Frost & Sullivan Examines the Future of Green Energy in Africa

Growing government support in the form of production subsidies and the increasing liberalisation of electricity sectors is boosting the renewable energy industry in Africa. The announcement of renewable energy feed-in-tariffs in South Africa and Kenya are an indication of more favourable green energy policies in the region.

"Green energy markets in sub-Saharan Africa are still in their infancy and require significant public and private financing support and rapid technology diffusion," says Frost & Sullivan energy analyst Sipha Ndawonde. "However, changing government perception in favour of green energy is adding impetus to market development. Increasingly, green energy projects are viewed as an effective tool to increase the levels of energy security in both off-grid and grid connected applications."

To offer decision makers a comprehensive overview of the potential of renewable energy markets in sub-Saharan Africa, Frost & Sullivan will be hosting an online analyst briefing on Thursday 8 October at 2:00 pm BST/ 3:00 pm CAT.

See full Article.

Declare Your Independence

Declare Your Independence From High Costs & Risks
By Throwing Out Data Now

Do you have mountains of information stored on your server that you’ll never use, but feel like you should keep? You are not alone. Given expanding regulatory rules and the key role that electronic records now play in law suits, some businesses go so far as to save every bit of data they have, just to be safe. In fact, IDC reports that the total amount of disk storage shipped last year grew 40.5 percent from 2007, proving that many businesses are opting to save much more of their information, rather than deleting it.

You may be thinking, “So why should I worry about our data storage?” or “What’s the big deal in keeping everything?” While it is true that even offsite data storage costs have gone down by about 25% this year, the simple fact is that keeping your data forever can create long-term management challenges and lead to headaches when something needs to be found. Most often companies that save everything don’t do so because they think it’s the best way, but because they aren’t sure what needs to be saved or deleted.

See full Article.

Educación en principios éticos, la base del liderazgo social del siglo XXI

La Comisión Europea pone en marcha “Tu Mundo, Tu Negocio”, un programa de formación para futuros líderes responsables

Las escuelas de negocio van a la zaga de la sociedad en sostenibilidad y valores éticos

Paso a paso, la Responsabilidad Social se cuela en la compañías, dejando en su avance un goteo de principios como la transparencia, la honestidad, la conciencia social y ambiental y la importancia del capital humano.

Desde sus primeros pasos como hermana casi idéntica de la filantropía, la RSC ha ido creciendo en vigor e importancia, afianzándose como pieza cada vez más representativa del interés empresarial.

See full Article.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Study: Auditors Need Help With Risk

Although not specifically reflecting EHS auditing professionals, the PCAOB conducted a study to review how well third party auditors did in complying with Auditing Standard No. 5 during 2008, the standard’s first full year of effectiveness. Auditing Standard No. 5, An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That Is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements (”Auditing Standard No. 5″), was promulgated in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and is intended to address the practice of independent financial/accounting auditing professionals.

One of the main areas of PCOAB’s review of AS5 was how well auditors focused their efforts on the most important audit components, based on their identification/understanding of the risks posed. CFO Magazine said about the study that the PCAOB found

See full Article.

Do You Understand the Sarbanes Oxley Act?

If you are a company with connections to the US, you might be required to know about the Sarbanes Oxley act. If you are a American company and have never have heard of the act, then you have already learnt something new. It’s a law in the US.

The Sarbanes Oxley is an act that was signed into US in 2002. The act was designed to try and stop companies doing what Enron and Worldcom did. Both of these companies were found to have been running on fraud for many years. At that current time, the companies weren’t required to show their records to the US government.

What the act does is it ensures that how businesses are run is legitimate and if they are not, it holds the key players responsible for the problems.

See full Article.

Urban metabolism

Cities can learn from comparing their carbon footprints

HOW and why do greenhouse-gas emissions differ between cities? Since more than half of the world’s people now live in such metropolitan areas, that is an important question. If the worst could copy the habits of the best, climate change might be slowed significantly.

To address this question a team of researchers led by Christopher Kennedy of the University of Toronto has compared the emissions of ten conurbations. Four were in North America (Denver City and County, Los Angeles County, New York City and the Greater Toronto Area). Four were in Europe (Barcelona City, the Canton of Geneva, the Greater London Authority area and the Greater Prague Region). The other two were in Asia (Bangkok) and Africa (Cape Town).
Reuters Denver in the springtime

Dr Kennedy and his colleagues tried to quantify the contributions of heating, transport and waste disposal, among other things, to the emission of greenhouse gases in each of these cities, and to calculate the emissions per person that resulted.

See full Article.

Capitalism Works, When It’s Not Corrupted

Market capitalism is getting the blame for things that have nothing to do with it. Several examples will make my point.

