equity can have harmful effects. to meet the financial challenge, savings have a central role to play. i will focus on two avenues for steering them into productive investment. first, savings should be reoriented towards the long - term, more easily than towards direct risk - taking. french and, more generally, european savers are more risk - averse than american ones – and this is probably not going to change. the first savings motive in the euro area is indeed insurance against unexpected events ( mentioned by more than 50 % of households ). viii but at the same time, savers are more and more concerned by the increase in life expectancies and the need to prepare for retirement : old age provision ranks as the second most important savings motive ( nearly 40 % ). ix therefore it makes sense to offer savers new, complementary forms of savings products, that are less liquid during the first years, but that include some form of longterm capital guarantee. these new products would provide financial intermediaries – in particular life insurers – with liabilities long enough to take pooled risks – in the form of equity investments essentially – and savers with the higher returns offered by equity over the long run. to promote these new products, we also need, at the very least, to avoid any tax distortions that might penalise them more than liquid and risk - free investments. second, savings should better circulate across europe, to where investment needs are. a large part of the solution lies at the european level, with the building of what i call a “ financing and investment union ” ( fiu ), rather than just a “ capital markets union ” ( cmu ). this fiu would merge together the initiatives already in place – the cmu of course, but also the juncker plan and the banking union – in order to magnify their impact through synergies and more ambitious measures. let me mention two measures for tackling obstacles to cross - border investment. firstly, the fiu would encourage the development of a pan - european venture capital ecosystem. one of europe ’ s most obvious limitations is indeed the size of its funds compared with us ones : the size scale varies from at least 1 to 10 given the national borders and the domestic bias in europe. this unfortunately limits european funds ’ ability to take on big enough equity stakes, especially in “ scale up ” companies – successful start - ups at a later stage. the second example concerns the regulatory

people. a crucial driver of this is the paris climate agreement. the agreement establishes a global commitment to limit global warming to well under two degrees celsius. very importantly, it provides for monitoring the reduction of emissions, and forges a pathway for more ambitious efforts, if current policies fall short of that goal. the paris agreement has sent out a very strong signal that policymakers and regulators will intensify their efforts over the coming years. the fact that the united states has withdrawn its support is of course no small setback. but i am confident that the international community will rally together, set the right example, and press on with implementing the paris agreement. today ’ s announcement of a climate accord between the state of california and china is a vivid example of this. china, once being amongst the world ’ s largest polluters, is now becoming one of the global champions of renewable energy. just a few days ago, the eu and china reinforced commitments to the paris agreement, pledging to : - cut back on fossil fuels - develop more green technology and - help raise $ 100 billion a year by 2020, to help poorer countries cut their emissions. so despite the setback, this is an encouraging development. numerous other initiatives, both on the national and international level, are already underway. allow me to name a few. at the end of 2015 the financial stability board launched a private sector task force on climate - related financial disclosures ( tcfd ). led by michael bloomberg, the task force also draws its members from the british financial sector, including ubs. the consultation period for the report ended just a few days ago. the report contains recommendations for an efficient and voluntary framework for climate - related financial disclosures. and these recommendations can be used by companies across all sectors. the potential impact of this framework, when put in practice, can hardly be overstated. for the first time, it will provide investors, lenders, insurers and other stakeholders with information about the concentrations of carbonrelated assets in the economy and exposures to climate - related risks. reliable, comparable and forward - looking information that will significantly improve your ability to assess, for example, how exposed potential investment targets are to the clean energy transition, and what they intend to do about it. information that is crucial for kickstarting a functioning market for climate - related risk. at a european level, the high level expert group on sustainable finance will submit its interim report to the european commission