ECB’s Elderson: Good Progress in Bringing Inflation to Target

3 February 2024

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson on Saturday said recent figures showed that there had been progress in controlling inflation.

In an interview with Dutch daily De Volkskrant, Elderson said, ‘And as we’ve shown for almost the past two years and demonstrated again last week: we’re determined to bring inflation back down to our target of 2% and we’re making good progress.’

Price stability and climate risks should not be mutually exclusive, he said. ‘Even if we didn’t care one iota about the climate, we would fail in our mandate if we stuck our heads in the sand on this issue.’

The energy transition and climate-related phenomena, such as above-average heat and floods, affected price stability and were relevant to the ECB’s mandate, he said.

Asked about the US Federal Reserve's approach of not acting as a climate policymaker, Elderson said he agreed, but warned that ‘monetary policy then needs to be tailored to the insight that we won’t be able to understand the financial system anymore if we ignore climate and nature crises and governments’ transition plans.’