Category: Great Britain

  • MIL-OSI Australia: New strata laws ensure fairer rules for fees and charges

    Source: New South Wales Government 2

    Headline: New strata laws ensure fairer rules for fees and charges

    Published: 19 February 2025

    Released by: Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading


    Legislation improving the way strata communities operate passed the NSW Parliament last night.

    The reforms will help owners repair and maintain common property, support the uptake of sustainability and accessibility infrastructure, and give owners more options to pay levies when facing financial stress. 

    This legislation is the Minns Labor Government’s third tranche of strata law reforms and builds on changes which came into effect on 3 February 2025, requiring strata managers in NSW to provide significantly more The reforms will help owners repair and maintain common property, support the uptake of sustainability and accessibility infrastructure, and give owners more options to pay levies when facing financial stress.

    The laws will:

    • Protect owners corporations from unfair contract terms such as limits on a strata managing agent’s liability.
    • Encourage the uptake of sustainable infrastructure such as solar panels and electric vehicle charging by prohibiting bylaws that block the infrastructure due to external appearance.
    • Protect owners from bill shock by requiring developers to have initial levy estimates to be independently certified, including increased penalties for non-compliance.
    • Make it easier to terminate strata managing agents and building manager agreements if they carry on a business that is contrary to the law.
    • Prescribe training requirements for strata committee members to help them perform their roles.
    • Allow Fair Trading to enter into enforceable undertakings with owners corporations that do not meet their duties to maintain and repair common property.
    • Help owners in financial hardship by requiring owners corporations to offer a payment plan before taking debt recovery action and prohibiting blanket rules to refuse payment plans.
    • Make it easier to install accessibility infrastructure in common areas by lowering the voting threshold for approval from 75% to a majority vote.

    This legislation is the Minns Labor Government’s third tranche of strata law reforms and builds on   changes which came into effect on 3 February 2025, requiring strata managers in NSW to provide significantly more detailed information to owners’ corporations about their services and relationships, to increase transparency and accountability within the strata sector.

    Strata managers must now disclose any connections with suppliers and developers, provide detailed breakdowns of insurance quotes including commissions and broker fees, and report in real time if any new connections or interests arise.

    The NSW Government’s reforms will be enforced by a dedicated Strata and Property Services Taskforce within NSW Fair Trading, backed by an $8.4 million investment. 

    Consumer confidence in strata is vital to the government’s housing agenda, and the Taskforce will be focussed on high impact initiatives to support the 1.2 million people living in strata across NSW.

    The Taskforce will strengthen compliance and enforcement, dispute resolution, and regulatory reform within the strata sector, with a focus on raising professional standards and delivering better outcomes for consumers.

    For more information, visit the NSW Fair Trading website here: https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/strata-and-community-living

    Quotes attributed to Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong:

    “The family home is often the biggest financial investment most of us will make – when it is in a strata community the Minns Labor Government is making sure that there are protections in place to help owners make informed decisions on the future of the property.

    “Repairs to common property are the obligation of the owners’ corporation, and these reforms help to ensure the hard-earned money of individual owners invested in the property will prevent it from being run down, become a safety risk or cause greater damage through neglect.

    “These changes will make buying into strata more transparent and improve the building owners experience when they receive the keys from the developer.”

    Quotes attributed to Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann:

    “The number of strata schemes in New South Wales has grown from around 70,000 at the end of 2015 to more than 87,000 – creating a greater need for targeted, proactive regulation to ensure practitioners and businesses in the property industry are properly trained and supervised.

    “The Strata and Property Services Taskforce is improving the NSW Government’s oversight of real estate and strata managing agents by bringing together new and existing specialist staff across Fair Trading to uplift its enforcement of NSW strata and property laws – restoring consumer confidence and lifting standards across the sector.” 

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Vital XPT rail fleet refurbishment program ramps up

    Source: New South Wales Government 2

    Headline: Vital XPT rail fleet refurbishment program ramps up

    Published: 19 February 2025

    Released by: Minister for Regional Transport and Roads


    The Minns Labor Government is continuing work to build better regional communities by undertaking vital upgrades to the XPT rail fleet which services Grafton and other regional centres across the state.

    The XPT fleet has reached an impressive 40-plus years in service and work is underway to ensure the fleet continues to provide passengers with a safe and comfortable service until the next generation Regional Rail Fleet is ready to be introduced into passenger service.

    The NSW Government has committed $40.3 million over five years for the XPT Life Extension Project.

    The upgrades of the XPT fleet, to be carried out locally in NSW by Sydney Trains, include:

    • extensive mechanical work to improve service reliability
    • new carpeting and refurbished seats
    • maintenance to improve operation of the air-conditioning and toilets
    • repaint and refurbishment of the power cars.

    These upgrades follow the former Liberal Nationals Government’s failure to deliver a single new regional train after their announcement of the new fleet more than a decade ago. Like the New Intercity Fleet, which the Minns Government is now successfully rolling out on the Central Coast line, the former Liberal National Government oversaw the new Regional Rail Fleet ballooning in cost and missing deadline after deadline. As a direct consequence of this mismanagement, regional passengers have been forced to travel on the old XPTs for years longer than necessary.

    To allow for these essential upgrades of the XPT fleet, NSW TrainLink will operate two out of the six daily rail services between Grafton and Sydney with premium coaches for approximately 12 months from mid-March 2025. The remaining four daily rail services will continue to operate with XPT trains.

    NSW TrainLink is going through a public tender process to secure a coach provider to provide premium wheelchair accessible vehicles for this service.

    This will provide travelers from Grafton the opportunity to choose between premium quality coach services or rail options, depending on their time of travel.

    The community will be updated before the two new coach services start with details about the timetable.

    Ticket prices will be the same as the rail service and bookings will continue as usual through the NSW TrainLink booking website or by calling 13 22 32.

    This investment in upgrading the rail fleet is part of the Minns Labor Government’s plan to rebuild and renew our regional transport and roads, ensuring communities across our regions have access to safe and connected infrastructure and services. This ongoing work includes:

    • Delivering more than $300 million to regional councils across the state to accelerate the repair of roads and transport infrastructure damaged by natural disasters
    • Investing a record close to $250 million in upgrades to make our regional roads safer
    • Releasing Draft Strategic Regional Integrated Transport Plans for the Hunter and South East and Tablelands, and commencing development on plans for other regions of NSW, to provide a vision for regional initiatives in the short to long term.

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison:

    “The Minns Labor Government is committed to building a better transport system for regional NSW including the network of NSW TrainLink trains and coaches.

    “To ensure passengers can continue to travel safely, comfortably and reliably in the longer term, over $40 million in essential upgrades are getting underway on the ageing XPT fleet now.

    “The Liberals and Nationals sat back for 12 years and ran the XPT fleet into the ground while leaving communities at risk of losing services.  We’re fixing the mess and investing to improve services.”

    Quotes attributable to Labor spokesperson for Clarence Emily Suvaal:

    “Passengers who use two of the six daily NSW TrainLink Grafton services – which will be replaced by coaches while work on the XPTs is carried out – can look forward to a timetabled service on a premium, airconditioned, wheelchair-accessible vehicle during the upgrade. The trains will return to service at the completion of the upgrade process.

    “The other four daily North Coast train services which service Grafton will continue as rail services, so travelers can choose the time of day and mode of transport that best suits their needs.”

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-Evening Report: Yes, Australia needs new homes – but they must be built to withstand disasters in a warmer world

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University

    Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years.

    Increasing housing supply is essential. However, the homes must be thoughtfully located and designed, to avoid or withstand natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.

    Recent severe weather, including floods in Queensland and severe storms in north-east Victoria, underscore the growing vulnerability of Australian homes. As climate change worsens, the risk becomes ever-greater.

    Our new research examined how disaster risk informs housing location and design in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. We spoke to planners, developers, insurers and housing providers, and found crucial problems that leave communities exposed.

    Getting to grips with disaster data

    Australia’s towns and cities are increasingly affected by natural disasters. The consequences extend beyond physical destruction to social, psychological and health effects. Disasters also harm the economy.

    Despite this, government housing policies and strategies often fail to adequately focus on natural disasters.

    Accurate, up-to-date information is crucial when seeking to protect new homes from natural disasters. Informed decisions typically require three types of data:

    • foundational: relating to vegetation, landscape features, weather, climate change and building characteristics such as height and materials

    • hazards: the risks of different disaster types such as historical flood data, maps of bushfire-prone areas and the recurrence of cyclones

    • vulnerability: the potential and actual impacts of natural disasters such as building damage, fatalities and injuries, displacement, psychological and health impacts and insurance losses.

    Our research, for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, examined how data could be better used and shared to plan and deliver new housing and protect Australians from disasters.

    What we did

    We started by identifying what data was available in Australia for bushfire, flood and cyclone risk.
    Then we examined who owned and managed the data and how it was, or wasn’t, shared.

    The next step was to explore how decision-makers use the data to assess disaster risks for new housing. This involves interviews, workshops and questionnaires with:

    • government planning agencies (both state and local government)

    • housing providers (public and not-for-profit/community housing)

    • housing and land developers (private and public)

    • banks and insurers.

    What we found

    Overall, we found data on disaster risk was fragmented and inconsistent across multiple agencies, and not regularly updated.

    Decision-makers in state and local planning agencies often cannot access accurate information about disaster risk. This means they lack the power to restrict housing in areas prone to bushfires, floods or other extreme events.

    Flood hazard data is particularly problematic. One planner from Queensland described it as “patchy, of variable quality and currency and not always open source” – the latter meaning it was hard to access.

    Many households only learn about their disaster risk when discovering their homes are uninsurable or premiums are prohibitively high. Others become aware of the problem when premiums rise with an existing insurer.

    A community housing provider told us:

    I think the way people are finding out about risk now is by their insurance policies going up. That’s the market reality. When they get an increase in their insurance policy next year, that will wake them up that they are actually in a high-risk area.

    Data held by emergency service agencies and insurers is mostly inaccessible to planners, developers and households due to privacy and commercial sensitivities.

    However, this information is crucial. Government agencies should establish protocols to enable data-sharing while protecting privacy and commercial interests.

    Lack of transparency for homebuyers

    A recent report suggested only 29% of Australian home buyers know the disaster risks associated with the homes they live in.

    Disclosure statements are required by the vendor (seller) when marketing their house or land for sale. These vary between states and territories and, in most cases, do not compel the owner to reveal all known risks.

    For example, in Victoria, a vendor is required to disclose whether the land is in a designated bushfire-prone area, but not whether it is exposed to flooding.

    What’s more, a vendor motivated to sell a house is probably not the best source to provide accurate, impartial information about its exposure to disaster. This is better left to an independent entity such as a local council.

    Thorough investigations into a home’s disaster risk is usually at the discretion of the buyer.

    Making this information readily available to prospective homebuyers prior to purchase would allow more informed consumer decisions. It would also pressure governments and housing suppliers to address disaster risks.

    Where to next?

    Australia urgently needs a national framework to ensure data on housing and disaster risk is comprehensive, current and embedded in housing development decisions.

    The federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency could establish and implement this system, with input from state and local governments.

    Technology known as “spatial digital twins” could also vastly improve how disaster risk is assessed and communicated. These tools enable users to pull together and arrange large amounts of data, to visualise it in the form of models.

    For example, a spatial digital twin could combine real time flood sensor data with historical flooding patterns to predict and visualise flood risks before they occur. Federal and state governments are already investing in such technology.

    Australia’s push to increase housing supply must be matched with a commitment from governments to ensure the homes are safe, resilient and sustainable in the face of our changing climate.

    Addressing the housing crisis isn’t just about numbers – it’s about making sure homes are built in the right places, with the right protections, for the long-term safety of communities.

    Francesca Perugia
    receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)

    Courtney Babb receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and is a member of the Greens (WA).

    Steven Rowley receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the Housing Industry Forecasting Group in Western Australia

    ref. Yes, Australia needs new homes – but they must be built to withstand disasters in a warmer world – https://theconversation.com/yes-australia-needs-new-homes-but-they-must-be-built-to-withstand-disasters-in-a-warmer-world-249702

    MIL OSI AnalysisEveningReport.nz

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: OX Place provides bigger, more flexible council homes

    Source: City of Oxford

    OX Place has completed a programme modernising empty council housing to provide bigger, adaptable homes for large families and people with changing mobility needs.

    A growing family or lack of adaptable space can leave people trapped in an overcrowded or unsuitable home. OX Place’s extensions programme upgraded nine empty council homes across the city to help Oxford City Council provide a more flexible response to these needs. 

    The programme included changing internal layouts, a loft conversion, building extensions and providing ground floor bedrooms, shower rooms and other adaptable spaces. Two and three-bed homes were extended to create four and five-bed homes. 

    Empty homes were upgraded with new windows, enhanced insulation, energy efficient lighting and new wiring. 

    Making best use of limited remaining land for housebuilding in Oxford, the extensions project also provided four new council homes in Blackbird Leys, Headington and Northway.

    Built on large garden and corner plots, these included three three-bed houses and a five-bed house. 

    All nine existing and the four new homes have been let to households on the housing register. 

    The extensions project was delivered in partnership with Jessop and Cook Architects and ODS. 

    Comment 

    “While big new housing developments inevitably catch the eye, we need initiatives like OX Place’s extensions programme to make the best use of what we already have. Upgrading and extending empty council housing helps us meet the need for bigger and more adaptable homes, while every new council home makes a life-changing difference.” 

    Councillor Nigel Chapman, Cabinet Member for Citizen Focused Services and Council Companies

    “It’s been a pleasure working with Jessop and Cook Architects and ODS to deliver the extensions programme. People’s lives change and that shouldn’t mean they get trapped in an overcrowded or no longer suitable home. The extensions project means providing the right home and meets a crucial need for Oxford City Council.” 

    Helen Horne, Managing Director at OX Place

    “It has been great working with OX Place, ODS and others on this programme, to create new houses where possible, extend others and improve their energy efficiency to help lower energy bills. Seeing families enjoying the new homes afterwards always makes it worthwhile.” 

    Daniel Wadsworth, Director at Jessop and Cook Architects

    “At ODS, we are proud to have delivered this ambitious programme, creating and modernising much-needed affordable homes for Oxford. By extending, altering, and even building new dwellings on previously underutilised sites, we have helped provide larger, more adaptable homes —particularly for families in need of extra space. Every home we delivered is a testament to our commitment to building a better Oxford.” 

    Mitchell Carter, Head of Construction at ODS

    Completed works 

    • ODS refurbished a three-bed house in Sandy Lane by converting a coal storage area and pantry into a modern utility room. The site was also suitable for building a new fully adaptable three-bed and a five-bed home. ODS used modular construction to build these, with prefabricated panels assembled onsite.  

    • ODS modernised a two-bed house in Foxwell Drive, with changes to the internal layout creating an extended kitchen and new bathroom. ODS also built a new three-bed house on the site using timber frame construction, solar PV panels and an air source heat pump. 

    Work at Sandy Lane, Pauling Road and Foxwell Drive was supported by a total of £246,000 in funding from Homes England. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Minns Labor Government to establish SafeWork NSW as a standalone regulator

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 19 February 2025

    Released by: Minister for Work Health and Safety


    The NSW Minns Labor Government will continue its mission to ensure workers have strong laws and a tough regulator on the beat by introducing a bill into the NSW Parliament to establish SafeWork NSW as a standalone regulator. 

    The establishment of SafeWork NSW as a standalone regulator reflects the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to preventing workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses.  

    The new structure will ensure SafeWork NSW will become a strong, robust and fit-for-purpose regulator capable of effectively securing safer and healthier workplaces in NSW. 

    Since coming to government, the Minns Labor Government has already undertaken significant reform to prepare SafeWork NSW to become a standalone regulator.

    Under the former government, SafeWork NSW was hidden within the Department of Customer of Service and was not able to fully fulfil the functions expected of the state’s work health and safety regulator.  

    The bill will also establish a new Advisory Council to provide advice to the Minister for Work Health and Safety and SafeWork NSW on how it can support both workers and businesses in creating the safest possible workplaces.

    The Council will be made up of representatives from employer organisations, unions, a WHS expert and a member representing the interests of injured workers and their families.  

    The new executive agency will be led by a SafeWork Commissioner appointed in due course.

    The SafeWork Commissioner will lead the agency with clear authority to enforce compliance, promote best practices and engage meaningfully with workers, unions and businesses across all industries in NSW.  

    Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said: 

    “Every worker has the right to go home safely at the end of the day. By creating SafeWork NSW as a standalone agency, the NSW Government is strengthening our ability to enforce WHS laws, support businesses to meet their obligations and drive cultural change to prevent workplace harm.  

    “The NSW Government is committed to establishing SafeWork NSW as a strong, robust and responsive WHS regulator. Through the establishment of the SafeWork Advisory Council and the SafeWork Commissioner, we will ensure SafeWork NSW can secure safer and healthier workplaces for all workers in NSW.” 

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Men’s behaviour change program expanded

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 19 February 2025

    Released by: Minister for Women


    The Minns Labor Government is continuing work to create a safer New South Wales by taking a whole of community approach to addressing domestic and family violence, with Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCPs) rolled out across an additional seven locations.

    $10 million is being invested to increase the availability of these programs across the state as part of the Minns Labor Government’s $245.6 million package to address domestic and family violence in New South Wales, which has included:

    • Implementing the state’s first ever Primary Prevention Strategy
    • Working to expand the Staying Home Leaving Violence program state wide
    • Introducing new offences for repeated and serious breaches of Apprehended Domesticc Violence Orders
    • Making it harder than ever for alleged domestic violence offenders to get bail
    • Introducing Serious Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders
    • Modernising the definition of ‘stalking’ to include technology based harassment.

    MBCPs are evidence-based group programs and services that focus on working with perpetrators of domestic and family violence to reduce or prevent the recurrence of abusive behaviour by a perpetrator towards a partner or family member. Between 2022 and 2024, 1,800 men participated in MBCPs in NSW.

    The Minns Labor Government’s priority remains the safety of victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and ensuring they have access to support when they need it.

    Following this expansion, the programs will now be available across 35 locations through 15 providers. The new locations are:

    • Nowra, Shoalhaven LGA – Anglicare
    • Ulladulla, Shoalhaven LGA – Anglicare
    • Forster, Mid-Coast LGA – Manning Support Services
    • Gloucester, Mid-Coast LGA – Manning Support Services
    • Lithgow, Lithgow LGA – Plus Community
    • Blacktown, Blacktown LGA – Relationships Australia
    • Maitland, Maitland LGA – Relationships Australia

    Providers must be registered as compliant with the Practice Standards for Men’s Domestic Violence Behaviour Change Programs and deliver evidence-based interventions, as well as additional one-on-one supports.

    Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said:

    “The NSW Government is working hard to build a safer New South Wales.

    “These programs are about taking accountability, about breaking the cycle of violence by working with perpetrators to understand their behaviour is never acceptable.

    “The fact is to build a safer New South Wales, free from domestic and family violence, we need men who use violence to take responsibility for their actions and change their behaviour.”

    NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner Dr Hannah Tonkin said:

    “Addressing domestic and family violence is a priority in our state and nation.

    “The expansion of the Men’s Behaviour Change Program will promote the safety of women and children by holding men accountable for their violent and abusive behaviour and supporting them to change.

    “Programs like this can encourage participants to take responsibility for their behaviour and provide them with the skills and tools necessary to stop using violence and maintain respectful relationships.”

    MBCP provider Relationships Australia NSW CEO Elisabeth Shaw said:

    “Promoting the safety of women and children is essential to preventing domestic and family violence in our communities.

    “Our Men’s Behaviour Change Program works with men who use violence to take responsibility, guiding them to be accountable for their actions and stop abusive behaviours in their family relationships.

    “These men have recognised the need to change and have sought support to become safer partners and fathers. Through the program, they reflect on their behaviour, understand the underlying drivers of violence, and learn practical tools and strategies to manage themselves and de-escalate potentially aggressive situations.

    “We also work with the men’s current or former partners and their children to ensure their safety and support recovery. Many have shared with us that they are now living in safe and respectful homes, free from violence.”

    Support services:

    For information on Men’s Behaviour Change Programs operating in your local area, contact the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.

    If you or someone you know are in immediate danger, call the Police on Triple Zero / 000.

    If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic and family violence, call the NSW Domestic Violence Line on 1800 65 64 63 for free counselling and referrals, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    For confidential advice, support, and referrals, contact 1800 RESPECT or 13 YARN on 13 92 76.

