Insights

Germany’s grand coalition of Christian and Social Democrats will soon be history. Despite its comfortable majority – the next government may be jealous – there is a sense that Chancellor Merkel’s fourth government has deferred big policy choices to its successor. Even in the few areas where it has set a new policy direction, in part to deal with the pandemic, major…

With the German parliamentary elections and Angela Merkel’s departure after sixteen years, the scene seems set for profound changes, with months of coalition haggling ahead. But with a change of players and, maybe, a change of parties, will much really change in German politics? And how will that affect policy at home and in the EU?

As WTO negotiators return after the summer hiatus, minds are inevitably starting to focus on the agenda for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12). For e-commerce negotiators, the WTO’s most important conference will be seen as an opportunity to agree upon the remaining low-hanging fruit and create momentum to work out the more challenging chapters. But will e-commerce…

There are signs that it might be. In its Made in China 2025 plan the Chinese government identified health tech, including genomics, as an area of strategic focus. This has been reiterated in the “Healthy China 2030” plan. As is often the case, an emphasis on healthcare from the government has spiked Chinese investment in the domestic industry, but with prices in China…

Announcing his American Families Plan in April, President Biden pledged “to close the carried interest loophole so that hedge fund partners will pay ordinary income rates on their income just like every other worker”. Yet the draft reconciliation bill that appeared from Congressional Democrats on Thursday included a range of new taxes on high earners but replaced Biden’s…

In-conversation with Matt Bennett, Executive VP for Policy, Third Way; and Erin Caddell, President, Global Counsel USA, discussing the current US political and policy landscape, and the outlook for the fall legislative season and beyond.

The increase in sustainable fund flows in recent years has rapidly outpaced ESG regulation. Trillions of dollars are now held in products which are marketed as integrating environmental, social and governance issues into their investment process. At the end of the second quarter in 2021, assets held by sustainable funds reached $2.25 trillion, more than tripling since…

Rishi Patel, Practice Lead for Policy Communications, Stephen Adams, Senior Director and Rebecca Park, Senior Practice Lead for Financial Services discuss new research commissioned by Global Counsel looking at public attitudes to inflation, price rises and the cost of living.

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.