Bank of England boss Mark Carney has told global banks they cannot ignore climate change dangers.

Writing in The Guardian, Carney and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to “raise the bar” to avoid catastrophe.

The heads of two of the world’s most influential central banks urged other financial regulators around the world to carry out climate change stress tests to spot any risks in the system, while also calling for more collaboration between nations on the issue. They warned that a “massive reallocation of capital” was necessary to prevent global warming above the 2°C maximum target set by the Paris climate agreement, with the banking system required to play a pivotal role.

However, a new report by green NGO Global Witness has found that none of the $4.9tr forecast to be spent on new oil and gas fields in the 2020s is compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5C.

In other climate change news, Environment Agency Chief Sir James Bevan has said that while climate change brings “fearsome risks” it also brings huge opportunities and we can tackle climate change successfully if we get our response right.

Speaking to the Whitehall and Industry Group last week, Sir James told his audience that his original working title for the speech was: ‘Is climate change the new Brexit?’

He referred to similarities between Brexit and climate change, saying that the timescales of both are uncertain and the consequences highly contested.