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Piero Cipollone: Striking the right balance: the ECB’s balance sheet and its implications for monetary policy

    Source: European Central Bank

    Speech by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at an MNI Connect webcast

    Frankfurt am Main, 18 February 2025

    Today I would like to discuss the ECB’s balance sheet and its implications for our monetary policy.

    In recent years, the monetary policy debate has mainly focused on our interest rate decisions. This is for good reason. In response to the biggest inflation shock in a generation, we embarked on the fastest tightening of monetary policy in the ECB’s history through rate hikes.

    During this tightening phase, we used policy rates as the primary tool for setting our monetary policy stance, while normalising our balance sheet in a measured and predictable way. We initiated the gradual unwinding of our asset purchase programmes and recalibrated our targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs).[1] As a result, the size of our balance sheet has fallen by more than a quarter from its peak.

    Policy rates remain our primary instrument and will therefore continue to attract the most attention. But we should not underestimate the important role that our balance sheet policies have played over time as a component of our overall monetary policy stance and in ensuring the smooth transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy. This still holds true today as we make our monetary policy less restrictive.

    Inflation has now fallen substantially to levels close to 2%. Our latest projections foresee it converging towards our target over the medium term, and the risks to the inflation outlook – once sharply skewed to the upside – have now become more balanced.

    At the same time, the euro area’s economic recovery remains weak – especially in the near term. The risks to the growth outlook are tilted to the downside and, if they materialise, may derail the recovery, with implications for the inflation outlook.

    Against this background, the Governing Council has gradually been reducing the degree of monetary policy restriction by cutting policy rates towards neutral territory. While our direction is clear, we are very attentive to incoming information in view of the prevailing uncertainty about the economic environment. We continue to make decisions on a meeting-by-meeting and data-dependent basis. This gives us the option to adapt our interest rate path if necessary to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at our 2% medium-term target.

    However, given the importance of financial conditions in determining the inflation outlook, we also need to consider the role played by the reduction of our balance sheet. In the tightening phase our rate decisions and balance sheet policies complemented each other, but they are now going in opposing directions.

    This divergence has important implications across at least two dimensions.

    First, it contributes to a steepening of the yield curve. Our rate cuts exert downward pressure primarily at the short end of the yield curve. At the same time, the gradual runoff of our asset purchase portfolios exerts upward pressure on long-term and, to a lesser extent, intermediate yields. This has been compounded by recent spillovers from the US.[2]

    Second, it may affect credit supply. Declining levels of central bank liquidity could constrain banks’ ability to extend credit, resulting in tighter credit conditions and potentially slowing down the investment and consumption that are critical for economic recovery.

    In setting the policy stance, we therefore need to consider the impact of the overall set of financial conditions resulting from our interest rate and balance sheet policies. In other words, we need to strike the right balance if we are to achieve our inflation aim without an undue negative impact on incomes and employment. A rate cut has a more contained easing effect when the balance sheet is simultaneously reduced. This has implications when discussing the appropriate policy rate path.

    We also need to consider the potential risks to the transmission of our monetary policy. In the past, abundant levels of liquidity have acted as a safeguard against spikes in liquidity needs that emerged regardless of where our rates stood. With this in mind, we need to carefully monitor the transition from abundant to less ample excess liquidity, mindful of the potential implications for financial stability.

    Today, I would like to take stock of the ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies, explaining why they remain a vital part of our monetary policy toolbox. I will then discuss the implications of the ECB’s balance sheet for our monetary policy in the current environment.

    The ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies

    At the ECB, balance sheet policies have served a dual purpose over time, allowing us to deliver on our price stability mandate amid exceptionally difficult circumstances.

    First, during periods when interest rates approached their effective lower bound and inflation remained below target, the ECB used asset purchases to support an accommodative monetary policy stance.

    For instance, the ECB launched its asset purchase programme (APP) in 2015 to stimulate the economy and inflation at a time when deflationary threats loomed large. Asset purchases and the associated provision of central bank liquidity worked in several ways – including through the portfolio rebalancing, exchange rate and credit channels – to generate a significant upward effect on both economic activity and inflation.[3]

    Second, balance sheet policies have been pivotal to ensuring the smooth transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy, in both tightening and easing phases.

    At times when we were lowering our policy rates, our TLTROs, launched in 2014, provided banks with long-term funding on favourable terms to incentivise them to lend to firms and households. This led to a persistent compression in lending rates and an increase in loan volumes over time.[4]

    But balance sheet policies were also instrumental in ensuring the smooth transmission of monetary policy at times when we were increasing our policy rates. The announcement of our Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI) in 2022 allowed us to embark on the fastest rate hiking cycle in our history without sparking financial fragmentation in the euro area.

    Of course, the stance and transmission functions of our balance sheet policies do not operate in isolation. There can be beneficial interactions between the two.

    As rates increased, for example, euro area banks had sufficient liquidity to manage any maturity mismatches that arose. This – alongside strengthened regulation and supervision – helped them to emerge unscathed from the market turbulence in March 2023 that saw the collapse of three regional banks in the United States.

    The proportionate use of balance sheet policies in an evolving economic landscape

    The substantial expansion of the ECB’s balance sheet required careful monitoring of potential side effects. That is why the principle of proportionality lies at the core of how we use our balance sheet instruments.[5]

    In its 2021 strategy review, the Governing Council assessed that its use of balance sheet measures – alongside negative interest rates and forward guidance – had indeed been proportionate, taking into account any side effects, for instance on inequality and the financial sector.[6]

    Some concerns, however, require a more nuanced perspective.

    For example, there is little evidence to suggest that excessive risk appetite may be attributable to larger central bank balance sheets. If this were the case, we should have seen less risk-taking in markets as central banks began to withdraw their market footprint.

    But the opposite has been the case. Today equity markets are near all-time highs. This may be due to “animal spirits”[7], which have also been observed outside periods of central bank balance sheet growth. We saw them at play, for instance, during the dot-com bubble – a period when the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio hit its historic peak and central bank balance sheets were distinctly lean.

    Moreover, as the Eurosystem gradually reduces its footprint in sovereign bond markets by reducing its holdings of euro area government bonds, concerns about the size of the balance sheet are becoming less and less justified (Chart 1).[8]

    Chart 1

    Size of euro area government bond market and the Eurosystem’s market footprint

    (left-hand scale: EUR billions; right-hand scale: percentages)

    Sources: Eurosystem and Centralised Securities Database.

    Notes: The chart shows the evolution of the size of the euro area government bond market and splits it into outright holdings (yellow) and mobilised collateral (green), as well as what is not held or mobilised as collateral with the Eurosystem (blue). The Eurosystem market footprint is a relative measure, computed as the share of the Eurosystem’s euro area government bond (EGB) holdings compared with the nominal amount outstanding. Outright holdings are EGBs held by the Eurosystem via purchase programmes, adjusted by EGBs lent back via the securities lending against cash collateral facilities. Mobilised collateral includes EGBs mobilised as collateral for open market operations. The latest observations are for 31 January 2025.

    Going forward, an evolving economic landscape suggests that balance sheet policies could be increasingly useful as monetary policy instruments. Let me highlight two developments that are particularly relevant here.

    First, the non-bank financial sector has grown considerably over time and is becoming increasingly relevant in the funding of the real economy.

    In the euro area, the financial assets of non-banks have more than doubled since the global financial crisis.[9] Compared with banks, non-banks are more responsive to monetary policy measures that influence longer-term interest rates, such as asset purchases.[10] Given that non-banks adjust their portfolios more actively in response to changes in interest rates, this also increases the need for sufficient liquidity in the system to facilitate these adjustments.

    Second, geopolitical fragmentation means that the global economy is becoming more shock prone and subject to higher levels of uncertainty (Chart 2).

    Chart 2

    Global Economic Policy Uncertainty index

    (index)

    Source: Bloomberg.

    Note: The latest observation is for December 2024.

    In this environment, we need to remember that the euro area is subject to fragmentation risk. A key lesson from the sovereign debt crisis is that balance sheet policies have been instrumental in making the euro area a more “normal” jurisdiction from the perspective of monetary policy.

    As we navigate an increasingly complex economic landscape, the transition from abundant to less ample excess liquidity represents an inflection point that also requires close monitoring.

    In this environment, banks’ liquidity needs are met via a broad mix of instruments under our new operational framework. These include our short-term main refinancing operations (MROs) and three-month longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) and will also include – at a later stage – structural longer-term credit operations and a structural portfolio of securities.[11]

    However, the decline in excess liquidity warrants careful monitoring, as it could exert additional tightening pressures on financial and financing conditions, potentially exceeding the intended policy stance.

    The implications of the ECB’s balance sheet for monetary policy in the current environment

    It is in this context that I would like to talk about the implications of our balance sheet for monetary policy in the current environment.

    The ECB’s balance sheet has been reduced at a faster pace than those of central banks in other major economies during their tightening cycles (Chart 3). So far, much of this decline can be attributed to banks’ repayments of TLTRO loans.[12]

    Chart 3

    Central bank total assets

    (index = 100 at the start of the respective policy rate hiking cycles)

    Sources: Bloomberg and ECB calculations.

    Notes: The x-axis starts on 21 July 2022, 16 March 2022 and 15 December 2021 for the Eurosystem, Federal Reserve System, and Bank of England respectively. For the Bank of England, reserve balances are used as a proxy for the total balance sheet. The latest observations are for 12 February 2025.

    Looking ahead, however, any further reduction in the size of our balance sheet will stem from the gradual unwinding of our asset purchase portfolios, as the Eurosystem no longer reinvests the principal payments from maturing securities.

    As in the past, the normalisation of our balance sheet has implications for our monetary policy stance and the possible risks to monetary policy transmission.

    The monetary policy stance

    Let me start with the implications for our monetary policy stance.

    Our reaction function for rate decisions is built around three well-known criteria: (i) the inflation outlook, (ii) the dynamics of underlying inflation and (iii) the strength of monetary policy transmission.

    Inflation has fallen by around three-quarters from its peak in late 2022 (Chart 4). The disinflation process is well on track, and our staff projections see inflation averaging 2.1% this year, 1.9% next year and 2.1% in 2027.

    Chart 4

    Headline inflation

    (annual percentage changes)

    Source: Eurostat.
    Note: The latest observation is for January 2025 (flash estimate).

    Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around our 2% medium-term target on a sustained basis. In particular, the ECB’s measure of the persistent and common component of inflation (PCCI)[13] – a more forward-looking indicator of underlying inflationary pressures that tends to better predict future inflation – stood at 2.1% in December, and 2.0% when excluding energy.

    Domestic inflation remains high, as wages and prices in certain sectors are still adjusting to the past inflation surge with a substantial delay. But our wage tracker is signalling a significant moderation in wage growth, and profits are partially buffering the impact on inflation.

    It is the third leg of our reaction function – the strength of monetary policy transmission – that I would like to discuss in more detail, however.

    As we cut interest rates, new borrowing for firms and households is becoming less expensive. But financing conditions continue to be tight – in part because our monetary policy remains restrictive and past rate hikes are still working their way through the economy.[14]

    While credit continues to expand, lending to firms and households remains subdued by historical standards. In December, the annual growth rate of lending to firms was roughly two-thirds below its historical average.[15] Growth in housing loans increased gradually but also remained muted overall, at around one-fifth of its long-term average (Chart 5).[16]

    Chart 5

    Loans to firms and households

    (percentage points)

    Sources: ECB (BSI) and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for December 2024.

    At the same time, the recent gradual recovery in lending has not kept pace with the nominal growth of the economy, as reflected in the continued decline of the loan-to-GDP ratio (Chart 6).

    Chart 6

    Ratio of bank loans to GDP

    (percentages)

    Sources: ECB (BSI), Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observation is for the third quarter of 2024.

    While policy rates remain our primary instrument for adjusting our monetary policy stance, the normalisation of our balance sheet may also affect the stance through two key channels.

    First, while our rate cuts exert downward pressure primarily at the short end of the yield curve, our quantitative tightening exerts upward pressure on long-term maturities and, to a lesser extent, intermediate ones. This serves to tighten financial conditions.[17]

    Indeed, the runoff of the asset portfolios of central banks has arguably been one of several factors contributing to a steepening of sovereign yield curves in recent months – akin to a reversal of the duration risk channel previously associated with central banks through quantitative easing (Chart 7).

    Chart 7

    New duration risk absorbed by private investors

    (EUR billions per basis point)

    Sources: Bloomberg and ECB.

    Notes: The chart shows the month-on-month change in the duration of government bonds held by private investors (i.e. investors other than the domestic central bank). Rates are approximated by weighted average maturity.

    At its peak in early 2022, the impact of current and expected Eurosystem bond holdings in our asset portfolios lowered ten-year sovereign bond yields by around 175 basis points.[18] Due to quantitative tightening, however, the easing impact has now fallen to around 75 basis points and is expected to further reduce over time (Chart 8).

    Chart 8

    Impact of APP and PEPP sovereign bond holdings on ten-year sovereign risk premia

    (basis points)

    Source: ECB calculations.

    Notes: The impacts are derived from an affine arbitrage-free model of the term structure with a quantity factor (see Eser et al., op. cit.) and an alternative version of the model recalibrated so that the model-implied yield reactions to the March PEPP announcement match the two-day yield changes observed after 18 March 2020. The model results are derived using GDP-weighted averages of the zero-coupon yields of the big-four sovereign issuers (DE, FR, IT and ES). The continuous line represents estimates based on real-time survey expectations. The dashed line is based on projections of the Eurosystem’s holdings of big-four sovereign bonds in the APP and PEPP as informed by the ECB’s December 2024 Survey of Monetary Analysts. The model abstracts from any potential holdings in a structural portfolio of securities. The latest observations are for January 2025 (monthly data).

    According to ECB research, an expected €1 trillion reduction in bond holdings may raise long-term risk-free interest rates by about 35 basis points (Chart 9).[19]

    Chart 9

    Expected term premium impact from running down the asset portfolio by €1 trillion

    (basis points)

    Sources: ECB December 2024 Survey of Monetary Analysts (SMA) and Akkaya, Y. et al., op.cit.

    Notes: The chart depicts the expected effect on the term premium of various assets with a ten-year maturity resulting from an expected €1 trillion decrease in the ECB’s bond holdings. Results are based on individual SMA responses from December 2022 until December 2023.

    Second, an environment marked by declining levels of central bank liquidity may constrain banks’ ability to extend credit.

    Research documents the strong relationship between loan supply and structural sources of liquidity, such as reserves obtained through credit easing programmes or those injected through quantitative easing interventions.

    More specifically, a €1 change in non-borrowed reserves or credit easing reserves is associated with a corresponding change in credit of approximately 15 cents or 10 cents respectively.[20] In other words, a €500 billion drop in non-borrowed reserves – similar to the one expected in 2025 as a result of the decline in our APP and PEPP holdings – is associated with a €75 billion decline in credit supply, equivalent to about 0.6 percentage points of downward pressure on loans to the non-financial private sector.[21]

    Accordingly, as central bank liquidity declines, we may see tighter credit conditions in the economy. This could slow down investment and consumption, with firms cutting back on capital expenditure and consumers reducing purchases of big-ticket items that require financing.[22]

    Incoming data suggest that euro area GDP growth will remain subdued in the short term. Industrial production decreased notably in December and surveys indicate that manufacturing is continuing to contract, whereas services activity is expanding at a moderate pace (Chart 10).

    Chart 10

    Purchasing Managers’ Index

    (diffusion indices)

    Source: S&P Global.

    Notes: “Output” and “New orders” correspond to the manufacturing and composite indices, and “Business activity” and “New business” to the services index. The latest observations are for January 2025.

    Given the uncertain economic environment, we are yet to see a sustained rebound in investment (Chart 11).[23] And while we continue to expect consumption to be the main driver of the recovery, rising real incomes have not yet encouraged households to increase their spending in a commensurate manner (Chart 12).[24] In the face of subdued domestic demand, our latest staff projections forecast a slower economic recovery than had been forecast in the September projections.[25]

    Chart 11

    Detailed decomposition of euro area real GDP

    (quarter-on-quarter percentage changes and percentage point contributions)

    Sources: Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for the fourth quarter of 2024 for real GDP, and for the third quarter of 2024 for the other components.

    Chart 12

    Real household disposable income and consumption

    (second quarter of 2022 = 100)

    Sources: Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for the third quarter of 2024.

    Moreover, geopolitical risks may create further headwinds for the recovery, which we will need to monitor carefully. Forthcoming findings from the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) suggest that consumers’ concerns about geopolitical risks are negatively affecting economic sentiment – leading to more pessimistic expectations, more elevated income uncertainty and, ultimately, a lower propensity to consume.

    We are determined to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at our 2% medium-term target. As we gradually cut rates towards neutral territory, we need to be mindful of the fact that we now have two monetary policy tools working in opposing directions, given our ongoing quantitative tightening. This is a first in our history at the ECB.

    We therefore need to ensure that we factor in the tightening of our balance sheet when calibrating our rate cuts to achieve our inflation aim. This is because the stance effects stemming from our rate cuts will be somewhat dampened by the tightening induced by the normalisation of our balance sheet.

    This is an important consideration when discussing the appropriate policy rate path.

    Risks to the transmission of our monetary policy

    Similarly, we need to be mindful of the possible risks to the transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy in view of the prevailing uncertainty and potential risks to financial stability.

    This cautious approach is crucial, especially given historical precedents where central banks faced unexpected challenges.

    In late 2019, for instance, the Federal Reserve System was unexpectedly forced to temporarily reverse its balance sheet retrenchment due to liquidity challenges in financial markets.[26] In 2022 the Bank of England halted quantitative tightening and launched emergency gilt purchases to safeguard financial stability after pension funds’ liability-driven investment strategies exposed systemic risks.[27]

    Recent bouts of market volatility also underscore that we should remain alert to the emergence of financial stability risks that may endanger transmission. Last August several factors converged to spark substantial market volatility.[28] The VIX, a market index that measures the implied volatility of the S&P 500 index, recorded its largest ever one-day spike (Chart 13).[29]

    Chart 13

    VIX index

    (percentages)

    Source: ECB staff calculations.

    Notes: Long run average calculated since January 2000. The latest observations are for 7 February 2025.

    Faced with such episodes of volatility, the further decline in our balance sheet must remain on a gradual and predictable path to avoid financial amplification effects.[30] This is especially important in an environment where euro area banks are already tightening their credit standards, especially for firms and consumer credit, due to higher perceived risks related to the economic outlook (Chart 14).[31]

    Chart 14

    Credit standards, demand for loans to firms and contributing factors

    (net percentages)

    Source: ECB (bank lending survey).

    Notes: “Actual” values are changes that have occurred, while “expected” values are changes anticipated by banks. Net percentages for the questions on credit standards for loans are defined as the difference between the sum of the percentages of banks responding “tightened considerably” and “tightened somewhat” and the sum of the percentages of banks responding “eased somewhat” and “eased considerably”. Net percentages for the questions on demand for loans are defined as the difference between the sum of the percentages of banks responding “increased considerably” and “increased somewhat” and the sum of the percentages of banks responding “decreased somewhat” and “decreased considerably”. “Other financing needs” as unweighted average of “M&A and corporate restructuring” and “debt refinancing/restructuring and renegotiation”; “Use of alternative finance” as unweighted average of “internal financing”, “loans from other banks”, “loans from non-banks”, “issuance/redemption of debt securities” and “issuance/redemption of equity”. The net percentages for “Other factors” refer to an average of the further factors which were mentioned by banks as having contributed to changes in credit standards or changes in loan demand, respectively. The latest observations are for the fourth quarter of 2024 (January 2025 bank lending survey).

    Our balance sheet policy instruments continue to be a crucial item in our toolbox. The expectation that we will use them if necessary protects the smooth transmission of our monetary policy and reduces the likelihood that we will need to use these tools in the first place.

    Moreover, in an environment of heightened uncertainty, even in the context of excess liquidity, we need to remain prudent and be ready to step in should another shock emerge. We should maintain the flexibility to swiftly expand liquidity facilities if stressful conditions arise.

    Conclusion

    Let me conclude.

    The ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies to date demonstrates their importance both for the monetary policy stance and for the transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy. They are a vital part of our toolkit.

    While policy rates remain our primary instrument for adjusting the monetary policy stance, we should also consider the role played by quantitative tightening in influencing overall financial and financing conditions – be it through the yield curve or through the bank lending channel.

    To strike the right balance, we should ensure that our rate decisions adequately compensate for the tightening induced by the reduction of our balance sheet.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI Economics

  • MIL-Evening Report: More dry lightning in Tasmania is sparking bushfires – challenging fire fighters and land managers

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania

    Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest and alpine ecosystems of Cradle Mountain that may never recover.

