More comment – Page 5
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Opinion PiecesThe Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and his new China
Visiting China in the late 1990s and early 2000s was an exhilarating experience for any business traveller. There was a sense that the country was opening and moving forward
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Lessons for Europe from China
The gradual approach adopted by the Chinese government is both pragmatic and considerate
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: From fragmentation to integration
Over the past few decades, Europe’s financial system has grown in size and complexity but remains largely bank-centric compared with more market-oriented systems
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AnalysisViewpoint: Opportunities for investing in UK economic growth is aligned with trustee’s fiduciary duty
NEST sees no conflict between a master trust’s fiduciary responsibilities to its members and investment in the companies and infrastructure of the UK
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Why and how investors can tackle deforestation by engaging banks
Banks are uniquely placed to tackle deforestation via their financing decisions and engagements, says IIGCC CEO Stephanie Pfeifer
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Opinion PiecesWhy we need to talk about the birthrate
If you live in a big city like London, and if you look hard enough, you are sure to find signs of a falling birthrate.
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Opinion PiecesInstitutional investors shouldn't be so concerned about equity market concentration
Before the August 2024 equity sell-off, the rising level of concentration in global equity markets had many investors worried for some time, and concentration may well continue to be a feature of equity markets in the near future.
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Opinion PiecesDeep-tech startups: from academic know how to commercial viability
Many would argue that universities have been set up in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, so perhaps the idea of seeking commercial applications for university research detracts from the beauty of that ideal. That certainly was the attitude in Oxford when I completed my own doctorate in physics four decades ago. But times have changed and the UK, and Europe more generally, is desperate to encourage the growth of innovative companies that can rival those being churned out in the US.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Reeves must acknowledge infrastructure challenges
The integration of illiquid asset classes into pension funds introduces a host of technological, operational and structural challenges that must be addressed
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: How trustees can protect against the ESG backlash
Jennifer Miles and Samuel Fulda, partner and associate at Eversheds Sutherland, respectively, outline how trustees can protect themselves in the event of anti-ESG litigation
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: How EU policymakers can help plug Europe’s pension gaps
Petra Hielkema, EIOPA’s chair, sets out how the authority and EU policymakers can build an ecosystem capable of plugging the substantial pension gaps Europe is facing
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Are sustainability standards a distraction?
The debate about standardised reporting of Scope 3 emissions loses sight of an important point about the need for judgment, says Iancu Daramus
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Time to push back against the ‘net zero agenda’
It is more useful to think of climate change and decarbonisation as a ‘hyperobject’, says Iancu Daramus
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: When the climate bill comes, how much should we tip?
The rhetoric around ‘tipping points’ is often misunderstood, says Iancu Daramus
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Climate scenarios – are they overcooked?
The progress made in reining in emissions is not just blah-blah-blah, says Iancu Daramus
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Opinion PiecesA mid-year stock take on ESG: talk is no longer cheap
It’s halftime for 2024, which offers a convenient reason to reflect on where we are with respect to ESG investing. I’d say the outlook is pretty good. That’s because, as global equity impact investor WHEB Asset Management says, the “ESG tourists – asset managers that stampeded into the sustainability market just a few years ago – are now packing their bags” as the depth and breadth of anti-greenwashing regulation bite.
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Opinion PiecesThe buyout pendulum starts to swing back to the DB norm
Vogue fashion magazine reports that flared trousers and mullets are back after a 50-year absence. They were not a good look even then, but fashion has its own drivers which do not necessarily involve good taste or even practicalities.
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Opinion PiecesWhy the green transition throws up workforce and pension challenges
Pensions are a hot topic in corporate Germany, where skills shortages and an ageing workforce have led to a war for talent, as well as a renaissance in occupational retirement provision in the fight for workforce skills.
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Opinion PiecesDevelopment banks need to be more transparent to mobilise private capital
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have caught the imagination of impact-oriented investors, as achieving them requires mobilisation of private capital on a massive scale. However, taking on the risks associated with many of the SDG-oriented investment goals is too much to bear for many private investors.
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Opinion PiecesViewpoint: Investors urged to join call for global action on AMR
Currently responsible for more than one million deaths a year, antimicrobial resistance has been declared as one of the top 10 threats to human health





