American Express and BlackRock are the latest major companies to urge employees to start 2022 by working remotely as Covid-19 cases skyrocket.“We have seen an exponential increase in the spread of the Omicron variant across the world,” AmEx CEO Stephen Squeri said in a memo to employees on Tuesday. “We encourage all those who can do their jobs effectively from home to continue doing so.”New York-based AmEx said it has decided to delay the January 24 launch of a new flexible working plan that will require most employees to be in the office one to three days a week.The AmEx (AXP) CEO said the launch is delayed “until we feel comfortable bringing a large number of colleagues back together in the office.”Meanwhile, BlackRock (BLK), which is also based in Ne...
2021 was a momentous year for climate change.As well as a host of extreme, destructive events influenced by rising temperatures, the past 12 months have seen unprecedented political engagement on the issue, culminating in the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November.Progress was undoubtedly made and the overall thrust of the meeting was towards more rapid action on a whole host of measures to curb emissions.But there are now growing concerns that this momentum may dissipate over the coming months.ADVERTISEMENTThe most grievous blow comes from the US.Next move - ChinaThe potential failure of President Biden to get his Build Back Better act through Congress would significantly impact the ability of the US to meet the tough climate targets that the White House has committed to....
Earlier this year, Massachusetts passed a landmark law as part of a push towards decarbonization that requires the state to cut emissions in half by 2030.But the state’s plan to meet this ambitious goal hit a snag this fall, when residents in Maine voted down a regional clean energy project, arguing it would irreversibly damage their own natural resources in order to deliver hydropower somewhere else.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directed the government’s cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, to move towards mandatory climate related financial disclosures, among several other moves aimed at enabling the country to achieve its goal to transition to net zero by 2050.The climate initiatives were unveiled in the mandate letters sent by the Prime Minister to his cabinet ministers, outlining the objectives that each minister is directed to work towards accomplishing. The climate-related directives follow the government’s announcement last year of its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, followed in July 2021 by an interim goal t...
It's a glorious autumn afternoon and I'm standing on a hillside looking out over Tokyo Bay. Beside me is Takao Saiki, a usually mild-mannered gentleman in his 70s.But today Saiki-San is angry."It's a total joke," he says, in perfect English. "Just ridiculous!"The cause of his distress is a giant construction site blocking our view across the bay - a 1.3-gigawatt coal-fired power station in the making."I don't understand why we still have to burn coal to generate electricity," says Saiki-San's friend, Rikuro Suzuki. "This plant alone will emit more than seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year!"ADVERTISEMENTSuzuki-San's point is a good one. Shouldn't Japan be cutting its coal consumption, not increasing it, at a time of great concern about coal's impact on the climate?So why the co...