Nowadays, there is no question that climate change and environmental risks can be translated into financial risks, and therefore the financial system cannot be independent of them. Like many other central banks, the MNB has set a strategic goal to identify climate-related and environmental risks relevant to the Hungarian financial system and to improve the resilience of domestic supervised institutions to these risks.
Why does the MNB care about sustainability?
The
physical and transition risks associated with climate change can affect many
actors in the real economy, for example through changes in the prices of
different technologies, raw materials and energy carriers. In addition,
unpredictable and violent weather events and natural disasters can threaten the
integrity of built infrastructure, and thus production capacity and financial
performance. The financial system that finances and insures the companies
concerned is also exposed to these changes, so as a supervisory authority, the
MNB is acting prudently to protect the stability of the financial intermediary
system by extending its attention to these risks.
Furthermore, in August 2021, following a decision
of the Parliament, the MNB became the first European central bank to include
the promotion of environmental sustainability in its statutory objectives.
The MNB’s primary objective is to achieve and maintain price stability. (...) Without prejudice to its primary objective, the MNB supports the maintenance of the stability of the financial intermediary system, the enhancement of its resilience and its sustainable contribution to economic growth, as well as the economic and environmental sustainability policy of the government using the instruments at its disposal.
Structure of the programme
On 11
February 2019, the MNB announced its supervisory Green programme, which aims to
mitigate the ecological, economic and financial risks associated with
environmental anomalies and to strengthen the sustainable development and
competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. However, there can be no green
economy without environmentally risk-aware banks, insurers and investment
service providers that also take long-term sustainability into account.
The
programme brings together the MNB's sustainability measures and initiatives as
a supervisory authority, which can be grouped under three pillars:
Green Finance Report
The latest information on financial risks arising from climate change, sustainable financing and the MNB's sustainability programmes.
DetailsSupervisory tools
- Green preferential capital requirement programmes
- Green recommendations
- Green data publications
Environmentally sustainable operation
- MNB's carbon footprint and offsetting projects
- Certificates, annual audits