    The situation has taken emergency services and land management agencies by surprise. The seasonal bushfire outlook for summer 2024 suggested Tasmania’s fire risk was nothing out of the ordinary. The state was also well prepared for bushfire fighting, particularly with specialised aircraft.

    But this fire season has turned out to be anything but typical. Firefighting capacity has been stretched to the limit and interstate crews have been called in.

    It all began with a massive lightning storm in the evening of Monday February 3. The incidence of such lightning fires has been increasing in Tasmania since the 1990s.

    An official inquiry into the bushfires will no doubt be held, given the substantial social, economic and environmental harm – as well as the sizeable costs associated with fighting the fires from the air in remote and rugged landscapes.

    Nonetheless, important lessons are emerging from these fires, which speak to the broader, worsening threat as the climate changes.

    Understanding the impacts of the fires

    Fortunately, direct economic losses from theses fires have been limited so far, despite significant disruption associated with evacuation and road closures. Tourism operators and honey producers have been hardest hit.

    The fires caused brief but substantial smoke pollution across the state, placing a range of people with medical conditions at risk.

    The full environmental effects and the benefits of prescribed burning are yet to be evaluated. Nonetheless, there is grave concern about damage to unique rainforests and alpine ecosystems. If sufficiently dry the organic soils, or peats, that supports forests and treeless areas in western Tasmania are also vulnerable to combustion.

    We undertook a preliminary estimate of how much highly fire-sensitive vegetation – plant communities that will take more than 50 years to recover – may have burned. This involved comparing the current bushfire boundaries or footprint, based on satellite data and field reconnaissance, to vegetation mapping used for various purposes including fire management. We put the figure at 19,716 hectares of vegetation. However, it’s possible not all of this burned and islands of unburned vegetation persist within the broad fire boundary.

    Our estimation includes 10,419 hectares of temperate rainforest (10% of the fire area) and 462 hectares of alpine vegetation (0.45% of the fire area). Neither of these vegetation types can readily tolerate fire.

    Our analysis suggests about half of fire-affected rainforest areas have been previously burned by fires since 1982 (48%) and some small areas have burned twice (5%). Recurrent fires in rainforest can result in permanent loss of this vegetation. Just how much damage has been done will require further assessment.

    Current area affected by bushfires in northwestern Tasmania, comparing data from Geoscience Australia on bushfire boundaries and Land Information Services Tasmania on vegetation. Note, not all of the shaded area has burned.
    Grant Williamson

    Emergence of new fire patterns

    The number of fires ignited by lightning have increased in Tasmania since the 1990s. When the lightning occurs in storms without much rain, or where the rain evaporates before it hits the ground, it’s known as dry lightning.

    Concerningly, in the last decade two other major dry lightning fire events have occurred,
    likely a signal of a change in fire activity. As a result, fires are burning into areas that historically are rarely affected by fire, damaging the natural values of the Tasmanian wilderness.

    This event could not be predicted

    Going into summer, experts were concerned that soils across western Tasmania were particularly dry. This increased the fire risk in the seasonal outlook.

    The recent rapid fire growth in Tasmania was caused by the unusual combination of regional drying (including dry soils), an extreme lightning storm and subsequent strong winds.

    But the sequence of events that caused this fire to take off could not have been predicted more than a week ahead. That’s because it is impossible to predict lightning and windstorms outside the seven-day window of weather forecasts.

    What’s more, our research shows it is currently not possible to reliably predict which lightning strikes will start fire.

    By February 12, more than a dozen fires had burned around 50,000 hectares in the state’s northwest.
    NASA Earth Observatory

    Rapid attack and fire suppression have practical limits

    Massive lightning storms that ignite multiple fires overwhelm the capacity of firefighters to locate and immediately extinguish all the flames.

    Unfavourable weather conditions caused the west coast fires to rapidly grow. Firefighting shifted from attempts to extinguish the fire to instead contain its spread. This involved techniques such as targeted waterbombing, back burning and building fire breaks.

    These approaches have been successful in some cases, notably the deployment of retardant drops to contain the Canning Peak fire, saving extensive stands of conifer rainforest. But suppression efforts were imperfect, as the loss of a private tourist facility hut on the Overland Track has demonstrated.

    Managing these massive fires demands triage – making difficult choices about where to direct firefighting effort. Effective triage requires a detailed understanding of the location of areas of high economic, cultural and environmental value. High-quality mapping of these sites and involvement of specialists in the broader decision-making process is essential.

    The Tasmanian government does have maps and expertise to guide triage, but there are calls for more investment to protect the region’s ecological values. This is particularly important for small, localised sites vulnerable to fire, such as groves of ancient Huon pine.

    Fires continue to burn in Tasmania’s west, putting wilderness areas at risk (7.30)

    Broader lessons for fire fighting

    Dry lightning storms are hard to predict, extraordinarily difficult to contain, and can cause substantial economic, social and environmental harms.

    Technology alone – such as that which combines satellites, artificial intelligence, drones and water bombers – is not enough to eliminate these fires. What’s needed is a diverse portfolio of approaches, involving a combination of:

    • reducing fuel loads by prescribed burning
    • firefighting that is carefully targeted using high quality data
    • expertise embedded in firefighting teams.

    Researchers and fire managers must also identify the best strategies for prescribed burning to reduce bushfire risk while protecting areas of high economic, conservation and cultural value.

    Climate change will bring more frequent monster fires – and fighting them demands a broad suite of investment.

    David Bowman is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and also receives funding from the New South Wales Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre, and Natural Hazards Research Australia.

    Grant Williamson receives funding from the NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre, and Natural Hazards Research Australia.

    ref. More dry lightning in Tasmania is sparking bushfires – challenging fire fighters and land managers – https://theconversation.com/more-dry-lightning-in-tasmania-is-sparking-bushfires-challenging-fire-fighters-and-land-managers-250063

    MIL OSI AnalysisEveningReport.nz

  • MIL-Evening Report: More than half of Australia’s homes were built before fire standards came in. Here are 5 ways to retrofit them

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia

    Carl Oberg/Shutterstock

    Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate.

    The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed almost 2,800 homes. This summer, houses and buildings have been lost in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.

    As temperatures inch upwards, bushfires will become more severe and more frequent, posing risks to more homes. But fires don’t affect homes equally. Older homes built before fire resilience standards became mandatory are at higher risk of going up in flames.

    In the aftermath of the devastating LA fires, there are signs that newer homes have fared better than older ones. Previous fires in California and Australia have shown newer homes built with fire-resilient features are more likely to survive than older homes.

    The problem is, more than half (55%) of Australia’s homes were built 30 or more years ago – before national standards for fire resilience were introduced.

    The good news: you can take action to make older homes more resilient.

    Why are new homes better able to survive bushfires?

    Location, vegetation and luck play a role in determining which houses survive fires. But there is also evidence newer homes with heat- and ember-resistant features survive better.

    Construction standards in both Australia and the United States require the use of materials and designs which reduce fire risk.

    In Australia, the national construction standards have been in place since the early 1990s. Over time, the standards have expanded to include more fire-resistant features, such as fire-resistant external walls.

    By contrast, older homes are more likely to be built of flammable materials such as wood and untreated timber. Older homes are also more likely to have mature trees and shrubs closer to the house, which can increase fire risk. But as the CSIRO Bushfire Best Practice Guide points out, “trees can also be used to shield against wind, absorb radiant heat, and to filter embers […] when located at a safe distance from the house”.

    More exacting construction standards apply for homes built in areas considered at risk of bushfire. State and territory governments have interactive maps of these areas.

    Unfortunately, climate change is expanding these areas at risk. As the LA wildfires show, warmer climates mean fire can attack suburbs and cities thought to be safe from bushfire.

    Climate change is also making home ownership more expensive, as insurance premiums rise in the wake of more expensive disasters. Analysts predict banks may begin rejecting mortgage applications for properties in areas at high risk from fire.

    Older homes are more likely to burn if a bushfire comes through.
    Ekaterina Kamenetsky/Shutterstock

    How can we make older homes more resilient?

    Older homes remain highly sought after, especially in cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

    But for these homes to be brought up to modern standards of bushfire resistance, they often require significant retrofitting. These retrofits can drastically reduce the risk of ignition.

    How do houses actually ignite? Wind-blown embers are a common cause in starting house fires. If a few houses in a town start burning, the fire can spread house to house.

    Here are 5 ways to protect your older house:

    1. Upgrade external vents. Traditional external vents are designed to ventilate rooms and roofs. But they also permit embers to gain access to attics and crawl spaces and spark a fire. Upgrading to ember-resistant vents can directly improve your home’s resilience.

    2. Install ember gutter guards. Ember-resistant gutter guards are made of metal and have finer mesh than normal gutter guards. These help to prevent the build-up of dry leaves and twigs and stop small embers from landing.

    3. Upgrade windows and walls. You can cut your risk further by installing bushfire-resistant shutters for windows, using fire-resistant material for wall insulation and replacing combustible material with better alternatives such as metal roofing, fibre cement siding for walls and tempered glass windows.

    4. Check your deck and verandah. Wooden decks and verandahs are risky in high-risk areas. If they need to be rebuilt, choose fire-resistant materials.

    5. Make space around your home. In fire-prone areas, removing trees and shrubs within 20 metres of the house can reduce risk. A well-managed area of pavers and low-density plants and shrubs close to the home acts as a fire break.

    Ahead of fire season, making and updating an evacuation plan is equally vital. Homeowners should prepare emergency kits with essential documents, medications, and protective gear. If a fire starts in your area, applying fire-retardant gels to surfaces at risk can provide temporary protection.

    In high risk areas, ensuring clear space between vegetation and the house can cut fire risk. Pictured: a house in Balmoral, New South Wales, after fire passed through in 2020.
    Daria Nipot/Shutterstock

    Homeowners can use the National Emergency Management Authority’s bushfire resilience rating app to assess their home’s bushfire risk and to see which retrofits are highest priority.

    State or territory governments offer advice on making your house more resistant to fire attack: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory.

    Protecting our homes takes time – and money

    Australia’s housing crisis has been front page news for months. As we head towards the federal election, it will remain a hot-button issue. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet heard discussion of the risk posed to our housing stock from bushfires made worse by climate change.

    While planning controls and building standards can raise the standards of future homes, better support and incentives are needed to retrofit existing homes – especially for those built before fire safety standards became the norm.

    Retrofitting is crucial. But it’s not cheap. Costs can range from A$8,500 to $47,000 per property.

    These expenses can be prohibitive for many homeowners. Initiatives such as the Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment app can result in insurers offering premium discounts to homeowners using it to introduce recommended measures.

    In some areas, local governments offer financial assistance for retrofitting, such as the Bushfire Wise Rebate by Ku-ring-gai Council in NSW.

    Without greater financial support or government incentives, a significant portion of Australia’s housing stock will remain vulnerable, increasing risks as climate change expands fire-prone areas.

    Subha Parida receives receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)

    Lyrian Daniel receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

    Michaela Lang receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

    ref. More than half of Australia’s homes were built before fire standards came in. Here are 5 ways to retrofit them – https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-australias-homes-were-built-before-fire-standards-came-in-here-are-5-ways-to-retrofit-them-249490

    MIL OSI AnalysisEveningReport.nz

  • MIL-Evening Report: How to protect more Australian homes from the growing risks of floods, fires and other climate disasters

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University

    The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other structures.

    The Queensland floods are a reminder that climate-induced natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe in Australia. Recent reports have identified the high number of Australian homes that are vulnerable to the increased risks of floods, coastal erosion and bushfires.

    Despite the evidence of escalating danger to homes and communities, we are ill-prepared for severe weather events. A new report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute spells out the case for better integration, especially of urban planning processes. This is urgently needed to reduce the exposure of housing to growing disaster risks.

    Top priorities for planning authorities must include an end to building homes in the wrong locations, such as flood zones, and improving the resilience of dwellings to disaster hazards.

    Poor coordination

    At the national level, there is little integration of the three pillars of sound strategy: housing policy, settlement planning and disaster management. For example, neither housing policy nor planning frameworks incorporate disaster preparedness or mitigation.

    A focus on disaster response and recovery also hinders proper coordination in the disaster prevention area, even though avoidance in the first place is clearly more cost effective.

    However, this may be changing. Both the Issues Paper for the National Housing and Homelessness Plan and State of the Housing System report have acknowledged climate change and natural disasters are risk factors affecting housing.

    And the National Urban Policy includes “sustainable and resilient” as one of its three major goals for liveable cities.

    At the state and territory level, there is more clearly defined coordination through state emergency management planning. It also occurs via fire agencies that advise on planning proposals.

    In New South Wales, the NSW Reconstruction Authority is responsible for developing and implementing the State Disaster Mitigation Plan and for housing recovery.

    This means settlement planning and relevant housing issues are directly under the auspices of the agency responsible for disaster prevention and recovery. This is one way to improve integration, but further coordination with housing and planning agencies would be desirable.

    Greater focus on risk reduction

    Relevant Australian agencies are enhancing their approaches to disaster management in relation to housing. But housing policy still needs to accord greater priority to disaster risk reduction. This includes the location and resilience of housing relative to climate change hazards, such as fires and floods.

    In settlement planning, tensions between disaster risk reduction and economic and other development goals need to be addressed. Planning processes and policies to move communities away from risk areas via managed retreat and possibly compensation schemes must be developed.

    We can look to international experience for guidance. In Quebec, Canada the provincial government offered significant funding towards property buybacks after floods in 2017 and 2019. It also introduced a cap on disaster aid in high risk locations. Bylaw regulations banned any new developments or reconstruction.

    Households had to decide to either relocate or bear the cost of repeated disaster recovery. This strategy is an example of a successful relocation plan in an area at risk of repeated future flooding.

    The strategy received a relatively positive response from the affected municipalities and homeowners, potentially due to the generous buyout offers.

    This example illustrates the need for policies to manage disaster risk and urban development much more clearly.

    Better integration needed

    A whole of government approach that establishes clear policy and planning responsibilities would improve integration. It would also allow agencies to develop clearer strategies for the task. Improved data availability and harmonisation of risk identification would further support good decision making by housing and planning agencies.

    At the operational level, more staff exchanges between housing, planning, and emergency agencies would support capacity building.

    Detailed evaluations of housing experiences and planning outcomes from previous disasters would underpin improvements and integration. This occurs to some extent through formal statutory inquiries into disasters.

    A standardised evaluation for housing and planning agencies would provide more focused insights. One idea is to gauge temporary housing programs to build an inventory of suitable and available temporary housing types.

    In addition to coordination between government agencies, there is also a need to better communicate with the public on potential disaster risks. Local communities need to be included in planning, both for short-term disaster management and longer-term resettlement decisions.

    If we fail to better integrate housing policy with disaster preparation, we will continue to build on flood plains and other high risk areas. People, and their homes, will remain on the front line of deadly natural disasters.

    Annette Kroen receives funding from Natural Hazards Research Australia and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

    RMIT University receives finding from AHURI and NHRA to support Jago Dodson’s research which is relevant to this article, as well as a range of other funding sources.

    ref. How to protect more Australian homes from the growing risks of floods, fires and other climate disasters – https://theconversation.com/how-to-protect-more-australian-homes-from-the-growing-risks-of-floods-fires-and-other-climate-disasters-249860

    MIL OSI AnalysisEveningReport.nz

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Piero Cipollone: Striking the right balance: the ECB’s balance sheet and its implications for monetary policy

    Source: European Central Bank

    Speech by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at an MNI Connect webcast

    Frankfurt am Main, 18 February 2025

    Today I would like to discuss the ECB’s balance sheet and its implications for our monetary policy.

    In recent years, the monetary policy debate has mainly focused on our interest rate decisions. This is for good reason. In response to the biggest inflation shock in a generation, we embarked on the fastest tightening of monetary policy in the ECB’s history through rate hikes.

    During this tightening phase, we used policy rates as the primary tool for setting our monetary policy stance, while normalising our balance sheet in a measured and predictable way. We initiated the gradual unwinding of our asset purchase programmes and recalibrated our targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs).[1] As a result, the size of our balance sheet has fallen by more than a quarter from its peak.

    Policy rates remain our primary instrument and will therefore continue to attract the most attention. But we should not underestimate the important role that our balance sheet policies have played over time as a component of our overall monetary policy stance and in ensuring the smooth transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy. This still holds true today as we make our monetary policy less restrictive.

    Inflation has now fallen substantially to levels close to 2%. Our latest projections foresee it converging towards our target over the medium term, and the risks to the inflation outlook – once sharply skewed to the upside – have now become more balanced.

    At the same time, the euro area’s economic recovery remains weak – especially in the near term. The risks to the growth outlook are tilted to the downside and, if they materialise, may derail the recovery, with implications for the inflation outlook.

    Against this background, the Governing Council has gradually been reducing the degree of monetary policy restriction by cutting policy rates towards neutral territory. While our direction is clear, we are very attentive to incoming information in view of the prevailing uncertainty about the economic environment. We continue to make decisions on a meeting-by-meeting and data-dependent basis. This gives us the option to adapt our interest rate path if necessary to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at our 2% medium-term target.

    However, given the importance of financial conditions in determining the inflation outlook, we also need to consider the role played by the reduction of our balance sheet. In the tightening phase our rate decisions and balance sheet policies complemented each other, but they are now going in opposing directions.

    This divergence has important implications across at least two dimensions.

    First, it contributes to a steepening of the yield curve. Our rate cuts exert downward pressure primarily at the short end of the yield curve. At the same time, the gradual runoff of our asset purchase portfolios exerts upward pressure on long-term and, to a lesser extent, intermediate yields. This has been compounded by recent spillovers from the US.[2]

    Second, it may affect credit supply. Declining levels of central bank liquidity could constrain banks’ ability to extend credit, resulting in tighter credit conditions and potentially slowing down the investment and consumption that are critical for economic recovery.

    In setting the policy stance, we therefore need to consider the impact of the overall set of financial conditions resulting from our interest rate and balance sheet policies. In other words, we need to strike the right balance if we are to achieve our inflation aim without an undue negative impact on incomes and employment. A rate cut has a more contained easing effect when the balance sheet is simultaneously reduced. This has implications when discussing the appropriate policy rate path.

    We also need to consider the potential risks to the transmission of our monetary policy. In the past, abundant levels of liquidity have acted as a safeguard against spikes in liquidity needs that emerged regardless of where our rates stood. With this in mind, we need to carefully monitor the transition from abundant to less ample excess liquidity, mindful of the potential implications for financial stability.

    Today, I would like to take stock of the ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies, explaining why they remain a vital part of our monetary policy toolbox. I will then discuss the implications of the ECB’s balance sheet for our monetary policy in the current environment.

    The ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies

    At the ECB, balance sheet policies have served a dual purpose over time, allowing us to deliver on our price stability mandate amid exceptionally difficult circumstances.

    First, during periods when interest rates approached their effective lower bound and inflation remained below target, the ECB used asset purchases to support an accommodative monetary policy stance.

    For instance, the ECB launched its asset purchase programme (APP) in 2015 to stimulate the economy and inflation at a time when deflationary threats loomed large. Asset purchases and the associated provision of central bank liquidity worked in several ways – including through the portfolio rebalancing, exchange rate and credit channels – to generate a significant upward effect on both economic activity and inflation.[3]

    Second, balance sheet policies have been pivotal to ensuring the smooth transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy, in both tightening and easing phases.

    At times when we were lowering our policy rates, our TLTROs, launched in 2014, provided banks with long-term funding on favourable terms to incentivise them to lend to firms and households. This led to a persistent compression in lending rates and an increase in loan volumes over time.[4]

    But balance sheet policies were also instrumental in ensuring the smooth transmission of monetary policy at times when we were increasing our policy rates. The announcement of our Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI) in 2022 allowed us to embark on the fastest rate hiking cycle in our history without sparking financial fragmentation in the euro area.

    Of course, the stance and transmission functions of our balance sheet policies do not operate in isolation. There can be beneficial interactions between the two.

    As rates increased, for example, euro area banks had sufficient liquidity to manage any maturity mismatches that arose. This – alongside strengthened regulation and supervision – helped them to emerge unscathed from the market turbulence in March 2023 that saw the collapse of three regional banks in the United States.

    The proportionate use of balance sheet policies in an evolving economic landscape

    The substantial expansion of the ECB’s balance sheet required careful monitoring of potential side effects. That is why the principle of proportionality lies at the core of how we use our balance sheet instruments.[5]

    In its 2021 strategy review, the Governing Council assessed that its use of balance sheet measures – alongside negative interest rates and forward guidance – had indeed been proportionate, taking into account any side effects, for instance on inequality and the financial sector.[6]

    Some concerns, however, require a more nuanced perspective.

