speeches published date : 31 may 2022 " gearing up for climate action - the road ahead for the ngfs " - opening address by mr ravi menon, managing director, monetary authority of singapore, chair, network for greening the financial system, at the green swan conference 2022 on 31 may 2022 distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. it is an honour and a pleasure to address the green swan conference again. as chair of the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ), i would also like to express my gratitude, on behalf of the ngfs, for the opportunity to co - host this conference with the bank for international settlements, the european central bank, and the people ’ s bank of china. from a climate perspective, 2020 to 2030 is the “ critical decade ”. while everyone is busy making net zero commitments for 2050, let us not forget that the trajectory towards net zero will be substantially determined by 2030. looking at where we are in our transition journey, the urgency to act is greater than it has ever been. global greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise. in 2021, fossil fuel use and associated carbon emissions rebounded in tandem with the global economic recovery. the demand for coal has risen, not fallen. fossil fuels continue to account for more than 80 % of global primary energy consumption. renewable energy generation capacity has grown significantly in recent years, but the current pace is not sufficient to reach net zero by 2050. global temperatures have already risen by 1. 1 degrees celsius above pre - industrial levels. the recent report by the intergovernmental panel on climate change ( ipcc ) is sobering. to limit global warming to 1. 5 degrees celsius, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 and come down by about 45 % by 2030 relative to 2019 levels. this is far from the emissions trajectory we are currently on. climate change is a long - term risk but whether and how that risk materialises depends on what we do in this “ critical decade ”. the already tepid transition to net zero has been thrown into disarray by the war in ukraine. in the short term, the imperative facing some major economies to cut dependence on russian supplied gas could see them turn to readily available fossil fuel alternatives, including coal. it will take some time for reliable renewable alternatives to fossil fuels to scale up and be widely available at viable costs. at the same time, governments ’ fiscal resources are being stretched

forward, the consumption and investment sentiments of economic agents may contract further. against this backdrop, in order to help restore our economy ’ s vitality it is important, along with our implementation of accommodative monetary and fiscal policies, that we carry out structural reforms consistently. in the absence of structural reform our macroeconomic policy will not generate the desired effects, and we will only find our policy space being exhausted. we should also devote great efforts to discovering and nurturing new growth engines, which can drive our economy going forward. we need to create new industries and new markets, by investing actively in and fostering digital innovation, the so - called “ 4th industrial revolution ”, which is progressing rapidly especially in some advanced countries. together with this, we should also work to expand employment. in the past, it was understood that the role of employment was limited to supporting the demand for labor following economic growth. however, as discussed during last month ’ s bank of korea international conference on employment and growth, attention is now focusing on the role of employment in leading growth. dear fellow members of the bank of korea, bis central bankers ’ speeches i would like to touch now on the tasks that we will need to focus on from the latter half of this year. moving forward we must maintain our accommodative monetary policy stance, with a focus on revival of the domestic economy. this will also work to lessen the negative short - term impacts of corporate restructuring on production, employment and the sentiments of economic agents. second, given the long period of monetary easing undertaken to this time, we will need to pay even more attention to financial stability. it is essential to keep a closer eye on developments related to household debt, which has been maintaining a trend of high growth recently, and to carry out macroprudential policies as necessary in a timely manner in consultation with the government and the supervisory authorities. with the prolongation of our low interest rate stance, economic agents ’ risk appetites are likely to grow, and imbalances in the financial system in consequence likely to build up. we should therefore devote more attention to these imbalances. we should also not spare efforts in examining the potential risks that can cause expansions in financial market volatility at home and abroad, such as the uncertainties surrounding the us fed ’ s monetary policy normalization process, and the potential for a resurfacing of financial and economic unrest in china. if a credit crunch or any other