Climate change could lead to substantial capital shortfalls for banks

Richard Berner, clinical professor of finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University, joins Natalia Ospina, deputy head of reports, OMFIF. They take a deep dive into the climate stress testing methodology that he developed with Nobel Prize in Economics winner Robert Engle and Hyeyoon Jung, financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which gauges the resilience of financial institutions to climate-related risks.

They discuss in detail how climate change could lead to a substantial increase in systemic risks in the banking sector. Financial institutions could find themselves looking to raise $70bn-$90bn, or between 20% to 30% of their equity to restore their prudential capital ratios as a result of climate change.