A coalition of European civil society organisations and academics sent an open letter to the French President, Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday 20 December, expressing their wish for the European Central Bank (ECB) to accompany its interest rate policies with the adoption of a dual rate system to provide preferential support for activities aligned with the objectives of the green transition.
This letter follows President Macron’s speech at COP28. The coalition would like France to promote the idea at international level.
In the view of this coalition, the ECB’s recent rate rises are penalising the financing of energy transition projects. However, the signatories of the letter believe that financing conditions should not be indifferent to the nature of the projects they support.
They believe that the current model of a single interest rate is untenable and that a dual rate would help to internalise both the financial risks created by polluting investments and the positive externalities arising from green investments.
However, the signatories believe that such a system must have democratic legitimacy and accountability, in particular through scrutiny by the European Parliament. In their view, the system must be accompanied by sufficient data and supervision to avoid greenwashing, and it must be ensured that such a system is aligned with the objectives of the green transition.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/a7e (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)