    For example, there is little evidence to suggest that excessive risk appetite may be attributable to larger central bank balance sheets. If this were the case, we should have seen less risk-taking in markets as central banks began to withdraw their market footprint.

    But the opposite has been the case. Today equity markets are near all-time highs. This may be due to “animal spirits”[7], which have also been observed outside periods of central bank balance sheet growth. We saw them at play, for instance, during the dot-com bubble – a period when the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio hit its historic peak and central bank balance sheets were distinctly lean.

    Moreover, as the Eurosystem gradually reduces its footprint in sovereign bond markets by reducing its holdings of euro area government bonds, concerns about the size of the balance sheet are becoming less and less justified (Chart 1).[8]

    Chart 1

    Size of euro area government bond market and the Eurosystem’s market footprint

    (left-hand scale: EUR billions; right-hand scale: percentages)

    Sources: Eurosystem and Centralised Securities Database.

    Notes: The chart shows the evolution of the size of the euro area government bond market and splits it into outright holdings (yellow) and mobilised collateral (green), as well as what is not held or mobilised as collateral with the Eurosystem (blue). The Eurosystem market footprint is a relative measure, computed as the share of the Eurosystem’s euro area government bond (EGB) holdings compared with the nominal amount outstanding. Outright holdings are EGBs held by the Eurosystem via purchase programmes, adjusted by EGBs lent back via the securities lending against cash collateral facilities. Mobilised collateral includes EGBs mobilised as collateral for open market operations. The latest observations are for 31 January 2025.

    Going forward, an evolving economic landscape suggests that balance sheet policies could be increasingly useful as monetary policy instruments. Let me highlight two developments that are particularly relevant here.

    First, the non-bank financial sector has grown considerably over time and is becoming increasingly relevant in the funding of the real economy.

    In the euro area, the financial assets of non-banks have more than doubled since the global financial crisis.[9] Compared with banks, non-banks are more responsive to monetary policy measures that influence longer-term interest rates, such as asset purchases.[10] Given that non-banks adjust their portfolios more actively in response to changes in interest rates, this also increases the need for sufficient liquidity in the system to facilitate these adjustments.

    Second, geopolitical fragmentation means that the global economy is becoming more shock prone and subject to higher levels of uncertainty (Chart 2).

    Chart 2

    Global Economic Policy Uncertainty index

    (index)

    Source: Bloomberg.

    Note: The latest observation is for December 2024.

    In this environment, we need to remember that the euro area is subject to fragmentation risk. A key lesson from the sovereign debt crisis is that balance sheet policies have been instrumental in making the euro area a more “normal” jurisdiction from the perspective of monetary policy.

    As we navigate an increasingly complex economic landscape, the transition from abundant to less ample excess liquidity represents an inflection point that also requires close monitoring.

    In this environment, banks’ liquidity needs are met via a broad mix of instruments under our new operational framework. These include our short-term main refinancing operations (MROs) and three-month longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) and will also include – at a later stage – structural longer-term credit operations and a structural portfolio of securities.[11]

    However, the decline in excess liquidity warrants careful monitoring, as it could exert additional tightening pressures on financial and financing conditions, potentially exceeding the intended policy stance.

    The implications of the ECB’s balance sheet for monetary policy in the current environment

    It is in this context that I would like to talk about the implications of our balance sheet for monetary policy in the current environment.

    The ECB’s balance sheet has been reduced at a faster pace than those of central banks in other major economies during their tightening cycles (Chart 3). So far, much of this decline can be attributed to banks’ repayments of TLTRO loans.[12]

    Chart 3

    Central bank total assets

    (index = 100 at the start of the respective policy rate hiking cycles)

    Sources: Bloomberg and ECB calculations.

    Notes: The x-axis starts on 21 July 2022, 16 March 2022 and 15 December 2021 for the Eurosystem, Federal Reserve System, and Bank of England respectively. For the Bank of England, reserve balances are used as a proxy for the total balance sheet. The latest observations are for 12 February 2025.

    Looking ahead, however, any further reduction in the size of our balance sheet will stem from the gradual unwinding of our asset purchase portfolios, as the Eurosystem no longer reinvests the principal payments from maturing securities.

    As in the past, the normalisation of our balance sheet has implications for our monetary policy stance and the possible risks to monetary policy transmission.

    The monetary policy stance

    Let me start with the implications for our monetary policy stance.

    Our reaction function for rate decisions is built around three well-known criteria: (i) the inflation outlook, (ii) the dynamics of underlying inflation and (iii) the strength of monetary policy transmission.

    Inflation has fallen by around three-quarters from its peak in late 2022 (Chart 4). The disinflation process is well on track, and our staff projections see inflation averaging 2.1% this year, 1.9% next year and 2.1% in 2027.

    Chart 4

    Headline inflation

    (annual percentage changes)

    Source: Eurostat.
    Note: The latest observation is for January 2025 (flash estimate).

    Most measures of underlying inflation suggest that inflation will settle at around our 2% medium-term target on a sustained basis. In particular, the ECB’s measure of the persistent and common component of inflation (PCCI)[13] – a more forward-looking indicator of underlying inflationary pressures that tends to better predict future inflation – stood at 2.1% in December, and 2.0% when excluding energy.

    Domestic inflation remains high, as wages and prices in certain sectors are still adjusting to the past inflation surge with a substantial delay. But our wage tracker is signalling a significant moderation in wage growth, and profits are partially buffering the impact on inflation.

    It is the third leg of our reaction function – the strength of monetary policy transmission – that I would like to discuss in more detail, however.

    As we cut interest rates, new borrowing for firms and households is becoming less expensive. But financing conditions continue to be tight – in part because our monetary policy remains restrictive and past rate hikes are still working their way through the economy.[14]

    While credit continues to expand, lending to firms and households remains subdued by historical standards. In December, the annual growth rate of lending to firms was roughly two-thirds below its historical average.[15] Growth in housing loans increased gradually but also remained muted overall, at around one-fifth of its long-term average (Chart 5).[16]

    Chart 5

    Loans to firms and households

    (percentage points)

    Sources: ECB (BSI) and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for December 2024.

    At the same time, the recent gradual recovery in lending has not kept pace with the nominal growth of the economy, as reflected in the continued decline of the loan-to-GDP ratio (Chart 6).

    Chart 6

    Ratio of bank loans to GDP

    (percentages)

    Sources: ECB (BSI), Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observation is for the third quarter of 2024.

    While policy rates remain our primary instrument for adjusting our monetary policy stance, the normalisation of our balance sheet may also affect the stance through two key channels.

    First, while our rate cuts exert downward pressure primarily at the short end of the yield curve, our quantitative tightening exerts upward pressure on long-term maturities and, to a lesser extent, intermediate ones. This serves to tighten financial conditions.[17]

    Indeed, the runoff of the asset portfolios of central banks has arguably been one of several factors contributing to a steepening of sovereign yield curves in recent months – akin to a reversal of the duration risk channel previously associated with central banks through quantitative easing (Chart 7).

    Chart 7

    New duration risk absorbed by private investors

    (EUR billions per basis point)

    Sources: Bloomberg and ECB.

    Notes: The chart shows the month-on-month change in the duration of government bonds held by private investors (i.e. investors other than the domestic central bank). Rates are approximated by weighted average maturity.

    At its peak in early 2022, the impact of current and expected Eurosystem bond holdings in our asset portfolios lowered ten-year sovereign bond yields by around 175 basis points.[18] Due to quantitative tightening, however, the easing impact has now fallen to around 75 basis points and is expected to further reduce over time (Chart 8).

    Chart 8

    Impact of APP and PEPP sovereign bond holdings on ten-year sovereign risk premia

    (basis points)

    Source: ECB calculations.

    Notes: The impacts are derived from an affine arbitrage-free model of the term structure with a quantity factor (see Eser et al., op. cit.) and an alternative version of the model recalibrated so that the model-implied yield reactions to the March PEPP announcement match the two-day yield changes observed after 18 March 2020. The model results are derived using GDP-weighted averages of the zero-coupon yields of the big-four sovereign issuers (DE, FR, IT and ES). The continuous line represents estimates based on real-time survey expectations. The dashed line is based on projections of the Eurosystem’s holdings of big-four sovereign bonds in the APP and PEPP as informed by the ECB’s December 2024 Survey of Monetary Analysts. The model abstracts from any potential holdings in a structural portfolio of securities. The latest observations are for January 2025 (monthly data).

    According to ECB research, an expected €1 trillion reduction in bond holdings may raise long-term risk-free interest rates by about 35 basis points (Chart 9).[19]

    Chart 9

    Expected term premium impact from running down the asset portfolio by €1 trillion

    (basis points)

    Sources: ECB December 2024 Survey of Monetary Analysts (SMA) and Akkaya, Y. et al., op.cit.

    Notes: The chart depicts the expected effect on the term premium of various assets with a ten-year maturity resulting from an expected €1 trillion decrease in the ECB’s bond holdings. Results are based on individual SMA responses from December 2022 until December 2023.

    Second, an environment marked by declining levels of central bank liquidity may constrain banks’ ability to extend credit.

    Research documents the strong relationship between loan supply and structural sources of liquidity, such as reserves obtained through credit easing programmes or those injected through quantitative easing interventions.

    More specifically, a €1 change in non-borrowed reserves or credit easing reserves is associated with a corresponding change in credit of approximately 15 cents or 10 cents respectively.[20] In other words, a €500 billion drop in non-borrowed reserves – similar to the one expected in 2025 as a result of the decline in our APP and PEPP holdings – is associated with a €75 billion decline in credit supply, equivalent to about 0.6 percentage points of downward pressure on loans to the non-financial private sector.[21]

    Accordingly, as central bank liquidity declines, we may see tighter credit conditions in the economy. This could slow down investment and consumption, with firms cutting back on capital expenditure and consumers reducing purchases of big-ticket items that require financing.[22]

    Incoming data suggest that euro area GDP growth will remain subdued in the short term. Industrial production decreased notably in December and surveys indicate that manufacturing is continuing to contract, whereas services activity is expanding at a moderate pace (Chart 10).

    Chart 10

    Purchasing Managers’ Index

    (diffusion indices)

    Source: S&P Global.

    Notes: “Output” and “New orders” correspond to the manufacturing and composite indices, and “Business activity” and “New business” to the services index. The latest observations are for January 2025.

    Given the uncertain economic environment, we are yet to see a sustained rebound in investment (Chart 11).[23] And while we continue to expect consumption to be the main driver of the recovery, rising real incomes have not yet encouraged households to increase their spending in a commensurate manner (Chart 12).[24] In the face of subdued domestic demand, our latest staff projections forecast a slower economic recovery than had been forecast in the September projections.[25]

    Chart 11

    Detailed decomposition of euro area real GDP

    (quarter-on-quarter percentage changes and percentage point contributions)

    Sources: Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for the fourth quarter of 2024 for real GDP, and for the third quarter of 2024 for the other components.

    Chart 12

    Real household disposable income and consumption

    (second quarter of 2022 = 100)

    Sources: Eurostat and ECB staff calculations.

    Note: The latest observations are for the third quarter of 2024.

    Moreover, geopolitical risks may create further headwinds for the recovery, which we will need to monitor carefully. Forthcoming findings from the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) suggest that consumers’ concerns about geopolitical risks are negatively affecting economic sentiment – leading to more pessimistic expectations, more elevated income uncertainty and, ultimately, a lower propensity to consume.

    We are determined to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at our 2% medium-term target. As we gradually cut rates towards neutral territory, we need to be mindful of the fact that we now have two monetary policy tools working in opposing directions, given our ongoing quantitative tightening. This is a first in our history at the ECB.

    We therefore need to ensure that we factor in the tightening of our balance sheet when calibrating our rate cuts to achieve our inflation aim. This is because the stance effects stemming from our rate cuts will be somewhat dampened by the tightening induced by the normalisation of our balance sheet.

    This is an important consideration when discussing the appropriate policy rate path.

    Risks to the transmission of our monetary policy

    Similarly, we need to be mindful of the possible risks to the transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy in view of the prevailing uncertainty and potential risks to financial stability.

    This cautious approach is crucial, especially given historical precedents where central banks faced unexpected challenges.

    In late 2019, for instance, the Federal Reserve System was unexpectedly forced to temporarily reverse its balance sheet retrenchment due to liquidity challenges in financial markets.[26] In 2022 the Bank of England halted quantitative tightening and launched emergency gilt purchases to safeguard financial stability after pension funds’ liability-driven investment strategies exposed systemic risks.[27]

    Recent bouts of market volatility also underscore that we should remain alert to the emergence of financial stability risks that may endanger transmission. Last August several factors converged to spark substantial market volatility.[28] The VIX, a market index that measures the implied volatility of the S&P 500 index, recorded its largest ever one-day spike (Chart 13).[29]

    Chart 13

    VIX index

    (percentages)

    Source: ECB staff calculations.

    Notes: Long run average calculated since January 2000. The latest observations are for 7 February 2025.

    Faced with such episodes of volatility, the further decline in our balance sheet must remain on a gradual and predictable path to avoid financial amplification effects.[30] This is especially important in an environment where euro area banks are already tightening their credit standards, especially for firms and consumer credit, due to higher perceived risks related to the economic outlook (Chart 14).[31]

    Chart 14

    Credit standards, demand for loans to firms and contributing factors

    (net percentages)

    Source: ECB (bank lending survey).

    Notes: “Actual” values are changes that have occurred, while “expected” values are changes anticipated by banks. Net percentages for the questions on credit standards for loans are defined as the difference between the sum of the percentages of banks responding “tightened considerably” and “tightened somewhat” and the sum of the percentages of banks responding “eased somewhat” and “eased considerably”. Net percentages for the questions on demand for loans are defined as the difference between the sum of the percentages of banks responding “increased considerably” and “increased somewhat” and the sum of the percentages of banks responding “decreased somewhat” and “decreased considerably”. “Other financing needs” as unweighted average of “M&A and corporate restructuring” and “debt refinancing/restructuring and renegotiation”; “Use of alternative finance” as unweighted average of “internal financing”, “loans from other banks”, “loans from non-banks”, “issuance/redemption of debt securities” and “issuance/redemption of equity”. The net percentages for “Other factors” refer to an average of the further factors which were mentioned by banks as having contributed to changes in credit standards or changes in loan demand, respectively. The latest observations are for the fourth quarter of 2024 (January 2025 bank lending survey).

    Our balance sheet policy instruments continue to be a crucial item in our toolbox. The expectation that we will use them if necessary protects the smooth transmission of our monetary policy and reduces the likelihood that we will need to use these tools in the first place.

    Moreover, in an environment of heightened uncertainty, even in the context of excess liquidity, we need to remain prudent and be ready to step in should another shock emerge. We should maintain the flexibility to swiftly expand liquidity facilities if stressful conditions arise.

    Conclusion

    Let me conclude.

    The ECB’s experience with balance sheet policies to date demonstrates their importance both for the monetary policy stance and for the transmission of our monetary policy to the real economy. They are a vital part of our toolkit.

    While policy rates remain our primary instrument for adjusting the monetary policy stance, we should also consider the role played by quantitative tightening in influencing overall financial and financing conditions – be it through the yield curve or through the bank lending channel.

    To strike the right balance, we should ensure that our rate decisions adequately compensate for the tightening induced by the reduction of our balance sheet.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI Europe News

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Caithness Community Halls receiving ‘unseen’ help

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Issued on behalf of the Highland Community Justice Partnership

    Community owned Halls across Highland are receiving much needed help from perhaps one of the most stigmatised groups in society, namely those with a criminal record. Staxigoe Hall near Wick is a great example, where the Community Payback team has helped with the refurbishment of the Hall three times now.

    Staxigoe Hall, a great and cherished venue is beautifully situated by the harbour, which was the first and largest herring salting station in Europe. The hall has now been painted and decorated three times by the Community Payback team.

    Gabrielle Buist from Highland Community Justice Partnership says: “A sentence in the community can change the path of a person’s life, as well as contributing to and improving their community. It is often community leaders (such as Pat Ramsay) who appreciate that we all have to pull together, to invest time and skills in people in order to make our communities safer in the long term. Useful work gets done all around Highland communities which mostly goes unseen and unacknowledged. This is part of my role as HCJP Development Officer to raise awareness about what ‘community justice’ is and why it’s important. As the saying goes ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, well our responsibility towards one another should not end there. Community Justice is all about partnership and collaboration, recognising that keeping people safe and reducing reoffending is a joint responsibility.”

    Steve MacDonald, Highland Council’s – Community Payback Officer added: “Clients who are sent to us from Wick Sheriff Court have a legal obligation to pay back to the community that they have offended against. It’s important to give them structure, meaningful tasks and hopefully learn new skills while being mentored and encouraged by the Supervisors. The value of the Community Payback Order to both the client and to the community cannot be understated as they are a proven method of minimising the likelihood of a client re-offending.”

    Photo of Steve MacDonald, Highland Council’s – Community Payback Officer

    Where needed community-based sentences include treatment for underlying issues such as drug or alcohol addiction, offence-focused programmes, unpaid work, fines and compensation or restrictions of liberty such as electronic tagging and curfews. It’s not a ‘soft option’ and neither is it ‘just litter picking’. The evidence shows community justice can help people to stop breaking the law, to step away from the vicious cycle of reoffending. Sentences served in the community are more effective than those served in prison. It keeps people in their communities where they are connected to all the important relationships and support networks needed for a productive life, resulting in less crime being committed.

    An un-named Client said: “I’ve been working on this project as part of my unpaid work for a couple of weeks now. It’s good to learn new things about painting and decorating which Bob shows us and knowing that we are doing some good in the community makes it all worthwhile. Since starting this job, I can even say that I actually look forward to my unpaid work day and have even come out doing extra days.”

    Pat Ramsay is Chairperson of Staxigoe Hall Board along with her husband, Grant who is a Trustee.

    Photo of Pat and Grant Ramsay Staxigoe Hall Board

    Pat said: “I am delighted with the ongoing support from the Justice Service over many years. Our most recent project being the refurbishing of Staxigoe Village Hall has been fantastic! The Hall has had a complete new heating system installed plus internal and external insulation along with LED lighting throughout. The Justice Team has cleared the place of rubbish and then completed a programme of painting … the main hall being the largest aspect. It’s a complete transformation with a new contemporary colour scheme. The team have been so flexible in their timescale allowing us to run a few events before our official reopening soon. We’ve appreciated the regular communication and weekly updates which have been vital. The team are also working on the picnic benches at the Harbour, ready for the sunny days. They will also continue with their summer programme of grass cutting at the Harbour plus the Hall. They are an invaluable resource in our area and their work is appreciated by our community.”

    Image of Works at Staxigoe Hall

    Bob Miller, Community Payback Supervisor said: “Undertaking such sizeable projects as Staxigoe Hall is very satisfying knowing that if we weren’t here to help, it just wouldn’t get done. I’m a time served painter and decorator to trade, and I take pride in showing the clients how to effectively prepare and complete the task to a high standard. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to know that clients are taking away valuable skills which they can use elsewhere to hopefully make their lives better in the long term.”

    Gabrielle Buist from Highland Community Justice Partnership says: “The chances of someone reoffending are reduced significantly when they can maintain their contact with family, their accommodation and their work. Community justice is about finding ways for offenders to serve a sentence from home, while getting support to rehabilitate and the opportunity to give back to the community. There is of course a place for prisons but like James Timpson (UK Gov Prisons Minister) says only one third of offenders need to be behind bars. This does call for a degree of tolerance from our communities, along with the willingness to actively offer meaningful jobs, as well as individual placements especially in remote parts of Highland.”

    The Highland Community Justice Partnership pays tribute to all those groups who are working with community payback teams and offering projects and placements; including charity shops, churches, community hubs, gardens & cafes, trusts, councils and groups all around Highland.

    If you have some jobs that need done or would consider taking on a placement then do get in touch for an initial chat.

    To find out about your local scheme, contact: criminaljustice@highland.gov.uk

    Phone:

    • Caithness & Sutherland 01955 603161
    • Ross-shire 01349 884118
    • Inverness 01463 242511
    • Lochaber 01397 704668
    • Skye & Lochalsh 01478 612943

    You can stay up to date with Community Payback projects around Highland on Facebook: facebook.com/CommunityJusticeHighland

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Garage rent increase agreed for non-council tenants in Sutherland 2025/26

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Garage rents for non-council tenants in the Sutherland area will increase by 8% for 2025/26, as agreed at yesterday’s Area Committee.

    Cllr Richard Gale, Sutherland Area Chair said: “We felt it was important to give Council tenants a little break, following the 8% increase in their council rent as agreed at last week’s full council meeting. The weekly rent for non-tenants, many of whom are commercial properties, will remain affordable when compared to other garage rent costs.”

