To help tackle the climate emergency, financial institutions and governments must work together to reform the global financial architecture and create a more robust net-zero transition plan, argue Steve Waygood and Thomas Tayler.

An emergency requires a commensurate response. The scientific consensus is unequivocal: we must rapidly and dramatically reduce emissions to avoid the worst effects of human-induced climate change. Failure to do so could have catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences, including the potential collapse of the financial system before the end of the century.

To avoid that fate, a paradigm-shifting reorientation of the system, designed with a just transition to net zero by 2050 at its heart, is required. The international financial architecture has evolved, rather than been designed in a coherent way, and reacted to past crises instead of pre-empting future ones. To address the climate crisis before it overwhelms the system, coordinated planning and reform is needed.

This report sets out an ambitious plan to reset and repurpose the global financial architecture, one that would be brought to fruition at a new Bretton Woods summit in 2024.

The original Bretton Woods Conference created the financial architecture needed to lift the world out of the darkness of the Second World War. Our proposed “Bretton Woods +80” meeting would prepare the system to deal with climate change – the defining crisis of the next 80 years.

Download ‘Act now: A climate emergency roadmap for the international financial architecture’ to understand:

  • The threat climate change poses to the global economy and financial system
  • The role of governments and other policymakers in correcting market failures
  • How financial institutions can collaborate to create and steward a global net-zero transition plan for finance

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