BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European governments will not need to abruptly end fiscal support for their economies after the pandemic, top officials said on Monday, noting that any withdrawal of stimulus would be carried out gradually and only once the economy has recovered.

Euro zone public debt rose sharply during 2020 and is likely to exceed 100% of GDP this year as governments borrow to help individuals and businesses survive lockdowns.

The higher debt raises concern about how to deal with it down the road and when to start cutting it again, since the EU last year suspended its rules limiting budget deficits and debt, known as the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP).

EU finance ministers are to discuss when to reintroduce any borrowing limits in the second quarter of this year.

“I believe it important that finance ministers debate and reach a common understanding on the appropriate fiscal stance by the summer. This can then serve as guidance for the preparation of their draft budgetary plans for 2022,” the chairman of the euro zone’s group of finance ministers, Paschal Donohoe, said on Monday.

“To avoid any misunderstanding, let me stress that this is not about an imminent withdrawal of fiscal stimulus,” he told the economic committee of the European Parliament.

“We all agree that our immediate priority is to shield our citizens, in particular younger cohorts and those most exposed to the crisis. There must be no cliff-edges,” he said.

Joao Leao, the finance minister of Portugal which holds the rotating presidency of the EU and therefore sets the agenda for EU finance ministers’ work until June, was equally cautious.

“We should not withdraw stimulus too early. We need to make sure the suspension clause for the SGP remains in force at least until we return to pre-crisis economic figures,” he told the committee. “We need to make sure jobs are maintained as well as the production capacity of companies.”

He said first cash from the EU’s 750 billion euro post-COVID economic recovery programme should reach the economy in the first half of the year.

“Real funding should be getting to the economy before the summer or in early part of the summer,” he said.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Giles Elgood)

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund views climate change as a fundamental risk to economic and financial stability, its chief said on Monday, mapping out the IMF’s plans to help focus investments in green technologies that will boost global growth.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told the Climate Adaptation Summit that global economic output could expand by an average 0.7% annually over the next 15 years and millions of jobs could be created if carbon prices rose steadily and investments expanded in green infrastructure.

“We see climate as a fundamental risk for economic and financial stability, and we see climate action as an opportunity to reinvigorate growth, especially after the pandemic, and to generate new green jobs,” Georgieva said.

She said the IMF was taking action in four areas to accelerate the transition to a new low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.

Georgieva said the Fund would launch a new “Climate Change Dashboard” this year to track the economic impact of climate risks and the measures taken to mitigate them, a key step to ensuring the needed shift.

“Climate resilience is a critical priority,” she said. “This is why we place it at the heart of what do, this year and (in) the years to come.”

The Fund is also integrating climate factors into its annual economic country assessments, also known as Article IV consultations, focusing on adaptation in highly vulnerable countries, and carbon pricing in its assessment of large emitters, Georgieva said.

In addition, she said the IMF is adopting enhanced stress tests and standardizing disclosure of climate-related financial stability risks in its financial-sector surveys, and expanding its training and support to help central banks and finance ministries take climate considerations into account.

The World Bank, the largest multilateral funder of climate finance, boosted funding for adaptation projects to 50% of its total climate finance over the past four years, and plans to maintain that percentage for the next five years, World Bank President David Malpass told the same event on Monday.

In addition to funding projects addressing coastal erosion, increasing crop yields and building cyclone-resistant infrastructure, the Bank was also investing in early warning and evacuation systems, better social protection, and weather observation, he said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Simao)

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Commission may recalibrate its planned “taxonomy” or guide for people that want to invest in climate-friendly assets after a huge public response, its financial services chief said on Monday.

Mairead McGuinness said the EU executive has received 46,000 replies to a public consultation on its template for fleshing out a law on taxonomy that it due to come into practical effect in 2022.

It sets out a system for classifying what activities may and many not be deemed to be sustainable in climate terms to help the shift to a low carbon economy.

“It would be useful to take a step back and to look at what the taxonomy is, and what it is not,” McGuinness told the European Parliament.

“It’s not a mandatory list of activities that investors have to invest in,” she added.

The first batch of measures to implement the taxonomy needs to be delayed given that it goes further than some existing legislation and EU policy, she said.

She said 98% of the responses to the public consultation were from citizens asking the European Commission not to break the taxonomy’s alignment with the EU’s Green Deal targets for cutting carbon emmissions.

“The Commission will consider recalibrating the technical screening criteria where serious concerns are raised, but we don’t want to break the link with science or the alignment with Green Deal targets,” McGuinness said.

The Commission has asked the Sustainable Finance platform for further input on how the taxonomy could help business with their transition to lower carbon emissions, she said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by David Gregorio and Angus MacSwan)