quarter of 2017. growth in 2017 marked the eighth successive year of positive growth in the united states, compared with four consecutive years of positive growth in the euro area. looking ahead, growth in the united states is expected to accelerate on the back of solid growth in investment and consumption and significant fiscal stimulus. at the same time, we have to keep an eye on a gradual increase in long - term interest rates in the united states, given the robust economic growth, an expansive deficit funded fiscal policy, and the federal reserve ’ s exit from the securities markets. this ongoing broad - based economic growth is largely echoed in the june 2018 eurosystem staff 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches macroeconomic projections for the euro area. real gdp is projected to increase by 2. 1 % in 2018, 1. 9 % in 2019 and 1. 7 % in 2020. while risks to growth remain broadly balanced, those related to global factors, including the threat of increased protectionism have become more prominent. moreover, the risk of persistently high financial market volatility warrants monitoring. turning to the nominal side, euro area annual inflation, as measured by the harmonised index of consumer prices ( hicp ), increased to an estimated 2 % in june, from 1. 9 % in may. on the basis of current futures prices for oil, headline inflation is expected to remain around the current level for the remainder of the year. measures of underlying inflation remain generally muted, but are higher than the low range that prevailed between mid - 2014 and mid - 2016. developments in domestic pipeline inflation and wages suggest strengthening price pressures. a continued strengthening in domestic cost pressures is expected to be the main driver behind the expected pick - up in underlying inflation towards the end of this year and the further gradual increase over the medium term. this assessment of inflation is broadly in line with the june 2018 eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, which project annual hicp inflation of 1. 7 % in 2018, 2019 and 2020. this outlook depends on keeping the ample degree of monetary policy stimulus in place, as this remains necessary for underlying inflation pressures to continue to build up and be maintained over the medium term. in october 2017, the ecb governing council announced the reduction of its asset purchase programme by half, having announced in december 2016 that it would be scaled back from €80 billion to €60 billion. we gave up our easing bias in the spring and at the june meeting the governing council concluded that

luis de guindos : speaking notes on climate - related risks speaking notes by mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, at roundtable event on climate - related risks at bloomberg, washington dc, 17 october 2019. * * * general remarks the ecb agrees that we need a deeper understanding of climate - related risks and a common language for discussing economic activities that can be considered environmentally sustainable. in particular, we welcome the development of a taxonomy of sustainable activities and support harmonised, firm - level reporting of carbon emissions related to corporate activities. at the international level, we are engaged in discussions with other supervisors and central banking authorities as a member of the network for greening the financial system. and in europe, we are actively involved in the work on an eu taxonomy as a member of the commission technical expert group on sustainable finance. we also agree on the need for credit rating agencies to develop standards or guidelines on integrating environmental, social and governance ( esg ) information into their ratings or other scores. this would enable financial and non - financial firms ’ exposures to climate - related risks to be better priced and monitored. in this regard, we welcome a recent initiative from the european securities and markets authority to draw up guidelines for credit rating agencies to disclose whether and how esg factors are reflected in their ratings. we need a clear and common understanding of how climate - related risks are defined and measured, and we should redouble our efforts to empirically measure these risks and close knowledge gaps. improved disclosure is an essential first step. disclosures by firms, and financial institutions in particular, tend to be incomplete and inconsistent. market data providers have developed scores that seek to consolidate companies ’ quantitative and qualitative environmental information. but they have a significant amount of discretion as to how they construct these metrics. 1 / 1 bis central bankers'speeches