WASHINGTON, D.C.— Shayna Olesiuk, Director of Banking Policy, issued the following statement in connection with the filing of Better Markets’ Comment Letter to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Committee) on the role of climate scenario analysis in strengthening the management and supervision of climate-related financial risks.

“Our economy, financial system, banks, and citizens are increasingly threatened by all kinds of risks, including those that stem from severe weather and other climate-related events. Investors, regulators, policymakers, and members of the public deserve to have the necessary information to understand banks’ exposure to these risks clearly and confidently. That’s why we supported the Committee’s development of international standards that provide foundational principles for supervision and management of climate-related financial risks. We applaud the Committee’s continued efforts in pursuit of climate scenario analyses that are plausible, contain minimum levels of severity, and are supported by internationally agreed-upon scientific projections.

“The Basel Committee should take the next step to add even more specificity and metrics that would promote consistency and reasonableness to scenario analysis results. While some discretion is appropriate to allow banks to account for unique characteristics, the Committee must ensure that climate scenarios are structured in a way that yields useful and informative results. Allowing too much discretion or variability for the design of scenarios or their data inputs will render the results of climate scenario analysis useless.”

Read our comment letter here.

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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.