will move ahead gradually, ensuring close coordination between the authorities involved. financial risks stemming from climate change assessing and managing the financial risks stemming from climate change is one of the main challenges facing regulators, supervisors and financial intermediaries. all the players involved are called upon to put their best efforts into ensuring that the financial sector is able to accurately assess the magnitude of the current and future exposure to such risks, so as to seize the opportunities connected with the decarbonization of the economy. yesterday the bank of italy published its responsible investment charter, in which it has taken on three commitments : to promote environmental, social and governance ( esg ) sustainability, with initiatives to encourage the disclosure of adequate information on sustainability by issuing firms, banks and other financial system players ; to continue to integrate esg principles into the management of its investment portfolios by favouring the investments with the best profiles ; and to publish information and analyses on sustainable finance and to communicate the results achieved regarding its investments on a regular basis. correctly measuring the risks connected with climate change requires above all the availability of reliable and comparable data in order to assess the possible impact of transition and physical risks on financed sectors and activities. it is here that regulatory authorities at european and international level are currently focusing their efforts. the issue of data availability is a priority for the italian presidency of the group of twenty ( g20 ), which has asked the international monetary fund ( imf ) to include climate change in the preparation of a new data gaps initiative and the financial stability board to draw up a report on the availability of data to monitor climate - related risks for financial stability. a first version of this report will be presented this week at the g20 finance ministers and central bank governors venice meeting. 7 / 10 bis central bankers'speeches the results of the pilot project recently conducted by the eba also point to the importance of bridging the data gap as soon as possible. steps in this direction will be taken once the technical standards relating to the ‘ third pillar ’ obligations concerning banks ’ exposures to physical and transition risks, currently in the consultation phase, have been finalized. the inclusion of this information in the balance sheets is essential to enable all stakeholders ( shareholders, creditors, consumers ) to monitor and stimulate sound risk management on the part of financial intermediaries. at the same time, supervisory authorities are working hard to encourage banks to make the appropriate organizational arrangements to measure, monitor and manage climate - related financial risks. last year, a specific guide

since january 1999 this standardised deduction has been set at 10 % for both types of securities. today, following a review of new statistical evidence available, the governing council decided to increase the standardised deduction to 30 %. this decision shall have effect as from the determination of the reserve requirement to be fulfilled in the maintenance period starting on 24 january 2000. a separate press release presenting this decision and some background information on standardised deductions from the reserve base will be issued to you here today. the governing council today approved the ecb ’ s budget for 2000, which gives the ecb the green light to recruit further staff needed to support the ongoing activities of the ecb. this will bring the ecb ’ s staff to slightly over 1, 000 ; the number of staff employed to date stands at 750. at its meeting on 18 november 1999 the governing council approved the publication of an update of the book on “ european union balance of payments statistical methods ” ( the “ b. o. p. book ” ). this important book documents the statistical methodologies applied in member states in compiling balance of payments statistics and, as such, improves the transparency of the compilation of euro area statistics. this new version includes additional chapters on : ( i ) investment income ; ( ii ) estimation methods, especially for goods, investment income and portfolio investment ; ( iii ) financial derivatives ; and ( iv ) the stocks compiled for international investment position statistics. the book was published on the ecb ’ s web site at 4 p. m. yesterday and will be available from the ecb in hard copy format during the course of next week. finally, let me inform you that the general council discussed the monetary policy objectives, strategies and intentions of the non - participating eu central banks against the background set by the monetary policy of the eurosystem. this is the second time that such an exercise has been undertaken since the ecb was established.