Several years ago, two judges in Northeast Pennsylvania (Democrats, in case you’re curious; I’m telling you because the Associated Press won’t) put together a kickback arrangement with the owner of two area juvenile detention centers to refer youths brought up on even the most trivial of charges to those facilities instead of prescribing probation, community service, or other less stringent sentences. The now-former judges, Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan, collected $2.8 million over the course of the “enterprise.” The former owner of the detention centers has already pleaded guilty, and the two recalcitrant judges were recently indicted after their plea-bargaining sincerity failed to impress the case’s judge.

Thousands of kids who made minor mistakes (one teenage girl’s crime supposedly warranting detention was “making fun of her school’s vice principal on a Myspace page”) are scarred for life, and it’s likely that more than a few have become career criminals, something that would never have happened if the judges had not hatched their outrageous scheme.

See full Article.

SOX 302 in policyIQ – Certifiably Simple

A common and easy use of policyIQ is to collect certifications for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 302 compliance. For companies already using policyIQ to manage SOX Risks, Controls and Testing, expanding the scope to include 302 certifications is a natural step. But even if you are not already using policyIQ for your SOX work, consider the savings – in both cost and time – that can be gained by putting your certification process online in policyIQ.

What is SOX 302 certification?

On a quarterly basis companies will send up to a few dozen questions to managers and other individuals, across all of their departments, to be completed before the CFO and CEO certify to the financial statements.

These questions are often similar to the Audit Representation Letter that an external audit firm will collect from a company’s top financial officer prior to issuing an audit opinion. That letter asks questions about subsequent events, significant changes to accounting policies, and other material events. In fact, in the first year of SOX we saw a number of companies copy that letter and get it signed by various department managers before the CFO or Controller signed the copy for the auditors.

See full Article.

British firm fined for corruption

A British construction firm has been ordered to pay almost £5m after pleading guilty to overseas corruption and breaching UN sanctions.

Mabey & Johnson tried to influence officials in Jamaica and Ghana when bidding for public contracts.

It also paid money to Saddam Hussein's Iraq regime, violating the terms of the UN oil-for-food programme.

The Reading-based bridge builder said it "deeply regretted" such dealings and it had now "made a fresh start".

See full Article.

Energy saving needed to prevent 'major climate change'

Energy saving needed to prevent Energy saving measures need to be put in place urgently to prevent global warming exceeding four degrees by the end of the century, the Met Office has warned.

A report from the organisation, working on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), predicts that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unchecked then there could be "major implications for the world".

While the report predicts an average global temperature increase of four degrees should carbon emissions not be significantly reduced, some areas would be hit far harder.

See full Article.

Los países de ingreso bajo enfrentan un largo proceso de recuperación: Los desafíos importantes requieren un apoyo mayor y más adecuado

Países más pobres enfrentan déficit de US$11.600 millones en gastos básicos clave, ya que registran fuertes reducciones en comercio, flujos de capital, remisiones y turismo; pese a esfuerzos realizados hasta la fecha, es preciso adoptar otras medidas

Si bien la economía mundial muestra incipientes signos de recuperación, 43 países en desarrollo de ingreso bajo continúan sufriendo las consecuencias de la recesión mundial, lo que acentúa la necesidad de incrementar el apoyo a los países más pobres afectados por crisis e inestabilidad económica, afirma el Banco Mundial.

En un documento elaborado con motivo de la próxima reunión del Grupo de los Veinte (G-20) que tendrá lugar en Pittsburgh, el Banco Mundial manifestó que, como resultado de la crisis, para fines de 2010, 89 millones de personas más se encontrarán viviendo en la extrema pobreza con menos de US$1,25 al día. La recesión mundial también ha puesto en riesgo US$11.600 millones para gastos básicos en áreas como educación, salud, infraestructura y protección social en los países más vulnerables.

Ver Nota de Prensa completa.

Un vídeo demuestra gráficamente el efecto del humo sobre los seres vivos

* El movimiento antitabaco de Sao Paulo lo está difundiendo para apoyar la rigurosa ley antitabaco de ese estado brasileño.
* El efecto del humo de 100 cigarrillos es devastador en un girasol.

No es un experimento científico, pero las imágenes hablan por sí solas. Activistas del movimiento anti tabaco de Sao Paulo (Brasil) han llevado a cabo una prueba curiosa. Según cuenta el blog de alfazentauro, han grabado a dos girasoles a los que, encerrados en sendas urnas de cristal, han sometido a las mismas condiciones lumínicas y de humedad; pero mientras uno disponía de aire puro, el otro ha tenido que tragarse el humo de cien cigarrillos. El resultado es elocuente, después del humo de cien cigarrillos, el girasol fumador pasivo quedó hecho una piltrafa, seco y ennegrecido.

