BP supports shareholder effort for more transparency on climate change February 1, 2019 Energy giant BP will get behind a shareholder effort which would require it to work towards the goals of the Paris climate change agreement. The oil major will describe how its strategy is consistent with the climate change targets, set out in 2015, it said. Read more: Oil giant Shell reveals plans to link executives’ pay [...]
Trump tore down the walls for the Democrats’ socialist superstar February 1, 2019 Half-baked policy ideas that don’t stand up to economic scrutiny but spread like wildfire across social media. The ability to tear up the rulebook to forge a new path to power. A US politician who is almost certainly dramatically under-qualified for the office they hold, but who has captured the imaginations of millions through sheer charisma [...]
On climate change, good economics sadly does not make good politics January 30, 2019 Economists, of all people, should understand the power of specialisation. They are taught early that prosperity is founded on the division of labour: individuals becoming more productive in specific tasks. Yet when dispensing policy advice, they seem to ignore that lesson, presuming that they know better than politicians about good politics. Economists frequently claim that [...]
US-China trade war greater threat to M&A deals than Brexit, survey finds January 29, 2019 The trade war between the US and China is a greater risk to merger and acquisition (M&A) activity this year than Brexit, according to research published today. A total of 50 per cent of senior global M&A professionals viewed the trade tensions, rising tariffs and potential subsequent erosion of global GDP as the biggest emerging business [...]
The view from the slopes: This year’s Davos was stuck in aspic January 25, 2019 Leading up to Davos, all the talk was about the notable absentees. As high-profile delegates fell like dominoes, this year’s World Economic Forum looked in danger of becoming a damp squib. But something has been here, and people have been trying hard to pretend it isn’t. It’s the elephant, or even elephants, in the room. [...]
This is the year for businesses to find their purpose in life January 22, 2019 One year ago, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink called on businesses to define their societal purpose, sending a message to the corporate world that working towards profit alone was no longer good enough. Last week, Fink’s push towards purpose was in the papers again, when a hacker concocted an elaborate hoax in the form of [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point to the annual WEF summit in Davos? January 22, 2019 Is there any point to the annual WEF summit in Davos? Bill Michael, chairman and senior partner of KPMG in the UK, says YES. Elements of the World Economic Forum (WEF) do raise an eyebrow. From the setting in the Swiss Alps to the A-listers in attendance, it can seem like the last bastion of global [...]
Davos is a chance for the UK to step-up and collaborate in the digital revolution January 21, 2019 After the drama of last week in Westminster, it’s the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that will take centre stage over the next few days. I will join more than 100 heads of government, as well the globe’s leading companies, international organisations, and NGOs in making the annual visit to Davos. Brexit [...]
Blackrock investigates hoax letter to chief executives over climate change January 16, 2019 Blackrock is investigating a hoax letter published this morning, claiming to be from chief executive Larry Fink, that warned companies that the world’s largest investment firm would divest unless they took action against climate change. The letter, which was posted on a spoof Blackrock website as the company reported its financial results, said the investor [...]
Flood, fire, even an earthquake: businesses must protect themselves against the event of a natural disaster January 16, 2019 Technical issues were enough to hit TSB with a brutal three-week outage in April last year. The damage from that event is well documented – an eightfold increase in customers choosing to bank elsewhere, a bill for compensation and repairs costing roughly £176m, and a chief executive who decided to walk. The events suffered by [...]