Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

President Muhammadu Buhari is already counting the remaining months to his exit as Nigerias leader as he told an audience in Maiduguri that he has 17 months more to spend at the helm.

He said his administration will keep giving its best for the development of the country until May, 2023, reiterating that he will handover as stipulated by the Constitution.

The President spoke after the commissioning of Oriental Energies Resource Ltd Hanger, Muhammadu Indimi Distance Learning Centre and an International Conference Centre donated to the University of Maiduguri by business mogul, Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi.

Indimi is co-father in law with Buhari.

President Buhari also commissioned the Tijjani Bolori Memorial Secondary School and the first fly-over in Borno State, Custom Roundabout (3.5km) with a stretch of 10 km Gamboru Ngala Road constructed by the state government.

Buhari said: I know I swore by the Constitution, and I will leave in 17 months. I pray that the person that will take over from us will also follow the targets of securing the country and building the economy.

Without securing the country, you cannot grow the economy.

President Buhari said Nigerians should appraise the performance of the administration based on what the situation was on security, economy and corruption before he came in, and where it is now.

We have a great country, he said, and we thank God for giving us so much resources. But we need to develop our resources.

The President noted that development would be more sustainable by empowering the people.

On security in the North West, he said it was sad that the people who lived together, sharing same culture and outlook for a long time would start stealing, kidnapping and killing one another.

The President said the military will come down hard on the North West to stabilise the situation, having procured more hardwares.

I am highly impressed with what I have seen at this state of the art Centre for Distance Learning and Auditorium sited here, the University of Maiduguri.

I am told that this international conference hall has 1,300 seats. The high quality standard of this edifice is major contribution by Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi. This intervention will benefit not only students from Borno and the North East but also students from all parts of Nigeria.

For the Oriental Energy Resources Hangar which I commissioned, it will welcome and offer support services to aircraft and pilots involved with Humanitarian Air Services, the President noted.

President Buhari also commended Prof. Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno, for the work he had done in two years, noting that he was in the state earlier in June to commission developmental projects.

In his remarks, Governor Zulum appreciated the President for honoring the state, adding that Alhaji Indimis contributions to the development of the state showed he loved his people.

Words cannot convey our gratitude for the statesmanship, he said.

Governor Zulum said the state had recognised the contributions of Alhaji Indimi by renaming the Damboa Road after him.

It will now be known as Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi Road.

In his remarks, Alhaji Indimi said he was motivated to build the Distance Learning Centre and the International Conference Centre to encourage education in the state.

I believe the centre will help in delivering training and skills as well as encourage those who will be taking lessons from remote places, he said.

Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Aliyu Shugaba, thanked President Buhari for honoring the invitation and Alhaji Indimi for the contribution.

See the rest here:

Buhari begins exit countdown: I will leave in 17 months - P.M. News

1. Introduction

The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England & Wales) Regulations 2017 (referred to as the WFD Regulations) provide a framework for managing the water environment in England.

Under the WFD Regulations, a river basin management plan must be prepared for each river basin district. The plan includes environmental objectives and a summary of the programmes of measures required to achieve those objectives.

The information on mechanisms presented here underpins the summary programmes of measures in the updated Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan. It focuses on the statutory and non-statutory mechanisms needed to translate measures into outcomes.

Mechanisms describe the policy, legal or financial tools needed to implement a particular measure. For example, a legal mechanism may require that a particular activity can only be carried out in accordance with an environmental permit and its conditions. In this case the measure would be to ensure that all such activities have appropriate permits in place, and the legislation underpinning it provides the mechanism to ensure the environment is protected.

A range of mechanisms can be used, from regulatory interventions for example, permitting and enforcement to non-legislative approaches such as providing advice and guidance. Mechanisms are often used in combination to give effect to particular measures.

A range of mechanisms are available to implement measures.

These measures include:

product controls

bans, prohibitions, notices

environmental permits and statutory requirements, including registrations, general binding rules, standard permits, bespoke permits, tradable permits and quotas

spatial planning policies

byelaws

These measures include:

financial incentives

financial disincentives

These measures include:

cooperative agreements

voluntary guidance, codes of practice

voluntary assurance schemes

education, targeted information

general campaigns

face-to-face advice

naming and shaming

shared learning, research

demonstration projects

network building

locally driven direct action including catchment based approach

The Governments 25 Year Environment Plan sets out its commitment to a comprehensive and long-term approach to protecting and enhancing nature. The wider environment ambition set out in the plan is to leave the environment in a better state than found within a generation.

Now that the United Kingdom has left the European Union, control of important areas of environmental policy has returned to domestic control. The 25 Year Environment Plan seeks to strengthen and enhance the protections our countryside, rivers, coastline and wildlife habitats enjoy, and develop new methods of agricultural and fisheries support which put the environment first (25 Year Environment Plan, Foreword from the Prime Minister). The plan sets out the environmental ambition under a number of goals.

The UK will achieve:

clean air

clean and plentiful water

thriving plants and wildlife

reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards such as flooding and drought

using resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently

enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment

Pressures on the natural environment will be managed by:

UK policies will focus on:

using and managing land sustainably

recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes

connecting people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing

increasing resource efficiency, and reducing pollution and waste

securing clean, productive and biologically diverse seas and oceans

protecting and improving the global environment

The clean and plentiful water goal describes in more detail how the government will address the long term ambition for the water environment. The following will improve at least three quarters of the UKs waters to be close to their natural state as soon as is practicable by:

reducing the damaging abstraction of water from rivers and groundwater, ensuring that by 2021 the proportion of water bodies with enough water to support environmental standards increases from 82% to 90% for surface water bodies and from 72% to 77% for groundwater bodies

reaching or exceeding objectives for rivers, lakes, coastal and ground waters that are specially protected, whether for biodiversity or drinking water in line with the river basin management plans

supporting Ofwats ambitions on leakage, minimising the amount of water lost through leakage year on year, with water companies expected to reduce leakage by at least an average of 15% by 2025

minimising by 2030 the harmful bacteria in designated bathing waters and continuing to improve the cleanliness of UK waters. Potential bathers will be warned of any short-term pollution risks

The government has already brought forward many of the actions set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan including a range of supporting strategies and a new Environment Act 2021.