See full Article.

Fewer feet, smaller footprint

Fewer people would mean lower greenhouse-gas emissions

FAMILY planning is five times cheaper than conventional green technologies in combating climate change. That is the claim made by Thomas Wire, a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics, and highlighted by British medics writing in the Lancet on September 19th.

Ever since Thomas Malthus, an English economist, published his essay on the principle of population in 1798, people have been concerned about population growth. Sir Julian Huxley, the first director-general of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation when it was established in 1945, remarked that death control made birth control a moral imperative. Sir Julian went on to play a role in establishing what was then the World Wildlife Fund, a nature conservation agency, linking population growth to environmental degradation.

See full Article.

Obama hails 'tough regulations'

he world's leading nations have agreed "tough new regulations" to prevent another global financial crisis, US President Barack Obama has said.

These relate to the amount of money banks have to hold in reserve and to excessive pay for bankers.

Speaking at the end of a two-day G20 summit, Mr Obama also outlined plans to give emerging economies a greater say in the global economy.

The G20 will effectively replace the G8 group of developed economies.

See full Article.

G-20: más capital, menos bonos

Los bancos tendrán que reforzar su capital y reducir los bonos que pagan a sus altos ejecutivos, según acordó el grupo del G-20 en la reunión que celebró en Pittsburgh, Estados Unidos.

Los líderes de este foro, se comprometieron a poner fin a los excesos del sector bancario, ya que su "temeridad y ausencia de responsabilidad" condujeron a la crisis actual.

La declaración adoptada este viernes ataca los bonos de los que se benefician los directivos bancarios, que creen deberían ser fijados por objetivos a largo plazo y vinculados al rendimiento de cada entidad.

Las decisiones que se adoptan en el marco de las cumbres del G-20 no tienen fuerza legal, pero marcan la pauta para que los gobiernos miembros del grupo definan sus propias políticas e influyan en el resto del mundo.

See full Article.

India's 'green and clean' village

A small village in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya has become the envy of its neighbours.

Large crowds of visitors have been thronging to the village curious to find out why Mawlynnong has earned the reputation for being arguably the cleanest and best educated in India - all its residents can read and write and each house has a toilet.

That is no mean achievement in a country that is still struggling to educate its population and address basic water and sanitation issues.

About 90km (55 miles) from the state capital Shillong and barely 4km (2.4 miles) from the Bangladeshi border, Mawlynnong is much loved by its inhabitants who work hard to keep it clean.

See full Article.

UK retirement age challenge fails

he High Court has upheld the law that allows UK employers to force workers to retire at the age of 65.

In the UK, a worker can see their employment end at the age of 65 without any redundancy payment - even if they do not want to retire.

However the judge in the case said there was a compelling case for the compulsory retirement age to rise.

Age Concern and Help the Aged, which challenged the rules, will not appeal because they expect the law to change.

See full Article.

Un nuevo clima para el desarrollo

* Países en desarrollo son muy vulnerables al cambio climático.
* Modificaciones en el clima complican los esfuerzos para reducir la pobreza y promover la prosperidad.
* Un mundo con un enfoque climático inteligente es posible si actuamos ahora, de común acuerdo y de forma diferente.
* Es crítico lograr un acuerdo sobre un clima eficiente y equitativo que reconozca las necesidades de los países en desarrollo.

Un miembro de la tribu Masai en la planicie Laikipia en Kenya debe tener nueve reses antes de que pueda pedir a una mujer en matrimonio. El joven Sam Stanyaki, de la villa Waso, ha trabajado muy duro para adquirir esas nueve cabezas de ganado. Sin embargo, ¿podrá casarse en febrero próximo y realizar una gran celebración como tiene previsto?

“Las lluvias llegaron muy tarde este año y apenas había pasto. Hemos tenido que llevar nuestras reses a otros lugares donde pensábamos que la hierba era mejor”, afirma Stanyaki. “Pero, allí no había suficiente pasto para todos y estoy preocupado porque a lo mejor tendré que vender mis reses a un bajo precio o que algunas mueran. Si eso pasa, no sé qué haré con mi boda”, agrega.

Ver Nota de Prensa completa.

Low-Income Countries Face Long Recovery -- Serious Challenges Require More and Better Support

Poorest countries face $11.6 billion shortfall in critical core spending, with sharp drops in trade, capital flows, remittances, and tourism; despite efforts to date, further action is needed

While the global economy is showing tentative signs of recovery, 43 low-income developing countries are still suffering the consequences of the global recession, which highlights the need to increase support to the poorest countries dealing with economic volatility and crisis, the World Bank said.

In a paper prepared for the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the World Bank said that as a result of the crisis 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty, on less than $1.25 a day, by the end of 2010. The global recession has also put at risk $11.6 billion of core spending in areas such as education, health, infrastructure and social protection in the most vulnerable countries.

See full Article.

World Development Report 2010

Climate change is one of the most complex challenges of our young century. No country is immune. No country alone can take on the interconnected challenges posed by climate change, including controversial political decisions, daunting technological change, and farreaching global consequences.

As the planet warms, rainfall patterns shift and extreme events such as droughts, floods, and forest fires become more frequent. Millions in densely populated coastal areas and in island nations will lose their homes as the sea level rises. Poor people in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere face prospects of tragic crop failures; reduced agricultural productivity; and increased hunger, malnutrition, and disease.

As a multilateral institution whose mission is inclusive and sustainable development, the World Bank Group has a responsibility to try to explain some of those interconnections across disciplines—development economics, science, energy, ecology, technology, finance, and effective international regimes and governance. With 186 members, the World Bank Group faces the challenge, every day, of building cooperation among vastly different states, the private sector, and civil society to achieve common goods. This 32nd World Development Report seeks to apply that experience, combined with research, to advance knowledge about Development and Climate Change.

See full Report, in pdf format.

UNCTAD-WTO-OECD Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures

UNCTAD-WTO-OECD ReportA Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures was issued today, jointly prepared by three organizations -- UNCTAD, WTO and OECD -- in response to the G20 Leaders request made at their last summit in London on 2 April 2009. The Report is meant for consideration at the forthcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh on 24-25 September 2009.

The Report finds that during the period under review, no widespread resort to trade or investment restrictions as a reaction to the global financial and economic crisis could be observed. However, the Report cautions against "policy slippage" in the trade area and a possible protectionist impact in the investment area.

The Report, which is issued against the background of considerably lower global trade and rapidly declining investment flows around the world, surveys policy measures in the area of trade and investment undertaken by G-20 member countries

Overall, the study says, recent policy developments (occurring in the period between April and August 2009) paint a positive picture.

See full Press Release.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs delivers 14th Prebisch Lecture on Globalization in the Era of Environmental Crisis

The world really is unsustainable right now and steps should be taken rapidly by governments responsibly to reduce population growth and to work together to make the technological progress needed to keep climate change and other environmental problems from sooner or later causing immense human catastrophe. This was the message of Professor Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world´s eminent economists.

We're on a trajectory that is absolutely unsustainable and profoundly dangerous,
Jeffrey Sachs in address on Globalization in the Era of Environmental Crisis

Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, giving the 14th in a series of Prebisch lectures at UNCTAD, said current international attempts to respond to climate change are off track. Likening the approach to a high-stakes poker game in which negotiators hold their cards close to their chests, he said "We don't need global negotiations right now as much as we need global brainstorming, global problem solving.. . the climate-change problem is not a trade negotiation. It is simply the most complex engineering, economic, and social problem humanity has ever faced."

Prof. Sachs called for a massive, coordinated public-private effort with a great deal of input by experts to determine what can be done to allow substantial economic growth to raise living standards for hundreds of millions of poor while coping with environmental problems that already are unsustainable --- highlighted by, but not limited to, climate change.

See full Press Release.

A Changing Climate for Development

* Developing countries are highly vulnerable to climate change
* Climate change complicates efforts to reduce poverty and promote prosperity
* A “climate smart” world is possible if we act now, act together, and act differently
* An equitable, efficient climate deal that recognizes the needs of developing countries is critical

Up on the Laikipia Plateau in Kenya, a Masai tribesman must have nine cattle before he can get married. Sam Stanyaki, a young man from Waso village, has worked hard to acquire these nine animals. But will he be able to marry in February next year with a big celebration, as he plans?

“This year, the rains have come so late that there is no grass left, and we are trucking our cattle out to places where we think the grass is better,” said Stanyaki, “There won’t be enough grass for everyone, and I am afraid that I’ll have to sell some of my cattle at a very low price, or that some will die. If that happens, I don’t know what I will do about my wedding.”

See full Press Release.

Es posible lograr un mundo con un enfoque climático inteligente, afirma el Banco Mundial

Los países en desarrollo pueden emprender la senda del bajo nivel de carbono, al tiempo que promueven el desarrollo y disminuyen la pobreza, pero ello depende de la asistencia financiera y técnica de los países de ingreso alto, sostiene un nuevo informe del Banco Mundial dado a conocer hoy. Los países de ingreso alto también deben actuar con rapidez para disminuir su huella de carbono e impulsar el desarrollo de fuentes de energía alternativa para contribuir a solucionar el problema del cambio climático.

