steven maijoor : managing climate and environmental related risk stepping up the pace speech by mr steven maijoor, executive director of supervision of the netherlands bank, at the morningstar sustainable investing summit 2023, amsterdam, 12 october 2023. * * * i was with my family in greece for the summer holidays. one evening we walked through a street in athens with restaurants lined up along the street, and there was a man trying to lure tourists into his restaurant. when he approached us i told him we had other plans, but somehow i wanted to know how he was doing. so i asked him. and what i did not expect was that he started ranting, a complete stranger, about how the summers had become unbearably hot, and that the number of tourists was already declining as a result. he was very depressed about the whole situation and he confided in me that he was seriously considering moving to norway. i was shocked and sad because i saw he really meant it. and the hard truth hit home again that the climate crisis is here and now, and it is affecting the lives of real people. and on top of that, it is affecting our economies. and when it affects our economies, it affects our financial sector as well. financial institutions are exposed to climate and environmental risk. think for instance about the risk of a flood in the western part of the netherlands. don't forget we are below sea level here. serious flooding could increase a bank's credit risk following damage to collateral such as houses and other buildings. and this would then require a bank to draw on its capital reserves. that's what we call physical risk. and then there is transition risk as well. transitioning to a net - zero society will likely lead to adjusted or new government policies. it could also lead to technological advances, or changes in market sentiment and market preferences. the transition to a net - zero economy creates risk for financial institutions that are highly exposed to sectors of the economy that are unprepared. governments, for example, could impose higher taxes on greenhouse gas emissions. as a result, the revenue of an energy - intensive company could decline. and this could impact the company's creditworthiness and its ability to repay outstanding debts to banks. physical and transition risks are not only related to climate change. financial institutions are also exposed to risk stemming from the degradation of nature, and actions aimed at preserving and restoring it. nature provides services that are essential

are still in search of a “ friend ” to negotiate with the bank. as mentioned above, i understand that above all the reason behind might be our poor tradition in addition to the high degree of informality and a lot of other objective and subjective reasons. however, i think that the cause might be even the lack of detailed clarifications, and lack of informative publications, and lack of the propaganda in the public environment as well as in media. i think that in the propaganda spaces in the media more space should be given to the clarifications of special products, while launching of new products should be accompanied by standard advertising campaigns. dear participants, allow me that before closing my speech to express again my high appreciation on the albanian association of banks, ensuring that governor of bank of albania will always be its decent partner in the long path of institutional co - operation. i sincerely hope that this meeting of banking associations is an important step towards establishing a fruitful regional co - operation. i am personally committed, in future contacts with my colleagues of the region ’ s countries, to dedicate a special room to this co - operation, hoping that i will find on them a well - understanding and full support. i again wish you successful and fruitful proceedings of this meeting. thank you.