The Future of Cities 2011

Centres of innovation for urban solutions

When: 28 February - 1 March 2011
Where: Chatham House, London, UK

Cities face many challenges - economic, climate, resources, infrastructure and demographic.

As centres of innovation, can cities produce the solutions they need to tackle them?

As the bulk of the world's population will be in fast-growing large urban areas by 2050, do the powers that cities have need to be re-thought?

See full Details.

Global wind capacity increases by 22% in 2010 - Asia leads growth

Global wind power installations increased by 35.8 GW in 2010, according to figures released by the Global Wind Energy Council today. This brings total installed wind energy capacity up to 194.4 GW, a 22.5% increase on the 158.7 GW installed at the end of 2009. The new capacity added in 2010 represents investments worth EUR 47.3 billion (US Dollars 65 bn).

For the first time in 2010, more than half of all new wind power was added outside of the traditional markets in Europe and North America. This was mainly driven by the continuing boom in China, which accounted for nearly half the new wind installations (16.5 GW).

“China now has 42.3 GW of wind power, and has surpassed the US in terms of total installed capacity,” said Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA). “This puts China firmly on a path to reach 200 GW of installed wind power by 2020. At the same time, China has become the world’s largest producer of wind energy equipment.”

See full Press Release.

Energy saving among consumers - Difficult but doable

In the framework of the Changing Behaviour project, the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) developed a toolkit to enhance the success of energy saving programmes among consumers. Currently, such programmes seldom lead to permanent savings. The toolkit contains a step-by-step plan, practical checklists, illustrative examples and much background information for managers of energy saving projects. A second result of the research project is a list of recommendations for policy makers based on insights obtained in the project with regard to stimulating behavioural change. It may be difficult to stimulate energy efficiency among consumers, but it can be done if the right steps are taken and sufficient attention is paid to crucial elements.

The MECHanisms (Make Energy Change Happen) Toolkit is an instrument for managers of energy saving projects, available from http://mechanisms.energychange.info. Next to the step-by-step plan for setting up, implementing and evaluating projects, it also contains practical checklists, illustrative examples and much background information on the various target groups (home-owners, tenants, offices, schools, etcetera), do's and don’ts and experiences from previous projects in which the toolkit was used. MECHanisms pays particular attention to the elements that are crucial in realising long-term savings, such as the context and the involvement of the target group. In order to make a permanent change, the new behaviour of the target group also needs to be stimulated by their surroundings.

See full Press Release.

Renewable energy share in European Union increased to 11,6% in 2009

The new EurObserv'ER report "The state of renewable energy in Europe" presents an estimate for the share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption in Europe. This share is estimated at 11.6% for 2009, compared to 10.4% in 2008. EurObserv'ER is a cooperation body of experts in the field of renewable energy that reports at national and European level, in support of European policy.

The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) is a consortium partner in the EurObserv’ER project and contributes with various activities, including supplying Dutch figures on the development of renewable energy in the previous year. As well as the figures on turnover and employment in this sector. Those figures for the Netherlands are reflected in the January report issued by ECN.

See full Press Release.

Corporate Responsibility Champions Network: A 'How to' Guide

This guide aims to show the what, why, and how of a CR champion and related networks. CR champions are emerging as a powerful tool available for embedding CR philosophy into an organisation, proving critical in the process of embedding CR. They play a strategic role, committed to causing change and to continuing the work in the long-term.

See full Details.

Emerging Powers and the International Development Agenda

When: Tuesday 15 February 2011 13:30 to 14:30
Where: Chatham House, London, UK

Participants
Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, UK Secretary of State for International Development
Chair: Dr Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House

The countries that compose the emerging powers can play a vital role in helping lift millions out of poverty and in tackling the common global challenges. But how can the potential of these new economic powerhouses be leveraged to tackle poverty in an innovative and transparent way?

The Secretary of State set out how the UK will work to strengthen further its partnerships with emerging powers, adapting its approach to reflect the changing international development landscape.

See full Details.

Wind Energy Finance Forum

Despite nagging uncertainty in European financial sector, 2010 saw creative solutions for financing clean energy projects.

The Wind Energy Finance Forum at Europe’s premier wind energy event will give you the latest information on a wide range of finance topics and the opportunity to engage in dialogue with the key players involved in financing, insuring and assessing the value of wind energy developments.

