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EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed on Wednesday (13 December) the deal struck at the COP28 climate summit as the dawn of a new world with no need for coal or oil.

EU and wider global support for Israel has sharply eroded over the past two months of horrors in the Gaza war, a UN vote has shown.

La Commission européenne a proposé une nouvelle directive qui obligerait les groupes d’intérêt et les lobbies travaillant pour des acteurs non européens à être enregistrés dans un registre de transparence, une approche critiquée par les ONG.

Singapour a retrouvé la première place mondiale en ce qui concerne les performances des élèves en mathématiques, en lecture et en sciences, lors des tests PISA 2022, qui mesurent les performances des élèves dans le monde entier.

Le Secrétariat d’État à l’économie revoit encore ses prévisions à la baisse pour la croissance du PIB suisse, en prenant en compte l’impact des JO et de l’Euro, qui auront lieu respectivement à Paris et en Allemagne.

Le site spécialisé dans les voyages et les conseils culinaires, TasteAtlas, a sorti son classement de fin d’année, qui répertorie les meilleures cuisines dans le […]

L’article Classement des meilleures cuisines 2023 : l’Algérie dans le top 50 mondial (TasteAtlas) est apparu en premier sur .

Bei der Anpassung der nationalen Gesetzgebung an EU-Recht will Albanien auf die künstliche Intelligenz von ChatGPT zurückgreifen. Mithilfe des Chatbots sollen Tausende von Seiten an EU-Rechtsvorschriften auf Albanisch übersetzt werden, um sie dann in nationales Recht zu übertragen. 

This paper focuses on analysing how Chinese firms operate in Latin America, Asia and Africa in regard to ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards and sustainability issues. How do they respond to the increasing global value chain requirement to incorporate and maintain ESG standards? Is their space for an alignment between Western development cooperation ESG policies, frameworks, strategies and practices and Chinese political and economic stakeholders in the developing world? The paper uses a variety of case studies covering Chinese firms (disaggregated into SOEs (state-owned enterprises) and large, medium and small private sector firms) operating in various sectors in countries across the developing world. It uses a three dimensional framework to analyse different types of Chinese firms in terms of value chain operations covering many of the ESG standards they are required to meet:
1. Supply chain relations (i.e. approach to supporting upgrading of local suppliers);
2. Internal firm processes (i.e. approach to local labour, training and upskilling);
3. Social licence to operate (i.e. approach to meaningfully engaging with local communities taking account of their social and economic needs).
There are examples of Chinese firms behaving according to the negative type casting that has dominated much of the literature. However, Chinese firms in developing countries are fairly flexible and more willing to adapt to ESG standards than conventionally assumed. There are sufficient instances of Chinese firms in host developing countries showing significant movement to alignment on ESG dimensions. Unlike the industrialised world, these firms are not driven by civil society socio-political pressure within China. China’s relationship to ESG has instead been driven by a) geo-political considerations involving the Chinese government’s global presence, and b) primarily economic risk considerations of Chinese lead firms operating internationally – risk relating to raising finance and ensuring that business operations in developing countries can avoid major disruption. For many Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world, ESG is increasingly being perceived as a fundamental risk mitigation tool assisting them to ensure that they are able to maintain continuous, consistent, and predictable economic operations. These tendencies can only be expected to grow much stronger as the Chinese government adopts more ESG standards within guidelines and regulatory frameworks and enforces compliance on Chinese firms operating abroad. As Chinese firms become more open to ESG compliance, this creates a foundation for potential development cooperation alignment with the Chinese government and Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world.

This paper focuses on analysing how Chinese firms operate in Latin America, Asia and Africa in regard to ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards and sustainability issues. How do they respond to the increasing global value chain requirement to incorporate and maintain ESG standards? Is their space for an alignment between Western development cooperation ESG policies, frameworks, strategies and practices and Chinese political and economic stakeholders in the developing world? The paper uses a variety of case studies covering Chinese firms (disaggregated into SOEs (state-owned enterprises) and large, medium and small private sector firms) operating in various sectors in countries across the developing world. It uses a three dimensional framework to analyse different types of Chinese firms in terms of value chain operations covering many of the ESG standards they are required to meet:
1. Supply chain relations (i.e. approach to supporting upgrading of local suppliers);
2. Internal firm processes (i.e. approach to local labour, training and upskilling);
3. Social licence to operate (i.e. approach to meaningfully engaging with local communities taking account of their social and economic needs).
There are examples of Chinese firms behaving according to the negative type casting that has dominated much of the literature. However, Chinese firms in developing countries are fairly flexible and more willing to adapt to ESG standards than conventionally assumed. There are sufficient instances of Chinese firms in host developing countries showing significant movement to alignment on ESG dimensions. Unlike the industrialised world, these firms are not driven by civil society socio-political pressure within China. China’s relationship to ESG has instead been driven by a) geo-political considerations involving the Chinese government’s global presence, and b) primarily economic risk considerations of Chinese lead firms operating internationally – risk relating to raising finance and ensuring that business operations in developing countries can avoid major disruption. For many Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world, ESG is increasingly being perceived as a fundamental risk mitigation tool assisting them to ensure that they are able to maintain continuous, consistent, and predictable economic operations. These tendencies can only be expected to grow much stronger as the Chinese government adopts more ESG standards within guidelines and regulatory frameworks and enforces compliance on Chinese firms operating abroad. As Chinese firms become more open to ESG compliance, this creates a foundation for potential development cooperation alignment with the Chinese government and Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world.

