Basking central bank misses open goal for greener and fairer future

SINTRA, Portugal,  30 June 2025 - Today, the European Central Bank (ECB) released its long-awaited 2025 strategy assessment.

The ECB says that the aim of the assessment was to refocus the Bank’s monetary policy strategy for the world we live in now and in the future. 

Since its last review in 2021 the ECB has had to deal with higher inflation caused by energy shocks caused by the Russian inflation of Ukraine and Covid-19 supply bottlenecks.

Jordi Schröder Bosch is a Researcher for the Brussels-based research and campaigning organisation Positive Money Europe.  

“This ECB strategy review is a self-celebratory disappointment that sees the central bank mistakenly focus on what it, wrongly, believes it did well. The Bank basks in its role in keeping inflation in check - which was actually largely due to falling energy prices. Another reality is that the increased price of borrowing, that they enforced, had negative consequences precisely for capital-intensive green investments. We need to see the ECB bringing in, the straightforward and simple policy of, lower borrowing costs for sustainable projects. This would see the ECB playing their key and achievable role in helping to fight the impact of climate change and reduce our fossil fuel dependency, both of which are critical to achieving its mandate.”

“In this new assessment the ECB is correct in saying that "climate change and nature degradation are materialising more strongly than expected". Between 2021 and 2025 we observed how fossil fuel dependency and climate change both pose extremely serious risks to price stability. However, the ECB has failed to assess its strategy accordingly. The ECB has failed to deliver some key elements of its 2021 climate action plan, such as greening its so-called collateral framework or the decarbonisation of its portfolio of securities once reinvestments came to an end. In doing so, the ECB missed a crucial opportunity to reflect on where its climate commitments have fallen short. The ECB needs to learn that it can positively impact the planet we live in by encouraging big business to move away from dirty operations and not pandering to the polluters".

Positive Money Europe is a research and advocacy nonprofit organisation, working on the economic system for social justice and a liveable planet.

www.positivemoney.org 

Follow Positive Money Europe on X 

For further information and to arrange interviews please contact our Press Officer Chris Ancil, +32486816541, X: @christoffler