gertrude tumpel - gugerell : sepa for cards – more than a symbol of sepa ’ s success speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank ( ecb ), at the monnet symposium organised by the monnet project, madrid, 5 may 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, introduction 5 may is a historic date for european integration. 61 years ago today, the treaty of london on the establishment of the council of europe was signed. the council of europe in strasbourg is one of the oldest international organisations dedicated to facilitating european integration, with the focus on democracy and the rule of law. the council of europe created two symbols which were adopted by the european economic community in 1985 and are today used by the european union : the flag of europe and the european anthem. the flag of europe has become the principal symbol of the european union. the circle and the number twelve – which is the number of stars positioned in a circle on the flag – has numerous associations with unity, such as the 12 hours on a clock, 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac and 12 semitones in an octave. unity is also a crucial factor in the success of one of the biggest economic projects the european union has ever seen : the establishment of one single euro payments area – sepa. with the united efforts of the european banking community, the legislators and the central banking community, sepa made a successful start with the introduction of the sepa credit transfer more than two years ago and the sepa direct debit last year. of course, sepa is far from complete. the migration to sepa credit transfers and sepa direct debits will take some time. i am confident, however, that with the setting of a realistic but ambitious end date, the pace of the migration will increase considerably. for this reason, i have no concerns regarding the success of a sepa for credit transfers or direct debits. however, sepa is built on a third column too : sepa for cards. cards are the most commonly used payment instrument in the european union, accounting for almost four out of ten transactions in 2008. without the success of sepa for cards, the project will not be complete. very often sepa for cards is associated with the establishment of an additional european card scheme. but sepa for cards is about much more than that : it is about business rules and technical standards too

progress over the past decades. granular, high frequency data has become much more easily available ; new information is being collected, and new data sources have been tapped. this is a good starting point. however, as statistics providers, we also have to adapt to the new environment. providing relevant information supporting the climate transition requires new ways of gathering, compiling, and disseminating data. this calls for more agility so that we can make progress sufficiently fast. in the following, i will provide some historical examples of how structural change has paved the way for new data and information systems. i will then draw implications for sustainable finance data, including learning from experiences, incentivizing the private sector, regulating the market for information, and providing infrastructures for data sharing. structural change and measurement : historical examples addressing climate change would, ideally, require a global standard to measure and attribute greenhouse gas emissions. history can provide examples of how this can be achieved. the invention of double - entry bookkeeping, the invention of national accounts, and the measurement of time share similarities with today ’ s challenges. these examples provide three main lessons : • • • structural changes such as globalization and industrialization created the need for innovations in terms of measurement and data. solutions found in the past involved experimentation in the private sector and coordination through the public sector. governments have played an active role in incentivizing innovation and providing the necessary infrastructures. developing new measurement systems has taken time, and it involved continuous improvements. page 3 of 18 deutsche bundesbank, directorate general communications wilhelm - epstein - strasse 14, 60431 frankfurt am main, germany, tel. : + 49 ( 0 ) 69 9566 33511, fax : + 49 ( 0 ) 69 709097 9000 presse @ bundesbank. de, www. bundesbank. de reproduction permitted only if source is stated. 1. 1 the evolution of double - entry bookkeeping accounting for greenhouse gas emissions at the firm - level shares similarities with standard accounting objectives : • • corporate cost accounting links the costs of resources such as labour and capital to price setting and production decisions. climate accounting and taxonomies aim at measuring the use of carbon and – indirectly – the carbon contained in goods and services. double - entry bookkeeping is a comprehensive information system for commerce that looks at every transaction from two angles : credit ( the uses of funds ) and debit ( the sources of funds ). it developed in parallel