Insights

When President Vladimir Putin declared in 2020 that climate change was a critical, manmade threat to Russia, he took many observers by surprise. Until then, climate change in Russia was often spoken of as a potential positive, given its frozen northern land and sea. But with COP26 approaching, Russia appears to be relatively serious about its route map for its low carbon…

The scenes last week of hundreds of Afghan people converging on Kabul airport attempting to escape a nation rapidly falling into the hands of the Taliban has sparked comparisons to the fall of Saigon in 1975 at the end of America’s involvement in Vietnam - an ignominious end to a protracted US military action in a faraway land. But while the implications of the bungled US…

Last week the IPCC released the first part of its sixth assessment report outlining the most up to date evidence on the physical progress of climate change. The headline feature of the report is an even more urgent tone than ever before – the alarming statistics picked up from the report are that warming is happening even faster than expected, and the unprecedented nature…

China, the pioneer of paper money, is poised to shape the future of finance once more with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) accelerated push to launch the world’s first major central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC is a digital tender of a country’s fiat currency that typically utilises permissioned blockchain networks to privilege network access and activities to…

Three weeks after its release, industry stakeholders and policy makers are reacting to the European Commission's Fit for 55 Package. The set of proposals consists of twelve highly interlinked measures across emissions pricing, transport and energy.

This summer, we are revisiting episodes from the Global Counsel podcast archive, looking at what they can tell us about topical developments in public policy and regulation ahead of the autumn. From COP26 to the education system in the US, the GC team offers timeless insight into global and national trends to look out for across sectors and around the world.

One month ago, South Africa experienced the most severe unrest since the end of Apartheid in 1994. It left more than 330 dead, 40,000 businesses looted, burnt, or vandalised, and caused at least $3.4 bn in economic damage. The government was forced to deploy 25,000 troops to regain control. The circumstances in South Africa were unique. However, South Africa’s week of…

Internationalisation of the Ren Min Bi (RMB) has again become a hot topic. Not just in western media, which often depicts it as a looming existential threat to the dollar-based global economy, but also within China. However, China is currently not in a position where it can remove capital controls – the minimum requirement for making the RMB an international currency –…

In the last 12 months, we have seen countless Chinese companies caught in the crossfire of regulatory change in China – with significant financial impact. 

This summer, we are revisiting episodes from the Global Counsel podcast archive, looking at what they can tell us about topical developments in public policy and regulation ahead of the autumn. From COP26 to the education system in the US, the GC team offers timeless insight into global and national trends to look out for across sectors and around the world.

Two weeks after its release, industry stakeholders and policy makers have started reacting to the commission's Fit for 55 Package. The set of proposals consists of twelve highly interlinked measures across emissions pricing, transport and energy.

In-conversation with Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow at Brookings, former Deputy Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council; and Denzil Davidson, former Special Adviser to the previous British Prime Minister and Adviser on EU and multilateral policy at Global Counsel, discussing the last four years of US…

Last week the ECOFIN committee endorsed the Commissions' positive assessment of the first batch of twelve national recovery plans. However, while the approval of recovery plans will be relatively straightforward (with the notable exception of Hungary), the disbursement phase will be a crucial moment to watch for political battles to occur. Key political choices lie ahead…

Global Counsel brings together the leaders of the four UK regulators for a panel discussion about the future of digital regulation. The speakers include Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive, Competition and Markets Authority; Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive, Ofcom; Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners Office; Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive,…

G20 finance ministers and central bank governors met on July 9th and 10th in a meeting that has received significant coverage due to one reason: the group endorsed the new international tax deal previously agreed by the G7 and OECD. While historic, this means less attention has been paid to other G20 priorities. Global vaccine access, climate finance and low-income…

A report published this week suggested that the UK government would only meet the challenges of covid recovery if it could fix strategy, reform the civil service, embrace digital technology and strengthen accountability. These recommendations could have been made at any point in the last 25 years. But the blandishments do not reflect the appetite for radical change,…

This is the second part in Global Counsel’s series on the Russian parliamentary elections this September. Each part discusses how government policy and decision-making is being impacted by the election build-up and what this means for businesses and companies whose operations are linked to Russia. Sign up here to hear more about our future events, podcasts and blogs on…

On a recent Global Counsel event, hosted in collaboration with clearBorder UK, Stephen Adams, Senior Director; Elly Darkin, Senior Associate; and Christopher Salmon, founder of clearBorder UK discussed the border changes to expect over the next year.