Speech by Governor Michael S. Barr Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.1 It is an honor and a pleasure to be here with you in Singapore, a crossroads for global trade and finance, to discuss the transformational nature of artificial intelligence (AI). Like other central banks around the world, including the Monetary Authority of Singapore, we at the Federal Reserve have been exploring the use of AI in our operations for quite some time as well as...

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The Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on a regulation concerning new rules aimed at combating cross-border unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain. This regulation aims to improve cooperation between EU authorities responsible for enforcing rules on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain. It is part of the EU’s efforts to support farmers’ position in the supply chain. "I am happy that we have reached a compromise with the European Parliament on...

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Blog post by Hites Ahir, Nicholas Bloom, Davide Furceri Amid rising geopolitical rifts and trade tensions, global economic uncertainty has surged, yet sentiment about economic prospects remains positive Major policy shifts this year have been adding to unknowns about the future and policy decisions, according to our World Uncertainty Index, which has doubled since January. Uncertainty has surged to an exceptionally high level globally, and it’s likely here to stay, as the IMF noted during the recent Annual Meetings. To better understand what causes this...

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At the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, from 10-21 November, the European Union will reaffirm its strong commitment to climate action. The EU is dedicated to paving the way toward a global transition that is clean, fair, and resilient. This transition aims to provide clean and affordable energy, create business opportunities, stimulate growth, enhance industrial competitiveness, and leave no one behind. The conference is a pivotal moment to step up action to meet the Paris Agreement goals set ten years ago....

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By Petra Köhler-Ulbrich, Yuma Schuster and Nikoleta Tushteva Banks consider the climate performance of firms and buildings in their lending policies. The euro area bank lending survey shows that lower climate risks tend to improve credit conditions. Meanwhile, green investments increase loan demand from firms and households. Reducing a firm’s carbon emissions or improving the energy efficiency of a building can help businesses and households to get a loan from the bank at more favourable conditions, the euro area bank lending survey (BLS)...

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The Council and the European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional agreement on measures to incentivise defence-related investments in the current EU budget to implement the so-called ReArm Europe plan, an EU initiative to increase defence spending and strengthen the EU’s military capabilities. The agreement includes a landmark decision to associate Ukraine to the European Defence Fund, underscoring the EU’s enduring commitment to Ukraine’s security, resilience, and gradual integration into the European defence industrial base. “The agreement reached today on incentivising defence-related investments in...

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By Anamaria Piloiu, Oleg Reichmann and Florian Resch Climate risks affect credit ratings. And these, in turn, influence how banks can use securities as collateral to borrow money. This post takes a closer look at how the Eurosystem integrates climate change risks into its own collateral framework, through the credit risk channel. Central banks must prepare for the financial risks that come with rising temperatures and fast-evolving green policies. In the Eurosystem, we are actively working to ensure that the euro...

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Today, the Commission has published the State of the Energy Union Report 2025 and the accompanying Climate Action Progress Report 2025. They show the significant strides the EU has made in transitioning to a robust and integrated Energy Union by progressing on the clean energy transition with more renewables, addressing high and volatile energy prices and affordability, and further reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is increasing competitiveness, decarbonisation and strengthen energy security and independence reducing EU's reliance on imported fossil fuels. The reports confirm once again that the EU...

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Abstract: Motivated by current events, this paper assesses the impact of tariff increases on bilateral greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) over the period 2016-2023. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset of announced greenfield investment projects, official FDI statistics, and bilateral product-level tariff data, we estimate a series of gravity equations to uncover key relationships. Our results show that, at an aggregate level, tariff increases are associated with a rise in greenfield FDI, consistent with the tariff-jumping hypothesis. However, this positive effect reverses...

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The European Commission today adopted a comprehensive transport package. It will accelerate the roll-out of Europe's high-speed rail network and to boost investment in renewable and low-carbon fuels for the aviation and waterborne sectors. Competitiveness and sustainability are the guiding principles of this package, which aims to make the EU transport system more efficient, interconnected, accessible, clean and resilient. The measures presented today cover two key areas – rail, where Europe already leads on sustainability, and fuels, where Europe must...

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