encourage financial institutions to use scenario analysis. we also hope a common set of scenarios will make the results more comparable. more fundamentally, we hope that scenario analysis will help financial institutions better understand their exposures to transition risks, and this will increase their confidence in their ability to disclose them. in summary, we are committed to working with the financial sector to promote resilience to climate change and a smooth transition to low - carbon growth. last month, the task force for climate - related financial disclosures released its third status report. it had good things to say about canada and our country ’ s support for implementing its recommendations. but, to be frank, we all need to pick up the pace. so, here ’ s the message i want to leave with you : our financial system proved to be resilient during the global financial crisis and has been a key shock absorber so far through the covid - 19 pandemic. we need to ensure the financial system is just as resilient in the face of climate change. and in doing so, we need to position canada to seize the climate - smart opportunities that consumers, workers and investors are looking for. but to mitigate the threat and capitalize on the opportunity, we all need to mobilize. and we need to do it quickly. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

that of 2018. more than $ us1 trillion of esg bonds are now outstanding. and canadian esg issuance has also jumped — by more than six times in the past three years, going from less than $ 2 billion in 2017 to almost $ 13 billion so far this year. it ’ s crucial that canadian companies can capitalize on these opportunities. for all these reasons, the bank of canada is accelerating its work to understand the implications of climate change and promote a climate - ready financial system. in 2019, we began assessing climate - related risks in our financial system review. and we developed a multi - year research plan focused on climate risks to the macroeconomy and the financial system. this is a significant priority for us, and will continue to be so. climate change is, of course, fundamentally a global problem, and so we have expanded our international engagement. we are working with several partners to develop strategies for mitigating transition risks and promoting sustainable finance. the bank has been particularly active at the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ), and is also working with the international monetary fund and the financial stability board among others. it ’ s imperative that the bank be involved with bodies such as the ngfs because they are encouraging sustainable finance by developing de facto global standards for climate - related disclosures. it ’ s far better for the bank to be in the room where it happens, bringing the perspective of a diversified and resource - rich economy to the table. bank staff have made important contributions to the work of the ngfs to promote a scenariobased approach to disclosures of climate - related risks. uncertainty can no longer be an excuse for inaction. using the publicly available scenarios developed by the ngfs, companies should be able to begin to describe the resilience of their organizations and strategies based on different climate scenarios. the bank is also working to bring this analysis home to canada. specifically, we are working to develop climate scenarios that reflect canada ’ s realities for canadian financial institutions to use. yesterday, we had a joint announcement with the office of the superintendent of financial institutions ( osfi ) about a pilot project involving a number of canadian banks and insurance 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches companies. the bank and osfi are developing scenarios for institutions to use to explore how their businesses and holdings may be exposed to climate - related risks. the project has a few goals. by developing climate scenarios that are relevant to canada, we hope to