Friday Lecture Meeting – Romain Svartzman, February 20th, 2026

Please note that the seminar will be conducted in English.

Speaker: Romain Svartzman, Research Fellow at Bocconi University’s Institute for European Policymaking (IEP@BU), a Senior Executive Fellow at SDA Bocconi School of Management.

Title: Price stability in the low-carbon transition: Taking stock and assessing the implications for monetary policy

[Based on an ongoing paper written with David Barmes and Andrew Jackson]

Abstract: The low-carbon transition – driven by policy, innovation, and behavioral shifts – will fundamentally reshape relative prices across the global economy. These adjustments can exert significant pressure on headline inflation, particularly through volatile categories such as energy, transport, and food. Whether these shocks result in persistent inflationary pressures depends on their propagation through supply chains, aggregate demand, and wage-setting behaviors. This presentation will first take stock of the existing evidence regarding the links between the low-carbon transition and inflation. Such inflationary pressures may compel monetary policymakers to increase interest rates. However, this could slow down the pace of the transition and amplify inflationary pressures related to climate shocks. This introduces a potential “inflation-green transition trade-off” alongside the traditional inflation-output mandate, creating a complex intertemporal challenge for central banks. The second goal of this presentation is to assess the implications for monetary policy and propose a framework for navigating these trade-offs.