##bank, will convene here in frankfurt. as a deliverable for this year, we are working on a handbook of best practices for incorporating sustainability criteria into central banks ’ portfolio management, with a particular focus on climate - friendly investments. we plan to publish the handbook by october this year. 2 bundesbank activities as you can see : the bundesbank is an active member of the ngfs. and to confirm our strong commitment to the issue, we have also integrated green finance into our own business areas. under my leadership as the responsible board member for the bundesbank ’ s market - related operations, we manage public sector funds as well as our own funds. looking at the public sector funds, we have a long track record in sustainable investments. as a fiscal agent, bundesbank has been managing several large - scale public pension fund portfolios for federal states as well as the central government for more than ten years. 4 out of 16 portfolios are already invested according to an esg approach or invest in green bonds. in total, these portfolios have a volume in the range of substantial single - digit billions of euros. and we expect this number to grow in the near future. four more fiscal clients are currently discussing introducing esg considerations in their investment strategy, while additional two are already planning to do so. so 10 out of 16 of our fiscal clients are investing sustainable or are on their way to do so. our public sector clients mainly focus on the inclusion of esg criteria in equity investments, followed by initial approaches in fixed - income portfolios. based on a passive investment strategy, we combine various best - in - class approaches with exclusionary screening. our experience over the past few years has shown that developing a sustainable investment strategy requires thorough preparation. there is no “ one - size - fits - all ” approach to esg criteria. moreover, when talking about sustainable investing, each investor tends to define a set of esg criteria consistent with its individual values. furthermore, we advise our fiscal clients, namely the states of hesse, 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches baden - wuerttemberg and north rhine - westphalia, to design and create tailor - made sustainability and esg indices that we use for our benchmarking. moreover, the bundesbank is also considering investments in sustainable assets in its own funds. we enjoy more freedom of choice with regard to the selection of investments in our own funds, unlike – for instance – in the fx reserve

management portfolios or even with monetary policy operations. we are currently in the process of assessing ways we can enlarge the scope of assets and take sustainable investment criteria into account in our own funds. we also contribute to a eurosystem working group on sustainability in the management of non - monetary portfolios. as regards monetary policy, we have to be careful not to jeopardize our primary mandate of price stability by pursuing other policy objectives. however, since market neutrality is an integral principle of our monetary policy operations, sustainable assets are alongside the market within the scope of the eurosystem ’ s asset purchase programme. so the more the market is invested in green finance, the more the ecb and the national central banks can reflect this development in the asset purchase programme. besides the investments, the bundesbank is closely looking at the risks resulting from climate change. we look at individual risks in our banking supervision and at systemic risks in our supervision of financial stability. we are making the case for individual financial institutions to disclose their climate - related financial risks and look at these risks in banking regulation and supervision. regarding financial stability, we evaluate whether the financial system as a whole is able to deal with asset devaluations resulting from physical climate risks or from transformation risks following political decisions to address climate change, for example on energy policies. furthermore, the bundesbank is intensifying the public dialogue to raise even more awareness among market participants and the general public. in the fourth quarter of 2019, we will publish a report which analyses major market trends in esg and green finance including an outlook on the way forward. and we are organising a financial markets conference on sustainability in october. 3 government activities all this comes at a time when german politics has been paying ever - closer attention to green finance, as climate protection commands broad support across virtually the entire political spectrum. in february, the state secretaries ’ committee for sustainable development declared that germany should become a leading hub for sustainable finance. chancellor merkel reaffirmed this aspiration just a few weeks ago. and just last week, the federal government ’ s new sustainable finance advisory committee met for the first time. the bundesbank is an advisory member of this committee. the committee is tasked with monitoring the european discussion on sustainable finance, improving knowledge, strengthening sustainable finance and, of course, advising the government. the government is also planning a strategy for communicating to consumers and the financial industry to promote green finance. and the government plans to further