BBC (May 24)
“Climate protesters stormed Shell’s annual shareholder meeting in London, with security having to step in to protect board members.” The protestors, activists and other “campaign groups are looking to ramp up the pressure on Shell and other energy companies to bring forward those targets to absolute carbon emissions cuts by 2030 and focus more resources on renewables.” The proposed targets were, however, “rejected in a vote by shareholders at the meeting.”
Tags: 2030, Activists, Annual meeting, Board members, Carbon emissions, Climate, Energy, London, Pressure, Protect, Protesters, Rejected, Renewables, Resources, Security, Shell, Targets, Vote
Bloomberg (March 16)
“Powerful AI systems like GPT-4 aren’t going to replace large swaths of professional workers, as many have instinctively feared. But they will put them under greater pressure to be more productive and faster at what they do. They will raise the bar on what is considered acceptable output and usher in an era of ultra-efficiency unlike anything we’ve seen before…. Watch out for how they might take you a tiny step closer to burnout.”
Tags: Acceptable, AI, Faster, Fear, GPT-4, Output, Powerful, Pressure, Productive, Professional workers, Replace, Ultra-efficiency
Financial Times (May 6)
“The yen may very well experience further depreciation pressure over the coming weeks… we are in a complex and volatile period for global markets.” Beyond that, however, “there are a number of paths to recovery for the yen…. Investors can anticipate a rebound in the yen over time and should consider owning this haven asset as a hedge against global recession and other tail risks.”
Tags: Anticipate, Asset, Complex, Depreciation, Global markets, Haven, Hedge, Investors, Pressure, Rebound, Recession, Recovery, Volatile, Yen
Bloomberg (March 1)
“First BP, then Shell. In just two days, Britain’s twin energy giants have dumped Russian investments nurtured over decades and shut themselves out of the world’s largest energy exporter, probably forever.” The moves will “put pressure on remaining foreign investors, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and France’s TotalEnergies SE, to follow suit as Russia’s war in Ukraine forces a dramatic rupture with the global economy.”
Tags: BP, Energy giants, Exporter, Exxon Mobil, Investments, Investors, Nurtured, Pressure, Russia, Shell, TotalEnergies, UK, Ukraine, War
Wall Street Journal (September 16)
“Transportation costs—typically a fraction of a finished product’s price—are emerging as another supply-chain hurdle, overwhelming some companies already paying more for raw materials and labor…. The Covid-19 pandemic has driven a long-lasting surge in transportation costs, putting pressure on many businesses already confronting higher wages and raw-material prices. Some CEOs are saying they expect elevated freight costs stretching into 2023.”
Tags: COVID-19, Hurdle, Labor, Overwhelming, Pandemic, Pressure, Product price, Raw materials, Supply chain, Surge, Transportation, Wages
Financial Times (February 3)
“The pandemic’s devastating impact on Big Oil was illustrated yesterday when some of the world’s largest energy groups reported record annual losses, marking a brutal 12 months of an industry under mounting pressure to speed up a transition to cleaner fuels.”
Tags: Big oil, Brutal, Cleaner fuels, Devastating, Energy, Impact, Largest, Losses, Pandemic, Pressure, Record, Transition
Bloomberg (December 18)
“The U.S. launched yet another broadside at China’s technological ambitions this week by blacklisting more than 60 Chinese companies…. While the action will be painful, over the longer term it could be a shot in the arm.” The restrictions may very well “help make China great again.” Under this “massive pressure, Chinese tech giants finally have an incentive to use and improve local suppliers.”
Tags: Ambitions, Blacklisting, Broadside, China, Incentive, Painful, Pressure, Restrictions, Suppliers, Tech giants, U.S.
Financial Times (June 1)
“Shareholders have ramped up pressure on companies to tackle global warming even as businesses grapple with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.” Their targets have included JPMorgan and Rio Tinto and through May 20, “climate change resolutions at annual meetings received average shareholder support of 23 per cent,” up from “16 per cent during all of 2019.”
Tags: Annual meetings, Climate change, Coronavirus, Global warming, JPMorgan, Pandemic, Pressure, Resolutions, Rio Tinto, Shareholders
Bloomberg (April 13)
“OPEC+ group of countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, finally agreed to a record cut in their oil production in response to the coronavirus-triggered collapse in demand. But the deal will come under pressure when the world becomes a more normal place again.” When demand returns, “the great battle for market share between the Americans, the Saudis and the Russians will probably restart.”
Tags: Battle, Collapse, Coronavirus, Demand, Market share, Oil production, OPEC, Pressure, Record, Russia, Saudi Arabia
Bloomberg (July 27)
With over 300 million vehicles, China’s fleet is the world’s largest and the impact will be increasingly felt worldwide. “Secondhand car exports are starting modestly and the country will take time to catch up to more established players.” Still, it’s clear that “China will have more used cars to sell than anybody and its export business will inevitably grow into the world’s biggest.” This will place pressure on new vehicle sales as well. “Global automakers might want to strap on their seatbelts.”
Tags: Automakers, Car, China, Exports, Fleet, New, Pressure, Secondhand, Used, Vehicles, World's biggest
