The BCRA Promotes a Survey to Assess the System’s Exposure and Resilience to Climate Change-Related Risks

In line with the assessments carried out at a global level, the BCRA will promote a pioneering data collection process to assess the financial system’s exposure and resilience to climate change-related risks in Argentina. This initiative was adopted by the Board of the BCRA through Communication B 12618.

In the first stage, the BCRA will carry out a specific survey of the main institutions of the Argentine financial system, taking into account some of the core ideas that arose globally within the framework of the reporting standards on sustainability and climate dimensions (risks and opportunities)—ISSB - IFRS, S1 and S2.

The local survey will focus on the largest financial institutions (18 banks from group A) and cover a sample of slightly more than 1,000 companies that obtain financing from the financial system. The information gathered will serve to further map and analyze exposures to climate-related financial risks, commonly known as physical and transition risks, of the local financial system.

In the first stage, to be promptly implemented, the survey will gather information on the geolocation of core activities of debtor companies. These data will help to analyze these companies’ proximity to areas of the country with exposure to locally identified physical risk factors, such as rainfall frequency and amount, flooding, droughts and heat waves, among others.

In the second stage, to be implemented over the next few years, companies will be requested to provide information on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels, in order to analyze the transition risks to which institutions are exposed.

The survey is carried out within the framework of the agreements signed by the regulators of the banking, insurance, and capital markets sectors to promote the development of sustainable finance in Argentina (September 2021), taking into account the results of the first National Survey on Sustainable Finance and Climate Change (May 2023) and the approval of the National Strategy for Sustainable Finance (June 2023).

August 28, 2023