This paper focuses on analysing how Chinese firms operate in Latin America, Asia and Africa in regard to ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards and sustainability issues. How do they respond to the increasing global value chain requirement to incorporate and maintain ESG standards? Is their space for an alignment between Western development cooperation ESG policies, frameworks, strategies and practices and Chinese political and economic stakeholders in the developing world? The paper uses a variety of case studies covering Chinese firms (disaggregated into SOEs (state-owned enterprises) and large, medium and small private sector firms) operating in various sectors in countries across the developing world. It uses a three dimensional framework to analyse different types of Chinese firms in terms of value chain operations covering many of the ESG standards they are required to meet:
1. Supply chain relations (i.e. approach to supporting upgrading of local suppliers);
2. Internal firm processes (i.e. approach to local labour, training and upskilling);
3. Social licence to operate (i.e. approach to meaningfully engaging with local communities taking account of their social and economic needs).
There are examples of Chinese firms behaving according to the negative type casting that has dominated much of the literature. However, Chinese firms in developing countries are fairly flexible and more willing to adapt to ESG standards than conventionally assumed. There are sufficient instances of Chinese firms in host developing countries showing significant movement to alignment on ESG dimensions. Unlike the industrialised world, these firms are not driven by civil society socio-political pressure within China. China’s relationship to ESG has instead been driven by a) geo-political considerations involving the Chinese government’s global presence, and b) primarily economic risk considerations of Chinese lead firms operating internationally – risk relating to raising finance and ensuring that business operations in developing countries can avoid major disruption. For many Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world, ESG is increasingly being perceived as a fundamental risk mitigation tool assisting them to ensure that they are able to maintain continuous, consistent, and predictable economic operations. These tendencies can only be expected to grow much stronger as the Chinese government adopts more ESG standards within guidelines and regulatory frameworks and enforces compliance on Chinese firms operating abroad. As Chinese firms become more open to ESG compliance, this creates a foundation for potential development cooperation alignment with the Chinese government and Chinese lead firms operating in the developing world.

Austria's first-hand experience of instability in the Balkans means it is in a strong position to lead a new EU policy towards the region.

Bonjour et bienvenue à nos nouveaux abonnés de l'Institut de l'économie pour le climat, GRTgaz, Forward Global et bien d'autres. Sur le Green Brief d’Euractiv, vous trouverez les dernières actualités en matière d’énergie et d’environnement en provenance de toute l’Europe.

Les services de secours ont activé leur plan d’urgence, alors que le niveau du lac dépasse de 4 centimètres le niveau de crue.

Die Europäische Kommission hat ein neues Gesetz vorgestellt, das Interessen- und Lobbygruppen, die für Nicht-EU-Akteure arbeiten, dazu verpflichten soll, sich in ein Transparenzregister einzutragen. Dies ist Teil ihrer Pläne zum Schutz vor schädlichem Einfluss in der EU-Politik.

We use new data on political connections from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys to examine the impact of connections on firms’ participation in global value chains (GVCs) for six MENA countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon). In addition to political connections, we construct several measures of “political influence” based on available data on lobbying and grand corruption. We also explore whether political connections help firms overcome barriers to trade and investment and increase their participation in GVCs at the extensive and intensive margins. Our findings suggest that political connections do matter for firms’ GVC participation. The impact is more pronounced for firms that combine political connections with informal payments to influence policymaking. Our findings on the significance of trade and investment barriers for GVC participation for different categories of firms’ political influence are – however – inconclusive.

We use new data on political connections from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys to examine the impact of connections on firms’ participation in global value chains (GVCs) for six MENA countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon). In addition to political connections, we construct several measures of “political influence” based on available data on lobbying and grand corruption. We also explore whether political connections help firms overcome barriers to trade and investment and increase their participation in GVCs at the extensive and intensive margins. Our findings suggest that political connections do matter for firms’ GVC participation. The impact is more pronounced for firms that combine political connections with informal payments to influence policymaking. Our findings on the significance of trade and investment barriers for GVC participation for different categories of firms’ political influence are – however – inconclusive.

We use new data on political connections from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys to examine the impact of connections on firms’ participation in global value chains (GVCs) for six MENA countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon). In addition to political connections, we construct several measures of “political influence” based on available data on lobbying and grand corruption. We also explore whether political connections help firms overcome barriers to trade and investment and increase their participation in GVCs at the extensive and intensive margins. Our findings suggest that political connections do matter for firms’ GVC participation. The impact is more pronounced for firms that combine political connections with informal payments to influence policymaking. Our findings on the significance of trade and investment barriers for GVC participation for different categories of firms’ political influence are – however – inconclusive.

Le WWF, Pro Natura et BirdLife Suisse ont déposé un recours devant le Tribunal administratif fédéral, menant le Canton à stopper la régulation des meutes des Hauts-Forts, Nanz et Le Fou-Isérables.

Following the end of the 2023 global climate negotiations, the MEPs leading Parliament’s delegation reacted to the outcome of the COP28.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Following the end of the 2023 global climate negotiations, the MEPs leading Parliament’s delegation reacted to the outcome of the COP28.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP