Bloomberg China is pursuing a three-year pilot programme, led by five of its biggest utilities, to integrate and cut some coal-fired power capacity to help the debt-saddled industry, state media reported. The pilot, which runs through 2021, will seek to consolidate coal-power assets within five northwestern regions and reduce their capacity by up to one-third, according to a Shanghai Securities ...
Read More »Repsol pledges zero emissions by 2050
Bloomberg Repsol SA embarked on the most ambitious attempt yet by an oil major to align itself with the Paris climate goals, saying it will eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations and its customers by 2050. The Spanish giant’s exploration and production unit will focus on value instead of output growth, according to a statement from the ...
Read More »In firing Spencer, Trump is crossing another line
President Trump’s attempt to manipulate military justice had a sorry outcome with the firing of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. For the past nine months, Spencer had tried to dissuade Trump from dictating special treatment for Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher — but in the end Spencer was sacked for his efforts to protect his service. With Spencer’s firing, Trump has ...
Read More »Citi’s British fine is bad for bankers
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we’ve become accustomed to banks being slapped with sanctions running into the billions. So at the equivalent of $57 million, Citigroup Inc.’s new fine for reporting failures could well go unnoticed. That would be a mistake. The third-largest US bank, with assets in excess of $2 trillion, inaccurately reported its capital and liquidity ...
Read More »Black Friday experience just isn’t available online
Plenty of shoppers opt for swiping and tapping on their phones instead of bumping and elbowing their way through the mall on Black Friday . But the changing nature of this American-invented shopping holiday should hardly be taken as a signal that physical stores don’t matter. While consumers say they plan to spend more online than in stores, the data ...
Read More »Lagarde can’t avoid a quagmire at ECB
In her first month as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde has spoken remarkably little about monetary policy. However, she’s made clear that she wants to launch a review of the ECB’s strategy to ensure it is fit for the times we live in. It’s an exercise that’s well worth doing. The last rethink of the ECB’s ...
Read More »Germany should prod its savers to take a few risks
The German government is often accused of spending too little money. With interest rates low or negative, the thinking goes, Europe’s biggest country should be using its fiscal discretion to stimulate the region’s economy. But then, German households exhibit similar behaviour. Even as rates fell, they saved as much as ever, more than people in most other rich countries, and ...
Read More »Climate change is a financial crisis, too
The people who oversee America’s financial system seem to think that climate change isn’t their problem. As one official quipped in recent congressional testimony, he’s “not a meteorologist or a climate scientist.†They should think again. By failing to take action, regulators are leaving the country exposed to a devastating crisis. Financial institutions, from banks to insurers to asset managers, ...
Read More »Real news: Hardly anybody shares fake news
Some people are fuming at Facebook for allowing unfiltered political ads, while others are fuming at Twitter for banning them. There’s lots of confusion and speculation, but what we know is that these social media companies have fundamentally changed how people exchange information. What we need to figure out is whether they also change how people spread disinformation — and ...
Read More »IndiGo stops pushing engines to the limit after shutdowns
Bloomberg IndiGo has told its pilots to stop pushing engines on its new Airbus SE jets to the limit when the planes are climbing, after India’s aviation regulator said the practice may have contributed to turbines failing in the air. All the budget airline’s A320neo aircraft now use a lower thrust setting following take off, according to a spokeswoman from ...
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