The turn of the year saw Executive Board member Sabine Mauderer take office as Chair of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a global group of central banks and supervisory authorities committed to forging a more sustainable financial system. The NGFS’s mission is to analyse what climate change and nature loss mean for the financial system. The network is also looking to play a part in mobilising private capital to support the transition towards a sustainable economy. It was established in December 2017, and the Bundesbank ranks among its founding members. 

It is a huge privilege for me to take over as Chair of this global network, Mauderer said in a video interview. This appointment comes after a two-year stint during which Sabine Mauderer served as the NGFS’s Vice-Chair, and the network was chaired by Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This period saw the network expand further, and its current membership numbers 132 members and 21 observers. The NGFS plays an instrumental role in tackling the financial risks presented by climate change and readying the financial system for the journey to net zero, Mauderer said. We will never tire of emphasising the huge role that the financial sector plays in funding the green transition.

Sabine Mauderer will chair the NGFS for the next two years, and her Vice-Chair will be Fundi Tshazibana, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank. Over the past two years, the NGFS has released more than 20 publications covering a broad range of topics, including climate scenarios that banking supervisors can use as baselines in stress testing exercises. Going forward, we are going to need more analyses on what climate change and nature loss mean for the economy and the financial system, noted Mauderer. One of Sabine Mauderer’s major interests as Chair is for all the voices from the Global South and the Global North to be heard within the NGFS’s worldwide network. In her view, everyone stands to benefit from the network’s huge wealth of knowledge and best practices.