What will be discussed?

• The current state of play for financing wind projects
  
• Looking ahead: what will drive future growth?
  
• Public funding in unstable markets: strategies and business models of the key players
  
• Debt: The financing needs of today's offshore wind power sector
  
• Raising equity for on and offshore projects, as well as the supply chain

See full Details.

Tackling Corruption in Defence and Security

Transparency International Defence Handbook Launch

When: Tuesday 8 March 2011 17:30 to 18:45
Where: Chatham House, London, UK

Participants
Sir Ian Andrews, Chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency
Sir Stewart Eldon, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO
Mark Pyman, Programme Director, Transparency International UK
Avgustina Tzvetkova, Deputy Minister of Defence, Republic of Bulgaria
Chair: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Co-President, Chatham House

See full Details.

Chatham House Prize 2011 – Nominees Announced

Chatham House is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2011 Chatham House Prize.

The nominees are:

Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, Special Representative for Climate Change, Mexico
Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Central Bank of Malaysia
Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Limited
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese democracy campaigner.
The Chatham House Prize is awarded to the statesperson deemed to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.

The winner will be announced later this year and an award ceremony will take place in the autumn.

See full Details.

2011 1st International Electric Vehicle Pilot City and Industry Development Forum: Better Electric Vehicles, Better City Life

Location and date(s) of workshop:
Shanghai, China: 21-22 April 2011

Organiser(s): Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST), IEA and Shanghai Municipal Government

Background:

At the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) held in Washington D.C. on July 19-20, 2010, China and the United States jointly proposed an Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI), which has received positive responses from International Energy Agency (IEA) and other countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and Sweden.

One of the Initiative’s components is to launch a pilot cities programme to promote electric vehicles demonstration in urban areas. With an aim to strengthen the exchange and collaboration among government agencies, municipalities, EV industry and research communities, the 2011 1st International Electric Vehicle Pilot City and Industry Development Forum, the 2nd Advanced Vehicle Leadership Forum (AVLF), along with the 3rd EVI Roundtable Meeting, will be held in Shanghai during the 14th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Shanghai Auto Show, see appendix 3) in April, 2011.

SEe full Details.

Renewable Energy – from Analysis to Action - Short-term renewable energy market forecasts and relevant policies to encourage investment now

Location and date(s) of workshop:
OECD Headquarters, Paris, 15-16 March 2011

Organiser(s): IEA Renewable Energy Working Party (REWP) and the Renewable Energy Technology Deployment (RETD) Implementing Agreement

Background:

This is an invitations-only event, for which invitations can be requested from the contact above.

How can the key stakeholders - Finance, Policy and Industry - work together to deliver contributions expected from renewables to energy security and climate-change mitigation? Providing answers to that question will be the goal of this IEA workshop on short-term prospects for renewables and on the urgent action needed to get on track to a low-carbon future.

See full Details.

ECN report on Renewable Energy Action Plans of all 27 European Member States

On 31 January 2011, the European Commission presented its ‘Communication on the progress of renewable energy in the European Union’. Among others it shows that the 2020 renewable energy policy goals are likely to be met and even exceeded if Member States fully implement their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs). The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) compiled a database and data report on the NREAPs, commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA). This report has proven to be useful in accessing and evaluating the renewable energy projections and is referred to in the above-mentioned Communication from the European Commission.

ECN has released a final update of the report on the Renewable Energy Action Plans as submitted to the Commission by the European Member States. The report and the updated database are available from www.ecn.nl/nreap, covering all 27 European Member States. A summary report is available as well.

See full Press Release.

Wind power to provide a fifth of world’s electricity by 2030

Wind could meet 12% of global power demand by 2020, and up to 22% by 2030, according to a study published today by the Global Wind Energy Council and Greenpeace International.

The ‘Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010’ (GWEO 2010) (1) finds that wind power could play a key role in satisfying the world’s increasing power demand, while at the same time achieving major greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The 1,000 GW of wind power capacity projected to be installed by 2020 would save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year. These reductions would represent 50-75% of the cumulative emissions reductions that industrialised countries committed to in their 2020 ‘Copenhagen pledges’. By 2030, a total of 34 billion tons of CO2; would be saved by 2,300 GW of wind power capacity.