The Environment Act 2021 will help deliver the governments manifesto commitment to delivering the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth. It is part of the wider government response to the clear and scientific case, and growing public demand, for a step-change in environmental protection and recovery.

Acting as one of the key vehicles for delivering the vision set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Environment Act 2021 brings about urgent and meaningful action to combat the environmental and climate crisis. It sets a new and ambitious domestic framework for environmental governance and helps to deliver on the governments commitment to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state.

The provisions in the Environment Act 2021 will help to manage the impact of human activity on the environment, creating a more sustainable and resilient economy, and enhancing well-being and quality of life. It will engage and empower citizens, local government and businesses to deliver environmental outcomes and create a positive legacy for future generations.

The Environment Act 2021, which principally applies to England only, introduces measures under a number of broad headings. Find more information on the specific measures:

Bathing water quality is assessed through the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 which includes microbiological standards and a requirement to provide information about bathing waters on signs at beaches and online. In addition, the public must be informed about bathing water quality and beach management. Waters are classified into 4 categories excellent, good, sufficient and poor. All bathing waters should meet at least sufficient. Where any waters are classified as poor, advice against bathing must be provided for the following season.

The Environment Agency is the competent authority under the Bathing Water Regulations.

The regulations are supported by other mechanisms that control pollution from particular points or from more widespread, or diffuse, sources (see sections 6 and 7 of this document).

There have been significant improvements in bathing water quality as a result of work by the Environment Agency and partners, including water companies, local authorities and farmers and land-owners. Significant improvements have been made to discharges from water company sewage treatment works and the sewerage infrastructure. These improvements have been funded through the price review of water companies spending, which includes environmental investments.

You can find out more about each bathing water at Bathing water quality on data.gov.uk.

There is growing enthusiasm for wild swimming, which may lead to more rivers being designated as bathing waters and being specifically managed for this purpose.

You can find further information about the process for designating bathing waters at Bathing waters: apply for designation or de-designation.

A number of statutory instruments (as listed in this section) require an assessment to be made of the effects of certain development projects, such as large-scale industrial or infrastructure projects, which are likely to have significant effects on the environment. The assessment must be made before the competent authority grants development consent so that it is aware of any likely significant effects of the development on the environment. The aim of the environmental impact assessment is also to ensure that the public are given early and effective opportunities to participate in the decision making procedures.

The project developer must compile the information reasonably required to assess the likely significant effects of the development. The information finally compiled by the applicant is known as an environmental statement. The environmental statement must be publicised. The competent authority must then take into account the environmental statement and any other information which is relevant to the decision when deciding whether or not to give development consent. When considering the available information, the competent authority should identify, describe and assess the impacts on people, plants and animals, soil, water, air, climate and the landscape, the built environment and cultural heritage, including how these factors link together. This enables the competent authority to assess whether a proposed development will have significant impacts on water bodies, and other elements of the environment, whether there are mitigation or avoidance measures that could remove or reduce any significant adverse effects and whether the development may prevent environmental objectives being achieved.

Statutory instruments cover the consenting procedures for various categories of development, including activities such as forestry and quarrying:

projects in England that require planning permission are governed by the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017

projects that require a marine licence are governed by the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 (as amended)

Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations covering other consenting regimes include:

Environmental Impact Assessment (Land Drainage Improvement Works) Regulations 1999

Harbour Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999

Water Resources (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003 as amended

Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) Regulations 2001 (England)

The Environment Agency is a statutory consultee for environmental impact assessments for developments that may affect the water environment. The Environment Agency also acts as a developer for example, for flood risk improvement and waterways projects, and carries out environmental impact assessments for these where needed.

The Environment Agency is a competent authority for certain developments under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Land Drainage Improvement Works) Regulations and The Water Resources (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations.

You can find further guidance on environmental impact assessment as required by the town and country planning regulations.

Groundwater is protected against pollution and deterioration primarily by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR), Water Resources Act 1991 and the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (referred to as the WFD Regulations). Directions to the Environment Agency are provided by the Water Framework Directive (Standards and Classification) Directions (England and Wales) 2015 and the Groundwater (Water Framework Directive) (England) Direction 2016.

The WFD Regulations set out objectives for groundwater quantity and quality and provides the framework for achieving good status in all groundwater bodies. The above directions and regulations clarify the requirements for assessing groundwater chemical status, identifying and reversing upward trends in pollutants and measures to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants into groundwater. In addition, they control inputs of hazardous substances and non-hazardous pollutants and other activities that might lead to accidental losses.

Any activity that meets the legal definition of a groundwater activity requires a permit (unless specifically exempted under the EPR) and carrying on a groundwater activity without a permit is an offence. Permits require conditions to prevent pollution or potentially polluting activities and notices can be served to control or prohibit activities that represent a risk to groundwater.

Enforcement of (agricultural) groundwater activity permits are also a part of cross-compliance inspections.

The legislation to protect groundwater are complemented and enhanced by additional measures including sector specific Groundwater Protection Codes of Practice and The Environment Agencys approach to groundwater protection published on GOV.UK which sets out the policy and positions to how the Environment Agency deals with activities that pose a risk to groundwater.

See further information in the groundwater protection guides.

England has nature conservation legislation that all public bodies and others including developers and landowners must comply with. This legislation protects Englands natural habitats and species and covers internationally, nationally and locally significant species and habitats. Compliance with this legislation contributes towards the ambitions set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and will in many cases help to achieve the environmental objectives of this river basin management plan.

