resilient financial sector ; 1 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches credible transition plans ; and green and transition solutions and markets. these are in turn supported by two key enablers : green fintech – tech solutions to help solve problems in sustainable finance. skills & capabilities – pipeline of talent and r & d capabilities in sustainable finance. finz is a platform to galvanise collective action across the financial ecosystem to mobilise the capital that is necessary for asia's transition. it calls for extensive collaboration and innovation. one priority area where we are pushing the boundaries of collaboration and innovation is in replacing coal - fired power plants in asia with clean energy sources. why is this important? the world will not get to net - zero by 2050 if we do not phase out coal plants in asia. asia accounts for 50 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, of which a third is from coal - fired power plants. in other words, one out of every six tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere comes from a coal plant in asia. it is not a simple matter of not building any more new coal plants. asia's existing coal - fired power plants, if left to run as planned, will exhaust about two - thirds of the carbon budget remaining to keep global temperatures below 1. 5 degrees celsius. they need to be phased out. the economics of phasing out coal in asia are challenging. first, coal accounts for nearly 60 % of power generation in asia – and energy demand in asia is expected to more than double by 2050, to power economic development, population growth, and rapid urbanisation. second, the so - called " coal economy " is a key source of employment. the international energy agency estimates that more than 6. 7 million people in asia are employed across the coal value chain. third, the coal plants in asia are young – they are, on average, less than 15 years old. many of them benefit also from long - term purchase agreements or policy reliefs that will allow them to operate long after they become unprofitable. so, this is a big problem. but it is also a problem we cannot avoid solving if we want to forestall catastrophic climate change. this is why mas has been working with financial institutions and a broader set of ecosystem players to support the managed phase - out of coal - fired power plants in asia. 2 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches to achieve an effective and just transition out of coal -

##r disadvantage : network externalities, the lack of critical mass and switching costs. these factors make it important that innovation is tackled in a coordinated way and that an innovation - friendly legal and regulatory environment is ensured. it is important that these factors are considered when talking about innovation. still, in many constituencies, the strong persistence of cash usage may not be driven only by choice, but also – due to the factors discussed above – by the absence of choice. this is particularly relevant for the unbanked or underbanked population. innovation in retail payments might be a tool to increase financial inclusion – not only in the developing countries. absence of choice is also manifest in e - commerce / internet shopping. the ecb has observed that in many constituencies, the payment instruments offered for online payments are not those most suitable for remote payments. to give you a practical example, i would like to mention a web merchant in germany that offers either prepayment, cash on delivery or payment by sofortuberweisung ( an overlay service ). such slim choice and lack of competition is clearly an obstacle to the growth of e - commerce in europe, and i can only reiterate the eurosystem ’ s call for the banking industry to engage in the delivery of suitable sepa - wide online - e - payment solutions. otherwise, banks may run the risk of being crowded out by other providers that have already entered the market. at the same time, merchants – both in the virtual and in the brick - and - mortar sphere – should recognise that it is in their own individual and common interests to have a secure means of payment and to adopt the necessary measures. fostering competition : striking the right balance between cooperation and competition i would now like to discuss the prerequisites for fostering competition that benefits innovation in means of payment – and retail payments in general – through sepa. the eurosystem has argued from the outset that the harmonisation of standards and rules for retail payments is necessary to overcome the current fragmentation of payment instruments and infrastructure in europe. giving greater choice to european businesses and consumers, and opening up a larger market to payment service providers, will boost competition. the epc plays a pivotal role in this process, and therefore also has responsibility for bringing the requirements of the other stakeholders in sepa on board. it has always been clear that, as a network industry, payments can only be processed smoothly if common standards and rules are available. it is also clear that standards