Management of the gold and FX reserves shall also help to safeguard the Riksbank’s financial independence, which means rates of return must be healthy. The Riksbank has decided to consider how much the assets contribute to the FX reserves’ overall climate footprint.32 This follows the view of the NGFS on climate risks as a source of financial risk. In our most recent analysis of the FX reserves’ composition, the greenhouse gas intensity of the assets was, for the first time, a factor in the calculations together with rates of return and risk. Chart 3 shows how greenhouse gas emissions vary in different countries. The Riksbank has elected to only invest in Australian states and Canadian provinces with the same or lower greenhouse gas intensities than the respective country as a whole. For this reason, bonds issued by certain Australian states and Canadian provinces were sold off in 2019, see Chart 4. 30  This is the market valuation as of 31 December 2019, see the Riksbank (2020). See Mauderer (2020) for a discussion of this. 32 See also Flodén (2019) for a discussion of this. 31  13 [18]  Chart 3. Emissions of greenhouse gases in different countries. Emissions as a share of GDP 0,5  0,5 In the foreign exchange reserves  0,4  Potential holdings  0,4  0,3  0,3  0,2  0,2  0,1  0,1  0  0  Note.
The stock of Swedish covered bonds (housing bonds) issued in Swedish kronor (SEK) is just under SEK 2,000 billion. This is more than double the size of the outstanding volume of government bonds in the same currency. The stock of corporate bonds issued in SEK corresponds to almost 700 billion, while the stock of municipal bonds issued in SEK by municipalities and Kommuninvest is just over 400 billion. All in all, this means that the Riksbank has the possibility to increase its bond purchases. However, the fact that the possibility exists does not make it an appropriate measure. There are several aspects to consider; for example, how it affects resource distribution in the economy and the risks for to the Riksbank’s balance sheet. Another issue is whether the Riksbank should consider sustainability aspects in its bond purchases. I will come back to this at the end of my speech. Allow me to summarise what I have discussed so far. I feel confident that the Riksbank can act with strength and security if a crisis threatens to destabilise the Swedish economy. However, we should be humble when it comes to the difficult considerations that may then be required in monetary policy. The scope for combatting a severe downturn in the Swedish economy is improved substantially if other policy areas also contribute, in particular fiscal policy.13 The remaining issue is the most difficult – should central banks just try to combat the potential negative effects of climate change or should they also act to combat climate change itself?