You can find out more about the links between nature conservation legislation, the 25 Year Environment Plan and river basin planning in Biodiversity: challenges for the water environment.

There is direct link between the environmental objectives of river basin management plans and the legislation described here, which are mutually supportive. In most cases compliance with nature conservation legislation will help to achieve the environmental objectives of river basin management plans and the other drivers for those plans. For example, improving water quality will also in many cases contribute to the achievement of the nature conservation objectives. For further information see Biodiversity duty: public authority duty to have regard to conserving biodiversity.

The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 committed the UK to an ambitious approach to managing the marine environment that included the introduction of national Marine Protected Areas known as Marine Conservation Zones. Marine Conservation Zones are areas that protect a range of nationally important, rare or threatened habitats and species. River basin management plans apply out to 1 nautical mile offshore, and so help protect coastal and marine habitats, such as Marine Conservation Zones and other Marine Protected Areas. This includes where protective measures are applied from source to sea and from catchment to coast.

A summary of the legislation applying in England is as follows:

Regulations 63 and 65 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. See section 2.6.1 in this document for more information.

Environment Act 1995 s6

Places a general duty on the Environment Agency to such an extent they consider desirable to promote the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty and amenity of inland and coastal waters and the conservation of flora and fauna dependent on an aquatic environment.

Environment Act 1995 s7

The following applies:

section 7(1)(a) imposes on the Environment Agency a duty to further conservation and enhancement of natural beauty and SSSIs

section 7(1)(b) applies to pollution control functions. It requires the Environment Agency to:

section 7(1)(c) imposes a duty on the Environment Agency to take account of effect of exercising its functions on flora and fauna, it doesnt place more emphasis on designated sites, areas of nature conservation are all to be considered

Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 s125

The following applies:

places a duty on public bodies to take into account impacts on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) and to further the objective of the MCZ

where it is not possible to further these objectives, functions must be undertaken in the manner which least hinders the achievement of those objectives

if a public authority considers that any of its functions would or might significantly hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for an MCZ, it must inform the appropriate statutory conservation body of that fact

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, s28G

Go here to see the original:

Solway Tweed River Basin District in England programmes of measures: mechanisms summary - GOV.UK

Human development plays a profound role in achieving sustainable development, by utilizing the power of well-educated blue- and white-collar laborers, academics, politicians, and people from every layer of society and the economy. However, there is no single path for human development. Planning, designing, and implementing policies for human development require country-specific approaches, based on unique characteristics such as historical development trajectories, future goals, the commitment of leadership, culture, geography, and climate, to name a few. Such strategies become even further challenging for countries that aim to achieve radical transformations from resource-based to innovation-driven and knowledge-based economies, to achieve sustainable development. In this study, a conceptual model for a holistic human development strategy in line with sustainable economic development was first designed by employing design and systems thinking approaches. Second, under the guidance of this conceptual model, an integrated policy framework for Qatar is proposed to propel the quality and quantity of human capital to achieve economic diversification and, thus, sustainable development. Third, semi-structured interviews with experts and decision-makers in relevant fields were conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed policy framework. As a proof-of-concept, the interview results validatedbut were not limited tothe following outcomes. First, the proposed conceptual model has considerable potential to deliver robust, feasible, and effective policies from the initiation to the implementation of strategy development. Second, selectively recruiting highly skilled expatriate professionals under progressive residency policies provides incentives for them to become long-term residents. This would attract global human capital to complement the aim of economic diversification, a sustainable economy, and human development goals. Third, carefully designed university-industry-government partnerships and technical training programs will enable the development of appropriate innovation, professional, and business skills in the local population and facilitate economic diversification goals. Finally, empowering female entrepreneurs and investors will increase womens empowerment while accelerating economic diversificationand, thus, sustainable development.View Full-TextShow FiguresThis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Strategizing Human ...

Mapped: Economic Freedom Around the World

How would you define a countrys economic freedom?

The cornerstones of economic freedom by most measures are personal choice, voluntary exchange, independence to compete in markets, and security of the person and privately-owned property. Simply put, it is about the quality of political and economic institutions in countries.

Based on the Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Organization, we mapped the economic freedom of 178 countries worldwide.

The index uses five broad areas to score economic freedom for each country:

In 2021, the global average economic freedom score is 61.6, the highest its been in 27 years.

But from Mauritius and smaller African nations being beacons of hope to East Asian and Oceanic countries epitomizing economic democracy, every region has a different story to tell.

Lets take a look at the economic freedom of each region in the world.

Even though the U.S. and Canada continue to be some of the most economically free countries globally, some markers are suffering.

The regional average unemployment rate has risen to 6.9%, and inflation (outside of Venezuela) has increased to 5.2%. The regions average level of public debtalready the highest globallyrose to 85.2% of its GDP during the past year.

Across many Latin American countries, widespread corruption and weak protection of property rights have aggravated regulatory inefficiency and monetary instability.

For example, Argentinas Peronist government has recently fixed the price of 1,432 products as a response to a 3.5% price rise in September, the equivalent to a 53% increase if annualized.

More than half of the worlds 38 freest countries (with overall scores above 70) are in Europe. This is due to the regions relatively extensive and long-established free-market institutions, the robust rule of law, and exceptionally strong investment freedom.

However, Europe still struggles with a variety of policy barriers to vigorous economic expansion. This includes overly protective and costly labor regulations, which was one of the major reasons why the UK voted to leave the EU.

Brexit has since had a major impact on the region.

Even a year later, official UK figures showed a record fall in trade with the EU in January 2021, as the economy struggled with post-Brexit rules and the pandemic.

Dictatorships, corruption, and conflict have historically kept African nations as some of the most economically repressed in the world.

While larger and more prosperous African nations struggle to advance economic freedom, some smaller countries are becoming the beacon of hope for the continent.

Mauritius (rank 11), Seychelles (43) and Botswana (45) were the top African countries, offering the most robust policies and institutions supporting economic self-sufficiency.

