What do you get up to? I love art, as well as literature and opera. We are privileged in Europe, and there are some wonderful exhibitions here in Frankfurt. But you must surely miss the spectacular cultural opportunities that you had when you lived in Paris? Paris is of course wonderful, but I have to say that the Rhine-Main area really was a very pleasant discovery. Within 30-45 minutes of my house you have the opera houses and theatres of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz and Darmstadt. Where else can you find so many in such a small area? If you already live in Germany, do you also read German literature? Yes, indeed. Heine, for example. You know, a good poem is like a gold coin that goes into circulation and doesn't lose its value. It's something that lasts forever. I also read Rilke, but I only read him in French. Your German's coming along well. I'm learning German. That's also important to me for my work. Germany has the largest population and the largest economy of all the EU Member States. If you understand the language, you gain a profound understanding of how the people think. Because of their language, the Germans are more direct than the French or the English. For instance, simply saying "no" in French or English is always somewhat more complicated! But the most recent French criticism of the ECB's stability policy has been distinctly direct.
These instruments are becoming increasingly relevant investment alternatives but overall remain a minor portfolio item. Challenges We have several sources and data providers to shed light on the evolution of sustainable finance instruments, but what exactly is a sustainable bond market? The information presented above provides an overview of euro area residents’ issuances and holdings of debt instruments with sustainability characteristics. These indicators provide information on the proceeds raised to finance sustainable projects. In the case of 2  green bonds, they are identified as “debt securities where the proceeds are used to finance projects with clear environmental benefits” and various sources are used to gain a broader picture. Since debt securities are considered sustainable if they are at least labelled as such by their issuers (i.e. self-labelled), in addition to the information provided by data providers, the loosest level of assurance is relied upon. The ECB notes that remaining limitations are mostly due to the lack of internationally accepted harmonised definitions of certain concepts.2  In recent years, financial market initiatives have moved ahead of legislation and several private providers have developed labels to identify green bonds and other sustainabilityrelated bonds, for example, the International Capital Market Association and the Climate Bonds Initiative. However, this does not mean that there is a single definition. In the European Union, the European Commission has been working over the last few years on the development of a European Green Bonds Standard in order to establish uniform requirements for issuers of this type of bond.