Week of November 14, 2022 Newsletter

WEEK IN REVIEW

MONDAY

The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC will take place from 6-18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.??The?Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)?will be producing daily reports of the talks as well as a summary report and analysis of the meeting.?Subscribe?to ENB Update or read ENB coverage?here.?World Climate Summit is running concurrently in Egypt as a sideline event.?Businesses and association can track these events for proposed policies that will influence their energy efficiency strategies.

Every two years, since 2006, the European Commission's Directorate General for Justice and Consumers brings safety experts from all around the world for International Product Safety Week.?Raw Materials Week 2022, Brussels, Belgium will focus on raw materials in the EU and will report on managing the renewable energy transition; securing the supply of raw materials; and sustainable sourcing.?This is important as supply chains for making electric vehicle batteries are top of mind. The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee will vote on draft legislation to accelerate the procedure to grant permits for new renewable energy power plants or to adapt existing ones.?The European Parliament will be amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency (2022/0160(COD)). These regulations will shape energy production, building retrofit, and other energy efficiency products and services.

TUESDAY

The 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in Bali, Indonesia. The Summit will be the culmination of the G20 process and intense work carried out within the Ministerial Meetings, Working Groups, and Engagement Groups throughout the year.?Two reports have been laid open.?One on Data Governance amongst the G20 and the other on Advanced Digital Skills and Digital Literacy.?The event is concurrent with Indonesia Net Zero Summit 2022. G20 has agreed on the Bali Energy Transition Roadmap. United Nations and WHO will also have an SDG pavilion at the G20.?Many programs are live streamed.

US Senate Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure will hold hearings to examine implementing IIJA infrastructure investments, focusing on opportunities for local jurisdictions to address transportation challenges.

WEDNESDAY

The 8th annual SmartCity 360? Convention pulls together 7 co-located conferences which cover a wide range of science (health, governance, energy savings, IoT, etc.) behind the smart cities.?Click on each conference here for details.?US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold hearings to examine H.R.884, to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a national aviation preparedness plan for communicable disease outbreaks.?The UN Environment Program-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) will launch its 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction.

THURSDAY

Japan and Malaysia report exports. Bank of Philippines to set interest rates.

FRIDAY

International Conference on Smart Cities and Smart Grid (CSCSG 2022), 18-20 November, Hangzhou, China

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

A quiet weekend in politics.

Global Economic Pulse

U.S. will be reporting the producer price index a leading indicator of consumer price growth. Retail Sales a measure of consumer spending will be out on Wednesday.?Housing data will be out at the end of the week expected to be muted due to high interest rates, and a lack of home affordability for many.

Europe will be reporting industrial production and external trade balance for September and consumer price inflation from October. Estimates are for a small drop in industrial production which followed a 1.5% loss in August. On a country basis, growth was seen in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland outweighed by losses in France, Italy and Spain.?Commodity import prices are still high in Europe and the euro is still near historic lows, so trade deficits continue to be high.?Food and energy prices are rising in Europe.?UK’s inflation remains above 10% year on year.

Japan’s third-quarter GDP driven by stronger investments is expected to grow. China will release industrial production, retail sales and fixed-assets investment data signs of domestic demand. Slower growth is expected.

Three factors continue to be in play influencing much of the economic landscape:

1.?????An aging population limits the number of people of working age while also putting pressure on governments to provide retirement coverage for this group.

2.?????Geopolitical risk is increasing as global supply chains and competition amongst economic powers increase

3.?????Energy transition to net-zero carbon emissions is remaking the energy supply and demand.

AECOM reports earnings this week as do Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, Nvidia, Target, Alibaba Group, Applied Materials, and Macy’s.

Noteworthy Government Actions, Reports & Events

• US election results in good detail can be found here.?An interesting European Union perspective was published by European Parliamentary Research Service.?Excellent report by Squire-Patton-Boggs on what to expect in the House of Representatives if there is a republican majority.
• The International Energy Agency updated its World Energy Outlook.
• An assessment of Latin America equities was published by Schroders.
• OECD has published a report on the effect of government subsidies.?Businesses and communities are often the recipients of such subsidies.
• G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population. The G20 countries are responsible for 78.4% of all the commercial policy intervention.?A new report on G20 Trade Factbook is published.
• Adani Group’s utility and infrastructure portfolio is described in their investor presentation.
• A landscape of global international collaboration for Power, Road, Steel, Hydrogen and Agriculture is summarized in a recent UN report.
• A policy paper by Brookings Institution on how public investment must be paired with regulation to contribute effectively towards stopping climate change.
• Cities are on the front line of implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation.?A study of progress in 26 Canadian cities was just published.
• Report is published in Lancet exploring the role of universal health coverage (SDG 3.8) within the global health security architecture for pandemic preparedness and response.
• European Commission unveiled a proposal (click on individual links in the summary) to reduce air pollution from new motor vehicles sold in the EU to meet the European Green Deal's zero-pollution ambition, while keeping vehicles affordable for consumers and promoting Europe's competitiveness.?The new regulation is set to come into force from July 2025 for cars and vans, and July 2027 for trucks and buses.