From property rights to financial freedom, small African countries are racing ahead of the continents largest in advancing economic autonomy as they look to build business opportunities for their citizens.

When Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords last year, there was a sense of a new paradigm emerging in a region with a long history of strife.

A year into the signing of this resolution, the effects have been promising. There have been bilateral initiatives within the private sector and civil society leading to increasing economic and political stability in the region.

Central Asian countries once part of the Soviet Union have recently starting integrating more directly with the world economy, primarily through natural resource exports. In total, natural resources account for about 65% of exports in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and more than 90% in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Despite this progress, these countries have a long way to go in terms of economic freedom. Uzbekistan (108), Turkmenistan (167) and Tajikistan (134) are still some of the lowest-ranked countries in the world.

Despite massive populations and strong economies, countries like China and India remain mostly unfree economies. The modest improvements in scores over the last few years have been through gains in property rights, judicial effectiveness, and business freedom indicators.

Nearby, Singapores economy has been ranked the freest in the world for the second year in a row. Singapore remains the only country in the world that is considered economically free in every index category.

Finally, its worth noting that Australia and New Zealand are regional leaders, and are two of only five nations that are currently in the free category of the index.

More here:

Mapped: Economic Freedom Around the World - Visual Capitalist

Carbon pricing is among the most prominent policy instruments being used or considered by governments to reduce emissions today. Proponents argue that carbon pricing may allow us to reach internationally accepted temperature targets at minimal cost (Borissov et al. 2019, Gollier and Tirole 2015, Rausch et al. 2011).

However, most studies suggest that carbon taxes will negatively affect output and could be regressive (Grainger and Kolstad 2010, Mathur and Morris 2014, van der Ploeg et al. 2021), though some emerging empirical studies challenge this (e.g. Klenert and Hepburn 2018, Metcalf and Stock 2020, Shapiro 2021). Mitigating factors that can reduce output losses or reduce rising inequality have received substantial attention in the literature, particularly the mechanism for redistributing carbon-tax revenue.

What has received less attention is the mitigating role of policies that promote education quality. Better quality education has the potential to (1) improve the supply skills needed to enable green technological innovation in response to carbon pricing, leading to lower output losses and higher reductions in carbon emissions; and (2) reduce inequality resulting from carbon pricing by ensuring that green skill acquisition is accessible to all.

Emerging research suggests that green technological change relies on human capital. For example, the role of education and skilled labour for the transition to green growth in the report of the Commission on Carbon Pricing (Stiglitz et al. 2017) explains that production using clean technologies is human capital-intensive so education decisions become closely interlinked with the energy transition (Yao et al. 2020). At the same time, shortages of skilled labour may constrain the decarbonisation process of an economy (OECD 2017). Human capital has also been linked to firms better adapting to climate change and environmental regulations (Lan and Munro 2013, Pargal and Wheeler 1996).

Carbon pricing through its impact on human-capital accumulation may not only be the cornerstone of climate policy but may also act as a development policy, fostering technology switches and education of the labour force. However, if green technological change relies on higher-skilled workers and, as a result, is skill-biased, then the increased demand for higher-skilled labour resulting from carbon taxes may further widen the earnings gap between high- and low-skilled workers.

In a recent paper (Macdonald and Patrinos 2021), we consider how education quality interacts with carbon pricings effect on emissions, output, and wage inequality. Education quality as a determinant of the elasticity of skill supply in the economy may act as a mitigating factor both for the impact of carbon pricing on emissions reduction and on economic outcomes, including wage inequality and output.

This argument is parallel to skills and automation: if automation complements higher-skilled workers productivity, then the elasticity of skill supply for example, through the quality of education enhances the economic benefits of automation and mitigates its costs (Bentaouet Kattan et al. 2020).

We test the hypothesis that cognitive skills, as an indicator of overall human capital, are associated with a lower reliance on emissions in aggregate production technology and estimate the subsequent mitigating effect of education quality on carbon pricings effectiveness and economic consequences, including wage inequality.

Using data on workers cognitive skills and their industrys emissions for 21 European countries, we find that cognitive skills are associated with lower emissions per output and faster reductions in emissions per output across time. All three measures of cognitive skills in the OECD dataset literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving were associated with reduced emissions per unit of output (see Figure 1). We found this association to be true within countries, controlling for level of education, and primarily associated with the cognitive skills of professional and managerial occupations, which would be most involved in innovation and adaption.

Figure 1Association between one-standard-deviation-higher cognitve skills of employees and average annual growth rates in industries' CO2emissions per unitof value-added in percentage point terms

Notes: Estimates using OECD PIAAC data 2012 merged with EU EmissionsAccounts by Industry for 2012 to 2019. Observations are 67,877 workers in 21 countries for numeracy and literacy skills; 44,446 workers and 17 countries for problem-solving skills. Associations estimated using linear regression models controlling for education level, sex, age and fixed effects for each country.Source: Macdonald and Partinos 2021.

Variation in the reduction of reliance on emissions across industries and within countries is likely the result of technological change, either through innovation or adaption. The association between cognitive skills and reduction in reliance on emissions by industries is consistent with skill-level as an enabler of innovation or technology adoption. This is further supported by the finding that the association between skills and reduced reliance on emissions are predominantly among managerial and professional occupations, which are most involved in innovation and driving technological change.

These findings are also consistent with green technology which enables production with fewer emissions being skill-biased: workers with a higher level of literacy skills contribute more to reducing the production functions reliance on emissions relative to capital.

To understand how education quality can interact with carbon pricing, we estimate a general equilibrium macroeconomic model for 15 European countries and predict the marginal effects of an increase in the price of carbon on output, emissions, and wage inequality defined as differences in wages that children from wealthy and poorer households earn when they reach adulthood to capture inequality of opportunity. Using the OECD PISA data for each country, we estimate the overall ability of households to acquire cognitive skills for their children as well as differences in ability between richer and poorer households to acquire cognitive skills. Higher-quality education systems are, in our model, able to provide more cognitive skills for a given level of investment in education and can do so more equitably.

