[Séminaire d'axe] How did Basel go green? The unusual politics that integrated climate change (slightly) into international banking standards

Since 2020, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has begun to incorporate climate-related financial risks into its Basel framework for bank regulation and supervision. How did this happen? The political dynamics driving this development were quite different from those usually identified in existing analyses of the politics of international banking standards: European (especially French) and Chinese authorities have been much more important than their American counterparts in driving the process forward; key agenda-setting roles have been played by transnational policy entrepreneurs and networks outside of the BCBS rather than within it; and domestic political pressure for international regulatory change has responded not to a sudden financial crisis, but rather to the slower-moving climate crisis and broader environmental degradation. In response to these dynamics, the BCBS has incorporated climate-related financial risks into the Basel framework, but in a very limited way in its conception of their sources, the purposes of regulation to address them, and the policy tools to be employed. This cautious approach has reflected US preferences and market power, the conservative norms and culture of the BCBS transgovernmental network, and the distinctive dynamics of US domestic climate politics. This analysis shows that the need for wider understandings of the complex interaction of inter-state, transnational, and domestic political dynamics that shape the trajectory of international banking standards. It also highlights the need to recognize the politically contested nature of climate-related financial risks themselves.

Speaker

Eric Helleiner, University of Waterloo

Eric Helleiner is University Research Chair and Professor in the Department of Political Science and Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo. He received the 2020 IPE Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association and his books have won a number of prizes, including the International Political Economy Best Book Award, CPSA Prize in International Relations, the Donner Book Prize, and the Francesco Guicciardini Prize for Best Book in Historical International Relations. He is currently co-editor of the book series Cornell Studies in Money and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His most recent books include: The Contested World Economy (Cambridge, 2023), The Neomercantilists (Cornell, 2021), The Status Quo Crisis (Oxford, 2014), and Forgotten Foundations of Bretton Woods (Cornell, 2014).

Chair 

Matthias Thiemann, Sciences Po, CEE