Directors and Officers Liability

Towers Watson's approach to all D&O renewals is highly strategic and collaborative. We typically provide clients with a detailed risk profile designed to demonstrate how underwriters may view their risk. We'll explore your company's objectives with respect to its D&O insurance program, and help ensure that you understand what you purchase and the reasons for doing so. We'll also engage in an in-depth discussion of the D&O insurance market, including current trends in the business and legal environment, and what you as an organization can do to minimize the threat of potential litigation. We'll work with you to address questions and issues such as:

See full Press Release.

IFRS compliance questionnaire for 2010

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published our IFRS Compliance Questionnaire for 2010. This 329-page questionnaire summarises the recognition and measurement requirements in IFRSs issued on or before 30 September 2010. It may be used to assist in considering compliance with those pronouncements. It is not a substitute for your understanding of such pronouncements and the exercise of your judgment. Users of the questionnaire are presumed to have a thorough understanding of the pronouncements and should refer to the text of the pronouncements, as necessary, in considering particular items in this questionnaire. The items in this questionnaire are referenced to the applicable sections of the IFRSs.

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Greenhouse 2011 Conference

Scientists and representatives from industry and all levels of government will have the opportunity to hear about the latest in climate change science from leading researchers from Australia and around the world.

GREENHOUSE 2011 follows the successful GREENHOUSE 2005 in Melbourne, GREENHOUSE 2007 in Sydney and GREENHOUSE 2009 in Perth.

GREENHOUSE 2009 attracted more than 500 delegates, a large exhibition and extensive media coverage. Delegates in Perth said:

See Details.

BID: Innovar en América Latina y el Caribe

A través de un análisis comparativo con las realidades de los países desarrollados, un estudio del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo revela algunos patrones persistentes en la región en términos de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación. Los países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) siguen realizando muy bajas inversiones en investigación y desarrollo (I+D) y, a diferencia de los países de la OECD, tienen una escasa participación del sector privado en inversión en I+D como porcentaje de la inversión total.

Las empresas de América Latina y el Caribe han favorecido estrategias de compra de tecnología en lugar de promover la generación endógena de tecnología y de nuevas ideas, dice el informe titulado “La necesidad de innovar”.

See full Press Release.

New energy: climate change and sustainability shape a new era

A new energy revolution – similar to shifts from wood to coal to oil – is inevitable as climate change and oil scarcity drive a global search for sustainability in power production. But even the promise of renewable energy holds drawbacks.

"Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you," a somber President Jimmy Carter said gravely into a television camera on an April night in 1977.

A series of oil embargoes and OPEC price hikes had hit the nation hard. Gasoline prices had tripled. Auto-dependent Americans had sometimes waited hours in line to buy the gasoline needed to get to work. The president, in an iconic fireside chat – in a beige cardigan – two months earlier had congenially urged Americans to turn thermostats down to 65 degrees F. by day, 55 by night.

See full Article.

Copenhagen one year after: Did global warming talks accomplish anything?

A new report finds that the much maligned Copenhagen Accord could give negotiators at global warming talks in Cancun, Mexico, next week something to build upon.

The widely criticized global warming agreement that emerged from the Copenhagen summit last December has actually put climate talks in a decent position as negotiators gather to resume discussions in Cancun, Mexico, Monday, according to a UN-sponsored report.

So far, 140 countries have signed the accord, though it is nonbinding. The report looks at what might happen if the countries fulfill only their more modest pledges or if they fulfill their most aggressive pledges.

See full Article.

The great electric car race of 2010

This year, more automakers will roll out electric cars to American roadways.

For Jason Hendler and more than 50,000 others who put their names on an Internet "want list" in hopes of one day owning the Chevrolet Volt plug-in car, the wait is almost over.

After more than two years of online debating, wailing, and waiting with each other, Mr. Hendler and his fellow Volt-ophiles could actually have the long-promised hybrid electric-drive vehicle sitting in their driveways this fall – at least in theory.

See full Article.

Global warming: carbon dioxide emissions worldwide fell in 2009

That's the good news heading into Cancun global warming talks Nov. 29. The bad news is that the carbon dioxide emissions aren't likely to stay down for long.

Industrial carbon-dioxide emissions, the driver behind a new round of global climate talks set to begin in Cancun, Mexico, Nov. 29, eased in 2009, according to a group of scientists monitoring atmospheric CO2.

Emissions from burning coal, oil, and natural gas fell 1.3 percent compared with emissions in 2008, notes in the team from the Global Carbon Project, set up in 2001 to keep track of CO2 emissions as well as conduct research on Earth's carbon cycle.

See full Article.

How Corporate Governance Changed From 1986 to 2010

The past quarter-century has been accompanied by a surprising amount of change in the composition and governance of corporate boards, as illuminated by data from the annual Spencer Stuart Board Index, now in its 25th edition. This articles highlights some of the most notable changes, including increased board independence, smaller and more diverse boards, more companies splitting the chairman and CEO roles, increased adoption of mandatory retirement ages, growing board responsibilities, and a doubling of board retainers.

See full Press Release.

"How Good Politics Results in Bad Policy: The Case of Biofuel Mandates"

The biofuels industry has become big policy, big business, and increasingly controversial. While countries like the United States and Brazil use biofuels to support farmers, increase energy security (reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil), improve the environment, and increase economic independence by reducing the need for foreign oil, environmentalists challenge the assertion that biofuels, particularly corn ethanol, offer a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

In his new discussion paper, Belfer Center Board Member Robert Lawrence makes the case that the growing list of concerns about the impact of biofuel targets and mandates are the predictable result of a failure to follow the basic principles of good policy-making.

See full Details.

Defining Success for Climate Negotiations in Cancun

International climate negotiations will continue in Cancun, Mexico, during the first two weeks of December, 2010. These will be the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-16) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The key challenge is to continue the process of constructing a sound foundation for meaningful, long-term global action, not necessarily some notion of immediate, highly-visible triumph. Some of the gloom-and-doom predictions we’ve been hearing about these upcoming negotiations are therefore misguided, because they are based upon unreasonable – and fundamentally inappropriate – expectations (despite the fact that expectations have been lowered dramatically since COP-15 in Copenhagen last year).

Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize

Why do I say that the best goal for the Cancun climate talks is to make real progress on a sound foundation for meaningful, long-term global action, not some notion of immediate triumph? This is because of some basic scientific and economic realities.

See full Details.

Arranca la XVI Cumbre sobre Cambio Climático en Cancún

Un mensaje en una botella gigante ha aparecido en una paradisíaca playa mexicana: «Urgente, salvar vidas en Cancún». Oxfam International (OI) ha dado la bienvenida a los asistentes a la Convención Marco de Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático (COP-16) de forma atípica. Según un informe de la ONG, durante los primeros nueve meses de 2010, 21.000 personas han perdido la vida a causa de desastres climatológicos, una cifra dos veces mayor a la registrada en 2009. Por ello, OI pedirá la creación de un fondo para las comunidades más pobres.

Los programas de mitigación del calentamiento global, sufragados por las naciones ricas, sin embargo, despiertan suspicacias. EE.UU., sin ir más lejos, desea que los receptores ofrezcan información completa y verificable de sus planes medioambientales. China, de momento, se opone.

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As regulation of greenhouse gases nears, EPA releases guidelines

The guidelines are intended to help states and industry evaluate the cost and kind of technologies that would best reduce greenhouse gases.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday unveiled new regulatory guidance intended to help states' air-pollution regulators and heavy industry evaluate the cost and kind of technologies that would best reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

It comes in the run-up to the historic first regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from US industrial sources on Jan. 2. On that date, the EPA will require large new projects or plant upgrades that emit more than 75,000 tons of greenhouse gases to have a permit.

See full Article.

"Institutions for International Climate Governance"

OVERVIEW

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has significant advantages but also real challenges as a venue for international negotiations on climate change policy. In the wake of the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen, December 2009, it is important to reflect on institutional options going forward for negotiating and implementing climate change policy.

DISCUSSION

As a UN affiliate, the UNFCCC has international legitimacy, particularly among developing countries, as well as administrative and institutional resources that could be essential for implementing any negotiated climate agreement.

See full Details.

"Renewable Irony"

One day after the election, the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that a national renewable electricity standard could be an area of bipartisan energy cooperation, after President Obama had said cap-and-trade was not the only way "to skin the cat." It is ironic that while cap-and-trade — a sensible approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions linked with climate change — is dead and buried in the Senate, considerable support has emerged for an approach that would be both less effective and more costly. A national renewable electricity standard would mandate that a given share of an electric company's production come from renewable sources (most likely wind power), or, in the case of a "clean energy standard," from an expanded list including nuclear and hydroelectric power.

See full Details.

New energy: climate change and sustainability shape a new era

A new energy revolution – similar to shifts from wood to coal to oil – is inevitable as climate change and oil scarcity drive a global search for sustainability in power production. But even the promise of renewable energy holds drawbacks.

"Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you," a somber President Jimmy Carter said gravely into a television camera on an April night in 1977.

A series of oil embargoes and OPEC price hikes had hit the nation hard. Gasoline prices had tripled. Auto-dependent Americans had sometimes waited hours in line to buy the gasoline needed to get to work.

See full Article.

The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

OVERVIEW

African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa faces three major opportunities that can transform its agriculture into a force for economic growth: advances in science and technology; the creation of regional markets; and the emergence of a new crop of entrepreneurial leaders dedicated to the continent's economic improvement.

Filled with case studies from within Africa and success stories from developing nations around the world, The New Harvest outlines the policies and institutional changes necessary to promote agricultural innovation across the African continent. Incorporating research from academia, government, civil society, and private industry, the book suggests multiple ways that individual African countries can work together at the regional level to develop local knowledge and resources, harness technological innovation, encourage entrepreneurship, increase agricultural output, create markets, and improve infrastructure.

See full Details.

Are socially responsible investment markets worldwide integrated?

Abstract:

Purpose – This study seeks to investigate the extent and structure of equity price interdependence among the socially responsible investment (SRI) markets of Australia, Canada, Japan, UK and USA over the period 1994-2010.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the degree of price co-movement between SRI markets by using a vector autoregression analysis to identify the markets which have significant price co-movements. Subsequently, a variance decomposition analysis is conducted among the markets which are significantly related in order to determine the extent of interaction between these markets and to identify the markets that are most and least influential.

See full Details.

Africa's cities to triple in size

The number of people living in African cities will triple over the next 40 years and by 2050 60% of Africans will be city dwellers, a UN report has said.

In five years Lagos in Nigeria is set to overtake the Egyptian capital Cairo as Africa's biggest city.

UN-Habitat's Joan Clos said Africa needed to invest urgently in housing.

See full Article.

Establishing additionality: fraud vulnerabilities in the clean development mechanism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the clean development mechanism (CDM) which creates carbon credits from emission abatement projects in developing economies. The paper aims to examine the operation of the CDM with specific reference to fraud vulnerabilities regarding the additionality of a project. An examination of the process of establishment, certification and verification of additionality (confirmation that emissions post-implementation of the CDM project are lower than those that would have occurred under the most plausible alternative scenario) is used to highlight the need for particular vigilance in respect to sustaining and improving the integrity of future market-based mechanisms post-Kyoto.

See full Summary.

Why should sustainable finance be given priority?

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the relatively new concept of sustainable finance, although very apt and timely, needs to address many major issues for it to be meaningful and if it is to achieve its desired objectives.

Design/methodology/approach – The study identifies some of the major issues that need to be clarified and addressed including: defining the kind of sustainability that is envisaged; examining issues relating to the use of high-discount rates and its compatibility with the goals of sustainability; the case of excessive pollution due to adverse selection, moral hazard and lobbying; and specialisation and path dependent systems that are detrimental to future production.

See full Summary.

New Ethical Requirements Redraw Bright Line Test for Legal, Tax and Accounting Practitioners, says BNA Expert

Circular 230 imposes disclosure standards on the banking, legal, and accounting communities, and has recently been revised, imposing new duties and responsibilities upon practitioners representing taxpayers before the IRS. The new standards are the subject of a December 1st webinar from BNA Tax & Accounting, Avoiding Ethical Violations, led by Robert McKenzie, one of the nation's foremost experts on professional ethics.

"We all try to do the right thing, but many practitioners have busy practices and those pressures may cause them to inadvertently face an ethical problem," says BNA Tax & Accounting Managing Editor and senior tax analyst, Allen Calhoun. "Anyone who practices before the IRS must comply with these requirements in order to avoid violating their ethical duties. It is critical and a professional and ethical requirement that practitioners know the new bright line imposed by these standards."

See full Article.

Los números rojos del empleo verde

Las posibilidades de generar puestos de trabajo ecológicos pasan por un mercado laboral flexible, altas inversiones y nuevos perfiles que están por crear.

Si los estadounidenses dejaran de comer durante un año y el producto de las cosechas se dedicara a generar biocombustibles, esto apenas satisfaría el 2% de nuestras necesidades energéticas”. George Gilder, fundador del Discovery Institute, criticaba recientemente en The Wall Street Journal ciertas estrategias verdes que buscan la creación de empleo en Estados Unidos. Para Gilder, gran parte de los trabajos verdes se habrían creado de todas formas, y los objetivos a largo plazo de estados como California en este sentido “se podrían alcanzar en el curso normal de los avances tecnológicos”.

Hace apenas quince días el presidente Rodríguez Zapatero aseguraba en la reunión del G20 celebrada en Seúl que el sector de las energías renovables, el transporte, la edificación sostenible y la ecoindustria tienen en España un potencial de creación de un millón de puestos de trabajo durante la próxima década.

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Enhance the Role of Audit, say Global Finance Experts

But the Spectre of Audit Liability Looms Large in Face of Much Needed Change

Auditors should report on risk, governance, the business model and other forward looking information, finds a new report from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) which gathers expert opinions from a series of roundtables held during 2010 in key financial markets around the world.

The report, Reshaping the audit for the new global economy, reflects discussions held in the UK, Poland, Singapore, Ukraine, Brussels, Zambia, and Malaysia about the future of audit during a year in which the role of audit has come under increasing regulatory scrutiny. Investors, corporates, banks, regulators, auditors and other stakeholders were brought together to give their views.

See full Article.

Africa's cities to triple in size

See full Press Release, in pdf format.

The power of values

You have been part of numerous leading-edge companies, from Publicis and The Henley Centre to Saatchi & Saatchi. How important are values in such firms?

Tremendously important. At Saatchi, we talk about being purpose-driven, having a really clear purpose. Typically what differentiates companies is less what their goal happens to be and much more the kind of character, personality and beliefs that drive them.

Do some companies stand out in this regard?

Virgin’s an easy one to quote, but also note Southwest Airlines and, these days, the Amazons and the Googles — they have values that in some way make it really clear whether you belong or you don’t. They’re kind of lighthouse companies.

See full Article.

Business exposed: the naked truth about what really goes on in the world of business

Freek Vermeulen believes that discovering the truth behind the myths that dominate business thinking can provide a better competitive edge than listening to conventional wisdom gleaned from past giants of management thinking. And he’s not hesitant to reveal the truths he has discovered no matter how much, or whom, it hurts. His book, Business Exposed, targets the collective inertia of middle management, the reluctance of CEOs to pursue the new and different, the waste that results from dependence on consultants and the lack of connection between performance and rewards.

Vermeulen, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School, did rigorous research (based on management science conducted at the top business schools in the world) to discover what really goes on in today’s corporations. Combining that research with his experience with many large organisations, he explores such important issues as the way companies formulate strategy, organise innovation, make investment decisions, respond to competitors’ strategies, make acquisitions, deal with conflicts of interest and rely on still-accepted theories, despite new research that proves they do not work.

See full Article.

Microfinance: Leave well alone

Capping microfinance interest rates will hurt the poor. There are better ways to regulate the industry

MICROFINANCE is an example of something that is sadly all too rare: an anti-poverty tool that usually at least breaks even. If you make small, uncollateralised business loans to groups of poor women, they almost always repay them on time. It has grown rapidly in many countries, not least Bangladesh and India. With nearly 30m clients each, these are now the world’s biggest markets for microfinance. Yet the industry has come under attack for being too commercial.

In Bangladesh the government has capped the annual interest rate that microfinance institutions (MFIs) can charge at 27%. In India a new breed of for-profit microlenders has shaken up an otherwise NGO-dominated sector—and annoyed the authorities.

See full Article.

Récord de gases de efecto invernadero

Las concentraciones de dióxido de carbono en la atmósfera fueron un 38% más altos que al comienzo de la era industrial.

La concentración de gases de efecto invernadero en la atmósfera alcanzó niveles récord, según la Organización Meteorológica Mundial de las Naciones Unidas (OMM).

Las últimas cifras que dio a conocer esta organización demuestran que se están alcanzando niveles sin precedentes en este tipo de gases (dióxido de carbono, metano y óxido nitroso) en la era moderna.

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Are quotas needed to get more women in senior management roles?

I've been doing some work in relation to the consultation that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is currently running, Women on Boards - and want to know what you think about Government action to increase the proportion of women holding directorships of British companies.

The Government has made clear that it wants to achieve "swift change" in this area. It points out that women now form 51% of the UK population and 46% of the economically active workforce; they are responsible for the bulk of consumer buying decisions and consistently outperform their male counterparts educationally. Yet as Cranfield University has shown, women make up only 12.2% of the directors of FTSE 100 companies (2009), and just 7.3% of directors among FTSE 250 companies - where half have no women in the boardroom at all.

See full Press Release.

Governance: Governments must improve public sector productivity, says OECD

Boosting public sector productivity and maximising returns on investment in technology will be key to governments playing their part in restoring economic growth. These were among the conclusions reached by OECD ministers meeting in Venice on 15 November, under the leadership of Italian Minister Renato Brunetta responsible for public administration and innovation.

“Strong political commitment and leadership will be vital to reforming the public sector,” said Aart de Geus, OECD Deputy Secretary-General. “Ministers recognise the role they must play in delivering more effective public services.”

See full Press Release.

Japan: improve the environment to boost economic growth, says OECD

Japan should do more to fight climate change and protect biodiversity, according to a new OECD review of its environment. Tackling these two problems would improve the environment and help boost long-term growth.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurrìa commends Japan for addressing environment as part of the response to the economic and financial crisis. Japan has already allocated USD 28 billion – about 16% of the anti-crisis package – to environment related measures.

See full Press Release.

Getting more from your training programs

Companies around the world spend up to $100 billion a year1 to train employees in the skills they need to improve corporate performance—topics like communication, sales techniques, performance management, or lean operations. But training typically doesn’t have much impact. Indeed, only one-quarter of the respondents to a recent McKinsey survey said their training programs measurably improved business performance, and most companies don’t even bother to track the returns they get on their investments in training.2 They keep at it because a highly skilled workforce is clearly more productive and because employees often need new skills to deal with changes in an organization’s strategy or performance.

See full Article.

Climate change: How to live with climate change | The Economist

It won’t be stopped, but its effects can be made less bad

COMPARED with the extraordinary fanfare before the global-warming summit in Copenhagen a year ago, the meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that starts in Cancún next week has gone unheralded. That is partly because of a widespread belief that the publicity build-up to last year’s summit contributed to its failure, but also because expectations have changed dramatically. In the wake of the Copenhagen summit, there is a growing acceptance that the effort to avert serious climate change has run out of steam.

Perhaps, after a period of respite and a few climatic disasters, it will get going again. It certainly should. But even if it does, the world is going to go on getting warmer for some time (see article).

See full Article.

No hay suficiente energía para cubrir la demanda

Según la Agencia Internacional de Energía (IEA), desde 2008 hasta 2035, la demanda de energía incrementará en 36%, con las economías emergentes, que crecerán el 93%, constituyendo casi todo el incremento total. De estos, el crecimiento proyectado de China, ahora el consumidor más grande de energía, será 73%.

Las energías fósiles seguirán siendo las más importantes en total, aunque su porcentaje en la mezcla será más bajo en 2035 que ahora. Además, estas proyecciones se han hecho en un contexto donde hay demanda alta y subiendo, y eso pensando que muchos países desarrollados todavía están en condiciones de demanda moderada de lo normal, ya que no estamos al final de la crisis.

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Can China Get a Jump on Electric Vehicles?

Given China’s astonishingly rapid rise in the global auto industry, there is no shortage of optimistic forecasts for its electric vehicle (EV) market. Consultants at McKinsey, for example, forecast that by 2030 EV sales in China will reach between RMB 700 billion and RMB 1.5 trillion (US$105 billion and US$225 billion), making China the world’s largest market for EVs as well as for vehicles with conventional internal combustion engines.

Such bullish predictions owe much to the support of China's government for EVs. Beijing intends to invest RMB 100 billion in the next 10 years on domestic EV development.“China has great potential to lead the [EV] market because it is in the national interest to go electric, for many reasons: Energy security, air quality and escalation of its car population,” says Bill Russo, senior adviser at consulting firm Booz & Company and former head of Chrysler China.

See full Article.

Health promises and perils in an interdependent world: breaking the cycle of poverty, misery, and illness

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization

President Shunichi Miyazaki, Dean Makiko Osawa, distinguished guests, students and graduates, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure, and an honour, for me to address a Japanese audience and, most especially, to speak to you from the Tokyo Women’s Medical University. I thank the government of Japan, its Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and officials at this University for making this opportunity possible.

Since its foundation more than a century ago, this University has extended an opportunity to women, and symbolized a vision for their future. This has also been a vision for society. As the University’s current President and Dean both note, excellence in medical care and research contributes not only to better health, but also to the well-being of society. I fully agree.

See full Press Release.

Richard DeBlasio, Proponent of Renewable Energy Standards, to Receive 2010 IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award

Standards Have Paved the Way for Integration of “Green” Energy Resources with the Electric Power Grid

Richard DeBlasio, a driving force in the development of standards that have brought order to the evolution of one of the most important changes to electric power production, is being honored by IEEE with the 2010 IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award. IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional association.

The award, sponsored by the IEEE Standards Association, recognizes DeBlasio for contributions to the standardization and global impact of distributed electric power supply system interconnection technology.

See full Press Release.

CEO Succession: Making the right choices

Commentators, and indeed boards, are inclined to generalise about the value of bringing in outsiders to succeed the CEO or the benefits of internal succession.

Believing that more evidence-based research was needed, we conducted a detailed study of the CEO transitions occurring within the current list of FTSE 150 companies between 2004 and 2008. In order to give boards proper guidance, we also sought to identify some key principles (based on this evidence) that should underpin any thoughtful and objective leadership succession process.

See full Press Release.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

... or Maybe Not: Why Women are Losing Ground on Wall Street

The recession has not been kind to women on Wall Street. Consider these recent reports in the financial press: Even though women hold a minority of financial sector jobs, five times as many women as men were laid off after the start of the recession, according to Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, the pay gap between men and women in the industry, Bloomberg adds, actually widened between 2000 and 2007. The result is that while women in the broader work force have made significant progress toward pay and opportunity parity, they have actually lost ground on Wall Street.According to The Wall Street Journal, 9.6% more men are working in finance now than 10 years ago, but 2.6% fewer women. Among young workers, the numbers are even starker: 16.5% fewer women aged 20 to 35 and 21.8% fewer women aged 20 to 24.

In short, the number of women even choosing to work on Wall Street has dropped, and many of those who do start out there are deciding to leave or are being pushed out.

See full Article.

Golpeada en tierra ajena

El problema de la violencia contra la mujer suele agudizarse cuando la víctima se encuentra en un país que no es el suyo y al que se ha mudado en busca de una vida mejor.

"Hay algo que los hombres latinoamericanos dicen bastante a menudo (en el Reino Unido): este país no es bueno para las mujeres, porque se ponen atrevidas", le comenta Myriam Bell a BBC Mundo.

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Unilever CSR report “..growth and sustainability. We have to do both”

In conjunction with the global release of their very bold “Sustainable Living Plan” last week, I was greatly encouraged by the words chosen by Unilever CEO Paul Polman when asked to summarize what the corporation hopes to achieve:

“Many would say making consumption sustainable is impossible. Our view is that we have to make it possible. We cannot choose between growth and sustainability. We have to do both.”

Those last five words truly summarize the ideal marriage of what a company with high CSR standards should be looking to achieve. ‘We have to do both’ is more than just a mantra but ultimately a balance has to be struck from the largest corporations down to those who may employ just two or three individuals. It’s a statement that applies to businesses throughout the world, there is no escaping the reality that businesses exist to make money for their owners, employees and shareholders but businesses also need to find a winning strategy that will encompass growth and sustainability exactly as Mr. Polman has suggested.

See full Press Release.

Will the World Climate Summit herald rapid change?

I’m rather excited about the upcoming inaugural ‘World Climate Summit’, if the objectives of the conference are met it could be the most promising breakthrough concerning climate issues outside of UN meetings yet seen. One significant difference versus a UN conference is that many global leaders of major businesses will be in attendance who will be those tasked with marrying the implementation of agreements that are made with their CSR policies. The conference will consist of high-ranking business/financial and government leaders from across the world and feature more than 100 speakers at the two-day event. It begins on December 4 at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun, Mexico.

See full Summary.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

In 1999, the UN General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her.

See full Press Release.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day. Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

See full Press Release.

Kenya to launch Africa's first carbon exchange

Kenya is to launch a climate exchange platform to facilitate the trading of carbon credits and help tackle climate change.

The market will be the first of its kind in Africa, enabling all African countries to sell their carbon credits.

The exchange is expected to be open for business by the middle of next year.

See full Article.

Mundell-Fleming Lecture -- The Macroprudential Toolkit

Anil Kashyap, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance

See Video page.

Why governments must lead the fight against obesity

Locally led social movements are required to reverse the obesity pandemic. Governments are in a uniquely powerful position to catalyze these movements.

The world is getting fat. In many countries, the proportion of people at an unhealthy weight has more than doubled in the past few decades.1 Globally, at least 1.3 billion adults and more than 42 million children are overweight or obese.2

The consequences are considerable. Excess weight increases the risk of a wide range of illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers; an estimated 2.6 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese.

See full Article.

Firms in Corrupt Countries Pay a Price in Market Value

Stock markets are supposed to be the ultimate arbiter of company worth. But do they factor in a country’s corruption or virtue in valuing businesses?

Yes, says Charles M.C. Lee, an expert on markets and accounting at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. The GSB professor recently discussed his research showing that ethical lapses matter in the market value of companies. Publicly held firms in countries perceived as less corrupt trade at bigger market premiums than those in places considered more corrupt, according to Lee. “Virtue seems to pay — at least over the longer term,” he said in a November 5 talk.

See full Article.

The CEO’s guide to value principles

Four principles can help you make great financial decisions—even when the CFO’s not in the room.

1. The core-of-value principle
2. The conservation-of-value principle
3. The expectations treadmill principle
4. The best-owner principle

See full Article.