Our estimated baseline models predict that a carbon tax reduces emissions but also negatively affects output, consistent with standard macro models of carbon pricing. A carbon tax also increases wage inequality which, in our model, is a result of green technological change being skill-biased and the inequality in skill acquisition between richer and poorer households measured in PISA.

We then study how the marginal effects of a carbon tax for each country compare between the baseline education quality regime as measured in PISA and each of two counterfactual education quality regimes. In the first counterfactual, we compared how the marginal effects of a carbon tax would change if each country had the same level of education quality as Finland the country with the highest level of education in our estimates. In the second counterfactual, we compared how the marginal effects of a carbon tax would have changed because of changes in the quality of education measured in PISA across time (see Figure 2).

Figure 2Projected annual percentof GDP saved according to countries' current education quality (compared to Finland's, as measured in PISA)if a carbon tax were used to reduce emissions by 55%

Note: Estimates not statistically significant for Denmark, Greece, and Norway. Source:Linearised projection based on marginal effects presented in Macdonald and Patrinos 2021.

For both simulations, we found that improvements in education quality (1) strengthened the marginal effect of a carbon tax on reducing emissions, (2) reduced the negative effect on output, and (3) reduced the positive effect on wage inequality. The magnitude of effect varies by country depending, in the first scenario, on the difference in education quality between Finland and the country in question and, in the second scenario, by how much education quality has improved (or declined) across time.

By projecting the changes in the marginal effects, we can offer a sense perspective of the impact. For example, in the early 2000s, Poland implemented a significant education reform that improved its education quality substantially. The reform, which raised the age of streaming into vocational programmes among other policy changes, had few recurrent cost implications but a large impact on cognitive skills. In our estimated model, if Poland increased its carbon tax to achieve the EUs carbon reduction targets, the loss in GDP would be a quarter of a per cent less thanks to the increase in education quality from the reform.

Our findings that cognitive skills are associated with industries that are more efficient in terms of emissions per output and, subsequently, that education quality plays a mitigating role is consistent with greener technology requiring a higher level of skills than existing technology. These findings also echo the literature showing that firm-level human capital improves environmental compliance and practices, and higher educations association with reduced emissions at the macro level. Green technology is skill-biased. However, our model does not explain why this would be the case, and the topic deserves further research.

Our model could be extended in several ways in future research. First, labour mobility could be added to understand how the variation in education quality across the EU may affect the impact of carbon pricing. For example, countries with lower-quality education systems may have higher elasticity in skill supply by attracting foreign-trained labour; however, the presence of low-quality education systems within the EU may lower the elasticity of skill supply for the EU as a whole.

A second extension of the model would be to include other mitigating factors, such as progressive or otherwise targeted redistribution of a carbon tax, and compare the strength of the mitigating effect with increased education quality.

Finally, a third extension is to transform the framework into a growth model and examine steady-state growth outcomes. This would allow us to better understand how the elasticity of skill supply affects carbon pricings impact on annual changes in carbon emissions and other macroeconomic outcomes including output.

Carbon pricing to reduce emissions that is accompanied by improvements in education quality will result in better environmental and economic outcomes. In this context, investing in education quality is not to change the values or behaviours of consumers but rather to enable technological change that can reduce emissions. Human-capital investment should improve cognitive skills and enable technological change to mitigate the costs and enhance the benefits of increased carbon pricing.

Borissov, K, A Brausmann and L Bretschger (2019), Carbon pricing, technology transition, and skill-based development, European Economic Review 118: 25269.

Bentaouet Kattan, R, K Macdonald and H Patrinos (2020), The role of education in mitigating automations effect on wage inequality, Labour 35: 79104.

Gollier, C, and J Tirole (2015), Negotiating effective institutions against climate change, Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy 4(2): 528.

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Klenert, D, and C Hepburn (2018), Making carbon pricing work for citizens, VoxEU.org, 31 July.

Lan, J, and A Munro (2013), Environmental compliance and human capital: evidence from Chinese industrial firms, Resource and Energy Economics 35(4): 53457.

Macdonald, K, and H Patrinos (2021), Education quality, green technology, and the economic impact of carbon pricing, Policy Research Working Paper No. 9808, World Bank.

Mathur, A, and A C Morris (2014), Distributional effects of a carbon tax in broader US fiscal reform, Energy Policy 66: 32634.

Metcalf, G E, and J H Stock (2020), Measuring the macroeconomic impact of carbon taxes, AEA Papers and Proceedings 110: 101106.

OECD (2017), Boosting skills for greener jobs in Flanders, OECD.

Pargal, S, and D Wheeler (1996), Informal regulation of industrial pollution in developing countries: Evidence from Indonesia, Journal of Political Economy 104(6): 131427.

Rausch, S, G Metcalf and J Reilly (2011), Distributional impacts of carbon pricing: A general equilibrium approach with micro data for households, VoxEU.org, 10 June.

Shapiro, J (2021), Pollution trends and US environmental policy: Lessons from the last half century, VoxEU.org, 2 December.

Stiglitz, J E, N Stern, M Duan, O Edenhofer, G Giraud, G M Heal, E L La Rovere, A Morris, E Moyer, M Pangestu and P R Shukla (2017), Report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices, World Bank.

van der Ploeg, R, A Rezai and M Tovar (2021), Carbon tax recycling and popular support in Germany, VoxEU.org, 2 November.

Yao, Y, K Ivanovski, J Inekwe and R Smyth (2020), Human capital and CO2 emissions in the long run, Energy Economics 91.

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Education quality, green technology, and the economic impact of carbon pricing | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal - voxeu.org

A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. A CE aims to tackle global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and the regeneration of nature. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy.