    Non-council tenants weekly rent for garages will increase by 80p to £10.81 in Ward 1 and by 81p to £10.93 in Ward 4. For Garage Sites, the weekly rent will increase to £1.39 in Ward 1 and £1.40 in Ward 4.

    Council tenants will continue to pay the weekly garage and garage site rents from last year. Garage rent will remain at £8.34 in Ward 1 and £8.59 in Ward 4. There are no council tenants paying weekly rent for a garage site in Ward 1 and garage sites weekly rent in Ward 4 for council tenants will remain at £1.29.

    As a result, the 8% increase will bring a total of £32,390.97 annually based on current occupancy.

    18 Feb 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Adult Support and Protection Day 2025

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Issued by NHS Highland on behalf of the Highland Adult Protection Committee.

    Residents across Highland are being asked to be alert to vulnerable adults in their communities who are susceptible to financial harm.

    Adult Support and Protection Day takes place on Thursday 20 February 2025 and NHS Highland is urging everyone to report any concerns to ensure those in need are able to access support.

    Financial harm can cover theft, fraud and pressure to sign over property or money. It also relates to rogue traders, online scammers and misuse of benefits.

    People can be at increased risk to be harmed financially through factors such as ill health, trauma and physical or mental health conditions.

    It can happen anywhere – in someone’s home, where they work, or in a public place – and is often caused by the people closest to them. It can even happen in places responsible for keeping someone safe, such as a care home, hospital or day centre.

    The Highland Adult Committee is hosting an Adult Protection Day on Thursday, 20th February 2025 in Culloden-Balloch Baptist Church, Wellside Road, Balloch.

    The event will focus on combating financial harm and protecting vulnerable adults in our communities. Tickets for the event are free, and you can book your space by visiting https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/highlandadultprotection . The event will run from 10am-3pm.

    Mark McGinty, Chair of the Adult Support and Protection Community Awareness Group for the Highland area said: “Financial harm has an impact upon us all, whether its being caught out by a scammer, a mistrust by a family member or friend, or an organisation or public body helping prevent financial harm or helping a victim recover.

    “This event provides an opportunity for professionals and the wider public alike, to learn more about what financial harm is, how to spot it, who to speak to and how to prevent it from happening. I’d urge professionals and those associated with adult care, as well as the general public, to come along if possible, it could save you or someone you know from the stress and heartache of losing money to financial harm.”

    Councillor David Fraser, Highland Council Chair of Housing and Social Work Committee said: “Highland Council welcomes this event being organised by the Adult Support and Protection Committee which ultimately aims to protect vulnerable adults in our communities who are susceptible to financial harm. If anyone has concerns about a vulnerable adult in their community who they suspect is being financially harmed they should contact either Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 600, who partner Trading Standards in tackling consumer scams, or Police Scotland on 101 where the financial harm is more family, friend, guardian related.”

    It’s important to speak up about any concerns you have, as the person may not be able to do so themselves. 

    Please see NHS Highland website for more details on raising a concern  Adult support and protection | NHS Highland

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Savills appointed to assess commercial options for iconic Highland capital property

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Photo by Paul Campbell. Meeting in the main hall at Inverness Town House (left to right): David Haas, Highland Council Senior Community Development Manager; Depute Provost of Inverness and Area Cllr Morven Reid; Caroline Webster, Savills Director – Building Surveyor; Adam Davies, Savills Associate Director; Leader of Inverness and Area Cllr Ian Brown; Depute Provost of Inverness and Area Cllr Jackie Hendry; and Chair of the Inverness Common Good Sub Committee Cllr Alex Graham.

    The Highland Council on behalf of the Inverness Common Good Fund is pleased to announce an award of contract to Savills (UK) Ltd for the development of a feasibility study on the use of Inverness Town House.

    Leader of Inverness and Area, Cllr Ian Brown said: “As Trustees of the Inverness Common Good, Members of the City of Inverness Area Committee have agreed to appoint Savills (UK) Ltd.  I am delighted to announce that work is commencing on a feasibility study – the outcomes of which will help identify a long-term future for the Town House in the context of all the new developments that are taking place within the city.

    Provost of Inverness, Cllr Glynis Campbell Sinclair added: “I am delighted that the Council has appointed such an experienced and prestigious company as Savills to appraise sustainable commercial options for the future of this much-loved historical building.

    “Since Highland Council relocated staff to its headquarters in 2023, work has been progressing well on the development of this Grade A Listed Common Good Fund asset to ensure that it continues to play a productive role into the future while remaining a fully functioning base for civic events. The study enhances our ability to deliver further on the progress to date and develop new ideas”

    Chair of the Inverness Common Good Sub Committee Cllr Alex Graham said: “As guardians of the Inverness Common Good Fund, we have an important responsibility to ensure that we maximise the return on Common Good Fund assets for the benefit of the people of Inverness. A key aim of the feasibility study is to identify ways in which to increase the Town House business potential as much as possible while retaining the historical character and civic functions of the property.”

    Savills, Associate Director. Adam Davies said: “Savills is delighted to be instructed by Highland Council to conduct a feasibility study for Inverness Town House. This is an iconic building, with an important historical legacy, situated in the heart of a fast-growing city. Ensuring its continued civic accessibility, whilst also exploring complimentary uses, will be key to finding a vibrant and sustainable solution.

    “With extensive experience of working with heritage assets in leisure and commercial markets, our study will explore a range of future uses. We look forward to presenting our findings to the Council for their consideration.”

    The feasibility study will focus on identifying options for the use of the building and engagement with stakeholders, on the potential uses of the building. The study also requires an understanding of the commercial market environment and identification of the requirements that would be required to deliver and operate the commercial options identified. An outline business case that considers the risks and challenges to provide a robust and sustainable outcome will conclude the feasibility study.

    The core principles underpinning the feasibility study are that:

    • the Town House retains a core function as a civic building in the heart of the city.
    • consideration is given to the position of the Town House and how it could align with the Castle Project and wider city developments.
    • any changes, or renovations required to the interior of the property are to support future uses and must be respectful of the building’s history and status.
    • a sustainable model is created for the operation of the Town House with the potential to make the property cost neutral or profitable.

    Further information on the Town House can be found at www.theinvernesstownhouse.co.uk.

    The study will be reported to the City of Inverness Area Committee later in the Spring.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-Evening Report: Here’s why increasing productivity in housing construction is such a tricky problem to solve

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney

    This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal.

    The commission found physical productivity – the total number of houses built per hour worked – has more than halved over the past 30 years.

    The more nuanced measure of labour productivity – which accounts for improvements in size and quality – has also fallen, by 12%.

    Both measures put home-building productivity well behind the broader economy, something the report’s authors attribute to “decades of poor performance”.

    We’ve known about this problem for a long time. The Productivity Commission’s report is well researched and makes some sensible recommendations.

    Solving the underlying problem will require a coordinated approach between government, home-owners, construction companies and workers.

    Measuring productivity

    Housing can take many forms. However, from a productivity perspective, the process of development is essentially the same.

    In very simple terms it involves:

    • concept and initial design, feasibility, finance and business case development
    • land acquisition and due diligence
    • detailed design, development and building approvals
    • pre-construction planning and working drawings
    • construction project management
    • practical completion, final certificates and settlement, commissioning and handover.

    There are no official estimates of housing construction productivity. So, the Productivity Commission used Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data to create its own new measures to capture productivity across this entire process.

    Falling or flat-lining productivity in this sector is a well-known long-term problem. Under the National Housing Accord, the federal government has committed to building 1.2 million new well-located homes by the end of this decade.

    But in the first three months since the National Housing Accord was launched, only 44,884 homes were built across Australia. That’s about 15,000 fewer than the required quarterly target of 60,000.

    The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council projects that new market housing supply will ultimately come in at about a quarter of a million homes below the accord’s target.

    4 key problems

    The report identified four key factors behind the malaise:

    1. complex, slow approvals, as well as delayed construction certificates and essential infrastructure connections
    2. lack of innovation and slow uptake of digital technologies and modern methods of construction
    3. the dominance of smaller building firms resulting in low economies-of-scale and project management challenges associated with supply chain fragmentation
    4. difficulties attracting and retaining skilled workers resulting in skills and labour shortages.

    The report proposes seven reform directions in response. These centre on speeding up the planning approval process, investing in research and development, and increasing workforce flexibility.

    Fixing things won’t be simple

    The Productivity Commission’s report has brought a welcome focus on planning and approvals as a key element of easing the housing crisis.

    It acknowledges that under-resourcing of agencies involved in the approvals process, such as local governments, has made the problem worse.

    One issue with increasing the number of planning approvals processed is that you then need to have a construction industry that can build fast enough to keep up with them.

    Currently, we don’t. Industry research shows since 2013, the number of workers within Australia’s construction workforce has increased by more than 25%. But they are working 2% fewer hours each year, and achieving an output that’s 25.4% lower.

    Keeping an eye on quality

    Amid any push to speed up approvals, we need to be mindful of the possible risks. Loosening building regulations can increase the risk of quality problems and inappropriate development.

    If widespread across the industry, such problems can cause significant personal and economic harm to households, social and economic costs for society. They can also increase building costs, insurance premiums and strata fees.

    This problem calls for a range of tools to reduce the risk of compromising on quality when regulations are loosened or changed. New South Wales has two key pieces of legislation in place that could act as a model for other states.

    One allows owners to sue if a person who carries out construction work fails to exercise reasonable care. The other allows the Building Commission to investigate building work and require rectification of defects for up to six years.

    NSW also has an independent builder trustworthiness rating scheme. This is known as iCirt and operated by credit rating agency Equifax.

    Innovation isn’t a panacea

    A major feature of the Productivity Commission’s report discusses the housing construction industry’s low innovation culture.

    However, much innovation is hidden from view, since it occurs at the manufacturing stage. And innovation itself is not a panacea.

    While calling for greater innovation seems obvious on the surface, research has shown its ability to increase productivity depends on a wide range of factors and is certainly not guaranteed. It can even increase costs and reduce quality and productivity if not managed effectively.

    More holistic workforce planning

    The report also highlights issues with attracting and retaining a skilled workforce. Issues include low apprenticeship take-up and completion rates, restrictive trade pathways, and large infrastructure projects drawing talent away.

    This raises a bigger issue. Despite workforce planning across the industry by the Construction Industry Training Board the industry still seems to be constantly reacting to a skilled labour shortage rather than planning ahead to predict and prevent one.




    Read more:
    Will new $10,000 apprentice payments help solve job shortages in construction? Not anytime soon


    Martin Loosemore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. Here’s why increasing productivity in housing construction is such a tricky problem to solve – https://theconversation.com/heres-why-increasing-productivity-in-housing-construction-is-such-a-tricky-problem-to-solve-250048

    MIL OSI AnalysisEveningReport.nz

  • MIL-OSI USA: Barr, Artificial Intelligence: Hypothetical Scenarios for the Future

    Source: US State of New York Federal Reserve

    Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have accelerated rapidly over the past few years.1 It is now commonplace to see autonomous vehicles navigating city streets, and generative AI tools are available on phones and other devices wherever we go. AI innovations make headlines and play a big role in financial markets, and generative AI has the potential to change how we think about productivity, labor markets and the macroeconomy.2 Today, I will address that question by outlining two hypothetical scenarios for AI’s impact and the implications for businesses, regulators, and society. I will focus my comments on Generative AI, or GenAI, a subset of AI that has seen significant growth and integration into economic activity in just a few short years.
    GenAI and Its AdoptionCompared to earlier iterations of AI, GenAI is able to generate content, which allows it to significantly enhance productivity across a range of knowledge-based activities and be used by people without coding skills. GenAI will likely become a “general purpose technology,” with widespread adoption, continuous improvement, and productivity enhancements to a wide range of sectors across the economy. We are already seeing GenAI improve the productivity of its own R&D.3 There is widespread enthusiasm for GenAI, and survey evidence shows much faster rates of consumer adoption of GenAI already than were seen for the personal computer or the internet.4 While actual deployment of GenAI is limited to some business functions, and there have been pitfalls along the way, businesses in almost every sector are experimenting with or considering how to make use of the technology.5
    Firms are also exploring Agentic AI—Gen AI systems that not only produce new content, but are also able to proactively pursue goals by generating innovative solutions and acting upon them at speed and scale.6 Imagining Agentic AI’s ultimate application, some speculate that we could experience a “country of geniuses in a data center”—a collective intelligence that surpasses human capabilities in problem-solving and collaboration.7 Some believe Agentic AI has the potential to connect ideas in disparate domains, potentially transforming research and development and society more broadly.8
    Hypothetical Scenarios Considering How GenAI Could EvolveToday, I will outline two hypothetical scenarios for considering how GenAI could evolve.9 In one, we see only incremental adoption that primarily augments what humans do today, but still leads to widespread productivity gains. In the other, we see transformative change where we extend human capabilities with far-reaching consequences. For each scenario, I consider the potential implications for the economy and financial sector.
    Thinking through hypothetical scenarios can help widen our lens to a range of possible outcomes and provide a framework for assessing the balance between benefits and risks. Scenarios are not predictions of the future, but provide a framework for analyzing the factors that could lead to different outcomes. Reality is complex. GenAI adoption rates will vary across industries, leading to diverse impacts on market structures. Elements of both scenarios will likely come to pass, and play out at different rates, which will influence the effects on the economy and society. In the short term, GenAI may be overhyped, while in the long run, it may be underappreciated. And, of course, things might turn out differently from these hypotheticals.
    Hypothetical 1: Incremental Progress with Widespread Productivity GainsFirst, let me begin with the incremental scenario, where GenAI primarily augments work in existing processes and leads to steady and widespread productivity gains, but does not fundamentally unlock new capabilities or transform the economy.
    In this state of the world, GenAI tools enhance efficiency and enable more personalized solutions across industries, in ways that have incremental—but still meaningful—effects on people’s lives. For instance, in customer service, professional writing—but not this speech—and software engineering, GenAI-powered tools are already supporting workers, improving accuracy and speed, and these effects could spread to other sectors.10 In this world, health care sees significant improvements as GenAI reduces administrative burdens, assists with diagnostics, and personalizes treatment plans based on real-time patient data. Medicines and other treatments are developed at a faster pace.11 Education is similarly affected, as GenAI alleviates administrative tasks for teachers, allows lessons to be tailored to individual students, and permits students to learn by doing.12 In manufacturing, GenAI-optimized supply chains anticipate and adjust more quickly to disruptions, and current manufacturing processes are refined through virtual iteration.13 In materials science, GenAI-driven experimentation accelerates the discovery of new materials, leading to advances in everything from construction to electronics.14 Turning to the financial sector, we could see similar productivity gains. Community banks leverage GenAI-powered chatbots to provide customized financial advice rooted in local knowledge, while institutions of all sizes continue to advance use of GenAI for compliance monitoring, fraud detection, risk management, and document analysis.15
    The impact to society would be incrementally positive in this state of the world. Humans would use GenAI as a tool to deliver goods and services that we currently produce in a more efficient way. Productivity would go up. The economy would grow at a faster pace.16
    What does this mean for the labor force? The impact will depend on the industry and the nature of the job. GenAI experiments suggest the technology holds the promise of levelling up skills and bringing productivity of lower-performing workers into line with higher performing workers.17 In other cases, it could augment the highest performers, leaving them more time for creativity or strategic aspects of their roles. Increasing automation for certain tasks may displace some workers, where certain skills can be replicated by GenAI. Historically, as technology has replaced some jobs, it has augmented existing roles or created new ones.18 However, this is not to downplay the individual cost for workers who need to retrain, find other employment, or change careers in response to major changes in labor demand. Society will need to account for these possible effects of AI.
    What does this mean for the economy? As I noted before, the economy should grow, if the incremental productivity gains are widespread. However, in this scenario, it is possible that the expected value creation from GenAI was overhyped, anticipating transformative breakthroughs rather than incremental productivity gains. This could trigger market corrections for the firms that have heavily invested in this technology if reality doesn’t measure up to expectations. While the U.S. economy experienced a surge of productivity growth during the dot.com boom in the late 1990s, it was followed by a wave of bankruptcies, capital overhang, and a cautious business investment climate.19 The effects of the ensuing recession were widespread.
    What does this mean for financial stability and other financial risks? In this incremental scenario, GenAI may magnify both the vulnerabilities and sources of resilience that already exist in the system. Attractive trades become more crowded, but risk managers gain new insights.20 Malicious actors gain new tools, but cyber defenders become better armed. So long as financial regulators, enterprise risk managers, and others charged with managing downside risks prioritize efforts to keep pace with the evolving financial ecosystem, there’s nothing to suggest a wholesale transformation of the balance of risks. Of course, keeping pace will pose challenges, and it’s important that we all focus on the need to meet these risks.
    Hypothetical Scenario 2: Transformative ChangeNow, let’s consider a more dramatic hypothetical scenario, in which GenAI adoption extends beyond improving on what we currently do, and provides new expertise and capabilities that have transformative effects on the economy and society. In this scenario, humans deploy their imagination and creativity—combined with robust investment in research and development—to deploy intelligent GenAI systems to make rapid breakthroughs in, for example, biotechnology, robotics, and energy, fundamentally reshaping existing industries and creating new ones. In this instance, to focus the mind, we can think of GenAI as no longer only a tool for scientists to analyze data—in a sense, it becomes the scientist, directing the research.21
    For instance, let’s say that GenAI applications in health care do not simply improve how we currently deliver care, but also enable therapies that target genetic mutations and cure diseases previously considered incurable.22 Similarly, manufacturing evolves to create GenAI-driven robotic factories, with goods produced with new materials and atomic precision.23 Materials science is transformed through the discovery of programmable materials and self-healing substances, all of which reshape construction, technology, and consumer goods.24 Meanwhile, GenAI optimizes fusion energy research, expediting the shift to sustainable energy sources.25 And GenAI helps to create the next generation of quantum computing.26 In that way, GenAI improves its own energy sources and computing capabilities, enabling it to become a more powerful creative tool.27
    Finance also looks radically different than it does today. Individuals with access to hyper-personalized financial planning and businesses with innovative products and services seamlessly connect with one another through near-frictionless or novel forms of financial intermediation.28 Trading strategies and risk-management practices are boosted by greater GenAI-based analytic tools that have dynamic real-time access to an enormous knowledge base in both the public and private domains.29
    Although this transformative scenario is more speculative and is accompanied by a far greater degree of uncertainty than the first, it is important to consider given the extraordinary opportunities for human advancement and welfare that could arise, even if just one of its transformative components were to come to fruition. We would need to fundamentally reimagine how the economy is structured.
    What are the impacts on the labor force, in a world where GenAI’s capabilities extend beyond what humans can accomplish today? Humans may have a role to manage multi-agent GenAI frameworks, or fill gaps where GenAI solutions remain expensive or inefficient for some applications. But this is a world where some workers may see their current jobs disappearing. It is also a world in which they may see their own work transformed and have many more choices about the work they do. The nature of labor would radically change, and this will require us to have broader conversations about how to organize the economy. These conversations should wrestle with how to navigate major economic shifts in a way that recognizes the impact on the human condition, and the extent to which people derive their communities, friendships, personal sense of meaning and dignity from their work.
    What about the competitive landscape? There is probably a greater likelihood that rewards for businesses would be distributed more unevenly at first, as significant breakthroughs with far-reaching ramifications may benefit a subset of firms and industries and concentrate economic power in firms that control GenAI breakthroughs. If only a handful of firms have the ability to accomplish the incredible things I’ve mentioned above, they may dominate markets and crowd out competitors. To the extent that GenAI becomes broadly effective, widely available, and cheap, these market advantages could lessen over time if the right regulatory environment supports competitive market dynamics.30 But history suggests caution in this regard; a handful of players may dominate.31
    And finally, for finance, we should anticipate fundamental changes in this scenario. When it’s working well, the financial system helps move money and risk through time and space.32 To the extent there are fundamental changes to how the economy is organized, we could need a new set of institutions, markets, and products to facilitate transactions among households, businesses, and GenAI agents.
    What Should We Do?Among the many ways in which we can help to harness the potential benefits of GenAI and minimize its risks, I will highlight only a couple today.
    Financial institutions, and the Federal Reserve System, should consider investing sufficient resources in understanding GenAI technology, incorporating it into their workflows where appropriate, and training staff on how to use the technology responsibly and effectively.33 Meanwhile, the financial regulatory community should approach the changing landscape with agility and flexibility. And beyond the financial sector, collaboration between governments, private industry, and research institutions will be critical to ensure that GenAI systems are not weaponized in catastrophic ways. We should continue to focus on responsible AI research and development and implement safeguards against misuse, including monitoring systems, standards for secure AI system development, and agreement on red lines for acceptable use cases.34 We should be attuned to the impact of GenAI on our economic and political institutions. There’s a risk that it concentrates economic and political power in the hands of the very few and could lead to the gains being realized only by a small group, while the rest are left behind.
    Another thing I want to emphasize is AI governance. I think most would agree that the goal of the technology is to improve the human condition, and to do that, we need to be intentional in advancing that goal. We should make sure that we think about GenAI as enhancing, not replacing, humans, and set up best practices and cultural norms to that end. Every financial institution should recognize the limitations of the technology, explore where and when GenAI belongs in any process, and identify how humans can be best positioned to be in the loop. We should also focus on data quality, and make sure that uses of GenAI do not perpetuate or amplify biases inherent in the data used to train the system or make incorrect inferences to the extent the data is incomplete or nonrepresentative.35 In the realm of regulation, frameworks for understanding model risk may need to be updated to address the complexity and challenges of explaining AI methods and the difficulty of assessing data quality.
    We need to be attuned to the risk in finance. The very attributes that make GenAI attractive—the speed, automaticity, and ability to optimize financial strategies—also present risk.36 When the technology becomes ubiquitous, use of GenAI could lead to herding behavior and the concentration of risk, potentially amplifying market volatility. As GenAI agents will be directed to maximize profit, they may converge on strategies to maximize returns through coordinated market manipulation, potentially fueling asset bubbles and crashes. Speed, automaticity, and ubiquity could generate new risks at wide scale.37
    We also should monitor how introduction of this technology changes the banking landscape. Nonbanks may be more nimble and risk-forward in incorporating GenAI into their operations, which may push intermediation to less-regulated, less transparent corners of the financial sector. In addition, this competitive pressure may push all institutions, including regulated institutions, to take a more aggressive approach to GenAI adoption, heightening the governance, alignment, and financial risks I mentioned before.
    In conclusion, while AI’s impact will vary across industries and the reality is evolving, the scenarios I have outlined today provide a framework to begin thinking about how we should respond to developments in GenAI. However, as I mentioned above, elements of both scenarios will likely be present in the future, and play out at different rates, which will influence the effects on the economy and society. Rapid advances in this technology, such as Agentic AI and advancements in open-source models, underscore just how new this technology is and the importance of understanding what it means for individuals, businesses, and markets. Thank you.