See full Press Release.

Climate reformists challenge old economic models

A few weeks ago I wrote about the seemingly different futures foretold by climate science and climate economics. The former is filled with peril and haunted by the unthinkable, the latter blithely assured of continued prosperity. Most economic modeling, you'll recall, forecasts the continued rise of global gross domestic product (GDP) -- people in the future will be richer than we are today. Depending on various assumptions, climate damage will reduce the rate of GDP growth anywhere from 2 to 20 percent by 2050, but under no scenario does climate damage stall or reverse that rate of growth. Collapse is absent from most models, even as a worst-case scenario.

How should we react to what the economic modeling tells us? A survey of the wonk landscape reveals three broad camps: conservatives, liberals, and reformists.

See full Article.

Mexico: Cracking Down

Over the last four years, Mexicans have learnt that waging a war against organised crime not only takes a toll on human life at home, but also impacts on the complex and sometimes ambivalent relationship with their northern neighbour.

There have been promises to work together against the drug traffickers, triggered by fears in Washington that the violence will spill over into United States (US) territory, and an acknowledgement by both countries that they share responsibility for the problem. The battle against the drug gangs in Mexico has come to dominate the bilateral relationship.

See full Article.

The irony of the tragedy of the commons

THE American Economic Review just turned 100. It turns out that the original issue in 1911 featured an article by Professor Katharine Coman of Wellesley College entitled “Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation”, and in the anniversary issue, Robert Stavins (via Mark Thoma) cleverly decides to retrace what's happened since then with economic theory on "commons problems". Basically, he writes, Pigou and Coase and those who followed them have done yeoman work that's led to the institutionalisation of tools like cap-and-trade allowances for fishing permits and pollution permits, which are superior to command-and-control rules both from an environmental and economic perspective:

See full Article.

Yale Sustainability Microloan Fund Will Promote Financial and Environmental Prosperity

Innovative ideas that save money and resources are the focus of the new Yale Sustainability Microloan Fund, announced today by the Yale Office of Sustainability. The fund will encourage Yale students, staff, and faculty to come up with creative ideas to be considered for short-term loans. Aimed at engaging all members of the Yale community in helping to enhance the culture of sustainability at Yale, this program will both foster positive change and help call attention to the connections between financial and environmental prosperity.

Microloans are typically granted to small enterprises that are unable to obtain funding through regular channels such as bank loans, investors, or, in the case of universities and corporations, operating funds. Similarly, Yale Sustainability microloans will help fund projects that save both money and the environment, but might not qualify for regular budgetary funding. Loans will be given in amounts ranging from $500 to $100,000. Applicants will be asked to describe their potential projects in detail and will be assessed by an expert committee on financial benefit, environmental benefit, feasibility, innovation and interdisciplinary/interdepartmental cooperation.

See full Press Release.

Growing a Clean Tech Enterprise

Over the course of his 25-year career, Russell Ford has gained extensive experience building world-class manufacturing and service organizations through roles as CEO of Prestolite Electric, chief operating officer of Holley Performance Products, senior vice president of operations for Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics Division, and general manager of Allied Signal’s Gas Turbine Division. This experience has served him well as president and CEO of ClearEdge Power. The company had 30 employees when he joined it in May 2009, but now has more than 200. In his short tenure, Ford has also guided the company’s flagship power-generating fuel cell product for small businesses and residences, the ClearEdge5, from concept development to initial commercial production and more than $50 million in sales backlog.

See full Press Release.

Report Outlines Effective Practices for Chair-CEO Relationship as Split Roles Rise in U.S.

The number of U.S. companies that separate the chairman and CEO roles is at a historic high: 40% of the S&P 500 now separate the roles, up from 23% a decade ago, according to Spencer Stuart. A new report published by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management is among the first to outline how chairs and CEOs work effectively together in these interdependent roles, providing useful guidance as the chair-CEO leadership structure becomes more prevalent.

"The Effective Chair-CEO Relationship: Insight from the Boardroom (pdf)," authored by management expert Elise Walton, is based on interviews with 35 chairs, CEOs, and stakeholders. Participants identified key factors that contribute to a successful working relationship between the chair and CEO: good chemistry, a clear framework for the relationship, and having effective people and practices in place.

