leonard wilson kamit : papua new guinea - current economic conditions speech by mr leonard wilson kamit, cbe, governor and chairman of the board of the bank of papua new guinea, to the west new britain provincial community on the occasion of the bank board meeting, kimbe, 24 september 2004. * 1. * * introduction officials and business leaders of the west new britain community, police commissioner mr. sam inguba and your senior officers, secretary for the department of petroleum and energy, mr. joseph gabut, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. i speak on behalf of the board of the central bank when i say that it is a pleasure for us to be here this evening to meet with you, the representatives of the private, public and civic sectors of the province. let me introduce to you members of the board of our central bank. besides myself and the deputy governor mr benny popoitai, the members of the board ( ex - officio ) who are appointed in accordance with section 27 of the cba ( 2000 ), which specifies representation by various industry and community organisations are : mr. michael mayberry, mbe, president of the png chamber of commerce mr. john mahuk, president of the png trade union congress mr. patrick kolta, president of the png institute of accountants reverend samson lowa, president of the png council of churches vacant - deputy governor, policy and regulations vacant - chairman of the securities commission vacant - minister ’ s appointee two other board members appointed by the minister for finance and treasury are ; mr. kostas constantinou mr. robert igara as most of you know, the bank of papua new guinea has only one office in port moresby. we do not have branches in the other centers. as such, the only time we have the opportunity to visit provincial centres is through our business liaison visits, visits to provincial - based savings and loan societies, special project visits ( e. g. commodity surveys ), through special invitations to talk or make presentations at conferences, and through board meetings such as today. in the last six years, we have had the opportunity to address conferences / meetings in mount hagen, kavieng, kokopo, goroka and lae without the board, and with the full board in lae, alotau, kavieng, wewak and goroka. today is our sixth such meeting outside of port moresby. we have covered all the regions

on the environment. this is why it is so important that we have in the eu finally agreed on this common taxonomy which, hopefully, after being endorsed by the european parliament, should allow for a more comprehensive assessment of risks and enhanced transparency. in sum, the fight against climate change is clearly not solely a publicly driven initiative. it is no longer the official sector preaching to the rest of the society but rather a joint effort by all stakeholders : governments, central banks, supervisors and official institutions, along with corporates, financial institutions and, ultimately, all individuals. 2 / 5 i say they are all stakeholders because, when it comes to this planet, everybody living on it is a stakeholder. i believe this is groundbreaking because, when an issue is as global as this one, there is a tendency to go precisely in the other direction. it is too easy to dilute personal and corporate responsibilities, find excuses and carry on without changing anything substantial. the message we are receiving is that this is not the time to look for excuses. the writing is on the wall : it is time for action. of course, whatever a person, a municipality, a region or even a country can do to combat fight global climate change is quite futile if the rest of the world stays the same. but the message today should be that each of us must do our bit, large or small, without looking at what others might or might not be doing. i am here today, precisely, to talk about doing “ our bit ”. the contribution that the financial sector can make to this global struggle is no silver bullet, but it is an important one. it is clear that finance is not regarded as a polluting sector. that, at least, is a positive development in these difficult times for banks´ reputation. traditionally, the companies dependent on oil products have been those most affected by the environmental regulations resulting from international agreements. in fact, we should admit that the financial sector ’ s involvement in this battle has been rather limited. until very recently, climate change was seen as something outside our remit. this has changed as a result of the 2015 paris agreement. what has changed since 2015 to warrant this sudden interest on the part of banking regulators and supervisors in climate risks? first, in 2015, the paris agreement stressed for the first time the importance of the financial system for steering the resources needed to transform the economy towards a sustainable model. second, in 2018, the first ngfs report stated that climate - related