    1. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Federal Reserve Board. Return to text
    2. See, for instance, Lisa D. Cook, “Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and the Path Ahead for Productivity,” (speech at Technology-Enabled Disruption: Implications of AI, Big Data, and Remote Work Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1, 2024). Return to text
    3. See Gaurav Sett, “How AI Can Automate AI Research and Development,” RAND Commentary, October 24, 2024. Return to text
    4. See Cory Breaux and Emin Dinlersoz, “How Many U.S. Businesses Use Artificial Intelligence?” (Washington: U.S. Census Bureau, November 28, 2023); Alexander Bick, Adam Blandin, and David J. Deming, “The Rapid Adoption of Generative AI,” NBER Working Paper No. 32966 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2024, revised February 2025); and Leland Crane, Michael Green, and Paul Soto, “Measuring AI Uptake in the Workplace,” FEDS Notes (Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 5, 2025). Return to text
    5. There’s evidence of firms experimenting with these tools and then abandoning them—due to a multitude of reasons. See Kathryn Bonney, Cory Breaux, Cathy Buffington, Emin Dinlersoz, Lucia S. Foster, Nathan Goldschlag, John C. Haltiwanger, Zachary Kroff, and Keith Savage, “Tracking Firm Use of AI in Real Time: A Snapshot from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey,” NBER Working Paper No. 32319 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2024). Return to text
    6. For more on Agentic AI’s uses, advantages, and risks, see Mark Purdy, “What Is Agentic AI, and How Will It Change Work?” Harvard Business Review (December 12, 2024). Return to text
    7. See Dario Amodei, “Machines of Loving Grace,” October 2024, https://darioamodei.com/machines-of-loving-grace. Return to text
    8. For biology and drug discovery, see Jean-Philippe Vert, “Unlocking the Mysteries of Complex Biological Systems with Agentic AI,” MIT Technology Review (November 13, 2024), https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/13/1106750/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-complex-biological-systems-with-agentic-ai; and “Owkin Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase I AI-Optimized Clinical Trial of OKN4395, a First-in-Class EP2/EP4/DP1 Triple Inhibitor for Patients with Solid Tumors,” Business Wire, January 30, 2025, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130436779/en/Owkin-Announces-First-Patient-Dosed-in-Phase-I-AI-optimized-Clinical-Trial-of-OKN4395-a-First-in-Class-EP2EP4DP1-Triple-Inhibitor-for-Patients-with-Solid-Tumors. Return to text
    9. Others have used other types of scenarios. See Anton Korinek, “The Economics of Transformative AI,” The Reporter (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, December 31, 2024); Iñaki Aldasoro, Leonardo Gambacorta, Anton Korinek, Vatsala Shreeti, and Merlin Stein, “Intelligent Financial System: How AI Is Transforming Finance (PDF),” BIS Working Papers No. 1194 (Basel, Switzerland: Bank for International Settlements, June 2024); and Ethan Mollick, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2024). Return to text
    10. For worker productivity gains in customer service, see Erik Brynjolfsson, Danielle Li, and Lindsey R. Raymond, “Generative AI at Work,” NBER Working Paper No. 31161 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2023, revised November 2023). For GenAI assisted writing gains, see Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang, “Experimental Evidence on the Productivity Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence,” Science, vol. 381, no. 6654 (July 2023): 187–92; Jordan Usdan, Allison Connell Pensky, and Harley Chang, “Generative AI’s Impact on Graduate Student Writing Productivity and Quality,” SSRN (August 29, 2024), https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4941022. For software engineering, see Sida Peng, Eirini Kalliamvakou, Peter Cihon, and Mert Demirer, “The Impact of AI on Developer Productivity: Evidence from GitHub Copilot,” arXiv:2302.06590, February 13, 2023; Leonardo Gambacorta, Han Qiu, Shuo Shan, and Daniel M. Rees, “Generative AI and Labour Productivity: A Field Experiment on Coding (PDF),” BIS Working Papers No. 1208 (Basel, Switzerland: Bank for International Settlements, September 2024); Zheyuan (Kevin) Cui, Mert Demirer, Sonia Jaffe, Leon Musolff, Sida Peng, and Tobias Salz, “The Effects of Generative AI on High-Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with Software Developers,” SSRN (September 5, 2024, revised February 10, 2025), https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4945566. For worker gains in the consulting industry, see Fabrizio Dell’Acqua, Edward McFowland III, Ethan Mollick, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Katherine C. Kellogg, Saran Rajendran, Lisa Krayer, François Candelon, and Karim R. Lakhani, “Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality (PDF),” Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 24-013 (September 2023). Return to text
    11. See Ethan Goh, Robert Gallo, Jason Hom, et al., “Large Language Model Influence on Diagnostic Reasoning: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA Network Open (October 28, 2024), https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2825395; Nikhil Agarwal, Alex Moehring, Pranav Rajpurkar, and Tobias Salz, “Combining Human Expertise with Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Evidence from Radiology,” NBER Working Paper No. 31422 (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2023, revised March 2024); Ashley Capoot, “Reid Hoffman Enters ‘Wondrous and Terrifying’ World of Health Care with Latest AI Startup,” CNBC, February 2, 2025, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/02/reid-hoffman-launches-manas-ai-a-new-drug-discovery-startup.html; Kang Zhang, Xin Yang, Yifei Wang, Yunfang Yu, Niu Huang, Gen Li, Xiaokun Li, Joseph C. Wu, and Shengyong Yang, “Artificial Intelligence in Drug Development,” Nature Medicine, vol. 31 (January 2025): 45–59, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03434-4; Qian Liao, Yu Zhang, Ying Chu, Yi Ding, Zhen Liu, Xianyi Zhao, Yizheng Wang, Jie Wan, Yijie Ding, Prayag Tiwari, Quan Zou, and Ke Han, “Application of Artificial Intelligence in Drug-Target Interactions Prediction: A Review,” NPJ Biomedical Innovations, vol. 2, no. 1 (January 2025), https://doi.org/10.1038/s44385-024-00003-9. Return to text
    12. For more on education, see Justin Wolfers, “An Econ Educators Guide to our AI-Powered Future,” Macmillan Learning, EconEd (presentation), September 26, 2024, https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/events/econed; and Anne J. Manning, “Professor Tailored AI Tutor to Physics Course. Engagement Doubled,” Harvard Gazette, September 5, 2024. Return to text
    13. See Maxime C. Cohen and Christopher S. Tang, “The Role of AI in Developing Resilient Supply Chains,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (February 5, 2024); and Remko Van Hoek and Mary Lacity, “How Global Companies Use AI to Prevent Supply Chain Disruptions,” Harvard Business Review, November 21, 2023. Return to text
    14. See Sheldon Fernandez, “How Generative AI Can Be Used in Electronics,” Forbes, April 26, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2023/04/26/how-generative-ai-can-be-used-in-electronics-manufacturing. Return to text
    15. For U.S. financial institutions, see Elizabeth Judd, “How to Balance Human and Machine While Using Chatbots,” Independent Banker, January 1, 2025; and U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services (PDF)” (Washington: U.S. Department of the Treasury, December 2024). For foreign financial institutions, see Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, “Artificial Intelligence in UK Financial Services—2024” (London: Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, November 21, 2024); and Bank of Japan, “Use and Risk Management of Generative AI by Japanese Financial Institutions,” Financial System Report Annex (Tokyo: Bank of Japan, October 29, 2024). For global financial institutions, see OECD, “FSB Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Finance (PDF),” Financial Stability Board, September 30, 2024. Return to text
    16. Lida R. Weinstock and Paul Tierno, “The Macroeconomic Effects of Artificial Intelligence (PDF),” Congressional Research Service, January 28, 2025. Return to text
    17. See Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang, “Experimental Evidence on the Productivity Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence,” Science, vol. 381, no. 6654 (July 13, 2023): 187–92; Brynjolfsson et al., “Generative AI at Work” (see footnote 9); and “for software engineering” from footnote 9; Korinek (2024) from footnote 7. Return to text
    18. See David H. Autor, “Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 29, no. 3 (Summer 2015): 3–30.See Simona Abis and Laura Veldkamp. Return to text
    19. See Ben S. Bernanke, “Will Business Investment Bounce Back?” (speech at the Forecasters Club, New York, NY, April 24, 2003). Return to text
    20. See Financial Stability Board, The Financial Stability Implications of Artificial Intelligence (Basel, Switzerland: Financial Stability Board, November 14, 2024); and Jon Danielsson and Andreas Uthemann, “How AI Can Undermine Financial Stability,” VoxEU: CEPR, January 22, 2024. Return to text
    21. For some very early examples, see Davide Castelvecchi, “Researchers Built an ‘AI Scientist’—What Can It Do?” Nature, August 30, 2024, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02842-3; Daniil A. Boiko, Robert MacKnight, Ben Kline, and Gabe Gomes, “Autonomous Chemical Research with Large Language Models,” Nature, December 20, 2023, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06792-0; and Helena Kudiabor, “Virtual Lab Powered by ‘AI Scientists’ Super-Charges Biomedical Research,” Nature, December 4, 2024, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01684-3. Return to text
    22. For more on drug discovery and gene therapy, see Betty Zou, “Team Uses AI and Quantum Computing to Target ‘Undruggable’ Cancer Protein,” Phys Org, January 27, 2025; and Mohammad Ghazi Vakili et al., “Quantum-Computing-Enhanced Algorithm Unveils Potential KRAS Inhibitors,” Nature Biotechnology, January 22, 2025, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-024-02526-3. Return to text
    23. See NASA Technology Transfer Program, “Robonaut 2: Hazardous Environments (MSC-TOPS-44)”. Return to text
    24. For more on material sciences innovation, see Andy Extance, “First GPT-4-Powered AI Lab Assistant Independently Directs Key Organic Reactions,” Chemistry World, January 8, 2024, https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/first-gpt-4-powered-ai-lab-assistant-independently-directs-key-organic-reactions/4018723.article; Chenyang Liu, Xi Zhang, Jiahui Chang, You Lyu, Jianan Zhao, and Song Qiu, “Programmable Mechanical Metamaterials: Basic Concepts, Types, Construction Strategies—A Review,” Frontiers, vol. 11 (March 19, 2024); Aidan Toner-Rodgers, “Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation,” MIT, November 27, 2024, https://aidantr.github.io/files/AI_innovation.pdf; and Thomas Hayes et al., “Simulating 500 Million Years of Evolution with a Language Model,” Science, January 16, 2025. Return to text
    25. See Tan Sui, “AI Could Help Overcome the Hurdles to Making Nuclear Fusion a Practical Energy Source,” The Conversation, January 29, 2025, https://theconversation.com/ai-could-help-overcome-the-hurdles-to-making-nuclear-fusion-a-practical-energy-source-247608; Jaemin Seo, SangKyeun Kim, Azarakhsh Jalalvand, Rory Conlin, Andrew Rothstein, Joseph Abbate, Keith Erickson, Josiah Wai, Ricardo Shousha, and Egemen Kolemen, “Avoiding Fusion Plasma Tearing Instability with Deep Reinforcement Learning,” Nature, vol. 626, February 21, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07024-9; and Massimiliano Lupo Pasini, German Samolyuk, Markus Eisenbach, Jong Youl Choi, Junqi Yin, and Ying Yang, “First-Principles Data for Solid Solution Niobium-Tantalum-Vanadium Alloys with Body-Centered-Cubic Structures,” Nature: Scientific Data, vol. 11, no. 907 (August 22, 2024), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03720-3. Return to text
    26. Nakia Melecio, “Exploring the Synergy: Quantum Computing and Generative AI at the Intersection of Innovation,” ScaleUp Lab Program, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech. Return to text
    27. For an example on GenAI and quantum computers, see Rahul Rao, “Quantum Computers Can Now Run Powerful AI That Works like the Brain,” Scientific American, April 22, 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-computers-can-run-powerful-ai-that-works-like-the-brain. For an example about AI and clean energy, see Office of Policy, “How AI Can Help Clean Energy Meet Growing Electricity Demand” (Washington: U.S. Department of Energy, August 16, 2024). For examples of how GenAI is augmenting creativity, see Tojin T. Eapen, Daniel J. Finkenstadt, Josh Folk, and Lokesh Venkataswamy, “How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity,” Harvard Business Review (July–August 2023); and Anil R. Doshi and Oliver P. Hauser, “Generative AI Enhances Individual Creativity but Reduces the Collective Diversity of Novel Content,” Science Advances, vol. 10, no. 28 (July 12, 2024). Return to text
    28. See Iñaki Aldasoro, Leonardo Gambacorta, Anton Korinek, Vatsala Shreeti, and Merlin Stein, “Intelligent Financial System: How AI Is Transforming Finance (PDF),” BIS Working Papers No. 1194 (Basel, Switzerland: Bank for International Settlements, June 2024); and Sarah Hammer, “From Turing to Trading: How AI Is Revolutionizing Finance,” Finance Centers at the Wharton School, July 10, 2024. Return to text
    29. Large language models may even allow for the creation of synthetic data that allows for enhancing macroeconomic nowcasting and forecasting through economic AI agents that can also help with analyzing macroeconomic trends and contribute to more informed financial decisionmaking. See Anne Lundgaard Hansen, John J. Horton, Sophia Kazinnik, Daniela Puzzello, and Ali Zarifhonarvar, “Simulating the Survey of Professional Forecasters,” SSRN (December 1, 2024), https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5066286. Return to text
    30. Kelly Ng, Brandon Drenon, Tom Gerken, and Marc Cieslak, “DeepSeek: The Chinese AI App That Has the World Talking,” BBC News, February 4, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yv5976z9po. Return to text
    31. For example, see IBM Newsroom, “Data Suggests Growth in Enterprise Adoption of AI Is Due to Widespread Deployment by Early Adopters, But Barriers Keep 40% in the Exploration and Experimentation Phases,” IBM, January 10, 2024, https://newsroom.ibm.com/2024-01-10-Data-Suggests-Growth-in-Enterprise-Adoption-of-AI-is-Due-to-Widespread-Deployment-by-Early-Adopters; and Jefferies Editorial Team, “Can Startups Outsmart Big Tech in the AI Race?” Jefferies, September 17, 2024, https://www.jefferies.com/insights/boardroom-intelligence/can-startups-outsmart-big-tech-in-the-ai-race. Return to text
    32. If AI agents proliferate in financial transactions, we will also need to be careful about the potential for unintended consequences such as collusion among AI agents. See Winston Wei Dou, Itay Goldstein, and Yan Ji, “AI-Powered Trading, Algorithmic Collusion, and Price Efficiency,” Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research Paper, The Wharton School Research Paper, May 30, 2024, https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4452704. Return to text
    33. See Request for Information on the Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan, 90 Fed. Reg. 9,088 (PDF) (February 6, 2025). Return to text
    34. See Heather Domin, “AI Governance Trends: How Regulation, Collaboration, and Skills Demand Are Shaping the Industry,” World Economic Forum, September 5, 2024. Return to text
    35. For more on bias introduced in models, see Moshe Glickman and Tali Sharot, “How Human–AI Feedback Loops Alter Human Perceptual, Emotional, and Social Judgements,” Nature Human Behavior, December 18, 2024, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02077-2; Saul Asiel Flores, “‘Bias in, Bias out’: Tackling Bias in Medical Artificial Intelligence,” Yale School of Medicine, November 18, 2024; and Adam Zewe, “Researchers Reduce Bias in AI Models While Preserving or Improving Accuracy,” MIT News, December 11, 2024. For governance in central banks, see Claudia Alvarez Toca and Alexandre Tombini, Governance of AI Adoption in Central Banks (PDF) (Basel, Switzerland: Bank for International Settlements, January 2025). Return to text
    36. See, e.g., Michael P. Wellman, “Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services (PDF)” (written testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, September 20, 2023). Return to text
    37. See Jon Danielsson and Andreas Uthemann, “AI Financial Crises,” VoxEU: CEPR, July 26, 2024. For more on algorithm collusion, see Wei Dou et al., “AI-Powered Trading, Algorithmic Collusion, and Price Efficiency” (see footnote 33). Return to text

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Securing a future for Grangemouth

    Source: Scottish Government

    Additional £25 million to establish a Grangemouth Just Transition Fund.

    First Minister John Swinney has announced an additional £25 million to establish a fund to help secure the future of Grangemouth.

    During a statement to Parliament he also called on the UK Government to address the immediacy and urgency of the situation facing Grangemouth by at least matching the Scottish Government’s investment.

    The First Minister said:

    “The aim of this fund is to expedite any of the potential solutions that will be set out in the Project Willow report, as well as other proposals that will give Grangemouth a secure and sustainable future.

    “We have made the strategic decision to support this key activity through an additional draw down of ScotWind revenue totalling £25 million, to add to the £7.8 million in our budget for 2025-26. Altogether, the Scottish Government – with a finite budget – has committed or already invested £87 million in Grangemouth.

    “We need the UK Government to do at least the same and deliver a fair amount to avoid significant economic disruption in central Scotland, and to protect and promote Scotland’s – and Grangemouth’s – future interests.”

    The First Minister confirmed to Parliament that an amendment will be lodged to the Scottish Government’s 2025-26 Budget Bill to allocate an additional £25 million to establish a Grangemouth Just Transition Fund.

    Funds will be available immediately in the new financial year to support businesses and stakeholders to bring forward investible propositions over the next 12 months, and if necessary, beyond.

    He added:

    “We believe that refining at Grangemouth should continue, that this closure is premature and that it is detrimental to Scotland’s transition to net zero.

    “We recognise the significance of the fact that we are now facing a programme of redundancies at Grangemouth and the impact this will have on the lives of those employed at the site. Every person, every family and every business impacted by the closing of the Grangemouth refinery, matters. Our immediate focus, rightly, is on providing those who are losing their jobs with targeted skills support.

    “Everyone working at Grangemouth’s refinery is a valued employee with skills that are key to Scotland’s net zero future. We want them to stay in Scotland and continue to make their lives here. We will do all we can to ensure they have a future in the Scottish economy as we make the transition to net zero.

    “That is why we are also working to secure Grangemouth’s role in that future and create an investible industrial strategy for the site.”

    The First Minister also called on the UK Government to continue to work together with the Scottish Government to drive forward the next phase of Project Willow; to expedite a decision on Acorn and the Scottish Cluster of carbon capture projects; and to make urgent progress on allocating funding for the second round of hydrogen production projects. 

