our job, the bank of canada needs to understand how these factors affect investment decisions. a vibrant business sector, after all, is essential to a healthy labour market and to our economic prospects. further details about yesterday ’ s decision the outlook for investment was only one of many factors that went into our interest rate announcement yesterday. as i said, there have been some encouraging signs that investment outside the energy sector has firmed up. let me take you through the other main points of our discussion. naturally, governing council spent time talking about whether the economy was progressing as we had forecast in our april mpr. as a reminder, we projected that the economy would expand at an annual pace of just 0. 3 per cent in the first quarter of the year. we also projected growth would rebound modestly to a 1. 3 per cent pace in the second quarter and further accelerate later in the year. evidence has been accumulating that tells us our story is on track. we hope to see this confirmed in the national accounts data that statistics canada will release tomorrow. we ’ ve worked hard to understand some conflicting signals in the economic data. the labour market has been strong, with solid growth in jobs and steady growth in wages. we ’ ve tried to square this strength with the weakness seen in the 10 see r. barnett and r. mendes, “ a structural interpretation of the recent weakness in business investment, ” bank of canada staff analytical note no. 2017 - 7 ( july 2017 ). 11 see s. s. poloz, “ turbulent times for trade, ” ( remarks to the baffin regional chamber of commerce and the nunavut mining symposium, iqaluit, nunavut, april 1, 2019 ). 12 see, for example, the organization for economic cooperation and development ’ s main science and technology indicators and imd ’ s world competitiveness rankings for 2019, including profiles for canada and other countries. - 7spending side of the economy over the past couple of quarters. it turns out that this gap can be explained in large part by the behaviour of companies in the construction and oil and gas sectors, which have been key drivers of the recent gdp slowdown. companies in these sectors have been generally keeping their employment levels fairly steady, while reducing the hours their employees work. this is consistent with firms believing that the economy has been going through a temporary soft patch, exacerbated by the brutal winter experienced in so many parts of canada. i should point out,

luigi federico signorini : g20 sustainable finance working group private sector roundtable welcome address by mr luigi federico signorini, senior deputy governor of the bank of italy, at the g20 sustainable finance working group private sector roundtable, online event, 17 may 2021. * * * welcome, and a good day to you all. i am happy to open the private sector roundtable, an event promoted by the g20 presidency and by the chinese and american co - chairs of the sustainable finance working group. the roundtable will focus on the role of finance in helping fight climate change and promoting lowcarbon transition. the g20 finance ministers and central bank governors recently recognised the need to ‘ shape the current economic recovery by investing in innovative technologies and promoting just transitions toward more sustainable economies and societies ’. low - carbon transition is urgent and must be accelerated : the later we act, the greater the costs. it requires an unprecedented and unremitting effort. while quantitative estimates vary, the investments needed for transition are certainly huge ; they need to be sustained for a long time. governments have a central role in that they need to point the way by adopting an appropriate policy framework. a clear and credible path for government regulatory and fiscal action is also a prerequisite for efficient choices on the part of private finance. indeed, while many governments will directly invest their own money in many countries and mdbs will play their part, it is likely that the private sector will be called upon to finance most transition investment. there will be no transition without a general awareness of the need for it and a willingness, even a desire, to finance it. there are in fact quite a few encouraging signs. since last year, we have seen an explosion of ‘ net - zero commitments ’ in the private sector — though such commitments ( i am told ) are still confined to one sixth of publicly listed companies globally. at the same time, the appetite of ultimate investors and asset managers for ‘ green ’ investment is growing fast. i am sure many in the audience will have a clear perception of this fact. however, the path is still fraught with difficulties. on the market side, while sustainable finance is increasingly popular, it suffers from a lack of clear definitions and standards. ‘ greenwashing ’ is a danger ; good data, an agreed taxonomy, and adequate company disclosure are necessary. global consistency is important, as fragmentation of standards across jurisdictions is confusing for investors and costly for companies. standards are currently being drafted