En el Informe sobre el desarrollo mundial 2010: Desarrollo y cambio climático, divulgado previo a las reuniones sobre cambio climático que se celebrarán el próximo diciembre en Copenhague, se afirma que los países más adelantados, que en el pasado producían la mayor parte de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, deben actuar para conformar nuestro futuro en materia climática. Si los países desarrollados actúan ahora, es factible lograr un mundo “con un enfoque climático inteligente”, y los costos que ello implicaría serían elevados aunque manejables. La clave para lograrlo es fomentando las actividades de financiamiento en los países en desarrollo, que es donde se producirá la mayor parte del aumento de las emisiones en el futuro.

Ver Nota de Prensa completa.

Ban Ki-moon alaba cumbre sobre el clima

El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, aseguró que la cumbre de un día sobre Cambio Climático en la ciudad de Nueva York produjo nuevos ímpetus en los esfuerzos para hacer frente al calentamiento global.

El diplomático afirmó que la ocasión ha generado un cambio a favor de alcanzar un acuerdo en la crucial conferencia sobre el clima prevista para diciembre de este año en Copenhagen.

Sus comentarios se produjeron luego de que China anunciara que hará más esfuerzos para mejorar su eficiencia energética y recortar sus emisiones de CO2.

Ver Artículo completo.

Executive pay keeps rising, Guardian survey finds

Full and part-time directors of FTSE 100 shared between them more than £1bn

The Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay reveals that the full- and part-time directors of the FTSE 100, the premier league of British business, shared between them more than £1bn.

Bonus payouts were lower, but the basic salary hikes were more than three times the 3.1% average pay rise for ordinary workers in the private sector. The big rise in directors' basic pay – more than double the rate of inflation last year – came as many of their companies were imposing pay freezes on staff and starting huge redundancy programmes to slash costs.

The Guardian data also shows that a coterie of elite bosses at the helm of multinational corporations are seeing their overall pay packets soar ever higher. The 10 most highly paid executives earned a combined £170m last year – up from £140m in 2007.

See full Article.

"La corrupción está detrás de la crisis"

El informe de TI apunta a la corrupción del sector privado como una de las causas de la crisis.

El informe anual de la organización no gubernamental (ONG) Transparencia Internacional (TI) sobre la corrupción en el mundo se centró por primera vez en el sector privado, al que responsabilizó en parte de la actual crisis económica.

"La corrupción y la falta de integridad corporativa fueron una causa subyacente básica de la crisis", aseguró el director de programas mundiales de la organización, Christiaan Poortman.

Según el documento, presentado este lunes de manera simultánea en Berlín y Nueva York, las compañías privadas tuvieron una responsabilidad directa en las causas de la crisis ya que de ellas dependen cuestiones como la fijación de precios, las presiones políticas y la lucha contra el soborno.

Ver Artículo completo.

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa

DAMBISA Moyo’s widely discussed attack on the aid system—contrary to what you may have heard—never says that all aid should end in five years. Moyo does pose a rhetorical question about the consequences of quickly cutting off all aid, but page 76 makes it clear what she actually recommends: much more focus on using aid to encourage non-aid mechanisms of finance, so that aid declines over time with the ultimate goal of “an aid-free world.”

To assess whether the book is convincing, we need to understand that it is not about how Africa should develop; it is about which mechanisms of financing lead to better development outcomes in Africa. Moyo defines aid as systematic cash transfers to governments, via grants or concessional loans—omitting humanitarian, emergency, and charity-based assistance directly to the needy. Her task is to show that aid thus defined cannot greatly expand economic opportunity for ordinary Africans, and that only a set of alternative development finance mechanisms would greatly expand economic opportunity for ordinary Africans.

See full Review.

Global firms seek climate deal

A group of more than 500 international companies has urged the United Nations to agree a strong new climate deal to help combat global warming.

The group called for "immediate and deep" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, as world leaders meet at the UN in New York for climate change talks.

The companies are members of the Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.

They include Tesco, German insurer Allianz and oil giant Shell.

In December, the UN will meet for a climate summit in Copenhagen.

"These are difficult and challenging times for the international business community and a poor outcome from... Copenhagen will only make them more so," the group's statement said.

See full Article.

Executive pay survey: Perks come as standard for boardroom bosses

There's the bus company boss who gets free petrol for his private motoring, and the head of a mining group whose company coughs up to pay his gardener.

The annual Guardian executive pay survey, which delves into the very small print of company annual reports, has uncovered a world in which those wealthy enough to pay their own way are powerful enough to ensure they don't have to.