See full Press Release and access full Report.

Carbon Forum North America 2011

This panel will discuss the most contentious issues hamstringing the REDD debate today, aimed at the fundamental question: how do we can get the market started saving the rainforests?

See full Details.

Leadership secrets from the ancients

There are certain elements of leadership that survive the centuries -- that are classical, says John Prevas, co-author of "Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today."

And while these features aren't necessarily a guarantee of success in the modern world, they can provide professionals with a framework around which success can be built, he says.

So which leaders from the ancient past should you be looking to model your career on?

See full Article.

Brown Bag Lunch with Tom Delreux: the EU and Climate Change Negotiations

The European Union as international environmental negotiator:
EU decision-making and representation in climate change negotiations

Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 12:00 Noon
Room 319, Kroon Hall
195 Prospect Street

Join us Tuesday, March 1, for a brown bag lunch with Tom Delreux, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium. Delreux will offer a look inside the European Union decision-making process, paying particular attention to the informal dynamics that the EU uses to counterbalance its rigid institutional structure and present a single European voice. He will focus on the recent climate change negotiations as an example.

See full Press Release.

West 'facilitates corruption in Africa' says top economist

Industrialized countries have been enabling corruption in Africa by providing crooked officials with a haven for their money, according to Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

The former World Bank chief economist, one of the few economists to foresee the global financial crisis, was among the speakers at this year's Global Poverty Summit, held in Johannesburg.

Speaking to CNN's Robyn Curnow, Stiglitz expressed optimism about Africa's economic prospects, but he said there should be more discussion about undisclosed bank accounts in the West that are used to facilitate high-level fraud in Africa.

See full Article.

All aboard the 'road train?'

Spending hours on end stuck behind a lorry would send most sane drivers completely round the bend.

But the man behind the wheel of the car in this picture is pretty relaxed, sipping coffee from one hand and thumbing through his newspaper with the other.

That's because new technology being developed by European researchers is allowing the driver of the lorry in front to control the speed and direction of his car.

See full Article.

Africa's heritage sites under threat

Many of Africa's natural and cultural sites are under threat from uncontrolled development, poaching and civil unrest, UNESCO has warned.

While less than 10 percent of all sites on the World Heritage List are in Africa, the continent has more than 40 percent of sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger, according to Lazare Eloundou, chief of the World Heritage Center's Africa unit.

UNESCO, the United Nations body in charge of preserving heritage, has now made Africa a priority and is now giving extra support to the continent's governments in helping mitigate the threats.

See full Article.

Do electric cars have enough drive to go mainstream?

Major car manufacturers are poised to launch their electric vehicles and expectations are so high Nissan says it has closed its U.S. waiting list with 20,000 pre-orders.

It's no wonder people are excited, with promises of zero carbon emissions, running costs less than a quarter of that of conventional cars and government incentives in some countries including subsidies, exemption from road tax and free parking.

See full Article.

Solar power enters the plastic age

Cheaper and lighter compared to its more expensive, cumbersome silicon cousin, plastic photovoltaics (PV) could herald a revolution in the solar power market, according to a UK solar panel expert.

"Plastics are much cheaper to process than silicon. In principle the devices we've been making might be very, very cheap and cover large areas," said David Lidzey from the UK's University of Sheffield.

See full Article.

Green is a way of life in Europe's eco capital

With its winding canals and large public parks sitting alongside a busy port and bustling business district, Hamburg is a city that contradicts itself.

But by combining its industrial strength with a commitment to reduce its impact on the environment, Germany's second-largest city is becoming a model for major metropolises around the world.

See full Article.

Measuring transaction costs one charitable donation at a time

A concerted effort is being made by institutions like the World Bank to quantify various types of transaction costs incurred by businesses (Doing Business, Enterprise Surveys). The rationale for focusing on transaction costs (and reducing them) is usually couched in mainstream economic concerns. That is, in an attempt to increase growth rate of GDP per capita, create jobs, reduce poverty, and so on.

However, there are many social activities containing costs that are not being accounted for in these surveys. Charitable giving, not the favorite of mainstream economists, is one such transaction. The role charitable donations play in alleviating poverty and helping the economically distressed should not be overlooked. For those of us closely associated with the task of building indicators, the key question is whether the costs associated with a given non-mainstream exchange like charitable donations are significant enough to warrant a closer look.

