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Central Bank Mandates and Communication about Climate Change: Evidence from A Large Dataset of Central Bank Speeches

日本語

September 29, 2023
David M. Arseneau*1
Mitsuhiro Osada*2

Abstract

We compare alternative methodologies to identify central banks speeches that focus on climate change and argue a supervised word scoring method produces the most comprehensive set. Using these climate-related speeches, we empirically examine the role of the mandate in shaping central bank communication about climate change. Central banks differ considerably in the extent to which their mandates support a sustainability objective-it can be explicit, indirect whereby the central bank is mandated to support broader government policies, or it may not be supported at all. Our results show that these differences are important in determining the frequency of climate-related communication as well as context in which central banks address climate-related issues. All told, these findings suggest that mandate considerations play an important role in shaping central bank communication about climate change.

JEL classification
E58, E61, Q54

Keywords
Central bank speeches; Mandates; Climate change; Natural language processing
  1. *1Division of Financial Stability, Federal Reserve Board
    E-mail : david.m.arseneau@frb.gov
  2. *2Monetary Affairs Department, Bank of Japan
    E-mail : mitsuhiro.osada@boj.or.jp

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