A hoax Bank of England (BoE) press release falsely announced the central bank will exclude firms that are most exposed to climate risk from its £20 billion ($27 billion) corporate bond purchase programme.

The fake release was also accompanied with a separate hoax comment from the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) – a group of over 80 central banks and supervisors, including the BoE – which “applauded” the supposed “great stride” made by the BoE.

It is not yet clear who is responsible for the fake releases. It does, however, follow a hoax letter from BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink in 2019 which indicated the asset management giant would be using its immense investment clout to aggressively pursue climate action from companies. This was later claimed by the spoof news group Yes Men.

The fabricated story said that, following a review by its risk management team, the BoE will take an initial step of excluding companies in the electricity and energy sectors with the highest exposure to oil and coal from the list of eligible bonds. Adding that, by 2030, the BoE aims to maintain a portfolio of bonds that is consistent with keeping average global temperature rises to 1.5°C by the end of the century.

It further claimed that the updated list of eligible securities following the new exclusions being applied would be published by the BoE in mid-January. In the meantime, a further statement on its rationale for the move would be published later this week.

The hoax comes as the BoE increasingly looks to align its mandate towards incorporating climate elements.

In March, BoE governor Andrew Bailey – then chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – had indicated just days before taking the helm at the central bank that he would prioritise talking with the UK government about excluding fossil fuel companies from its corporate bond purchase scheme (CBPS). Bailey has said no longer buying bonds from fossil fuel firms – in particular, coal companies – was a “perfectly sensible thing to do”.

In June, the UK central bank also undertook its first climate-related financial disclosure – following the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) – which indicated its corporate bond portfolio was consistent with an average global temperature rise of 3.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

The CBPS – which was launched in 2016 – was expanded by a further £10 billion in April, meaning the corporate bond buying programme will reach at least £20 billion.

Although outlining many of the policies that campaigners have pressed the BoE to pursue, the move by the hoaxers was judged to be ill-suited to promoting progress on climate action.

Ben Caldecott – professor of sustainable finance at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment – told Environmental Finance that: “Well-meaning climate activists deploying fake news tactics is entirely counterproductive. Climate change needs to be communicated accurately and failure to do so risks undermining public trust and the case for action.”

Ahren Lester