4 billion loaves of bread lost, John.

That’s how much of the British wheat harvest that has been wrecked by extreme weather since 2020 - and it’s making your food shop more expensive.

This is climateflation in action: severe weather caused by the climate crisis, damaging harvests, destroying homes, endangering lives and pushing up prices.

The Bank of England is responsible for keeping inflation low and preventing another financial crisis, so the link between the climate and inflation means that it’s the Bank of England’s duty to step up.

That’s why last month, we brought together 11 organisations, including Greenpeace, WWF, and ShareAction, to write a joint briefing urging MPs to put pressure on the Bank to support the green transition.

The briefing marked the 10 year anniversary of former Bank of England Governor (now Canada’s Prime Minister!) Mark Carney giving a speech all about how the climate crisis could trigger another financial crisis, and that short-termism meant that we were not acting fast enough. But 10 years on, still not enough progress has been made - and the climate crisis is already impacting our economy.

So, what should the Bank of England and Government be doing?

The Bank of England should be using the powerful tools at its disposal to support the move to green energy, and wean us off fossil fuels. That could mean offering lower interest rates for green investment, and stopping accepting fossil fuel assets as collateral when it lends money to banks and other financial firms.

But we also need the Government to take action.  We think it’s time to seriously examine the UK’s monetary policy framework, which is not fit to respond to climateflation. Raising interest rates can’t do anything to stop climate impacting crops yields, but can worsen inequality. Other countries like Spain and France have used a more effective and fairer mix of tools, beyond interest rates, to bring down prices - it’s time for us to do the same.

MPs have the power to push for these changes. That’s why we sent them all a copy of the briefing, and boosted its profile with coverage in The Guardian, edie and the Morning Star, to grab their attention.

But we didn’t stop there. Just last week, PoliticsHome published an opinion piece from our Co-Executive Director Sara calling on MPs to do more to push the Bank of England to support the green economy. With a readership full of MPs, their staffers, and civil servants, it’s an ideal position to really get these issues noticed.

It’s a great example of how we try to influence policy in different ways. For this work, we’ve collaborated with other organisations to amplify our message, and targeted specific media outlets where MPs will take notice. Whereas other times, like right now for our #TaxTheBanks campaign, we put a template together and are getting as many people as possible to email their own MPs.

Whatever the strategy, we’re powered by your support. Whether that’s from you taking the time to email your MP, donating to keep the behind-the-scenes work running, or sharing our posts on social media to widen their reach - thank you. Because only together, can we redesign our economic system for social justice and a liveable planet.

Thank you for your support,

Ellie

Ellie McLaughlin,

Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager, Positive Money

Positive Money relies on donations from generous individuals like you to carry out our work to redesign our economic system for social justice and a liveable planet.
Please will you make a secure donation now so together we can win sooner?

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA