This very interesting article from Chatham Houe reflects on not only how rising competition for land threatens international and environmental stability, but also how the risks can be mitigated.
We had better care, because “…as far as we know, there is exactly one planet in our Solar System – and the galaxy – which hosts life. And you’re on it.”
Alan Finkel, who was Australia’s chief scientist from 2016 to 2020 wrote this article.
AI is everywhere. Its potential to contribute to society is vast and undisputed. However, almost every day, new concerns and calls for regulation are raised.
The trouble for regulators is that the AI horse has bolted.
Like the effort to tackle climate change, negotiating an international agreement would require collaboration on a global scale similar to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, according to Alan Finkel (reprinted with permission).
The new report, from the World Bank and CDP, found that just 157 global companies account for 60% of industrial emissions when also considering their vast supply chains.
This Global Risks Report 2023 was published by the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM in January 2023 and gives a stark informed overview of the risks facing us. Reprinted with permission by WEF.
It sets in place the right enabling environment to unlock capital towards the sustainability challenges we must address as a nation
Unsurprisingly, climate change is a top concern for Australians. Here is the latest of RIAA's research which shows that now "four out of five Australians (83%) expect their bank account and their super to be invested responsibly and ethically…and 74% would consider moving to another provider if they found out their current fund was investing in companies engaged in activities that were inconsistent with their values."
In just two years, we have suffered through multiple record-breaking floods and a fire season never experienced before. Even at current levels, human actions in heating the climate are causing dangerous and widespread disruption, threatening devastation to swathes of the natural world and rendering many areas unliveable, according to this landmark report published last month.
Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly. It is now predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ((IPCC) that many of the impacts will be more severe than predicted and there is only a narrow chance left of avoiding its worst ravages. We are seeing the effect of climate change induced devastation on food prices.
Adding fuel to inflationary pressures has been a global pandemic where supply chains have been disrupted like never before, heightened geopolitical risks with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, putting price pressures on everything from crude oil to wheat to sunflower oil.
Instead of making fossil fuels more expensive, many governments, inclusive Australia, do the opposite.
They subsidise them.
If we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions we should not pay to burn fossil fuels.
The body of evidence continues to stack up – nationally and globally - showing that responsible investments typically achieve stronger risk- adjusted financial performance than their peers, consistently outperforming against benchmarks over short-term and long-term time frames. This is the latest comparative performance update of Responsible Investments from the Australasian independent industry body.