Insights

General Politics

Regulatory diplomacy: new frontiers?

General Politics

Joe Armitage
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From Brussels to Beijing, diplomats are increasingly focused on winning the battle to establish the standards and norms governing emerging technologies. New structures for Whitehall departments may be a step in the right direction for the UK. 

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The future of voluntary carbon markets in Asia

Sustainability

Lorna Ritchie
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Digital panel discussion with Benedict Chia, Director General, Climate Change, National Climate Change Secretariat, Singapore; Hum Wei Mei, Head of Asia Pacific and Head of Products, AirCarbon Exchange; Sandeep Roy Choudhury, Director, VNV Advisory Services; and hosted by Lorna Ritchie, GC’s Climate and Sustainability Practice Director, discussing the future of voluntary…

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General Politics

Democratic downgrade: Why 2023 could upend Tunisia’s revolution and North African geopolitics

General Politics

Magnus Obermann
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Twelve years after the Arab Spring, which emanated from Tunisia, the revolution has run out of money and steam. Eleven elections in eleven years and expensive subsidies for increasingly unaffordable wheat from Russia and Ukraine, along with other inefficiencies, have bankrupted the country politically and economically. While President Kais Saied is curtailing the powers…

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Corporates must learn to navigate carbon markets' quality issues

Sustainability

Marissa Lee
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Carbon credits have a credibility problem. The value of carbon credits backed by avoided deforestation projects was called into question last month when the Guardian claimed that 94 per cent of credits verified by leading standards body Verra do not represent real emissions reductions, and could be “phantom credits”.

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Commemorating Global Counsel USA's Third Anniversary

General Policy

Erin Caddell
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Three years ago this month, I boarded a flight from Washington, DC, to Des Moines, Iowa, on the inaugural day of Global Counsel USA, the Washington office of Global Counsel. I had been invited to join a group observing the Iowa caucuses. Having just launched a US business for an international public-policy consultancy, I thought it would be useful to gain an early look at…

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Fixing the UK’s labour market woes will require a focus on health, early retirement and immigration

General Policy

Joseph Supple
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The UK has a labour market problem. It is the only developed economy that saw the share of working-age citizens outside the labour market continue to rise after the initial pandemic jolt. Both Labour and the Conservatives appear to understand the importance of tackling the problem, perhaps because the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has identified the reduced size…

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Win or lose in its case against Meta, the FTC has already shifted the antitrust debate in the US

TMT

Sonia Vasconcellos
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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially brought a case against Meta to trial in an attempt to stop Meta’s acquisition of Within, a virtual reality (VR) fitness company. The trial marks the first high-profile legal test of the FTC’s efforts under Chair Lina Khan to broaden the scope of antitrust law to attempt to slow the growing power of Big Tech companies…

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Could payment system reform stifle NHS innovation and integration?

Health and Life Sciences

Mark Loughridge
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Amid a record-breaking elective backlog in England, NHS England has opted to flex its newly-granted financial powers by proposing a partial return to the Payment by Results system for acute care. But does this seemingly technical rewiring of the NHS’s financial flow have actual political and business salience? The answer is yes, and here is why. 

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Advertising in the metaverse and the authenticity of immersive encounters

TMT

Ugonma Nwankwo
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The rapid evolution of social media has transformed the advertising industry, offering new channels for brands to market their goods and services to consumers, and increasing sophistication in segmenting target audiences. However, this has also generated new regulatory challenges and enforcement issues for the sector. One prominent example of this has been how brands and…

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Partner, competitor or rival? Prospects of a German Zeitenwende in European China policy in 2023

General Policy

Magnus Obermann
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2022 has popularised a new German word in international politics: Zeitenwende, an “epochal tectonic shift”, emanating from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Europe’s increased awareness of economic exposure to authoritarian regimes has coincided with the emergence of new, China-critical voices in European capitals, such as the Greens in Germany, which have…

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The Russia-Ukraine war threatens the MENA’s food security

General Policy

Ahmed Helal
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As the world’s largest grain-importing region in the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has felt acutely the impact of the Ukraine conflict’s disruption to global food production and exports. The MENA is an agro-ecologically diverse region, ranging from the Gulf, where there are no permanent rivers or lakes and minimal rainfall, to Egypt and Iraq, where river…

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A cold winter could test support for ongoing LNG exports to Europe

Energy & Commodities

Ben Bassett
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The third Trade and Technology Council meeting: political, tech and trade implications

General Policy

Alexander Bobroske
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This week saw the third meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) take place in the United States. What was discussed by the negotiators, and how significant is what was announced? 

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The other side of the coin: CBD COP15 and what it means for the private sector

Sustainability

Lucy Cairns
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This week, over 15,000 delegates, including environment ministers from around the world and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be attending the Conference on Biological Diversity (CBD) or ‘COP15’ which is being hosted in Montreal. Building on the momentum of COP27 (the climate COP) which saw progress towards agreements to halt especially deforestation, COP15 is…

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How companies can build circular economy business models

Sustainability

Marissa Lee
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Reversing the environmental damage and imbalances that have become accepted as structural features of our economic system requires transformational, not marginal, solutions.

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Reinvigorating action on antimicrobial resistance: where do the responsibilities lie?

Health and Life Sciences

Seon Jae Crystal Choi
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Despite years of lobbying for awareness and action, recognition of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still lagging compared to its urgency. For example, a recent survey across 27 European countries showed that public awareness stood at just 30%. With 700,000 deaths every year attributed to AMR and expected to rise to 10 million by 2050, what practical…

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Reform or revolution? Europe’s energy choices in 2023

Energy & Commodities

Jasbir Basi
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This week’s EU energy council comes at an inflection point in the energy crisis. It will be a moment to take stock of progress on short-term challenges:  the new gas storage regulation means underground gas storage is above 95%; demand-side measures for gas and electricity have reduced gas consumption by 15% since August; and LNG supplies hit a new record of 109 bcm…

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FTX bankruptcy rattles lawmakers globally. How does the industry move forward?

Financial Services

Constantine Arvanitis
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The bankruptcy of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX marks a major moment in the ongoing drive to regulate digital assets within the United States, likely dwarfing the impact seen by the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem earlier this year. The concurrent timing of the 2022 midterms blunted the initial reactions from Congress, but with contagion risks still possible and…

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