Interview with Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, conducted by Arend Clahsen and Han Dirk Hekking

17 January 2025

Large banks and asset managers in the United States are distancing themselves from climate policies. That may leave European banks in a different reality where they are at a competitive disadvantage. What should they do?

We were already alert to storms, droughts and floods caused by climate change. We now need to add urban fires to that list. Munich Re, the major reinsurer, has looked into the average damage from natural disasters over the past 30 years, corrected for inflation. That amount is rising. It averaged USD 131 billion per year worldwide over the past 30 years, but USD 236 billion over the past ten years and USD 268 billion over the past five, reaching USD 320 billion in 2024.

I don’t want to be too downbeat, but we know that, with the rise in temperature, climate tipping points are…