challenges of the 21st century. it affects all regions of the world. polar ice shields are melting and the sea level is rising. extreme weather events like heavy rainfall or droughts are becoming more frequent. this is why, at the hamburg summit, all g20 member states but one reaffirmed their strong commitment to the paris climate agreement and declared their willingness to move swiftly towards its full implementation – acknowledging the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches in the words of david kennedy, the former chief executive of the british government ’ s committee on climate change : “ global warming threatens the ‘ sustainability ’ not of life on the planet, but of the economic and political arrangements people have come to think are natural. " from an economist ’ s viewpoint, climate change is inherently a public goods problem. the atmosphere is a global public good, and as always with public goods there are strong free - riding incentives. nations that do not subscribe to the mitigation of carbon emissions can benefit from the efforts of others. so, even if all nations were to acknowledge human influence on the climate, there is a risk that too little will happen too late. and that is the reason why collective action is necessary. the g20 countries account for more than 80 % of global carbon dioxide emissions. collective and decisive action by the g20 membership is therefore of the essence when it comes to mitigating global warming. consequentially, climate protection is one of the major topics of the g20. at the hamburg summit last weekend, a great deal of attention was paid to climate issues including green finance. the g20 understands “ green finance ” as the financing of investments that provide benefits in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development. china flagged the issue in the g20 under its presidency last year by establishing the green finance study group within the finance track. the group ’ s objective is to enhance the capability of the financial system to mobilise private capital for green or low - carbon investment. a “ green economy ” will require a capital - intensive transition, with investments in new skills, institutions and technologies. while public funds are important, they can only provide a small share of what is required. this means that private capital will have to meet most of these investment needs. a robust and coherent set of basic information is always required before taking sensible investment decisions. the provision of publicly available data on climate risk and better tools for investors to use them is

emerging market debt, credit derivatives and centralised clearing ; the city has continually created new financial products and markets to serve the real economy. today the city remains the leading global financial centre. the uk is the venue for 40 % of foreign exchange trading volume, half of all trades in otc interest rate derivatives, and more than two - thirds of trading in international bonds. more international banking activity is booked in london than anywhere else, and the uk is host to the world ’ s third largest insurance sector as well as its second largest asset management industry. uk markets matter for global commerce. but above all, our markets matter for our prosperity. bis central bankers ’ speeches markets are a major part of the uk economy. 350, 000 people are employed in financial services in london alone, and 1 million across the uk as a whole. across the country, their enterprise contributes £130 billion to our national income and £70 billion to our exports. on current trends, the uk - based non - bank financial system would increase from around six times uk gdp to nearly fifteen times by 2050. most fundamentally, our markets serve our real economy. by financing firms to hire, invest and expand, our markets help drive uk growth. by opening up cross - border trade and investment, our markets create new opportunities for uk businesses and savers. by transferring risks to those most willing and able to bear them, our markets help uk households and businesses insure against the unexpected. much of this activity depends on fixed income, currency and commodity markets. these ficc markets establish the borrowing costs of households, companies and governments. they set the exchange rates we use when we travel or buy goods from abroad. they determine the costs of our food and raw materials. and they help our companies manage the financial risks they incur when investing, producing and trading. markets have become ever more important to people as they bear increasing responsibility for financing their retirements and insuring against risks. the suitability of those decisions will depend heavily on ficc markets. it is therefore vital that they work well. and are seen to do so. the failures of ficc markets though markets can be powerful drivers of prosperity, markets can go wrong. left unattended, they are prone to instability, excess and abuse. markets without the right standards or infrastructure are like cities without building codes, fire brigades or insurance. poor infrastructure allowed the spark of the us subprime crisis to light a powder keg under uk markets, triggering the worst