In a linear economy, natural resources are turned into products that are ultimately destined to become waste because of the way they have been designed and manufactured. This process is often summarised by take, make, waste. By contrast, a circular economy employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimizing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution, and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment, and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes through waste valorization: either as a component for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost). Infrastructure is a key measure of a countrys position on the global level; it is the second pillar that is assessed by the World Economic Forum when determining the competitiveness of a nation (institutions, being the first). In general, infrastructure development can have dramatic effects on land values. So Secured Governance says this increased land valuation will bear the infrastructure construction cost for national development. This valuation of infrastructure, which grows many folds need to be shared by the society and by the Government to support infrastructure development, ensuring balanced growth. Today we find the valuation due to infrastructure growth is not channelized towards infrastructure development and results in inequalities. Secured Governance aims at addressing this issue also.

Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, modern industries have been dominated by a linear economic model which follows the pattern of take, make, use and dispose of natural resources. Companies that are following a unidirectional model of production, are involved in activities such as mining, extraction, and processing of resources at a higher rate than in pre-industrial eras. The transition from a linear to a circular economy model is becoming ineludible. It ensures efficient utilization of resources to minimize the leakages in terms of solid industrial waste throughout the product lifecycle stages. The vision of a circular economy requires circular business models to build a low carbon resource-efficient economy.

There are many definitions of the circular economy. In China, CE is promoted as a top-down national political objective while in other areas such as the European Union, Japan, and the USA it is a tool to design bottom-up environmental and waste management policies. The goal of promoting CE is the decoupling of environmental pressure from economic growth. A comprehensive definition could be: Circular Economy is an economic system that targets zero waste and pollution throughout materials lifecycles, from environment extraction to industrial transformation, and to final consumers, applying to all involved ecosystems. Upon its lifetime end, materials return to either an industrial processor, in the case of a treated organic residual, safely back to the environment as in a natural regenerating cycle. It operates creating value at the macro, meso, and micro levels and exploits to the fullest the sustainability nested concept. Used energy sources are clean and renewable. Resources use and consumption is efficient. Government agencies and responsible consumers play an active role ensuring correct system long-term operation.

More generally, circular development is a model of economic, social, and environmental production and consumption that aims to build an autonomous and sustainable society in tune with the issue of environmental resources. The circular economy aims to transform our economy into one that is regenerative. An economy that innovates with the intention of reducing waste and the ecological and environmental impact of industries prior to happening rather than waiting to address the consequences of these issues. This is done by designing new processes and solutions for the optimization of resources, decoupling reliance on finite resources.

The circular economy is a framework of three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use and regenerate natural systems. It is based increasingly on renewable energy and materials, and it is accelerated by digital innovation. It is a resilient, distributed, diverse, and self-sustained economic model. The circular economy is an economic concept often linked to sustainable development, provision of the Sustainable Development Goals (Global Development Goals), and an extension of a green economy.

The circular economys roots go back further than many people realize to the late eighteenth century. In 1798, Thomas Malthus, concerned about the worlds mushrooming population, published his famous work, An Essay on the Principle of Population. The main tenets of his argument were radically opposed to then-current thinking. He argued that continued population increases would eventually diminish the worlds ability to feed itself. Malthusbased this conclusion on the thesis that populations expand to overtake the development of sufficient land for crops. For environmental historians, the rise of the environmental movement as we know it today concludes a story that began before 1900. As Adam Rome wrote in The Journal of American History, The first protests against pollution, the first efforts to conserve natural resources, and the first campaigns to save wilderness all occurred in the late nineteenth century. Soon, the implications of nonrenewable resource depletion aroused the interest of economists. One of them, Harold Hoteling, had this to say in 1931:

The idea of circular flow for materials and energy is not new, appearing as early as 1966 in the book by Kenneth E. Boulding, who explains that we should be in a cyclical system of production. For its part, the term circular economy appeared for the first time in 1988 in The Economics of Natural Resources. and soon after that was used by Pearce and Turner to describe an economic system where waste at extraction, production, and consumption stages is turned into inputs. From the early 2000s, China integrated the notion into its industrial and environmental policies to make them resource-oriented, production-oriented, waste, use-oriented, and life cycle oriented. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was instrumental in the diffusion of the concept in Europe and the Americas. The European Union introduced its vision of the circular economy in 2014, a New Circular Economy Action Plan having been launched in 2020 that show the way to a climate-neutral, competitive economy of empowered consumers.

Circular development is directly linked to the circular economy and aims to build a sustainable society based on recyclable and renewable resources, protect society from waste, and to be able to form a model that is no longer considering resources as infinite. This new model of economic development focuses on the production of goods and services considering environmental and social costs. Circular development, therefore, supports a circular economy to create new societies in line with new waste management and sustainability objectives that meet the needs of citizens. It is about enabling economies and societies, in general, to become more sustainable.

However, critiques of the circular economy suggest that proponents of the circular economy may overstate the potential benefits of the circular economy. These critiques put forwards that the circular economy has too multiple definitions to be delimited, making it an umbrella concept that, although exciting and appealing, is hard to understand and assess. Critiques mean that the literature ignores much-established knowledge. It neglects the thermodynamic principle that one can neither create nor destroy matter. Therefore, a future where waste no longer exists, where material loops are closed, and products are recycled indefinitely is, in any practical sense, impossible. They point at a lack of inclusion of indigenous discourses from the Global South means that the conversation is less ecocentric than it depicts itself. That there is a lack of clarity as to whether the circular economy is more sustainable than the linear economy, and what its social benefits might be, due to diffuse contours. It may thus not be the panacea many had hoped for.

Intuitively, the circular economy would appear to be more sustainable than the current linear economic system. Reducing the resources used, and the waste and leakage created, conserves resources and helps to reduce environmental pollution. However, it is argued by some that these assumptions are simplistic; that they disregard the complexity of existing systems and their potential trade-offs. For example, the social dimension of sustainability seems to be only marginally addressed in many publications on the circular economy. There are cases that might require different or additional strategies, like purchasing new, more energy-efficient equipment.

