european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank and mr lucas papademos, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 6 november 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the president of the eurogroup, prime minister juncker, and commissioner almunia. on the basis of its regular economic and monetary analyses, at today ’ s meeting the governing council decided to reduce the key ecb interest rates further by 50 basis points, following the previous coordinated interest rate cut on 8 october 2008. the outlook for price stability has improved further. inflation rates are expected to continue to decline in the coming months, reaching a level in line with price stability during the course of 2009. the intensification and broadening of the financial market turmoil is likely to dampen global and euro area demand for a rather protracted period of time. in such an environment, taking into account the strong fall in commodity prices over recent months, price, cost and wage pressures in the euro area should also moderate. at the same time, the underlying pace of monetary expansion has remained strong but has continued to show further signs of deceleration. all in all, the information available and our current analysis indicate a further alleviation of upside risks to price stability at the policy - relevant medium - term horizon, even though they have not disappeared completely. at this juncture, it is therefore crucial that all parties, including public authorities, price - setters and social partners, fully live up to their responsibilities. the level of uncertainty stemming from financial market developments remains extraordinarily high and exceptional challenges lie ahead. we expect the banking sector to make its contribution to restore confidence. the governing council will continue to keep inflation expectations firmly anchored in line with its medium - term objective. in so doing, it supports sustainable growth and employment and contributes to financial stability. accordingly, we will continue to monitor very closely all developments over the period ahead. allow me to explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. when analysing current developments in economic activity, we face an extraordinarily high degree of uncertainty in large part stemming from the intensification and broadening of the financial market turmoil. the world

frank elderson : overcoming the tragedy of the horizon : requiring banks to translate 2050 targets into milestones keynote speech by mr frank elderson, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the financial market authority ’ s supervisory conference, vienna, 20 october 2021. * * * introduction it is a great pleasure for me to speak here and i would like to thank the organisers for inviting me. today, i want to look ahead – to next year, to the next five years and to the three decades up to 2050, the year by which the eu has pledged to become carbon neutral under the paris agreement. thirty years is a hair ’ s breadth of time : merely one - hundred - and - fifty - millionth of the earth ’ s 4. 5 billion years of existence. a brief span indeed. there is no doubt that time is running out for us to tackle the climate and environmental crises. what does this mean for banks? this means that the time for preparations is over and the time for action is now. banks need to start thinking about the next important step in risk management which will require them to look at the thirty years ahead and devise intermediate targets for their risk exposures that can render them fit for a carbon - neutral economy by 2050. banks can no longer simply declare their intention to be paris - compliant by 2050. they must make structural changes to their way of doing business so as to make sure that they actually reach that goal and avoid the build - up of risks for them and the entire financial system. let me first share some of the insights gained from our benchmark of the banks ’ selfassessment against our supervisory expectations. i will then turn to what i ’ ve just referred to as the next important step in risk management − transition planning − and what banks, as well as supervisors and other competent authorities, need to do in order to make it work. banks ’ climate - related and environmental risk management capabilities the ecb is committed to doing everything within its mandate to incorporate climate and environmental considerations into our activities. on the supervisory side, we have been taking steps to increase our understanding of the impact of the climate crisis from a financial risk perspective and ensure that banks have a comprehensive, strategic and forward - looking approach to disclosing and managing all climaterelated and environmental risks, or c & e risks for short. we asked banks to self - assess their position relative to these supervisory expectations and have been benchmarking