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How to foster investment in the green transition in the current EU macro-economic context?

Day 1 Afternoon

Wednesday 26 April

Room :

ROOM 1

Speakers

Chair
Luiz Pereira da Silva
Deputy General Manager - Bank for International Settlements
Public Authorities
Niall Bohan
Director, Asset, Debt and Financial Risk Management - DG Budget, European Commission
Mindaugas Liutvinskas
Vice Minister - Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania
Ludek Niedermayer
Vice-Chair & MEP - Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament
Harald Waiglein
Director General for Economic Policy, Financial Markets and Customs Duties & Member of the Board of Directors, ESM - Federal Ministry of Finance, Austria
Industry Representatives
Cornelia Andersson
Group Head of Sustainable Finance and Investing - London Stock Exchange Group
Philippe Blanchot
Director Institutional, International and European Affairs - Caisse des Dépôts
Pier Carlo Padoan
Chairman of the Board of Directors - UniCredit S.p.A. (HQ)
Debora Revoltella
Chief Economist - European Investment Bank

Objectives

The green transition will require considerable investment. Public funds alone will not be sufficient. The Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery package and the EU budget should contribute to this green transformation (this corresponds to 1,98% of EU GDP on average per annum). But EU financings alone will not be able to reorient our economy towards the future and accelerate productive investment: NGEU has a capacity of € 750 billion until 2026 but the Commission estimates that the additional private and public needs related for achieving the green transition will be nearly 520 billion per year until 2030

The objective of this session is to assess the reasons why the pace of investments made for the ecological transition in the countries of the Union is insufficient with regard to the needs identified by the European Union and the Member States. Speakers will notably be invited to express their views on the possible obstacles and uncertainties to be overcome to develop these investments. Finally, the session will analyze whether or not this ecological transition suffers from a lack of available financing and will study the role and the expected share of financing of the private sector in this transition.

Points of discussion

  1. Beyond the availability of financings, what are the uncertainties and drawbacks that need to be resolved or lifted up so that project owners (household, companies, infrastructures) can launch investments that commit them in the long term: evolution of the price of carbon, price of green energy at the time the investment is made, technological and regulatory uncertainties, lack of explicit transition strategy, insufficient labour force and skills, high level of public and private indebtedness, insufficient tax incentives…?
  2. Does the green transition in European countries suffer from a lack of funding or financial resources? What financing mechanisms would allow to face these uncertainties and drawbacks? What should be the role of States in this financing of the transition (grants, guarantees, loans…)? What should be the role and expected share of financing of the private sector in this transition? What are the pros and cons of the investment incentive mechanisms put in place in the various regions of the world (e.g. Inflation Reduction Act, NextGenerationEU)?