    Background

    Securing a future for Grangemouth – First Minister’s statement – 18 February 2025

    In September 2024 the Scottish and UK Governments published a joint plan to secure the industrial future of Grangemouth. 

    In November the Scottish Government also sought views on a draft Just Transition Plan for the wider Grangemouth industrial cluster.

    Project Willow is assessing credible options to begin building a new long-term industry at the refinery site. A range of proposals have been shortlisted by the UK and Scottish governments, as part of a joint-funded £1.5 million feasibility study. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Global: Minimum alcohol pricing: what we found in Wales after five years

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Katy Holloway, Professor of Criminology, University of South Wales

    Almost five years ago, a new law came into force in Wales making it illegal to sell alcohol for less than 50p per unit.

    Since its introduction, we have been evaluating the effects of minimum alcohol pricing and our findings have recently been published. These will help Welsh Government ministers decide on the future of the policy beyond its six-year trial period.

    The price of many alcoholic drinks in Welsh shops increased in March 2020. Most noticeably, large three litre bottles of strong white cider (containing 22 units of alcohol) rose from less than £5 to £11.

    The price of some beers, wines and spirits also increased, though to a lesser extent. In pubs, clubs and restaurants, the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol made little difference, as prices were already well above the 50p per unit threshold.

    The main goal of the Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018 is to reduce alcohol-related harm and protect the health of those regularly drinking more than the recommended 14 units per week.

    Contrary to popular belief, minimum pricing for alcohol is not a tax. This means that any extra money from higher prices goes to the retailers and producers, not to the Welsh government.

    While many people enjoy drinking alcohol without any problem, some patterns of alcohol use are associated with significant physical, mental and social harms. It costs UK society more than £27 billion a year through a combination of health, crime, workplace and social welfare costs.

    Research has shown that making alcohol less affordable can reduce consumption and hence related harms. The World Health Organization considers minimum pricing one of its “best buys” for tackling harmful alcohol use.

    While minimum alcohol pricing is in place in several countries, policies differ. In 2018, Scotland became the first country to introduce a national minimum price for all types of alcohol. Two years later, Wales followed suit.

    The Republic of Ireland introduced minimum pricing in January 2022, while Northern Ireland has been engaged in consultation on the policy for several years. There are no plans for the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol in England.

    The policy was introduced in Wales primarily to protect hazardous and harmful drinkers, who tend to consume more low-cost, high-strength alcohol. But evaluating its effect has been complex, especially due to the COVID pandemic, which disrupted drinking habits and the availability of alcohol. Other economic factors, including the cost of living crisis, have also influenced affordability.

    What we found

    Many of the findings within the 11 reports from our Welsh evaluation have strong resonance with those elsewhere, particularly those of the final Scottish evaluation.

    Drawing from our research, we have five important findings. First, implementation in Wales has been smooth. Retailers have largely complied with the law, and enforcement has been effective.

    Second, certain cheap alcohol products have disappeared. Large bottles of strong cider, for example, are now rare. There have also been shifts in promotions and product availability.

    Third, there are indications that overall alcohol consumption in Wales has declined. While it is difficult to measure directly, purchasing data suggests a reduction.

    Fourth, concerns about unintended consequences have not materialised significantly. Predictions of a rise in home brewing, substance switching, shoplifting and cross-border purchasing have not been widely observed. While some people living near the border have bought alcohol in England, this appears to be opportunistic rather than nationwide.

    Finally, some drinkers have changed their purchasing habits. A minority have switched from cider to wine or spirits as price differences narrowed. Others, particularly those on low incomes, experienced further struggles in financially maintaining their drinking habits.

    Our recommendations

    Minimum pricing for alcohol is well supported by evidence. It is not without its critics, especially those citing continued trends in actual numbers of alcohol-related deaths. Its implementation in Wales has noticeable effects, most of which are positive.

    Based on our findings, we recommend that the Welsh Government retains minimum alcohol pricing. But we also recognise the need for some adjustments.




    Read more:
    Alcohol prescribing for severe withdrawal – what the research shows


    The 50p per unit price, set over a decade ago, should be reviewed. Our evidence suggests an increase in price is needed to maintain the policy’s effectiveness. We believe the policy needs to be accompanied by well-funded treatment and support services for people experiencing alcohol-related difficulties.

    Policymakers must also acknowledge the disproportionate effect of minimum alcohol pricing on those with the lowest incomes. But this should not be a reason to abandon it. We do not advocate for making unhealthy foods cheaper to tackle food poverty. The same principle applies to alcohol policy.

    Minimum alcohol pricing targets affordability rather than addressing all aspects of alcohol harm. It is not a silver bullet, and so should only be one component of comprehensive strategy delivery. If combined with other policy measures and social support, it has the potential to significantly contribute to reductions in alcohol-related harm in Wales.

    Katy Holloway currently receives funding from Health Care Research Wales and Welsh Government. She has previously received funding from a wide range of organisations including NIHR, Home Office, and Ministry of Justice.

    Wulf Livingston receives funding from Welsh and Scottish Governments, World Health Organisation, National Institute for Health Research, Health Boards, alcohol and drug commissioning partnerships and third sector charities. He has previously recieved funding from many of the aforementioned, and in addition ERSC, Local Authorities, Pocklington Trust, Alcohol research UK and Welsh Universities WIN Fund.

    ref. Minimum alcohol pricing: what we found in Wales after five years – https://theconversation.com/minimum-alcohol-pricing-what-we-found-in-wales-after-five-years-248189

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Cottontail review: how a man’s journey through grief mirrors our search for peace – by an expert in death and grieving

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chao Fang, Lecturer in Sociology, Deputy Director of the Centre for Ageing and the Life Course, University of Liverpool

    Cottontail (コットンテール), a newly released Japanese film, tells the touching and relatable story of Kenzaburo (Ken), a man in his late middle age grieving the loss of his wife, Akiko, after a long illness. To honour her dying wish, he embarks on a journey to take her ashes to the Lake District in northern England – a place deeply meaningful to her.

    It was not just the beauty of the landscape that drew her, but also its connection to Peter Rabbit, a character she had loved since childhood and where she had made cherished memories with her parents.

    What begins as a cross-continental trip with his son and family soon unfolds into a deeply personal and solitary quest for Ken. As a husband and father, he struggles to connect with his son, confronting the unspoken emotional walls that make expressing grief so profoundly challenging. Through this journey, Ken seeks not just peace for his loss but also a way to reconcile the past with the present.

    I found Cottontail a beautifully delicate film with a thought-provoking narrative. As an expert in ageing, death and dying, particularly in Japan, I also found its depiction of grief realistic.

    Like Ken, many of us may feel disbelief or denial when facing loss. Memories of our loved ones can wash over us in overwhelming waves, catching us off guard in the most unexpected moments. Whether it’s a familiar scene that evokes a flood of emotions, a conversation with a friend, or even a fleeting dream, the smallest reminders – both joyful and painful – can surface at any time.

    The root of these challenges lies in navigating a world that no longer includes our loved one. Psychiatrist Colin Parkes described bereavement as a psychosocial transition, a profound shift requiring adaptation to a new reality.

    Grief, he suggested, emerges from the breakdown of the world we take for granted, the beliefs and expectations we hold about the future and our plans. When loss occurs, this framework collapses, forcing us to relearn how to live in a world forever changed.


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    Yet, grief is not simply about building a new life without the person we’ve lost.

    Over a century ago, the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud emphasised the importance of gradually detaching from the pain of loss and redirecting our emotional energy toward new relationships and pursuits. Today, in a society that often prioritises efficiency and productivity, there’s an unspoken expectation to “complete” the process of grief and quickly return to “normal”.

    But grief resists such timelines. As I’ve argued elsewhere, healing is not about moving on but learning to carry loss forward.

    This is poignantly illustrated in Cottontail: for Ken, scattering Akiko’s ashes in England is not about leaving her or the life they shared behind, but about learning to live with loss, weaving memories of her into his ongoing life.

    Cottontail trailer.

    Rewriting the book of life

    To grieve is like rewriting the book of our lives – a painstaking process of revisiting, revising, and reimagining a narrative that once felt complete. The concept of “narrative identity” captures this: not erasing the past but weaving it into a new story that continues to unfold, where love and loss coexist, shaping who we are now and who we will become.

    Rewriting life after loss is never a solitary journey – it’s shared with others. Ken’s grief is intertwined with his strained bond with his son, Toshi.

    Preoccupied with work, Ken had neglected their relationship, leaving Toshi yearning for deeper connection. Now, drowning in grief, Ken faces the challenge of reconciling his own pain while rebuilding their bond – a dilemma familiar to many experiencing loss.

    A key theme in Ken’s grief journey is the “stiff upper lip” mentality – an emotional restraint that stops him from expressing feelings or accepting support from his son. This stoic attitude, common among older men but seen across genders, ages and cultures, often comes at the cost of hidden stress.

    My research with bereaved older adults shows that suppressing emotions isolates individuals and blocks external support, making healing and connection harder.

    On his journey, Ken meets a grieving father and daughter who openly acknowledge their emotions and support each other. Their willingness to express their feelings shows the power of emotional literacy – the ability to recognise and communicate emotions.

    This highlights the importance of grief literacy not just for individuals, but for wider social networks. When people can understand and support one another’s grief, finding peace with loss becomes more attainable, and the process of rewriting life after loss becomes a collective endeavour.

    The film concludes with Ken chasing a rabbit by Lake Windermere for his granddaughter, joined by Toshi’s family. For Ken, the rabbit is not just Cottontail or a memory of Akiko – it’s a symbol of hope, a reminder that moving forward is possible, with renewed bonds and an enduring love.

    Chao Fang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. Cottontail review: how a man’s journey through grief mirrors our search for peace – by an expert in death and grieving – https://theconversation.com/cottontail-review-how-a-mans-journey-through-grief-mirrors-our-search-for-peace-by-an-expert-in-death-and-grieving-250198

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Boston arrests Guatemalan national convicted in Massachusetts for Assault and Battery on a Family Member, Intimidation, Violation of the Abuse Prevention Act

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Boston apprehended an illegally present, 27-year-old Guatemalan national convicted in Massachusetts of three counts of assault and battery on a family member, intimidation, and violation of the Abuse Prevention Act. Officers with ICE Boston arrested Wilber Chinic-Villagran, Jan. 26, in Framingham, Massachusetts.

    “Wilber Chinic-Villagran illegally came to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and committed some horrendous crimes,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “We simply will not tolerate such a threat to the residents of our Massachusetts communities. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious alien offenders from New England.”

    U.S. Border Patrol arrested Chinic, July 28, 2020, after he illegally entered the United States near Laredo, Texas. USBP voluntarily returned Chinic to Mexico.

    Chinic illegally re-entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.

    On Feb. 7, 2023, ICE lodged an immigration detainer and a warrant for arrest against Chinic with the Middlesex County House of Corrections in Billerica, Massachusetts, following his arrest by local authorities. However, on Feb. 28, 2023, the MCHOC informed ICE that Framingham District Court released Chinic without honoring the detainer.

    ICE lodged another immigration detainer against Chinic, Sept. 22, 2024, with the MCHOC following another apprehension by local authorities.

    The Framingham District Court convicted Chinic, Oct. 23, 2024, for two counts of assault and battery on a family/household member, intimidation, and violation of the Abuse Prevention Act. The Court sentenced Chinic to 18 months in prison. The court suspended all but four months of that sentence.

    The Framingham District Court convicted Chinic December 24, 2024, for an additional count of assault and battery on a family/household member. The court sentenced Chinic to 18 months in prison. The court suspended all but 90 days of that sentence. Later that day, the MCHOC informed ICE that Framingham District Court released Chinic without honoring their immigration detainer.

    Chinic remains in ICE custody.

    Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

    Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X: @EROBoston.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI: Revolutionizing Passive Income in 2025: Earn Daily with Free Cloud Mining for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and More

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    EDINBURGH, Scotland, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Since Bitcoin first broke through $100,000 on December 5, 2024, the market has soared, creating countless millionaires in a short period of time. More and more people are realizing that cryptocurrencies, as a financial asset, have the potential to increase wealth unmatched by other investment opportunities. ION Mining is completely disrupting the traditional way of investing in cryptocurrencies with its innovative cloud mining model. Without the need for expensive equipment, specialized technology or high electricity costs, ION Mining provides investors with an easy way to enter the crypto economy and help realize the dream of passive income.

    The advent of the cryptocurrency era, especially the rise of the cloud mining industry, is profoundly affecting the global economic landscape. From the birth of blockchain technology to the importance of digital currencies to current market dynamics, IONmining will take you through a comprehensive analysis of how to achieve stable returns through remote monitoring of mining. This guide covers the core knowledge of cloud mining, whether you are a novice or an experienced investor, you can find a profit strategy that suits you. Seize this opportunity to learn more about the potential of cloud mining and lay the foundation for future wealth growth.

    The core advantages of cloud mining:

    • · No hardware equipment and high electricity costs required
    • · Easy to operate, anyone can participate
    • · Low investment threshold, suitable for all budgets

    Start earning money

    Benefits of choosing ION cloud mining

    1. Easy and quick start

    2. Top technology guarantee

    • · Use industry-leading hardware such as Bitmain and NVIDIA to ensure efficient mining performance
    • · The data center uses advanced cooling technology to ensure stable operation even under high load

    3. Transparent with no hidden fees

    • · Only the contract deposit needs to be paid, which will be fully refunded after the contract expires
    • · No additional maintenance fees or hidden costs

    Flexible mining contract plan

    ION Mining offers a variety of flexible mining contracts suitable for both beginners and experienced investors. The following are some examples of plans:

    • · Basic Cloud Computing Plan: Invest $300, contract period 5 days, profit $27.3
    • · Classic Cloud Computing Plan: Invest $1200, contract period 15 days, profit $388.8
    • · Advanced Cloud Computing Plans: Invest $5000, contract period 10 days, profit $1155.
    • · Super Cloud Computing Plan: Invest $11,000, contract period 30 days, profit $8,118

    After the contract ends, the investment principal will be automatically returned to the account, and the user can choose to continue investing or exit the platform

    How to get started?

    Follow these 4 steps to easily start your mining journey:

    • 1. Register an account: Go to the ION Mining official website, enter your email address and set a password, and receive a $15 reward immediately after activating your account
    • 2. Select a contract plan: Choose the appropriate mining plan according to your needs
    • 3. Fund your account: Supports multiple payment methods, including mainstream cryptocurrencies such as USDT, BTC, ETH, LTC, etc.
    • 4. Start mining: After activating the contract, the system will automatically start mining, and the income will be accumulated in real time and can be withdrawn at any time.

    Platform credibility guarantee

    • · ION Mining is a global company legally registered in the UK and authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority (FCA)
    • · With more than 100 global data centers located in Eastern Europe, North America, the Middle East and South America
    • · Always abide by local laws and regulations to provide users with safe and stable services.

    Join IONmining immediately

    ON Mining is not only a cloud mining platform, but also an ideal choice for users to provide efficient and sustainable income sources. Whether you are a novice or a senior investor, you can find a low-risk, high-return solution suitable for you here. Join ION Mining now, seize the wealth opportunities in the cryptocurrency era, start your passive income journey, and realize the dream of wealth freedom.

    Official Website: https://ionmining.com/

    Contact Email: info@ionmining.com

    Contact Us:

    Michael Rodrigo
    Marketing Manager

    Disclaimer: This press release is provided by “ionmining.com”. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the sponsor and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing in cloud mining and related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

    Photos accompanying this announcement is available at: 

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/98863de3-3b9a-4aa4-b132-c911a3faf15c

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9eacb505-3de8-4426-b6c0-b4c215b1d0ed

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c28a9c8a-73fc-43a6-943c-50bb93a6973f

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Council seeks people ready to step up to be social workers

    Source: City of Leicester

    PEOPLE who have experience in supporting vulnerable children, young people, adults or families – but do not have a social work degree – are being invited to apply for a post-graduate training programme that will give them the qualification they need.

    Leicester City Council is now recruiting to the Government’s 2026-27 Step Up To Social Work programme and wants to hear from aspiring social workers – graduates or career changers – who would like a place on it.

    Step Up To Social Work is a 14-month, full-time training programme backed by the Department for Education (DfE), which offers a combination of academic study and hands-on social work experience in a local authority. It will run from January 2026 to March 2027.

    Successful applicants will receive their training costs and a bursary of £21,995 over the duration of the programme to support them whilst in training.

    Laurence Jones, the council’s strategic director of social care and education, said: “Social care is a very challenging, but very rewarding profession. There will be many people who have experience of working with vulnerable children or families but don’t have a social work degree, and this training programme gives them the chance to become a qualified social worker whilst receiving financial support to retrain.

    “Over the last 14 years around 40 people have taken up this training opportunity, and we look forward to receiving applications from people interested in joining us.”

    The council is holding an online training event on Tuesday 25 February for people to find out more about the programme. Anyone interested can contact Sara.Paskell@leicester.gov.uk 

    The application portal and full details are also available at: Step up to social work – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

    The Step Up programme will support 700 individuals to enter the social work profession in local authorities across England in 2026. This will be the ninth cohort of Step Up since 2010, with the programme successfully supporting over 2,900 social workers to enter the profession across England.  

    (ends)

    Notes to editors

    • More information about applying to Step Up to Social Work can be found here: Home | Step Up to Social Work (pocketrecruiter.com)
    • The Step Up programme runs every two years.
    • Applications will open from 17 February to 25 March 2025 (subject to regional demand), followed by regional assessment centres for candidates successful at the initial application stage. Students can expect to start the programme in January 2026, completing their training in March 2027.
    • Candidates are eligible to apply if they have:
    • a minimum 2:2 degree qualification (level 6).

    For some Local Authority areas, final year students will be eligible to apply with a minimum 2:2 predicted grade. For all other Local Authority areas, they must have completed their degree programme to apply.

    • 6 months’ full-time (or equivalent) direct experience, either in a paid or voluntary capacity, of working with vulnerable children, young people and/or families, carers or vulnerable adults
    • A GCSE in English or English language at grade 4 (C) or above (or an approved equivalent)

    For some Local Authority areas, there will also be a requirement to have a GCSE in Mathematics (or an approved equivalent).

    • The programme is for those without a degree in social work and who want to become a social worker. Successful applicants will train through a combination of academic study and hands on social work experience in a local authority.
    • On successful completion of the programme, trainees will qualify with a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work enabling them to apply to register with Social Work England and to practice as a qualified social worker, making a difference by nurturing relationships with families during difficult times and by protecting children.

     

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: SNP urged to join Welsh Government in backing ban on greyhound racing

    Source: Scottish Greens

    Greyhound racing is a cruel gambling-led sport.

    Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell has urged the Scottish Government to take inspiration from Wales by backing his Member’s Bill to end greyhound racing for good.

    The Welsh Government has said that the cruel gambling-led sport will be banned “as soon as practically possible.”

    Mr Ruskell’s proposed Prohibition of Greyhound Racing (Scotland) Bill seeks to promote the welfare of the animals by introducing an offence of permitting a greyhound to compete at racetracks in Scotland.

    Mr Ruskell has received crossparty support to progress his Bill, but it is yet to secure the support of the Scottish Government.

    Mr Ruskell said:

    “This is a really welcome move from Wales, and I hope that the Scottish Government will join them in backing a ban.

    “The reality is that Scotland is increasingly isolated, and is becoming an international outlier by allowing this cruel gambling-led sport to continue taking place

    “You can tell a lot about a society by how it chooses to treat voiceless animals. If we are a nation of dog lovers then we need to back that up by ensuring that they are protected.

    “There is no humane way to force dogs to run around an oval track at high speed. It is dangerous for the dogs and has led to thousands of serious injuries and totally avoidable deaths.

    “My Bill will be presented in the months ahead. I hope that the Scottish Government will do its bit to protect these gentle dogs from injury and death by supporting the call and ending greyhound racing for good.”

    Data from 2023 showed that 109 greyhounds died trackside in the UK, an increase on the number for 2022. A further 4,238 greyhounds were injured during racing in 2023.

    Mr Ruskell has been a long term campaigner on the issue and worked closely with animal welfare charities including the Scottish SPCA, Dogs Trust, One Kind and others.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Dragon reactor dismantling underway

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    South Dorset MP Lloyd Hatton has visited the Winfrith Site to see how a cutting-edge robotic laser is taking apart the site’s Dragon reactor core.

    Laser cutting the Dragon reactor neck ring

    South Dorset MP Lloyd Hatton has visited the Winfrith Site to see how a cutting-edge robotic laser is taking apart the site’s Dragon reactor core.

