economy. i am not exaggerating when i say that the market for sustainable finance has advanced in leaps and bounds. however, its overall market share is still small. to illustrate this point, the esg share in 3 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches worldwide bond issuance is only around 2 %. 6 activity in the green bonds market has remained brisk – despite last year's brief retreat and recent investor reports that the " greenium " has disappeared for some deals. indeed, global green bond sales had their busiest quarter on record at the beginning of this year. they increased by more than 30 % year - on - year – despite the market turmoil in march. beyond that, sustainability - linked bonds ( slbs ) are continuing to attract investor attention, but there are also signs of cooling. some slbs have come under scrutiny with investors reporting on a lack of ambition in issuers'esg targets alongside relatively modest penalties if these targets are missed. 7 generally, concerns about greenwashing coupled with insufficient verification – and validation – continue to hold back growth in some esg - segments. in order to meet the goals of the paris agreement, transition financing urgently needs to step up a gear. here, public private partnerships can be an effective tool to draw in more private - sector investments. so let us take the example of a project that finances the development of innovative green technology. here the public sector might take part of the risk by offering equity. this will mobilize private money, because risks will be shared. furthermore, the involvement of the public sector labels the project as " investable ". since fiscal budgets are limited, ppp has to be targeted and temporary. also in the global south investors are lacking, although we see a lot of promising projects. here the instrument of blended finance plays a major role. multilateral development banks and philanthropic investors take part of the risk. here, private investors also need to know whether the project is investable. considering the urgency, the ngfs has launched its own blended finance initiative. it aims to highlight practices and principles for successfully scaling up blended finance. ngfs members are now working towards the cop28 international climate change conference to showcase the deliverables of our blended finance initiative. generally, there ought to be greater transparency surrounding the risks and returns of transition finance. in other words, as the transition framework takes shape and the risk - reward profile becomes clearer, investments will follow. 6 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, let me

implementation. and as i have just argued, the current approach to crisis management has not helped to remedy this. against this backdrop, it might be consoling to take a look at the german experience because it illustrates how reforms eventually pay off. 4. the german experience in the first half of the 1990s, the price competitiveness of the german economy declined dramatically because a number of domestic imbalances had built up during reunification. among these were an oversized construction sector and strong wage and price increases despite a decline in average labour productivity. on top of this, the deutsche mark appreciated strongly. the loss of competitiveness put germany in an extremely unfavourable position on international markets. consequently, the corporate sector responded with a painful, but eventually successful, restructuring process which included innovation, outsourcing, wage moderation and a balance sheet clean - up. the german government was also forced to act. just after the turn of the millennium, the burst of the “ new economy ” bubble caused an economic downturn and led to a protracted period of meagre gdp growth : unemployment was persistently high while overburdened social security systems led to big fiscal deficits. in 2003, bold labour market reforms were introduced. these reforms were accompanied by fiscal consolidation and adjustments in the social security systems, in particular the pension system. in any case, the reforms put germany in a position to cope comparatively well with the crisis. although it was hit rather hard when the world economy went into recession, the labour market proved to be quite resilient and private consumption remained robust at the height of bis central bankers ’ speeches the financial crisis. thus, germany could serve as an anchor of stability for monetary union. for this to remain the case, it would be advisable to now stick to the original plans to consolidate the budget. consequently, the recently envisaged tax cuts would have to be counter financed, for example by cutbacks in tax expenditure. leaving these current events aside, the question that remains is : can other countries learn something from the german experience? i believe it provides a very simple and straightforward lesson that could be summarised by something the famous german author erich kastner once said : “ es gibt nichts gutes außer man tut es ” or in english : “ actions speak louder than words ”. at the last summit of eu leaders, promising reforms were announced by several countries – now they have to be implemented. 5. conclusion ladies