Biodiversity as an Asset Class Episode 1: Removing Barriers to Action
November 16, 2022--Extractive practices, short term profit maximization and shareholder capitalism are accelerating the extinction of life on Earth. What measures must be taken to end such destructive processes? Andre Hoffmann the Chairman of Massellaz explores how a stakeholder approach underpinned by a new accounting system with a long term outlook is essential to safeguarding biodiversity and natural systems.
Biodiversity as an Asset Class is a five episode series that profiles leading global thinkers on how we must reconstruct our economic system in order to protect nature and the future of life on Earth. Episodes explore topics that include removing barriers to action, the valuation of natural capital, a nature-positive business approach, and the role of philanthropic capital. Share this video
Source: weforum.org
IOSCO Reviews Implementation of Liquidity Risk Management Recommendations
November 16, 2022--IOSCO today published a thematic review ('Review') assessing the implementation of selected recommendations ('Recommendations') issued in 2018 to strengthen the liquidity risk management practices for collective investment schemes ('CIS') globally.
Jean-Paul Servais, IOSCO Board Chairman and Chairman of the Belgium FSMA, said "Effective liquidity management is crucial to safeguard the interests of investors, to maintain the orderliness and robustness of collective investment schemes and markets, and to reduce systemic risks. Effective liquidity management therefore contributes to financial stability. IOSCO will continue to engage with the industry, its members, and other international bodies to ensure that sound liquidity management practices are implemented."
Source: IOSCO
How Blended Finance Can Support Climate Transition in Emerging and Developing Economies
November 15, 2022--Innovative instruments and equity finance are needed to enhance risk-sharing through public-private partnerships and maximize the impact of scarce public funds
Emerging market and developing economies account for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, and many are highly vulnerable to climate hazards.
These economies will need significant financing in coming years to reduce emissions and adapt to the physical effects of climate change.
Many also have high debt and constrained budgets because of the pandemic and face higher government borrowing costs amid rising interest rates around the world, making it especially difficult for public finance to meet pressing climate financing needs.
These factors mean mobilizing private capital on a large scale will be key to achieving their climate objectives.
Source: IMF.org
IMF-Aging Is the Real Population Bomb
November 15, 2022--Population aging is the top global demographic trend; the pandemic can teach us how to prepare for it
Total world population passed the 8 billion milestone on November 15, 2022.
The progression from 7 to 8 billion people took a mere 12 years, conjuring up long-standing fears associated with rapid population growth, including food shortages, rampant unemployment, the depletion of natural resources, and unchecked environmental degradation.
But the most formidable demographic challenge facing the world is no longer rapid population growth, but population aging. Thoughtful preparedness-combining behavioral changes, investment in human capital and infrastructure, policy and institutional reforms, and technological innovations-can enable countries to meet the challenge and take advantage of the opportunities presented by demographic change.
Source: imf.org
COP27: 10 key facts climate scientists want you to know
November 14, 2022--Adapting our world will not save us from the devastating effects of climate change, say scientists.
What is also needed is urgent action to achieve dramatic cuts in CO2 emissions.
Here are 10 insights from climate experts delivered in plain language.
Adapting the world to cope with the effects of climate change can only go so far and time is running out to make radical changes to the way we live if we are to have any hope of averting a climate catastrophe, leading scientists have warned.
Released at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, a report written by leading climate scientists lays bare the limitations of efforts to adapt to climate change. It says the world needs to urgently reduce the emissions that are changing the climate.
Source: weforum.org
WTO report shows G20 trade restrictions increasing amidst economic challenges
November 14, 2022--November 14, 2022-In a context of economic uncertainty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the food security crisis, G20 economies between mid-May and mid-October 2022 introduced export restrictions at an increased pace, particularly on food and fertilizer, according to the 28th WTO Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures issued on 14 November.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on G20 countries, and all WTO members, to refrain from adopting new trade-restrictive measures that can further contribute to a worsening of the global economic outlook.
While some trade-restrictive measures have been lifted by G20 countries, the report indicates that the trend has been going in the wrong direction. Export restrictions contribute to shortages, price volatility, and uncertainty.
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
Slowing Global Economic Growth is Increasingly Evident, High-Frequency Data Show
November 13, 2022--While there are multiple headwinds weighing on growth, further policy tightening is expected amid the need to bring down elevated inflation
Global economic growth prospects are confronting a unique mix of headwinds, including from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, interest rate increases to contain inflation, and lingering pandemic effects such as China's lockdowns and disruptions in supply chains.
In turn, our latest World Economic Outlook, released last month, lowered our global growth forecast for next year to 2.7 percent, and we expect countries accounting for more than one third of global output to contract during part of this year or next. Moreover, as we discuss in our latest report prepared for the Group of Twenty, recent high-frequency indicators confirm that the outlook is gloomier.
Source: IMF.org
Investors pump record sums into leveraged ETFs
November 13, 2022--The bullish bets, equivalent to more than 5% of all ETF purchases, mean losses were magnified
Investors have poured record sums into high-risk leveraged funds this year in spite of the collapse in financial markets.
The funds, designed to magnify any market gains, also deepen any losses if asset prices fall, meaning many investors are likely to have been left badly out of pocket as stock markets have tumbled this year.
Source: ft.com
IMF Working Paper-U.S. and Euro Area Monetary and Fiscal Interactions During the Pandemic: A Structural Analysis
October 11, 2022--Summary:
This paper employs a two-country New Keynesian DSGE model to assess the macroeconomic impact of the changes in monetary policy frameworks and the fiscal support in the U.S. and euro area during the pandemic.
Moving from a previous target of "below, but close to 2 percent" to a formal symmetric inflation targeting regime in the euro area or from flexible to average inflation targeting in the U.S. is shown to boost output and inflation in both regions.
Meanwhile, the fiscal packages approved in the U.S. and the euro area, and a slower withdrawal of fiscal support in the euro area, have a similar impact on output and inflation as changing the monetary policy frameworks . Simultaneously implementing these policies is mutually reinforcing, but insufficient to fully explain the unexpected increase in core inflation during 2021.
Source: imf.org
IOSCO outlines regulatory priorities for sustainability disclosures, mitigating greenwashing and promoting integrity in carbon markets
November 9, 2022--The International Organization for Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today at COP 27 has outlined the actions it undertakes to protect investors by mitigating greenwashing in financial markets, to contribute to sustainability disclosure standards benefitting issuers and investors, and to promote well-functioning carbon markets.
Sustainability disclosures: timely disclosure and assurance standards
IOSCO has set out its expectations that both disclosures and assurance standards should be ready for use by corporates for their end-2024 accounts. Corporate disclosures underpin valuations in financial markets; sustainability disclosures will play the same role.
Source: IOSCO.org