And for the Bank of England, it is to work within its objectives to ensure the financial system is resilient to the risks from climate change and supportive of the transition to net zero. With that in mind, today I wanted to reflect on a speech I delivered in 2020 on how to move beyond rhetoric to make climate action a reality. I had split our journey into three phases. Firstly, recognising and identifying the financial risks climate changes poses. Secondly, building capabilities to enable us to turn aspiration into action. And thirdly, making business decisions to advance the transition. With almost three years passed, I want now to evaluate our progress, identify the barriers we have encountered, and consider what else is needed if we are to progress. Back in 2020, I suggested that we had probably achieved the first phase of our journey to net zero. Conversations with leaders in the financial sector made it increasingly clear that climate change is central to the future of their businesses, not just the confines of Corporate Social Responsibility departments. I suggested we had entered the difficult second phase of turning aspiration into action, across the financial sector and the real economy. This phase involves a lot of hard work: the collection of data and the building of new tools that better enable climate considerations to be embedded in strategy and risk management.
The National University of Singapore Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting Centre, as well as the Singapore Management University Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics both publish useful indices that assess the standards of corporate governance in Singapore. Professional associations such as ICPAS, IIA, SAICSA and SID have also been playing their roles in this area. Conclusion In closing, let me reiterate the point that good corporate governance pays – if not in immediate share prices, at least in the resilience of the firm in a crisis. Indeed, one key conclusion from the study by the Senior Supervisors Group3[3] is that financial firms that best rode out the recent crisis were ones with good corporate governance standards, demonstrating "a comprehensive approach to viewing firm-wide exposures and risk, sharing  3  William Rutledge et al. (March 2008), "Observations on Risk Management Practices during the Recent Market Turbulence", Senior Supervisors Group. 4  BIS Review 147/2009  quantitative and qualitative information more effectively across the firm and engaging in more effective dialogue across the management team." Better governance per se does not guarantee that there will never be a crisis, but it can minimise its probability and its impact if it does occur. Singapore has made good progress over the years in our corporate governance practices, but we must press on with continual improvements. As regulators, professional bodies, investors, academics and the media, we each have a role – let us work closely together in this journey.