SPEECH  The European Climate Law and the European Central Bank Keynote speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, Lustrum Symposium organised by Dutch Financial Law Association Amsterdam, 1 December 2022 I am honoured to speak at this 20th anniversary dinner, with so many distinguished lawyers around me. In this setting, I feel quite comfortable dwelling on legal issues for a while. A topic close to my heart – apart from the law – is the ongoing climate and environmental crises. I am glad that we have long since moved on from the time when only scientists and activists were concerned with this topic. It is now high on policymakers’ agendas, as we saw at the recent United Nations Conference of Parties (COP27) at Sharm el-Sheikh, at which – along with world leaders and a wide range of policymakers and interest groups – the ECB was also represented. I was struck by one story in particular. [1] The tiny Pacific nation of Vanuatu is badly exposed to cyclones and rising sea levels. To the inhabitants of Vanuatu, climate change is a human rights issue. And, as Vanuatu’s president, Nikenike Vurobaravu, stated, “we are measuring climate change not in degrees of Celsius or tonnes of carbon, but in human lives.” Vanuatu now plans to ask the UN General Assembly to seek an opinion from the International Court of Justice on the human rights implications of the climate crisis.
How will the terrorist attack affect this fragile state of mind? US business investment during the past 4-5 years expanded at the rate of 8-9 % per year. It slowed to only 1.7% in the first half of this year. How will the tragic event that occurred slow this down even further? The price of Dubai crude, which is the reference price of Thai import cost, before the attack was at the $ 24-25 per barrel level. After the attack, it briefly touched $ 29 before turning back. How much will the volatile oil price cool down the world economy? 2  BIS Review 81/2001  These are very difficult questions to answer. They are difficult questions to answer under normal circumstances. But when you take into account the fact that the United States soon will undertake operations against the terrorists, and what events may unfold out of that, these questions become many times much more difficult to answer. I am comforted, however, by the quick actions of financial authorities in all the major countries to try to shore up the situation. The Federal Reserve acted quickly to set up $ 90 billion swap facilities with many central banks to facilitate market transactions. Ample liquidity was provided by all countries to market participants. Swift interest rate cuts were implemented in both the USA and Europe. In Thailand, what can we do in the face of these uncertainties?