The bus boss who gets the free motoring is Sir Moir Lockhead, the chief executive of First Group, the UK's biggest bus and train company. Public transport is clearly not for him. His perks included £27,500 for a car and £5,000 of free petrol for use outside work hours – enough to fuel 30,000 miles of driving round his family cattle farm on Royal Deeside.

See full Article.

FDI - Shrinking assets

Foreign direct investment drops further

FOREIGN direct investment has fallen sharply since the start of the financial crisis, according to the latest World Investment Report from UNCTAD. The purchase of factories, buildings and other assets by foreign firms was hardest hit in rich countries.

See full Summary.

Climate change and the UN

Leaders offer little of substance at the latest climate change gathering in New York

JUST over 70 days to go and there is miserably little progress yet. The outlook for the global summit on climate change to be held in Copenhagen in December is uncertain. The current version of the draft outcome document for the meeting is hundreds of pages long, with thousands of passages in brackets representing points of disagreement. Climate-watchers are steadily lowering their expectations. They had hoped that activities this week in New York, scheduled around the UN General Assembly, might move things forward. So far there is little to cheer.

A speech by Barack Obama on Tuesday September 22nd was eagerly awaited. He acknowledged that America—which failed to ratify the Kyoto protocol, encouraging industrialised countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases—has some catching up to do. He made clear the dangers of rapid climate change, urging the world to act “boldly, swiftly and together” to avert an “irreversible catastrophe”.

See full Article.

UNCTAD - Trade and Development 2009

Cutting red tape

Where pro-business reform has been fastest

THE World Bank's annual report tracking changes to regulations that affect business suggests that governments have handled the global economic storm well. In the year since June 2008, 131 countries introduced 287 pro-business reforms—20% more than in the previous 12 months and more than in any year since the World Bank started the survey in 2004.

See full Summary.

Obama Administration Pushes Climate Talks Into 2010

Top U.S. energy and climate leaders yesterday began to openly plan for international global warming talks to trickle into 2010.

Experts have predicted for months that a major U.N. summit in Copenhagen this December -- billed as the place 192 nations would complete a new emissions pact -- would not deliver by deadline. With health care reform now sucking all the political oxygen out of the U.S. Senate, and with countries still bickering over fundamental issues, completing a new treaty within three months is looking more and more improbable.

Key leaders are starting to say it out loud, and are putting the best face on what some are calling "Plan B."

See full Article.

Major world economies aim for "green growth" as the way out of the crisis

The world’s main economies are looking to “green growth” as the way forward out of the current crisis, opening up new prospects for climate-change negotiations ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) in Copenhagen in December.

Ministers from 40 countries, representing 80% of the world economy, discussed the crisis and where next at the OECD's annual ministerial meeting in Paris. Participants included the 30 OECD member countries plus five countries that are candidates for membership, Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia, and five major economies with which the OECD has a policy of ‘enhanced engagement’ -- Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.

In a Declaration on Green Growth signed by all 30 OECD countries plus Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia, ministers tasked the OECD with developing a Green Growth Strategy bringing together economic, environmental, technological, financial and development aspects into a comprehensive framework.

See full Press Release.

Joint call for bank bonus rules

The Group of 20 richest nations must adopt "binding rules" to regulate bank behaviour, the leaders of the UK, France and Germany have said.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the comments in a joint letter.

They also agreed to explore ways of limiting bonuses at banks to prevent future financial meltdowns.

See full Article.

Low-Income Countries Need Extra Support to Cope With Crisis

* Low-income countries have so far responded well to global crisis
* Unprecedented scaling up of IMF financial support helped poorer countries
* Governments must resist temptation to cut aid, engage in protectionism

Rich countries need to step up their support to poorer countries so they can quickly rebound from the crisis that came from the advanced economies, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

In a September 17 speech at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C., he observed that thus far, low-income countries have weathered the global financial crisis better than expected. “But low-income countries remain highly vulnerable”, he stressed, “so we cannot be complacent.”

Strauss-Kahn called on the international community to ensure that any global recovery also lifts the low-income countries. “These countries desperately need additional financing to tide them over, to give them adequate breathing space to cope with this crisis,” he said.

See full Press Release.

Book Excerpt: 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis

In Leadership Is an Art, Max DePree writes, "The leader's first job is to define reality. The last is to say thank you." Before you can lead your organization through a crisis, you have to acknowledge that you are indeed in one. Next, you have to get everyone else to acknowledge it as well. Only then can you define the problems accurately and develop plans to deal with them.