See full Press Release.

Rate the Raters

Corporate sustainability ratings are going mainstream, but how they work in practice remains somewhat of a mystery. For phase three of Rate the Raters we conducted in-depth evaluations of 21 ratings, in an attempt to shed light on this important area. The 21 ratings we focused on were a representative sample of the 100+ ratings that we inventoried in phase two.

Our phase three work revealed numerous examples of good practice, which are detailed in our report. We are starting to see efforts to reduce the survey fatigue that companies face. A greater number of raters are soliciting feedback and direction from external experts, many through formal advisory panels. And we observe a few raters opening up their black boxes to let us in on their methodologies. Yet we found many areas in need of improvement as well, and offer a number of recommendations to raters for the future.

See full Article.

Ventures in Energy Technology

A few days ago, ConocoPhillips, NRG Energy and GE Capital announced a new joint venture. The three companies are putting up $300 million into a fund called Energy Technology Ventures which will “invest in, and offer commercial collaboration opportunities to, venture and growth-stage energy technology companies,” according to a statement.

While the announcement is intriguing – and hopeful for those of us who want to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy – it is not the first time in recent years that a major oil company has linked up with unexpected partners:

See full Article.

Banks and Twitter: Compliance issues

Bank of America and Wells Fargo are among the big banks just now starting to experiment with Twitter and other social networking media. All in all, lots of other banks are moving similarly. A CNBC reporter spent some time monitoring the tweets and has this to say: "The tone for both is unfailingly cheery, enthusiastic and helpful. They answer questions and point frustrated customers in the right direction. And yes, the tweets read like ads. 'Glad 2 hear that you are happy with personal & business banking @ Wells Fargo. We appreciate your business!" Bank of America's Twitter rep, David, Tweets: "Thank you! We're glad we can help, listen, and learn from our customers."

See full Article.

FREE EthicsPoint Webinar: Current FCPA Compliance Program Best Practices: Lessons Learned from Recent DPAs

Event title: FREE webinar: Current FCPA Compliance Program Best Practices: Lessons Learned from Recent DPAs

Date: February 23, 2011

Time: 10am PST/1pm EST

Duration: one hour

Short Description:
If you are a compliance department professional, in-house counsel or independent compliance practitioner, this is the event for you to learn about and help your company incorporate the current best practices into its FCPA compliance program.

See full Details.

Closing the Gap: Big Business and Poverty

Four or five years ago, all you had to do to get someone excited about poverty alleviation was to mention the words “Prahalad” or “Yunus” and you had his or her full attention. These two South Asian gurus, the late business professor C.K. Prahalad and the microfinance proponent Muhammad Yunus, captured the energy and idealism of hundreds of thousands of business leaders, academics, students, and of course, social entrepreneurs through their messages and models. Importantly, they made many want to work in low-income markets, and find new solutions to sustainable growth in the developing world.

Prahalad — through his bestselling 2005 book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid — advanced a vision of the poor as, on the one hand, consumers with a combined $5 trillion to spend, and on the other hand, as producers, if given access to markets. Yunus, through the Grameen microfinance model, showed us a sustainable business model that directly involved the poor and that could be profitable, scalable and have immense impact.

See full Article.

Workplace Investigations: 3 Things Every Investigator Must Do

With employees reporting more incidents of workplace misconduct than ever before, employers need to shape up and realize that these complaints can’t be ignored. If employers are going to encourage employees to report misconduct internally, they better do something each time a new case is received. Employers and investigators have a lot of legal responsibilities they must comply to when conducting a workplace investigation. Investigators can’t just pick and choose which cases are worthy of an investigation.

Although no two investigations are the same, there are three main things every investigator must do during an investigation:

See full Article.

Six challenges of governance, risk management, compliance

Corporate governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance (GRC) are no longer the exclusive province of Sarbanes-Oxley. Powerful market forces - globalisation, increased mergers and acquisition activity, heightened regulatory scrutiny, tight operational budgets, and escalating environmental concerns - are all pushing your company to develop and implement a comprehensive GRC initiative to protect itself, while remaining agile and competitive.
Successful GRC initiatives demand an integrated and enterprise-wide view of risk and compliance. As a result, your business requires access to all its data, regardless of where it resides and the form it takes.

