Banks’ Climate Sentiments and Credit Risk: Do they Matter for the Low-Carbon Transition?

We analyse how banks’ climate sentiments affect credit risk adjustments and lending conditions for high- and low- carbon investments and the implications for firms’ investments and the decarbonization of the economy. We model climate sentiments as banks forming expectations about firms’ performance in the low-carbon transition scenarios of the Network for Greening the Financial System, based on firms’ energy technology alignment and on perceived policy credibility. We distinguish between high climate sentiments, i.e. banks’ strong confidence in the success of climate policies and the future performance of low-carbon firms, and low sentiments. To anaylse these dynamics we tailor and extend EIRIN, a macro-financial Stock-Flow Consistent model of an open economy, and widely used by financial supervisors. EIRIN is populated by a limited number of heterogeneous agents and sectors, with the real and financial side of the economy treated in an integrated way. Calibrating EIRIN on the Austrian economy, we find that high banks’ climate sentiments can reinforce the impact of climate policies, resulting in a 4.5% reduction in the GHG emissions to GDP ratio and in a 0.6% increase in GDP growth, compared to the Net Zero scenario without climate sentiments. Conversely, low climate sentiments can counteract climate policy impacts, leading to an 8.5% increase in GHG emissions to GDP ratio. Furthermore, credit constraints on low-carbon investments can further hinder the low-carbon transition, increasing the GHG emissions to GDP ratio by 15%. Our findings highlight the importance for policy makers to deliver clear and credible messages about the low-carbon transition to the banking sector, in order to align expectations and investment decisions.