The impending threat of climate calamity is forging a new breed of subnational statesmen from California guided by a political philosophy that could be called “planetary realism.”

Their view departs from the old “realist” school of foreign policy that regards nation-states as the principal actors on the world stage engaged in an endless struggle against others in pursuit of securing their own national interests.

Reality these days dictates that this new realism supplants the old when it comes to the convergence of critical common challenges that are beyond the scope of remedy by any one nation or bloc of nations. As the Earth’s biosphere cascades toward unlivable conditions, the security of each depends inextricably on the other.

California’s Planetary Realism - NOEMA
https://www.noemamag.com/californias-planetary-realism/?

The climate crisis threatens economic stability – why are central bankers divided? | Howard Davies | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/20/climate-economic-stability-central-bankers

In the brown corner, so to speak, we find the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. At a conference in Stockholm earlier this month he nailed his colours to the mast. “We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policymaker’,” he said. Integrating climate change considerations into monetary and banking supervision policies “would have significant distributional and other effects on companies, industries, regions and nations”. Powell, no doubt influenced by the fact that one of Biden’s nominees for the Fed board had to withdraw in the face of congressional opposition to her views on the climate crisis, insists that the Fed should not go there.

Others in the brown camp include Mervyn King, the former Bank of England governor, who argues that taking on climate responsibilities “would put at risk central bank independence”. No greater risk to human life can be imagined. Otmar Issing, the European Central Bank’s first chief economist, has also weighed in. “There can be no such thing as a ‘green’ monetary policy,” he said.

But there are doughty fighters in the green corner, too. Mark Carney, an enthusiast since he led the Bank of England, encourages central banks to “examine how to revise their … monetary-policy operations to be more consistent with the legislated climate objectives”. The ECB president, Christine Lagarde, herself has described the climate crisis as “mission critical”. Frank Elderson, the responsible ECB board member, has engineered a “tilt” in the Bank’s bond-purchase schemes away from firms with high carbon emissions, in favour of more climate-friendly companies and industries. He described the Bank as a “prudent realist,” rather than “an environmental activist” (though some bankers supervised by the ECB would probably disagree). “Banks will be at the forefront of the energy and climate transition, whether they want to be or not,” he said, and the supervisor’s role is to encourage banks to manage their loan portfolios with that in mind.

On the monetary policy front, Isabel Schnabel, the German ECB board member, recently described how and why the Bank would incorporate climate-change considerations in its approach. In addition to “removing the existing bias towards emission-intensive firms,” the ECB plans to make “climate-related disclosures compulsory for bonds to remain eligible as collateral in our refinancing operations”. Tough love.

The ECB seems unconcerned by Powell’s argument that climate policy is not for the central bank, and it justifies its approach by noting that the Bank’s statute requires it to support the EU’s economic policies, in addition to maintaining price stability. But critics warn that the ECB may soon be challenged in court for overstepping its mandate.

SHEFIK:
#realist/pessimist

rozhodne je to dalsi prilezitost a skvela moznost vyuzit to k rychlejsi transformaci energetiky, ale po zkusenostech s vyuzitim transformace v dobe covidu, bych krotil tvuj optimismus

jako daleko realnejsi vidim spis rozsireni tezby uhli/plynu/ropy/prolomeni limitu, rozjeti uhelek naplno atp... jakmile nas dozenou ceny, ktere pujdou nahoru a to nejen v energetickem sektoru(a to pravdepodobne jiz brzy), lidi budou chtit okamzita reseni + uvidime jak moc je evropa stale solidarni s ukrajinou v takove situaci a jestli ten putinuv plyn/ropa nebude shudnejsi reseni i pres ty jeho male bezvyznamne pehlednutelne preslapy, ehm

a jedna paralela, jak dlouho nas ruzni lide varovali pred ruskem a jak to vsichni vesele ignorovali, nez k tomu nakonec doslo a bylo pozde
a jak dlouho nas ruzni lide varuji ped zmenou klimatu ..... ted se prece mame dobre, takze se nic takoveho urcite nemuze stat, ze....




GOJATLA: nasi predci prezili doby ledove, neni duvod, aby i tohle nekdo neprezil