022-3.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{eames2022green, author = {Eames, Nikki and Barmes, David}, title = {{THE GREEN CENTRAL BANKING SCORECARD 2022 EDITION}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Positive-Money-Green-Central-Banking-Scorecard-Report-2022-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }