EU has opportunity to harness crisis to deepen economic union
By Ellie Groves and Taylor Pearce
The response from the European Commission after the 2008 financial crisis was slow and partial. Having learned from these missteps, the European Union’s response to Covid-19 was swift. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has posed yet another crisis. The EU has an opportunity to harness these crises to implement much-needed reform within its institutions and member states.
THE DAILY UPDATE – Saturday 2 April 2022
Why the labour market won’t fuel US inflation
By Julian Jacobs
Despite low unemployment and high inflation, fears that tight labour markets will drive inflation higher are misplaced. Five elements have been vital to the reduction of worker power since the 1970s and are responsible for the considerable productivity-pay gap in the US. The great danger of this bout of inflation is that salaries will not increase fast enough, while panic about rising wages will...
ECB monetary policy seeks to flee from climate change consequences
Monday 14 February 2022 – Vol.13 Ed.7.1
Commentary: ECB must choose fight, not flight, on climate change
By Rens van Tilburg and Aleksander Simić
‘Fight or flight?’ When it comes to climate change, the global community has decided that it needs to put up a fight. This is seemingly not the way the European Central Bank views things. As part of its monetary strategy review, it concluded that climate should be considered in setting...
How to build a sustainable financial system for the future
Wednesday 9 February 2022Vol.13 Ed.6.3
Commentary: Policy-makers’ golden opportunity to meet green goals
By Marcus Svedberg in Stockholm
European policy-makers have a golden opportunity to address two major issues in one go this year. By amending the European Union’s fiscal rules in favour of green investments, they can make a critical contribution to meeting climate goals and help to increase the potential growth of the union by laying the...
Financial institutions must act on climate promises in 2022
Friday 21 January 2022 – Vol.13 Ed.3.5
Commentary: Outlook 2022: 10 climate promises the financial sector must keep
By Nick Robins and Danae Kyriakopoulou
COP26 left the world a few steps closer to a sustainable financial system, and decarbonisation pledges are becoming more common in private finance. Still, fundamental financial inadequacies need to be fixed urgently. To earn and maintain trust, players across the system must use 2022 as...
Tracking the economic impact of climate change on sustainable finance
Monday 8 November 2021 – Vol.12 Ed.45.1
The Sustainable Finance Policy Tracker
The Sustainable Finance Policy Tracker provides a comprehensive overview of different countries’ approaches to mitigating climate risks in the financial sector. Covering 22 countries and jurisdictions, the tracker presents information on 14 areas that include regulatory and supervisory measures, climate stress testing activity, net zero strategies,...
Meeting net zero: carbon capture technology and green finance
Thursday 30 September 2021 – Vol.12 Ed.39.4
Commentary: Does Orca machine hold key to ambitious net-zero targets?
By Gary Smith in London
In early September, excited headlines celebrated the launch of the Orca machine in Iceland. This machine sucks carbon dioxide out of the air and pumps it into permanent storage underground, fuelled by geothermal energy. It will capture the equivalent carbon dioxide to offset the emissions of around...
Renminbi’s rise, 50 years after the dollar-gold shock, IMF shifts approach to low income countries and special drawing rights, and more
THE WEEKEND REVIEW – OMFIF
Latest opinion and analysis from OMFIF around the world
9-13 August 2021, Vol.12 Ed.32
Most-Read Commentary
Renminbi’s rise, 50 years after the dollar-gold shock: President Richard Nixon, in his TV address on 15 August 1971, announced unilaterally that America was reneging on the gold-dollar link. The consequences remain with us today....
Sustainable Policy Institute June 2021 Journal: Same storm, different boats
In recent years, more than 100 countries have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. But while the destination is common to all, countries differ widely in their abilities and resources in terms of how – and how quickly – they can reach it. This is because while, as a planet, we are all in the same climate storm, we are not all in the same boat.
A perhaps simplified but useful distinction is the...
ECB needs to rethink market neutrality, Sustainable Policy Institute, April 2021
Wednesday 7 April 2021 – Vol.12 Ed.14.2
Commentary: ECB needs to rethink market neutrality
By Olaf Sleijpen in Amsterdam
The European Central Bank applies the concept of market neutrality in its purchase programmes. However, market neutrality in the form of a market capitalisation weighted benchmark – as used in the ECB’s corporate sector purchase programmes – may not be appropriate. Market failures that distort...