Why is this so difficult? Leaders often go into denial about the urgency and severity of the challenges they are facing. Or they tend to blame external events, people, or organizations for their problems. Without accepting that the problem is theirs to fix, they cannot understand what they are dealing with. Often the hardest part is to acknowledge your role in the origins of the crisis. Even when leaders acknowledge their responsibility, they may face significant resistance from their organizations in solving it because people have great difficulty in admitting their mistakes. This is why crises require so much skill on the leader's part.

See full Article.

The Greenest Big Companies in America

When David Roberts was growing up near the oilfields of West Texas in the early 1960s, it never got dark. Back then, oilfields were lit 24/7 by the gas flares used to burn off natural gas, a byproduct of oil drilling. The flares released massive amounts of CO2, and over time, oil companies halted that harmful practice in the U.S. But gas flares remain the norm in the developing world—and today Roberts oversees a team at Marathon Oil that's trying to end the practice. In 2007, Marathon opened a $1.5 billion liquid-natural-gas plant in Equatorial Guinea to capture the natural gas that once went up in smoke. The plant is one factor that helped Marathon, No. 100 in NEWSWEEK's Green Rankings, cut its CO2 emissions by 40 percent between 2004 and 2008—and the plant earns a profit.

It's a small example of how the economic case for going green is becoming more compelling. Economists view environmental damage as a classic "externality"—a cost that impacts society but isn't imposed on producers or consumers. But with scientific consensus that carbon emissions threaten our climate, there's growing political will to curb them, particularly with the global powers set to meet in Copenhagen in December. The Obama administration is pushing for a cap-and-trade system that would turn companies' emissions into a bottom-line cost. Smart companies are working to better understand—and cut—those emissions ahead of new regulations.

See full Article.

Economic vandalism

A protectionist move that is bad politics, bad economics, bad diplomacy and hurts America. Did we miss anything?

YOU can be fairly sure that when a government slips an announcement out at nine o’clock on a Friday night, it is not proud of what it is doing. That is one of the only things that makes sense about Barack Obama’s decision to break a commitment he, along with other G20 leaders, reaffirmed last April: to avoid protectionist measures at a time of great economic peril. In every other way the president’s decision to slap a 35% tariff on imported Chinese tyres looks like a colossal blunder, confirming his critics’ worst fears about the president’s inability to stand up to his party’s special interests and stick to the centre ground he promised to occupy in office.

This newspaper endorsed Mr Obama at last year’s election (see article) in part because he had surrounded himself with enough intelligent centrists. We also said that the eventual success of his presidency would be based on two things: resuscitating the world economy; and bringing the new emerging powers into the Western order. He has now hurt both objectives.

See full Article.

The environment and the economy

It's a big week for people who care about both climate change and the global economy. Between the UN General Assembly and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the leaders of the world's most important countries are going to be forced to think about both.

It's true, as Robert Peston notes today, that many environmentalists have been quick to see the upside of the global downturn. Most of the fall in global CO2 emissions expected this year - the largest in at least 40 years - is due to the global recession.

See full Article.

Waste not, want not

Ethanol from rubbish is the latest biofuel

OVER the past decade, biofuels have been a disappointment. There is no denying their promise: clean-burning fuel that could reduce a country’s dependence on foreign oil. But America’s attempts to produce biofuels from corn and soyabeans—hoping to replicate Brazil’s success with sugar cane—have failed dismally. All the ethanol subsidies for Midwestern farmers ever did was raise food prices globally.

Moreover when all the environmental factors were taken into account, using biofuel made from corn or soyabeans proved to be worse environmentally than burning an equivalent amount of petrol refined from oil. In some studies, it actually increased carbon emissions by as much as 50% over that produced by fossil fuels.

See full Article.

The economics of climate change mitigation

Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, for the launch of The economics of climate change mitigation

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to present our new work on the Economics of Climate Change.

Climate change is the greatest collective challenge that we have ever faced. It is destroying our only planet at an accelerating pace.

In the coming months, we have a unique opportunity to address this threat. At the COP15 Conference in Copenhagen we must produce a bold and collective response. Yet, there are less than 90 days before that crucial event, and many questions still remain without answers.

This book can help us provide those much needed answers. It gives the analytical support and economic rationale to help decision-makers at Copenhagen reach a deal on climate change.

See full Transcript.

How Authentic Leaders 'Walk the Walk'

The best leaders take the same hits as their employees and stick to the primary values they promised to uphold

When Mark Fields became president of Ford Motor's (F) troubled North American operations in 2005, he quickly announced a turnaround plan called "The Way Forward" that would eliminate 45,000 jobs—more than one-fifth the workforce—and close 14 manufacturing plants. Fields also proposed cutting health-care benefits for the blue-collar workers who remained. He stressed the sense of urgency with his new slogan, "Change or Die," which he posted on the gates of the factories. As part of his case for change, he told Ford's employees that they would have to share the sacrifices to save the company.