The circular economy can cover a broad scope. Researchers have focused on different areas such as industrial applications with both product-oriented, natural resources and services, practice and policies to better understand the limitations that the CE currently faces, strategic management for details of the circular economy, and different outcomes such as potential re-use applications and waste management.

The circular economy includes products, infrastructure, equipment, and services, and applies to every industry sector. It includes technical resources (metals, minerals, fossil resources) and biological resources (food, fibers, timber, etc.).Most schools of thought advocate a shift from fossil fuels to the use of renewable energy and emphasize the role of diversity as a characteristic of resilient and sustainable systems. The circular economy includes a discussion of the role of money and finance as part of the wider debate, and some of its pioneers have called for a revamp of economic performance measurement tools. One study points out how modularisation could become a cornerstone to enable a circular economy and enhance the sustainability of energy infrastructure. One example of a circular economy model is the implementation of renting models in traditional ownership areas (e.g. electronics, clothes, furniture, transportation). Through renting the same product to several clients, manufacturers can increase revenues per unit, thus decreasing the need to produce more to increase revenues. Recycling initiatives are often described as circular economies and are likely to be the most widespread models.

While deliberating about issues around sustainability, experts stressed the need for businesses to rapidly adopt industry best practices from across the globe. Forward-looking firms will leverage the idea of sustainability and circular economy. Globally, customers are increasingly making their buying decision based on whether the raw materials in the product have been sourced sustainably or not. Being part of a circular value chain gives an added USP to products, say, industry observers. The growing trend is leading to a big demand for products made by firms employing sustainability-driven practices.

Traditionally, we have taken natural resources to manufacture products and at the end of the products lifecycle, we send them to landfills or burn them. Some refer to it as the take make waste linear model. But the world has realized this is simply not sustainable its destroying our planet. We need a circular economy one that regenerates the resources we take from the planet one that keeps materials in circulation. This challenges you to design differently and keep products and materials in use as long as possible and design its end of life.

The pandemic has exposed gaps in the notion of development across global markets. India now needs to rely on a circular economy, by laying emphasis on people, the planet, and profits. It has been a year since the global outbreak of the pandemic. During this period, the world fought valiantly and collectively to survive this challenge; however, the battle is far from over.

While the pandemic impacted the global economy, it also exposed gaps in the notion of development across global markets. It further emphasized the need to build for the future through collective actions including self-reliance, technology, and digital investments across industries, equitable growth, rectifying the mismatch in demand and supply, and correcting the climate imbalance.

Despite its damaging effect on the world, the pandemic-induced crisis urged us to pause, reflect, and re-energize to leverage the opportunities that lie beyond the challenges. Now is the time for us to build a sustainable economy governed by mindful growthone that is not built at the cost of the welfare of its stakeholders. Transitioning from a linear to a circular economya restorative or regenerative economy that lays equal emphasis on people, the planet, and profitsis perhaps the only viable solution that can ensure this. It underscores the need to shift towards the use of renewable resources and aims at the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products, systems, and business models.

The opportunity to build a resilient and low-carbon economic recovery requires close collaboration between government, industries, and people to take critical actions that focus on safeguarding national economies. Italy, one of the leading countries in Europe with a circular economy, is a fine example of close stakeholder collaboration to promote innovative projects in sustainability, economy, tourism, decarburization, and climate change mitigation. Based on the SMART city/country strategies, many structural changes have been incorporated to facilitate the transition to a green economy. According to analysts, the circular economy development path in India could create an annual value of INR. 14 lakh crore ($218 billion) in 2030 and INR. 40 lakh crore ($624 billion) in 2050 in comparison to the current development scenario. India is deploying SMART policies and strategies across its cities to maximize resource use, decrease pollution, and create countless business opportunities.

The world is a global village, much like an extended central nervous system connected by the Internet and telecommunication. Therefore, the focus should be on distributed growth across all industriesbe it manufacturing, agriculture, telecommunications, information technology, or health. In India, the reliance on agriculture needs to be balanced by the increased focus on digital, education, healthcare, and new-age technologies. It seems that the spirit of entrepreneurship guides us, and we can boost our economy by supporting local entrepreneurs and business ventures. We also need to manage talent in developing countries by creating ample employment opportunities to ensure rounded growth.

To develop a sustainable growth model, we must leverage technology as a key enabler to facilitate business and operations. We need to embrace the transformative capabilities of digital technologies for supply chain resilience: big data analytics to streamline supplier selection processes; cloud computing to facilitate and manage supplier relationships; and the Internet of Things for enhancing logistics and shipping processes.

Technology is the catalyst that can bridge the gap between Bharat and India, and we must leverage it. Direct benefits/money transfer to citizens through digitization of banks as part of the Jan Dhan scheme of the government is a great example of this. Similarly, the emergence of fintech and increased smartphone and Internet penetration has led to better connections between the government, industries, and citizens.

The global market is moving towards the next leap where technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine to machine, and robotics could be applied to any services in any sector. In other words, we are taking the leap by making technology the common denominator. In this scenario, businesses need to place the tech-bets and nurture a growth mindset guided by sustainable goals like combating climate change, adopting renewable energy solutions, and using digital platforms.

Circular and local models have proven to be more resilient and efficient in addressing the needs of the masses and catalyzing the recovery of businesses. We must hence encourage local alternatives to enable local supply chains. During the early stages of the pandemic in India, we were in dire need of PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and masks for our frontline line workers. However, within a few weeks of the lockdown, our country managed to manufacture these kits indigenously in huge numbers. This provided employment opportunities to many and together, we were able to turn the situation around successfully.

