Investments and Pensions Europe (June 20)
“Four German states have recently revised their sustainable investment strategies, sticking to stricter ESG standards, a move that has caused shifts to the allocation of public pension assets worth close to €30bn.” The states (North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg) “switched to a Paris Aligned Benchmark (PAB), lining up with the EU taxonomy and United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to invest their assets.”
Tags: €30bn, Allocation, Assets, ESG standards, EU, Germany, PAB, Public pension, Revised, SDGs, Strategies, Stricter, Sustainable investment
The Guardian (February 26)
“Germany’s economic miracle was built on debt relief.” Today “unconditional debt relief” would help the poorest economies, countries that can’t reasonably repay their debts. “The biggest losers” should be private bondholders. “The UK and US should pass legislation requiring bondholders to take part in internationally agreed debt relief. The globalisation currently being orchestrated by the world’s richest countries is suffocating poor nations. What the German experience revealed is that removing the economic straitjacket would allow developing countries to breathe again.”
Tags: Debt relief, Debts, Economic miracle, Germany, Legislation, Poor nations, Private bondholders, Repay, Straitjacket, Suffocating, U.S., UK, Unconditional
Wall Street Journal (November 1)
The European Union’s statistics agency released figures that surprised most economists. “Consumer prices were 10.7% higher in October than a year earlier.” This marks “the fastest rate of increase since records began in 1997, two years before the euro was launched,” while at the national level “Germany’s measure of inflation was the highest since December 1951.”
Tags: 10.7%, 1997, Consumer prices, Economists, EU, euro, Fastest, Germany, Highest, Increase, Inflation, October, Records, Statistics agency, Surprised
Wall Street Journal (August 26)
“Energy common sense is in short supply these days, so all the more reason to cheer Japan for rethinking its flight from nuclear power.” Germany is currently debating whether to keep “its three remaining reactors online. Maybe Japan’s decision will prove compelling. “This should be an easy call as natural gas shortages loom this winter. Advanced economies need reliable base load power, and at least Tokyo understands this.”
Tags: Advanced economies, Base load power, Common sense, Debating, Germany, Japan, Natural gas, Nuclear power, Reliable, Rethinking, Short supply, Shortages, Tokyo, Winter
BBC (July 20)
“Heat records tumbled and firefighters faced new blazes as much of Western Europe baked in a gruelling heatwave.” The UK “saw temperatures of more than 40C (104F) for the first time.” Germany had “its hottest day of the year,” as did the Netherlands, while in France “37,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes” due to wildfires. In the past week, Portugal alone has recorded “more than 1,000 heatwave-related deaths.”
Tags: Blazes, Deaths, Firefighters, France, Germany, Gruelling, Heat, Heatwave, Netherlands, Portugal, Records, Temperatures, UK, Western Europe, Wildfires
Washington Post (June 20)
“A punishing early-season heat wave… tormented large swaths of Europe over the weekend,” setting hundreds of record highs. “Temperatures between 104 and 110 degrees (40 to 43 Celsius) were common from Spain to Germany,” but France was hit hardest by extreme temperatures that peaked on Saturday “when more than a dozen all-time records were set.”
Tags: Early, Europe, Extreme, France, Germany, Heat wave, Punishing, Record highs, Spain, Temperatures, Tormented
Deutsche Welle (March 25)
Before the war in Ukraine, “Germany received 50% of its coal, 55% of its gas, and 35% of its oil from Moscow.” The country now plans “to almost completely end Russian energy imports by the end of the year.” Achieving the plan means “a considerable amount of progress would be made in a short space of time, as the West is rushing to wean itself off Russian energy amidst the invasion of Ukraine.”
Freight Waves (February 26)
“Russia is not America’s largest trade partner by a long shot — representing less than 1% of the total imports — but many of our largest trading partners, like Germany and China, have strong economic ties to the country.” The conflict in Ukraine “will lead to more supply chain woes,” though there are obviously “many consequences much worse than continued supply chain disruptions and inflation.”
Tags: China, Conflict, Disruptions, Economic ties, Germany, Imports, Russia, Supply chain, Trading partners, U.S., Ukraine
Washington Post (September 25)
“After dominating Germany and, indeed, Europe for so long, Ms. Merkel leaves a legacy of sober, patient leadership, in which she both articulated and modeled democratic values. This was especially important at times when the leaders of other Western nations… did not.” The impact of her departure will be widely felt as “the world’s need for strong champions and exemplars of democracy is greater than ever.”
Tags: Champions, Democracy, Democratic values, Dominating, Europe, Exemplars, Germany, Leadership, Legacy, Merkel, Need, Patient, Sober
Financial Times (July 18)
“With just over two months to go until polling day, the devastating floods that swept through western Germany this week have catapulted climate change to the heart of the German election campaign.” Most parties blame global warming “for a catastrophe that has left at least 140 people dead,” but the “dramatic scenes could prove of huge benefit to the Greens, who even before this week were set to make big gains in the September poll.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Devastating, Election, Floods, Germany, Global warming, Greens, Parties, Poll, Polling