But Fields himself didn't share in the sacrifices: For cutting costs so fiercely, Fields was richly rewarded with a $2.3 million bonus that lifted his yearly pay to $5.6 million. Rather than moving to Detroit and becoming a full-fledged member of the community, Fields kept his family in Delray Beach, Fla., and commuted every weekend on the company's private jet. Is there any wonder no one wanted to follow Mark Fields?

See full Article.

Big Oil Goes Green for Real

Remember back in 2001 when BP went "Beyond Petroleum"? It was a brilliant marketing campaign, but it had less to do with changing the company's business model than positioning Lord John Browne as the Teflon oil executive. All but a tiny fraction of BP's revenue came, and still comes, from oil. So how should we take the spate of new green announcements from the world's major oil firms? In July, ExxonMobil announced big plans to grow green algae to fuel cars; last week, Chevron unveiled the world's largest carbon-sequestration project in Australia; and in recent months, Valero, Marathon, and Sunoco carried out a series of acquisitions that resulted in Big Oil controlling 7 percent of the U.S. ethanol business.

The list goes on. And this time it's the real deal. It's not just that these projects involve bigger money, which will grow exponentially if new technologies work. That's still peanuts for oil majors, which put only 4 percent of their total 2008 profits into alternative-energy investment.

See full Article.

Ban Ki-moon alaba cumbre sobre el clima

El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, aseguró que la cumbre de un día sobre Cambio Climático en la ciudad de Nueva York produjo nuevos ímpetus en los esfuerzos para hacer frente al calentamiento global.

El diplomático afirmó que la ocasión ha generado un cambio a favor de alcanzar un acuerdo en la crucial conferencia sobre el clima prevista para diciembre de este año en Copenhagen.

Sus comentarios se produjeron luego de que China anunciara que hará más esfuerzos para mejorar su eficiencia energética y recortar sus emisiones de CO2.

La promesa fue aplaudida por el activista en temas sobre el medio ambiente y ex vicepresidente de EE.UU., Al Gore.

Ver Artículo completo.

Enough. Period

John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group and President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center, knows something about the pitfalls and perils of investing, and how we got where we are in today's maelstrom of economic crisis. The author of "The Little Book of Common-Sense Investing" has been warning us for decades about the danger of short-term thinking and greed as motivator in the U.S. financial sector.

William Bernstein, acclaimed author of "The Four Pillars of Investing," has this to say about "Enough." -- Bogle's new bestseller: "If you are wondering about the cause of the current market crisis, then you haven't been reading enough of Jack Bogle. Because he certainly knows not only where, but why and how. For decades Jack has been communicating his disquiet in previous books, speeches, and public testimony. Years from now, when historians and investors dissect the economic and market meltdowns of 2008, they'll consult this slim, well-written volume."

See full Article.

Governing for Nonprofit Excellence

Nonprofit organizations require strong, innovative leadership, especially during uncertain times. Governing for Nonprofit Excellence (GNE), an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program, is designed to maximize the contributions of individual nonprofit board members. Participants are challenged to examine their role and the role of their boards in improving organizational effectiveness.

What You Can Expect
By examining issues of critical concern to board leaders, this leadership development program prepares participants for strategic planning and organizational transformation. Board members gain the skills needed to maintain mission clarity, forge effective relationships with CEOs, structure and manage important alliances, and achieve financial sustainability.

See full Details.

Framework for sustainable growth

Through its analysis and peer review process, the OECD has developed a comprehensive range of strategies to restore economic growth through structural reforms and innovation. The OECD is also looking at the effectiveness of the emergency stimulus measures, their impact on public finances and at how they can be unwound in the future.

See full Report, in pdf format.

Executive Program on Risk Management: Back to Basics- Aligning Strategy and Risk

When: November 16-19, 2009
Where: London, U.K.

We are delighted to invite you to participate in the Executive Program on “Risk Management: Back to Basics—Aligning Strategy and Risk”, offered by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and in cooperation with Standard Chartered Bank during November 16-19 in London, U.K.

This four-day Program is targeted to chief risk officers and senior risk officers and executives and is designed to provide, in a short period of time, a credible update on key aspects of risk management, including issues and developments in risk governance, the role of and input in of risk managers in aligning strategy and risk, and the implications for risk managers of the recent enhancements affecting risk management. The program will also expose participants to changes in the regulatory landscape and provides a useful guide for identifying gaps in risk management and for implementing the best practices contained in the 2008 Final Report of the IIF Committee on Market Best Practices: Principles of Conduct and Best Practice Recommendations.

See full Details.