standards are only going to increase for banks, as legal and reputational risks are starting to materialise for banks which fail to step up the quality of their disclosures. more and more, clients, investors and other market participants want meaningful, comprehensive information on the climate - related actions of their banks. that way, they can make conscious, informed decisions about where their money goes. moreover, failing to disclose exposure to risks, including c & e risks, constitutes a breach of the capital requirements regulation. as such, we stand ready to use the full array of supervisory tools at our disposal to ensure banks ’ c & e disclosures are up to our standards, and ultimately that eligible banks are prepared for the new regulatory requirements. the ecb in addition publishes a yearly report on banks ’ pillar 3 disclosures, where we also have the option to publicly list those banks which repeatedly fail to disclose their c & e risks. in view of the poor results shown by our stocktake, and to assess the extent to which the banks address individual feedback, c & e risk disclosures will continue to feature prominently in the ecb ’ s supervision. we will assess banks ’ c & e disclosures again at the end of 2022 and we expect to see major progress by then. conclusion let me conclude. stricter disclosure regulation is on the way, and time is running out for banks to get ready. five years have passed since the task force on climate - related financial disclosures published its recommendations. there are also many initiatives, some of them open source, to support banks ’ efforts. many companies have improved their disclosures and now provide information that can feed into banks ’ own disclosure indicators. and for those banks that have systematically fallen behind the ecb ’ s – and the market ’ s – expectations there is only one way forward. it is time for banks to be transparent and comprehensive with their c & e disclosures, so we that by bringing them to light, we can progress from an inconvenient truth towards a desirable outcome – for us and for all future generations. let me end where i started : the first step in coming to grips with any inconvenient truth is full disclosure. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

frank elderson : full disclosure - coming to grips with an inconvenient truth keynote speech by mr frank elderson, member of the executive board of the european central bank and vice - chair of the supervisory board of the ecb, at the 14th european bank institute policy webinar on the ecb ’ s supervisory approach on climate - related and environmental risks, frankfurt am main, 14 march 2022. * * * some years ago, andrea enria, the chair of the supervisory board, gave a speech, precisely at an ebi conference, calling for greater transparency in prudential supervision. when describing the role of transparency and information disclosure, he echoed the words of supreme court justice louis brandeis : “ sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants ; electric light the most efficient policeman ”. this couldn ’ t be truer for climate - related disclosures, too. as i have said before when discussing the supervision and prominence of climate - related and environmental, or c & e, risks, we can only tackle a problem once we get a good grip on its shape and size. some information may be uncomfortable to face up to – but bringing it to light is the first step in making progress. when it comes to climate change, the information on what al gore famously dubbed an inconvenient truth is indeed getting bleaker by the day. the most recent ipcc report confirms the dramatic consequences of not taking immediate action : additional global warming of up to 1. 5 degrees celsius in the near term would increase climate hazards, and present numerous risks to ecosystems and human society. europe is particularly badly affected, as temperatures here continue to rise above the mean and, despite our efforts to reduce co2 emissions, we lag far behind in terms of what we need to do to adapt to some of the inevitable consequences. it is time we face the facts. as citizens, as institutions, and as all actors in the economy – including of course banks. it is essential that banks share with their stakeholders detailed information on their exposures to c & e – risks. only then can we all effectively work together to address the consequences of climate change. this is why today i would like to draw your attention to another important landmark in the ecb ’ s supervision of c & e risks : the publication of our second stocktake on the transparency of banks ’ disclosures of their c & e risk profiles. the european and international agenda on climate publishing this update