ECB advances climate and nature risk integration after five years

The European Central Bank said in a Nov. 9 Economic Bulletin article that its Climate Change Centre, set up in 2021, now helps embed climate and nature-related risks across the institution.

For policymakers and banks, the change moves the ECB’s climate work from project coordination toward routine risk management. The NGFS forum cited by the ECB grew from eight founding institutions in 2017 to more than 170 members and observers.

“The ECB climate change centre (CCC) was established in 2021 to coordinate and provide strategic direction for the work of the ECB on climate-related issues,” the Nov. 9 article said.

The ECB tied the centre’s creation to its 2021 monetary policy strategy review, which treated climate change as relevant to monetary policy and other central banking functions. The Governing Council then committed the Eurosystem to account for climate change and the low-carbon transition within its mandate.

The centre reports directly to the ECB president and includes staff from different disciplines, including a climate scientist. In its first year, it worked on governance, internal cooperation, reporting arrangements, analytical capacity and staff support.

Its role has since widened. The centre “has evolved from a dedicated coordination hub into a facilitator of the integration of climate and nature-related risks into the ECB’s overall analytical and risk framework,” according to the article.

That work includes the ECB’s climate and nature plan for 2024-25, which expanded earlier climate work and added nature-related risk analysis for the first time. The centre also supports training, seminars, publications and knowledge-sharing across ECB business areas and the Eurosystem.

The ECB framed the issue as a central banking risk because physical damage from more frequent and severe weather events and the transition to a low-carbon economy can affect inflation, economic activity, financial markets and financial-system resilience.

The centre also acts as a channel for external cooperation. It supports ECB engagement with the Financial Stability Board, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, G20 and G7, as well as European institutions including the European Commission, European Banking Authority, EIOPA and the European Securities and Markets Authority.

The ECB highlighted two central bank forums: the Network for Greening the Financial System and the Eurosystem Climate Change Forum. The NGFS was founded in Paris in 2017 by eight central banks and supervisors; the Eurosystem forum was approved by the Governing Council in 2022, with membership extended to other European System of Central Banks members in January 2026.

Operational changes are already under way. The ECB said climate-related factors were integrated into the Eurosystem collateral framework for marketable assets issued by non-financial companies in 2026, with a similar step planned for credit claims in 2027.

Source: central-bank Economic Bulletin article, European Central Bank, Nov. 9, 2026