Climate Emergency: Eight Stories That Could Make or Break the 2020 Decade
We are now in a climate emergency and 2020 will be a critical year in the fight for the survival of the planet. The battleground is triple: climate change, biodiversity, and the ocean. What happens in one affects the other
The 2010s: Billionaires’ Decade – What Next?
The 2010s is coming to a close. Reviewing the decade, what can we say about the future? A tech person will look at technological progress (stunning). A sociologist will look at cultural diversity (explosive). My take (disclosure: I’m an economist)
Why Democracy Produces Incompetent Leaders – And How to Fix it
Democracy doesn’t work. Plato thought it was a terrible system, a prelude to tyranny, giving power to selfish and dangerous demagogues. Watching what is happening these days in democracies around the world, it’s hard to disagree with Plato. Democracy appears
Sustainable Finance: How to Address Nature Risks and Climate Change
As our environment is undergoing ever faster collapse, with the rainforest burning in the Amazon, the ice melting in the Arctic and now California ravaged by fires, the goal of achieving sustainable finance appears ever more elusive. It is obvious
The Climate Emergency: How Humanity Can Avoid the Fate of Dinosaurs
The climate emergency makes the comparison between humans and dinosaurs inescapable: Both face extinction from a climate crisis. But with a difference. The dinosaurs didn’t bring it on themselves. An asteroid hitting Earth and a giant volcano did it for
In the name of Populism no longer (so) Sovereign
Populism’s triumphal march in Europe, apparently unstoppable, may be slowed down or even arrested. Impakter Italia’s Stefano Iannaccone identifies a recent shift in populism’s fortunes in an article published on 10 September. This is part of our continuing editorial collaboration
The Pursuit of Profit: No Longer a Cornerstone of American Business?
On August 19, nearly 200 major American CEOs have subscribed to a new statement of purpose released by the Business Roundtable (BRT). It calls for a radical change to the principle of maximizing shareholder value. To be replaced with the concept
The Microplastics We Drink, the Air Pollutants We Breathe: How Dangerous Are They?
The Answer in EU’s Exposome Programme: Refining Risk Assessment with a novel approach to studying the role of the environment in human disease How dangerous are the pollutants that surround us in our daily lives? We are used to breathing polluted
Facebook’s Cryptocurrency Libra: What is it and Can it Fly?
Once again, Facebook is shaking the world. After multiple privacy violations, with a potential $5bn fine from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which opened an investigation in response to the Cambridge Analytica revelations, now Facebook has come up with
Climate Change: A Wake-Up Call for Action
Two books that changed the world: David Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth, like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, makes it impossible to ignore the issue You are concerned with climate change but the avalanche of news numbs you. Don’t feel guilty, you are
Europe’s Darkest Hour: The Danger Comes from the UK and Italy
Updated 10 June. Two political developments threaten Europe: A no-deal Brexit that would certainly hurt the British economy but would also be painful on the continent, and an out-of-control deficit in Italy. Taken separately, Europe could handle the issues. But
European Elections 2019: A Watershed for Europe
The 2019 European Parliament elections mark a real watershed for Europe. We are in new territory. European politics will never be the same again. Where there was at best indifference to the dream of a United States of Europe, there