Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons he did not include a climate objective for the Bank of England monetary policy committee in his remit letter of 11 March 2020; and if he will make it his policy that an objective is set for UK monetary policy to support the net zero emissions target set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has the primary objective, set out in law, of maintaining price stability. As a broad macroeconomic objective, this applies to the economy as a whole and not to specific sectors.

In the Green Finance Strategy, the Government announced that it will ensure that the need for the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have regard to the COP21 Paris Agreement when considering how to advance their objectives and discharge their functions.

As such, the remit and recommendations for the Financial Policy Committee – published in March 2020 – now sets out the responsibilities of the FPC regarding climate change in relation to the achievement of its statutory objectives. Similarly, the government remains committed to including these considerations in the next remit letters for the FCA and PRA that will be issued at an appropriate opportunity under this Parliament.