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Although renewable energy investments are not characterized by climate change mitigation as their primary objective, they still target activities that are related to the reduction of GHG emissions and are thus crucial for the transition to a low-carbon economy. The paper offers an analysis of the peculiarity of the German public finance framework aimed at renewable energy financing. On the one hand, it quantifies the amount of public financial capital, and types of financial instruments, devoted to renewable energy starting from 2010. On the other hand, it finds a strong relationship between public funding and the mobilization of private renewable energy investments. Our results point out that, despite the rapid growth of renewable energy investments in the past decades and the progressive reduction of GHG emissions, the country is facing difficulties in meeting the desired targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All G20 countries have adopted policies to tame financial instability in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic financial measures are designed to support bank lending, boost financial markets' liquidity, reduce banks' funding liquidity costs, and allow for a smoother transition in monetary and fiscal policies. However, when analyzed in a broader framework that considers possible interlinkages between the pandemic and threats posed by climate change, these measures are not aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Indeed, there is no evidence that recovery policies to date reflect sustainability priorities nor do they account for climate-related financial risks. The analysis carried out suggests that this failure to account for climate change could amplify the build-up of additional climate-related financial risks and of existing vulnerabilities in the financial system, leading to increased overall exposure to climate risks and thus undermining the low-carbon transition in G20 countries. Against this backdrop, the paper reviews several financial measures to avoid increasing the high carbon bias of existing policies and to explicitly address climate-related risks in the financial sector. The author proposes an enhanced macro-prudential policy framework to achieve three interrelated objectives: tackle climate-related financial risks, scale up green finance for a greener and more sustainable recovery, and preserve the global financial system's resilience. A macro-prudential strategy aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement is needed to address carbon bias, avoid the increase of climate-related financial risks, and reorient financial flows towards sustainable investments. 'Green-enhanced' capital requirements can be used, but they need careful calibration to prevent financial instabilities, while green liquidity instruments pose fewer implementation concerns. Climate-related large exposure limits could help contain systemic risks deriving from the materialization of climate risks. Harmonized taxonomy and enhanced climate-related disclosure requirements are critical for the correct functioning of proposed climate-related financial instruments. Implementing such instruments in a post-pandemic financial policy framework could help underpin a transformative financial response to climate change while strengthening the resilience of the global financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the extent to which the availability of unprecedentedly rich data-sets and the need for new approaches – both epistemological and computational – is an emerging issue for Macroeconomics. By adopting an evolutionary approach, we describe the paradigm shifts experienced in the macroeconomic research field and emphasize that the types of data the macroeconomist has to deal with play an important role in the evolutionary process of the development of the discipline. After introducing the current debate over Big Data in social sciences, the paper presents a detailed discussion of possible and existing interactions between Big Data and Computational Behavioral Macroeconomics. We argue that Big Data applied to economic questions can lead to new styles of thinking and research methods, namely to the development of a new research paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]