are appropriately reflected in the prices of financial instruments such as stocks and bonds, this should facilitate funding and investment through financial markets and, in turn, add impetus to the climate change response. based on these considerations, the bank decided to conduct a periodic survey of financial institutions, business corporations, rating agencies, and others to ascertain the functioning of climate change - related markets and the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve them. the results of the first survey were released in august. 4 please see slide 7. the main findings were as follows. first, respondents indicated that although climate - related risks and opportunities were incorporated into the prices of financial instruments to some extent, there was still room for them to be incorporated to a greater extent. second, with regard to the market for climate change - related esg bonds, such as green bonds, the survey suggested that there was strong demand for esg bonds. this appears to be due to the importance investors attach to making a social and environmental contribution. third, in terms of issues in expanding the esg bond market, in addition to the need to broaden the base of investors and issuers, some respondents pointed out issues regarding the availability of information and methods for assessing risks and opportunities. in october, the bank held a conference call on the survey with about 150 participants from financial institutions, business corporations, rating agencies, industry associations, etc., to exchange opinions on the survey results and issues to be addressed to expand the esg bond market. going forward, the bank intends to continue conducting this survey on an annual basis, while making efforts to improve its contents, in order to understand the functioning of the results can be found here : https : / / www. boj. or. jp / en / research / brp / ron _ 2022 / ron220805a. htm /. climate change - related markets and issues that need improvement, and to contribute to the development of these markets through dialogue with relevant stakeholders. central banks'own operations next, i would like to talk about central banks'own operations, etc. there is a growing trend, particularly among european central banks, to conduct operations taking the need to respond to climate change into account. the bank of japan, as a business entity, is also taking steps to address climate change in its operations. specifically, the bank began disclosing information based on the tcfd's recommendations this year. in addition, under the existing principle that

##tive role played by the price mechanism, which performs best in an environment of price stability. hence, the monetary policy objective of price stability, which served us well in the old economy, will help foster a new economic environment. it is no coincidence, therefore, that the champion of the new economy, the united states, achieved its greatest advances in an era of low inflation. a third issue, crucial for monetary policymakers, is the question of how to react to the new economy. let me simplify matters by conceptualising the new economy as a shock to productivity. the economic consequences of this shock will be felt in the long run as well as in the adjustment towards the new steady state of the economy. let me start with the long run. the new equilibrium is characterised by structurally higher growth rates of productivity, implying higher profitability of investments. in order to attract the capital needed to finance these investments, and achieve macro - economic equilibrium, a higher interest rate is needed. the central bank must take this upward movement of interest rates into account when formulating monetary policy. before this new equilibrium is achieved, the economy goes through a complex adjustment process. analytically, this adjustment not only involves an outward shift of the aggregate supply curve, which by itself implies lower inflation and higher growth. it could also elicit a stimulus to aggregate demand, for example due to wealth effects. the latter would imply higher inflation and higher growth. so, it depends on the circumstances and on the stage of transition from the old steady state to the new one, how monetary policy should react. it is important to note that the monetary strategy of the eurosystem was devised in order to conduct monetary policy in a particularly uncertain economic environment. the monetary strategy is well - suited, therefore, to cope with uncertainties, including the uncertainty surrounding the effects of the new economy. as such, the definition of price stability does not need to be altered and the two - pillar structure will continue to serve us well. there could, however, be a need to re - assess the information content of individual variables within each pillar. let me try to illustrate this. advances in and the spread of ict can lead to new forms of money, i. e. electronic means of payment. anticipating this, electronic money balances held by euro area residents have already been included in the definition of euro area monetary aggregates. however, the new economy could change the information content of the monetary aggregates. for example, electronic money could increase