It must be available to users and applications when, where, and however needed. And your business needs to be confident that its data is available, complete, accurate, consistent, auditable, and secure.

See full Press Release.

U.S. Aid Agencies—Then and Now

My colleague Connie Veillette recently commented on President Obama’s call to “merge, consolidate, and reorganize the federal government” in his State of the Union address. The whole-of-government bandwagon has seen a lot of riders lately, without much thought to the underlying reasons that have given it currency of late.

In the case of foreign assistance, it is the proliferation of U.S. government agencies delivering aid that has necessitated the all too common whole-of-government approach. But, if you look at the list of agencies with a hand in foreign aid just 15 years ago, the number of agencies involved is chopped in half. Not only does the number of agencies decrease from 21 to 10 but the percent of official development assistance (ODA) delivered by each agency seems much more reasonable. In 1996, USAID delivered the vast majority of ODA with the State Department and Treasury coming in a distant second and third. The Department of Defense had a minimal role and HHS was entirely absent.

See full Article.

10 Steps to the Ultimate Investigation Report

You spend a lot of time and energy conducting an investigation. Finally, just when you think it’s over, it’s time to put together the investigation report. Depending on how information was gathered throughout the investigation, this task can become a nightmare. The accuracy and information contained in an investigation report is critical to the outcome of the investigation. Developing a standardized report template within your organization will make it easier for investigators to prepare high quality reports that would be accepted by the authorities should the case have to go to court.

One of the questions we often receive is what information really needs to go in an investigation report?

See full Article.

Accounting Principals Advises Financial Institutions to Reform Compliance Teams Now to Gain Competitive

Accounting Principals, a leading finance and accounting staffing provider, today released a white paper – "Focusing in on Risk and Compliance" – which offers an in-depth analysis of the increased regulation and compliance requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the necessary action financial services institutions must take to stay ahead of the curve.

The steps required of each company will vary vastly depending on the size of the organization, and reaching compliance can range from several months to several years. Regardless of size however, the time is now for chief financial officers, chief information officers, directors of credit, directors of compliance and directors of risk to appraise not only their existing risk platforms, but also the skills, experience and talent that will be needed to ensure they are prepared.

See full Press Release.

Five Predictions for Your 2011 Governance, Risk and Compliance Program

2010 was a difficult year for organizations that were looking to establish and maintain an effective GRC program. As we move further into 2011, the number of applicable regulations and standards will continue to increase, making the importance of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) rise for organizations that are looking to protect against security breaches. The following are five predictions that we can expect to see in 2011 GRC programs.

See full Article.

Growing Number of Companies Increasing Directors and Officers Liability Limits, According to Towers Watson Survey

Driven by the potential for litigation from a broad range of constituents and a heightened concern over the threat of regulatory investigations, more companies across a wide range of industries are increasing their directors & officers (D&O) liability limits, according to global professional services company Towers Watson’s (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) 2010 D&O Liability survey. Further, among those companies with international operations, a growing number are also purchasing a D&O policy in a foreign jurisdiction.

The Towers Watson survey revealed that 21% of respondents said they had increased their D&O limits compared to their prior D&O policy, versus 12% in 2008, the last time the survey was conducted. Additionally, while 75% said their limits had stayed the same — versus 86% in 2008 — only 3% said they had decreased their limits.

See full Article.

A Tale of Two U.S. Global Development Budgets

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Welcome to budget season FY2012…and FY2011. Adding to the usual budget chaos in Washington this time of year is not one, but two budgets. President Obama released his FY2012 budget request yesterday. Meanwhile Congress is still trying to settle FY2011 funding levels (four months after the fiscal year began) before the current continuing resolution expires on March 4. A first glimpse of the proposed House levels for FY11 and President Obama’s FY2012 request suggest never the twain shall meet.

See full Article.

Green economies for growth, urges UN

Investing $1.3 trillion (£800bn) each year in green sectors would deliver long-term stability in the global economy, a UN report has suggested.

Spending about 2% of global GDP in 10 key areas would kick-start a "low carbon, resource efficient green economy", the authors observed.

