Decarbonising the Bank of England's pandemic QE: 'Perfectly sensible'

Main author: Dafermos, Yannis
Other authors: Gabor, Daniela
Nikolaidi, Maria
van Lerven, Frank
Format: Monographs and Working Papers           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-34177
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description According to the new governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, aligning the Bank’s corporate bond purchase scheme with the government’s climate goals is a ‘perfectly sensible thing to do’ and should be made a ‘priority’. Yet in its current framework, the pandemic corporate bond purchase programme is heavily biased towards carbon-intensive sectors – and thus at odds with the government’s environmental objectives. This carbon bias means the programme may lower the cost of borrowing (an implicit subsidy) and encourage more debt issuance by the most carbon-intensive firms relative to low-carbon firms. To help support the governor’s efforts, this briefing sets out two alternative purchase strategies – the ‘Lower-carbon pandemic QE’ scenario and the ‘Low-carbon pandemic QE’ scenario − that would help decarbonise the Bank’s corporate bond purchases (boosting green investment in the process) and ensure that the Bank’s policy interventions are consistent with its rhetoric.
format Monographs and Working Papers
author Dafermos, Yannis
author_facet Dafermos, Yannis
Gabor, Daniela
Nikolaidi, Maria
van Lerven, Frank
authorStr Dafermos, Yannis
author_letter Dafermos, Yannis
author2 Gabor, Daniela
Nikolaidi, Maria
van Lerven, Frank
author2Str Gabor, Daniela
Nikolaidi, Maria
van Lerven, Frank
title Decarbonising the Bank of England's pandemic QE: 'Perfectly sensible'
publisher New Economics Foundation
publishDate 2020
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34177/