    MP Lloyd Hatton commented: “It was a privilege to visit the Winfrith site and witness first-hand the remarkable work being done to decommission the Dragon reactor. The innovation and dedication displayed by the team is truly impressive. The work at Winfrith is integral, both to making the UK’s nuclear waste safe, and to moving the country towards a cleaner and greener future.”

    Inside the Dragon reactor control room

    Pictured left to right – MP Lloyd Hatton, Andy Philps, Gary Reid, William Matheson, Ellanor Joyce and Robert Coan.

    Winfrith site was constructed in the 1950s as a centre of excellence for nuclear reactor research which laid the basis for the development of nuclear power. Seven of the nine unique experimental reactors have been removed – the final two Dragon and the Steam Generated Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR) are being decommissioned.

    Dragon was a prototype 20-megawatt power output graphite moderated, helium cooled reactor. It began testing nuclear fuel and materials to support high temperature reactor programmes in 1964 – the year that Top of the Pops began, Beatlemania was global and the Forth Road suspension bridge opened in Scotland.

    Early decommissioning removed the redundant plant components and equipment from the 100ft diameter cylindrical Dragon building, following defueling in the late 1990s.  All that remains is the irradiated steel reactor pressure vessel and its core.

    Driving innovation

    The feasibility of using laser technology to cut the reactor core’s varying material types and thicknesses was initially tested on mock-up components at the Welding Institute, Cambridge. Further testing followed with a full-scale mock-up at Winfrith site.

    Technical data and learning from these trials were then applied to perform keyhole surgery using a snake robot (Lasersnake) to remotely cut a three-tonne heat exchanger vessel known as the Purge Gas Pre-cooler (PGPC) from Dragon’s highly radioactive reactor core in 2018.   This was a first for the UK nuclear industry and its success proved laser cutting as the principal technique for reactor core dismantling over the use of alternative hot cutting techniques.

    The purge gas pre-cooler being removed in 2018

    Phoebe Lynch, NRS strategic innovation programme manager, said: “Driving innovation into our mission is our greatest opportunity at NRS. All the learning from the initial operational phase of using laser cutting for the Dragon reactor core provided valuable insights into the feasibility, reliability and safety of this technique.  These have been applied to refine the process to deliver this new phase of reactor core dismantling efficiently and pave the way for its broader adoption within the industry.”

    Progress

    The skilled team of operators have removed almost half of the one-inch-thick carbon steel plates that form the Top Ring Thermal Shield into removable sections using a telescopic mast-manipulator robotic arm and a laser cutter from a control room located outside the reactor building.

    The laser cutting head cell

    Laser cutting the Dragon reactor top ring thermal shield

    Andy Philps, NRS senior project manager, commented: “It is fantastic to start the core dismantling after years of meticulous in-house engineering design, planning and decommissioning of the sub-systems in preparation for this phase.

    “Once the upper shielding structures are removed, we will have access to the top of the  reactor pressure vessel and then the core within.”

    Waste management

    This is the first of eleven phases to fully dismantle the Dragon reactor core over the next few years and pack it into 6m3 concrete intermediate level waste storage boxes. These will then be transported to Harwell site for storage until the national Geological Disposal Facility is available for permanent disposal.

    The Dragon reactor building

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Meet the Council drop-in for business support

    Source: Scotland – City of Edinburgh

    Meet the Council event will be held on Tuesday 11 March at the Assembly Rooms on George Street between 10:00am and 2:00pm.

    Local businesses are encouraged to register in advance to secure a space to the drop-in, with opportunities throughout the day to meet with key Council teams and hear about opportunities for business growth.

    Offering a single point of access for business support, the event will bring together Council officers from:
    • Building standards
    • Business Gateway
    • Commercial property
    • Cultural events
    • Economic development
    • Edinburgh Convention Bureau
    • Environmental health
    • Film Edinburgh
    • Forever Edinburgh
    • JET (Jobs, Education & Training)
    • Licensing
    • Non-Domestic Rates
    • Parental Employability Support
    • Planning
    • Procurement
    • The Edinburgh Employer Recruitment Incentive
    • The Edinburgh Guarantee
    • Trading standards
    • Visitor Levy

    Throughout the day, external partners will also be on hand to present and share their expertise, including:
    • Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, an independent membership organisation which supports over 1,000 organisations who employ more than 120,000 staff in the Capital
    • British Business Bank, a government-owned economic bank specialised in helping businesses in the UK access financial support
    • Federation of Small Businesses, a non-profit organisation that helps small businesses and the self-employed
    • Capital City Partnership, the anchor delivery body for Edinburgh’s employability strategy, working together to tackle inequality and poverty
    • Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network, which works to create opportunities for Edinburgh’s Social Enterprise community to develop and thrive
    • Forth Green Freeport, Scotland’s largest opportunity to deliver a just transition to net zero, to attract significant inward investment, to build international trade and export capability, and to create high quality and well paid jobs.

    Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: 

    Edinburgh continues to have the strongest local economy outside of London and the highest number of registered Living Wage employers in Scotland. The entrepreneurialism, success and resilience of Edinburgh business owners contributes hugely to what makes our City of Edinburgh a unique and special place to live and work.

    We would like to work much more closely with the business community in offering meaningful support, understand more fully the views, concerns and aspirations of business owners and work jointly in securing a vibrant, sustainable, and resilient economic future for Edinburgh.

    We recognise that the current economic climate is challenging, and in working together with businesses and other partners, there is much we can do collectively to grow and sustain Edinburgh’s economy, promote the benefits of Fair Work, and become a fairer city for all. That’s why the Council is hosting this opportunity for businesses to meet us face-to-face and engage with our staff teams across a variety of services which support business.

    Whether you’re looking for advice on funding, navigating licensing, or exploring how we can support employers, this event is an ideal place to connect directly with the right people, who can provide the advice and support you need.

    The Meet the Council event is designed to support Edinburgh’s business community and help foster a thriving, greener, and fairer economy – as outlined in the Council’s Business Plan 2023-27.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Have your say on plans to transform Seafield into a new environmentally friendly neighbourhood

    Source: Scotland – City of Edinburgh

    The Council is inviting residents to share their views on the regeneration of Seafield to make sure it responds to the needs and wishes of the local community.

    As a key site for delivering the goals set out in the Edinburgh City Plan 2030, plans for the narrow stretch of land include a new promenade, GP surgery and opportunities for new shops and workplaces.

    The coastal site could also include as many as 2,700 new homes, with 35% of homes being affordable, to address the Capital’s housing emergency. Future residents will benefit from the provision of a heat network which will help keep energy bills down whilst contributing to the city’s net zero targets.

    The consultation, which closes on Wednesday 30 April 2025, will build on the first two stages of engagement and consultation carried out to date. Residents can attend a drop-in session to discuss the plans, or they can take part in an online survey via the Consultation Hub.

    Planning Convener James Dalgleish said:

    Our draft plan to transform Seafield into a new environmentally friendly neighbourhood will take us one step further to tackling our housing emergency and reaching net zero by 2030.

    This is a chance for residents to shape the future of the area – whether it’s about improving transport links, preserving green spaces or introducing new community facilities and we’re eager to hear everyone’s ideas for a Seafield that serves the whole community.

    I’d encourage everyone to share their views with us by filling in our online survey or coming along to one of our consultation drop-in events.

     The in-person events will take place on the following dates and times:

    • Portobello Library, 14 Rosefield Avenue, Edinburgh, EH15 1AU, Saturday 8 March 10:30-1:30pm
    • Leith Library, 28-30 Ferry Road, Edinburgh, EH6 4AE, Friday 21 March 12:30-3:30pm
    • Craigentinny Community Centre, 9 Loaning Road, Edinburgh, EH7 6JE, Saturday 22 March 10:30-1:30pm

    Published: February 18th 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trans people affirmed their gender without medical help in medieval Europe − history shows how identity transcends medicine and law

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sarah Barringer, Ph.D. Candidate in English, University of Iowa

    The Lady and the Unicorn: Sight. Unknown/Musée de Cluny, Paris via Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons

    Restrictions on medical care for transgender youth assume that without the ability to medically transition, trans people will vanish.

    As of 2024, 26 U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for young people. Less than a month into office, President Donald Trump issued numerous executive orders targeting transgender people, including a mandate to use “sex” instead of “gender” on passports, visas and global entry cards, as well as a ban on gender-affirming care for young people. These actions foreground the upcoming Supreme Court case of U.S. vs. Skrmetti which promises to shape the future of gender-affirming health care in the U.S., including restrictions or bans.

    History, however, shows that withholding health care does not make transgender people go away. Scholarship of medieval literature and historical records reveals how transgender people transitioned even without a robust medical system – instead, they changed their clothes, name and social position.

    Surgery in medieval times

    Surgery was not a widespread practice in the medieval period. While it gained some traction in the 1300s, surgery was limited to southern France and northern Italy. Even there, surgery was dangerous and the risk of infection high.

    Cutting off fleshy bits is an old practice and, potential dangers aside, removing a penis or breasts wasn’t impossible. But amputating functioning limbs was nearly always a form of punishment. Medieval people, including surgeons and patients, likely would not have had positive views of surgery that involved removing working body parts.

    Illustration from a Latin translation of Albucasis’ Chirurgia, depicting surgical instruments.
    Wellcome Collection

    Surgeons in the 14th century were increasingly thinking about how to perform surgery on those with both male and female genitalia – people now called intersex. But they thought about this in terms of “correcting” genitalia to make it more apparently male or female – an attitude still present today. Historically, the procedure was probably performed on adults, but today it is usually performed on children. Both then and now, the surgery often disregards the patient’s wishes and is not medically necessary, at times leading to complications later. For patients deemed female, excess flesh could be cut away, and for patients deemed male, the vulva could be cauterized to close it.

    There is, however, at least one historical example of a transgender individual receiving surgery. In 1300, near Bern, Switzerland, an unnamed woman was legally separated from her husband because she was unable to have sex with him. Soon after, the woman headed to Bologna, which was the surgery capital of Europe at the time. There, a surgeon cut open the woman’s vulva, revealing a penis and testicles. The account ends, “Back home, he took a wife, did rural work, and had legitimate and sufficient intercourse with his wife.”

    The story presents the possibility of medical transition, possibly even a desire for it. But given the limits of surgical techniques and ideologies at the time, these forms of medical transition were unlikely to be common.

    Transitioning without medicine

    To transition without medicine, medieval transgender people relied on changes they could make themselves. They cut their hair, put on different clothes, changed their names, and found new places in society.

    In 1388, a young woman named Catherine in Rottweil, Germany, “put on men’s clothes, declared herself to be a man, and called herself John.” John went on to marry a woman and later developed breasts. This caused some initial consternation – the city council of Rottweil sent John and his wife to court. However, the court did not see breasts as inhibiting John’s masculinity and the couple went home without facing any charges.

    In 1395, a transgender woman named Eleanor Rykener appeared before a court in London, England, after she was caught working as a prostitute. The court clerk wrote “that a certain Anna … first taught [her] to practice this detestable vice in the manner of a woman. [She] further said that a certain Elizabeth Bronderer first dressed [her] in women’s clothing” and later she took on work as an embroideress and tapster, a sort of bartender. The account is Rykener’s own, but the court clerk editorialized it, notably adding the phrase “detestable vice” in reference to prostitution.

    Detail of lovers in bed, Aldobrandino of Siena, Le Régime du corps, northern France. 13th century.
    British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts/Sloane MS 2435, f. 9v.

    Rykener’s account reveals that there were a number of people interested in helping her transition – people who helped her dress, taught her how to behave, provided her employment and supported her choice of a new name. Community was a more important part of her transition than transforming her body. Based on the record, she apparently did not make an effort to create breasts.

    Another account appeared in 1355 in Venice, Italy, concerning Rolandina Ronchaia. While John declared himself male, and Rykener was very active in her transition, Ronchaia’s transition was spurred on by the perceptions of others. She argued that she had always had a “feminine face, voice and gestures,” and was often mistaken for a woman. She also had breasts, “in women’s fashion.” One night, a man came to have sex with her, and Ronchaia, “wishing to connect like a woman, hid [her] own penis and took the man’s penis.” After that, she moved to Venice, where, although she continued to wear men’s clothes, she was still perceived as a woman.

    Ronchaia’s account is unique because it emphasizes her body and her desire to change it by hiding her penis. But this was still a matter of what she herself could do to express her gender, rather than a medical transition.

    A long transgender history

    The accounts of medieval transgender individuals are limited – not only in number but in length. A lot of things did not get written down, and people were not talking about transgender people the way we are now.

    Historical accounts of transgender individuals are almost always in court records, which reflect the concerns of the court more clearly than the concerns of its subjects. The court was especially worried about sexual activity between men, which both overemphasizes the importance of sex in medieval transgender people’s lives and often obscures that these accounts are even about transgender people. Eleanor Ryekener’s account frequently misgenders her and refers to her as “John.”

    But it’s clear that transgender people existed in the medieval period, even when medical care was unavailable to them.

    A court document from the interrogation of John Rykener.
    Internet Medieval Source Book/Wikimedia Commons

    It is also the case that many of these individuals – Rykener is a likely exception – were probably intersex, and their experience would be different from those who were not. Intersex people were legally recognized and allowed some leeway if they chose to transition as an adult. This is starkly apparent in an account from Lille, France, in 1458, where a transgender woman was accused of sodomy and burned at the stake. She claimed “to have both sexes,” but the account says this was not the case. While being demonstrably intersex may not have saved her, that she claimed she was is telling.

    Gender transition has a long history, going even further back than the medieval period. Then as now, the local community played a vital role in aiding an individual’s transition. Unlike the medieval period, most modern societies have far greater access to medical care. Despite current restrictions, transgender people have far more options for transition than they once did.

    Medieval modes of transitioning are not a solution to current denials of medical care. But medieval transgender lives do illuminate that transgender people will not vanish even when the legal and medical systems strive to erase them.

    Sarah Barringer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. Trans people affirmed their gender without medical help in medieval Europe − history shows how identity transcends medicine and law – https://theconversation.com/trans-people-affirmed-their-gender-without-medical-help-in-medieval-europe-history-shows-how-identity-transcends-medicine-and-law-248559

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Scottish Secretary reacts to Labour Market Stats

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Today’s figures show there are 77,000 workers in Scotland on zero-hours contracts, who will benefit from increased job security thanks to UK Government

    The latest Labour Market Statistics for Scotland are published today – see here and here.

    Commenting on the figures, Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray, said:

    Having access to well-paid work is a right that should be afforded to all. That’s why we’re creating jobs and opportunities through our Plan for Change and truly making work pay to help raise living standards right across the UK.

    We are putting more money in people’s pockets – around 200,000 workers in Scotland are expected to benefit from a direct pay rise due to the increases to the national minimum and national living wages from April. Year on year, wages after inflation have grown at the fastest rates in three years since last July – worth an extra £20 a week after inflation.

    Help to find work will be more tailored with our wide-reaching Jobcentre reforms and by encouraging investment, we’re boosting businesses of all sizes to deliver growth.

    Background

    Today’s figures show there are 77,000 workers in Scotland on zero-hours contracts, who will benefit from increased job security when the UK Government implements measures which seek to end exploitative zero hours contracts.

    These measures are:

    1. A right to guaranteed hours, where the number of hours offered reflects the hours worked by the worker during a reference period. This initial reference period will be specified in regulations and is anticipated to be 12 weeks.

    2. New rights to reasonable notice of shifts, with proportionate payment for shifts cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice.

    Today’s figures for January 2025 show that there were 2.46 million payrolled employees in Scotland, a decrease of -0.1 per cent (-2,000) compared with January 2024. This compares with the UK where the number of payrolled employees had an increase of 0.2% over the same period.

    Also in January 2025 the claimant count unemployment rate was 3.8 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent for the UK as a whole.

    Quarterly figures are also published today and estimates from October to December 2024 indicate that over the quarter, the economic inactivity rate decreased while the employment and unemployment rates increased

    The estimated unemployment rate (16 and over) in Scotland was 3.8 per cent, up 0.5 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s unemployment rate was below the UK rate of 4.4 per cent

    The estimated employment rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work) in Scotland was 74.2 per cent, up 0.9 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s employment rate was below the UK rate of 74.9 per cent

    The estimated economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who were not working and not seeking or available to work) in Scotland was 22.8 per cent, down 1.2 percentage points over the quarter. Scotland’s economic inactivity rate was above the UK rate of 21.5 per cent.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Global: Understanding of marine ecosystems is alarmingly low – here’s why ocean literacy matters

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emma McKinley, Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University

    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Understanding the relationship between humans and the ocean is crucial for making informed and effective decisions that will shape the future of our ocean. With this in mind, achieving lasting global progress in ocean protection requires prioritising ocean literacy.

    Right now, there is a disconnect between young peoples’ recognition of the ocean’s vital role in climate change, and the measures required to protect and restore it.

    My work as a marine social scientist focuses on ocean literacy. For me, knowledge is one of the most powerful tools to incite the action needed to save ocean health. The development of ocean literacy, through a range of education and engagement initiatives worldwide that embrace different types of knowledge, must be better prioritised.

    Only then can we equip young people with what they need to protect our ocean and to know who to hold accountable for its health.

    The ocean — stretching past the horizon, beneath the surface, and into the depths — remains largely out of sight, out of mind. But what happens within it affects us. Fostering stronger ocean literacy across society can help us mend this disconnect.

    Ocean literacy is defined as “having an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean”. While not a new concept, ocean literacy has gained increasing popularity in recent years, partly due to its inclusion as a potential mechanism for change within the UN Ocean Decade, launched in January 2021.

    Young people must be central in efforts to restore ocean literacy across society. It is essential for them to understand the challenges facing the ocean, recognise who is responsible for addressing them, and advocate for more action. Enhancing ocean literacy among this generation encourages a greater appreciation of the ocean’s critical role in our daily lives, now and in the future.

    According to a recent global study engaging 3,500 young people from across 35 countries, a large percentage of young people express concern about the ocean’s health.

    The non-peer-reviewed report has been published by Back to Blue,
    an initiative of the thinktank Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, a grant-making organisation based in Asia.

    It highlights that 53% of young people believe that the ocean can protect us from climate change, yet 61% place a higher priority on protecting forests, tackling air pollution and freshwater scarcity. This shows that young people around the world have low ocean literacy.

    This echoes a growing number of national ocean literacy assessments. In 2022, a study of ocean literacy in Wales found that although 84% of people indicated that protecting the marine environment was important to them, 40% felt that their lifestyle had no impact on the sea at all. This highlights a concerning level of disconnect and lack of ocean literacy that could undermine our ability to tackle urgent challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution.


    Swimming, sailing, even just building a sandcastle – the ocean benefits our physical and mental wellbeing. Curious about how a strong coastal connection helps drive marine conservation, scientists are diving in to investigate the power of blue health. This article is part of a series, Vitamin Sea, exploring how the ocean can be enhanced by our interaction with it.


    It’s all about accountability

    This is not a blame game. However, accountability ensures that governments, industries and people take responsibility for their role in ocean health, driving the transparency and action needed for meaningful education and engagement.

    The Back to Blue study found that while half (50%) of young people surveyed were concerned about ocean pollution, very few (17%) wanted increased responsibility from corporations and businesses.

    That study, which I advised on, also reveals that young people have high expectations of governments, conservation charities and local communities. Almost half (46%) said that governments should take stronger action to protect ocean health. Yet, expectations of the private sector – some of the biggest ocean polluters – were very low. Young people are misunderstanding where accountability for ocean pollution and the decline in ocean health lies.

    Green turtles have been listed as endangered since 1982.
    Shane Myers Photography/Shutterstock

    The lack of accountability slows progress and perpetuates a cycle of ocean neglect. But, engaging young people in ocean issues will empower them to demand more action and help develop effective solutions.

    In some places, ocean literacy is more embedded into students’ learning. More than 500 certified European blue schools are part of the Network of European Blue Schools. And the All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network has established ocean literacy projects and blue school ambassadors in schools in 16 countries, from Angola to the US.

    Education can help to engage young people. But only if education systems worldwide integrate ocean literacy from a young age and across all subject areas.

    By prioritising ocean literacy, we can empower young people to become informed stewards of the ocean, ensuring that they are not only aware of its vital role in our daily lives but also actively involved in changing the tide.


    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.


    Emma McKinley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. Understanding of marine ecosystems is alarmingly low – here’s why ocean literacy matters – https://theconversation.com/understanding-of-marine-ecosystems-is-alarmingly-low-heres-why-ocean-literacy-matters-248724

    MIL OSI – Global Reports