They also recommended following policies that decoupled economic growth from intensive consumption.

See full Article.

Tropical forests 're-shaped' by climate changes

Future climate change could change the profile of tropical forests, with possible consequences for carbon storage and biodiversity, a study says.

It suggests that if current trends continued, the drier conditions would favour deciduous, canopy species at the expense of other trees.

See full Article.

AccountAbility hits back at 'untenable' standards board

The management of embattled standards organisation AccountAbility has issued a letter to stakeholders attacking the actions of its own AA1000 Standards Board following the collective resignation of that group earlier this week.

The letter said that the Board had been made untenable by "fundamental disagreements over the future governance of the Standards function, the propriety of certain Board members and others in leadership positions maintaining competing business interests, and ongoing concerns about breaches of independence".

The management pushed the extraordinary attack further by saying: "We believe the Board's position was heavily influenced by false, misleading and inaccurate information provided by certain disgruntled employees of AccountAbility."

See full Article.

Is sustainable growth a contradiction in terms for the ethical company?

Every ambitious small company wants the same thing – to grow. And small companies that produce a more sustainable product, or a healthier product, and does it with style can often find that the marketplace rewards them by giving the chance to grow quickly.
You will be familiar with some of the names that fit the description. Seventh Generation. Innocent. Green & Blacks.

But the question is this – is never–ending growth even a desirable goal for companies leading the charge towards a sustainable future? Isn't growth a big part of the problem, as our species continues to gorge itself in an orgy of overconsumption?

See full Article.

How women can help you beat the competition

Are you looking for your next growth area? What are your plans to beat your competition? Come to think of it, what business exactly are you in? If your answer to any of these questions isn’t talent, then you are running the risk of being left behind. Why? Because growth and competitive advantage will come from innovation and creativity in the 21st century.

As John Hagel III, co-founder of the Deloitte U.S. Center for the Edge, says, “companies must truly become talent-driven firms.” Yet most today are underutilizing, and often downright ignoring, half of their talent pool—their women. Or, put another way, investing in women—both as workers and as consumers—is one of the best levers for creating competitive advantage.

See full Article.

Altos precios de los alimentos llevaron a 44 millones de personas a la pobreza

El aumento del precio de los alimentos ha llevado a cerca de 44 millones de personas a la pobreza en los países en desarrollo desde junio pasado, mientras el costo de los alimentos continúa en ascenso y se aproxima a los niveles de 2008, según nuevas cifras que el Grupo del Banco Mundial dio a conocer antes de la reunión de ministros de Hacienda y de gobernadores de bancos centrales del Grupo de los Veinte (G-20), que tendrá lugar en París.

Los precios mundiales de los alimentos están alcanzando niveles peligrosos y amenazan a decenas de millones de personas pobres de todo el mundo”, declaró el presidente del Grupo del Banco Mundial, Robert B. Zoellick. “El aumento de los precios ya está arrastrando a la pobreza a millones de personas y representa una enorme carga para los sectores más vulnerables, que gastan más de la mitad de sus ingresos en alimentos”.

Ver Nota de Prensa completa.

Agenda for the IASB/FASB joint special meeting

The IASB and FAS will hold a joint special meeting at the IASB offices in London from 1 to 2 March 2011. Presented below is the agenda for the meeting.

See full Press Release.

How Well Does Compliance and Ethics Training Actually Reduce Risk?

According to papers filed by the government in an FCPA prosecution late last year, the defendant company (RAE Systems) had learned of a practice of bribery in its joint venture in China but also concluded that “implementing an effective compliance program could hurt sales.” Company personnel did, however, want to “evidence” that they were trying to stop bribery and so they provided “some FCPA training” to at-risk personnel. In this attention-getting case, the Justice Department seemed to suggest – somewhat ominously – that the training (which it labeled a “half measure”) may have enabled the criminality to continue (by creating a possible defense in the event the bribery was detected).

See full Article.

Chemicals: Sector climate change responses

El informe Chemicals: Sector climate change reponses, suplemento de la serie Different shades of green? The outlook for Industrial Products companies post-Copenhagen, analiza con detalle las respuestas específicas para reducir la huella de carbono en el sector químico.

Ver Estudio completo, en formato pdf.