– foremost price stability, but also financial stability and other economic objectives. consequently, the ecb governing council has taken important climate - related decisions, i. e. decisions on monetary policy this summer, on the eurosystem ’ s non - monetary policy portfolios last winter and on the ecb ’ s supervisory duties much earlier. we do what we can – of course, within the limits of our mandate – not only because we must, but also because we want to contribute. one way how we could contribute most effectively is by fulfilling our role as an economic think tank, highlighting challenges and providing impartial advice on questions such as, what instruments to cut emissions are preferable : direct carbon taxation or emission trading or emission standards and other command and control regulation? nicholas stern helps us to answer this question with his famous sentence “ climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen. ” so, the answer would simply be to make the polluters pay. carbon pricing is technologically neutral and cost - efficient. however, there is also some room for command - andcontrol and financial regulation to tackle other market failures such as asymmetric information. there are two options to tag a price on “ bad ” technology or behavior : imposing a tax or establishing a cap - and - trade regime. in theory, the two options should deliver the same results, because quantities and prices determine each other, regardless of where you start from. and despite the beauty of an emission trading system resembling an ideal market, economists tend to prefer a tax. a tax is simple, provides easily accessible information and creates forward guidance for all economic agents. however, vested interests tend to hijack the debate and exploit the confusion about the variety of policy options. i fear a bazar might emerge, a bazar that may lead to inefficient measures and even have a taste of planned economy. however, i have to accept that we live in a real world where solutions are often second best. i am sure even friedrich hayek would have agreed that taking any climate action is preferable to doing nothing. after the keynote, we would like key players and stakeholders to get to talk to each other. therefore, we have invited high - level representatives from government, european and global institutions, business, finance, central banks, and rating agencies. we want to know from you what policy fields, policy mix and policy actors are best suited to reach the global net - zero goal.

value chains. yet, at the same time, the crisis also led to interruptions in these supply chains due to restrictions in transport and labor mobility. this situation has been exacerbated by export bans and quantity restrictions. world trade organization ( wto ) estimates suggest that around 20 % of global exports of protective clothing and 17 % of disinfectant exports were affected. in light of these examples, does the crisis call for a different view on global value chains? the covid - 19 crisis may not be a “ game changer ” in this respect, but it will reinforce a trend that has been observed for quite some time. the expansion of global value chains has been slowing since the mid - 2000s, and this trend has been intensified by the global financial crisis. so far, however, we cannot speak of a shortening or even dismantling of global value chains. after all, the rather swift revival of global value chains following the easing of restrictions has demonstrated their stability and their potential for supporting the recovery. certainly, the current page 5 von 8 crisis holds some lessons : to promote not only efficient, but also robust and resilient global value chains in the future. for example, the build - up of safety stocks for essential goods could provide for sufficient buffers even though it requires a careful balancing of benefits and costs. upstream bottlenecks should be identified and avoided by broadening the supplier base. governments can support the smooth functioning of global value chains by facilitating the smooth flow of goods and services and by supporting substitutability of inputs through harmonizing norms and standards. in lieu of conclusions : most imminent reform priorities let me end by drawing your attention to the most pressing priorities. in the near term – and depending on the further spread of the pandemic – the main challenge will be to use the policy space in an efficient way to mitigate the economic impact of the health crisis against the need of implementing indispensable health policy containment measures. this can be done by making use of monetary, fiscal and macroprudential policies that put quality over quantity. at the same time, the sizeable structural challenges faced by our economies should be tackled as well. in this context, i would like to mention two reform priorities : the digital transformation and the green transformation. with respect to the digital transformation, the current crisis has possibly acted as a catalyst. this is, inter alia, evidenced by the simple fact that we are meeting virtually for the