According to the Circularity Gap Report 2020, the global economy is only 8.6% circular. This means that over 90% of the resources that enter the economy100 billion tonnes per yearare wasted. The Netherlands is one of the leading countries that work with a circular economy. It has an ambitious project to become a country 100% based on a circular economy by 2050 and is already working on strategies to manage raw materials, products, and services more efficiently. While it is important to go vocal for local, there is a need to foster global collaboration to provide the necessary infrastructure to collectively develop and sustain a circular economy.

The practice of adopting a circular economy at the macro, meso, and micro-level is required to achieve sustainable development goals. At the macro-level, several policies, development programs and regulations influence the actions of the economic actors involved at meso (business networks) and micro (individual firm) levels to uphold progress towards the circular economy. The national and regional policies develop the closed-loop through optimized utilization of waste, followed by renewable energy use, minimizing pollution generated during the manufacturing process, and infrastructure-related initiatives such as the development of smart cities and communities to prosper economic growth and development. Atmeso-level, circular practices are related to business networks and thus, industrial symbiosis takes place. Industrial symbiosis allows multiple firms with aligned interests to collaborate amongst themselves to achieve a competitive advantage over others. At the micro-level, circular economy practices are related to a single company. Each company has its own specific set of business models to achieve circularity in its business operations.

The imperative of rapid scaling up of the infrastructure capacity in the Government and private sector (developers, contractors, consultants, financial intermediaries, and investors) entails developing and implementing projects of the required scale and within the tight time frames envisaged. The recent initiatives of 100 smart cities on the part of the Government have begun to turn around the project as far as private participation is concerned through project execution and planning new investments.

Lastly, to implement an ambitious roadmap for this project, improved standards of secured governance and concerted action would be required to take these targets and goals from inspirational statements to actual development. We need a system to integrate economic interdependence in todays modern societies which not only decreases uncertainty regarding where risks begin and end but also helps in judicious planning and development of new empowered, transparent and interdependent Governance systems with a higher degree of social participation in nation-building Process. Secured Governance is an ideal strategy that equips to create adequate and coordinated measures to ensure the provision of financial, human, technical, information, and other capacity-building resources. A circular economy is not a new concept. From a very young age, we are taught about the importance of using our resources and money wisely, with an eye on the future. We must continue this practice in our lives to invest in initiatives that positively impact our future generations by becoming more environmentally conscious and responsible. The idea of a closed economy has been picking up consideration all around the globe. The objective of a circular economy is to guarantee proficient utilization of resources to avoid or ultimately minimize industrial waste. The move towards a circular economy is a step to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) to bring harmonization among the economy, society, and the climate. The natural resource management reflected in the SDGs 12ensures responsible production and consumption. In India, the growing middle-class population, rapid economic growth, rise in average income, an expansion in manufacturing and service-related activities and urbanization is affecting the production and consumption patterns and thus, causing socioeconomic and environmental risks. Indeed, even Indian companies have also started making a conscious decision towards the adoption of a circular economy in the manufacturing and service sectors. The government of India has taken several policies across all the phases of the product life cycle to make resource proficiency a reality.

By,Dr. P. Sekhar, Chairman,Unleashing India Global Smart City Panel & MTGF

By,Shalini Bhalla,Global Expert on Circular Economy MD ICCE

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Post covid Devastation Strategic role for Circular Economy to play a lead role for Techno Economic National growth through Smart and Secured Governance

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The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and the regeneration of nature. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy.

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TPT News Bureau

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THE POLICY TIMES

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Post covid Devastation Strategic role for Circular Economy to play a lead role for Techno Economic National growth through Smart and Secured...

Mexico City, Mexico This years political moves surrounding Mexicos lithium reserves have tested the limits of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors (AMLO) pledges to keep the countrys most precious natural resources firmly in Mexican hands.

In October, AMLO unveiled a sweeping energy reform bill that included nationalising Mexicos lithium deposits as a strategic mineral a move that threw into doubt Chinas ability to lock in a critical reserve of lithium to support its green energy transition plans.

Also known as white gold and the new oil, lithium is a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries that are used for green energy storage, including powering electric vehicles.

Chinas Ganfeng Lithium had set its sights on upping its stake in a massive lithium mining project in Mexicos Sonora state by buying all the concessions held by its partner in the project, United Kingdom-based mining and exploration giant Bacanora.

After the news of AMLOs nationalisation plans hit the markets in October, the government scrambled to assure firms with active lithium mining permits in Mexico that they would be exempt from any new legislation. That, in turn, was interpreted to apply to Ganfeng, because construction had started on the Bacanora Sonora Lithium deposit in February.

Last week, Mexican regulators made good on that theoretical grandfather clause and without fanfare gave the green light to Gengfengs takeover of Bacanoras Sonora lithium mining concessions.

The official exemption illustrates that AMLOs government is willing to concede some of Mexicos natural resources to a foreign economic power. It also reveals what analysts see as a vector of tension between AMLOs quest for Mexican strategic mineral sovereignty and the much larger geopolitical race surrounding lithium.

Not everyone was supportive of Ganfengs takeover of Bacanoras Sonora lithium mining rights.

A cohort of individual shareholders in Bacanora who call themselves the Think BIG Bacanora investors group, has campaigned against the takeover.

Think BIG spokesperson Dawood Patel, told Al Jazeera that they were originally promised that Ganfeng would not try to monopolise the Sonora lithium reserves that had proven to be larger with every survey. He also said that private shareholders had been recommended by Bacanoras board to accept Ganfengs offer, even though a significant proportion of the risks associated with mining exploration had already been mitigated, allowing Ganfeng to solely profit.

We feel the Board and Ganfeng only spoke about partnerships and production to keep us small shareholders invested until Ganfeng could take control at an opportune moment, Patel said, adding that his group is also concerned about the geopolitical risks in allowing one of the worlds largest lithium resources to fall under the control of a single country.

This is a resource that the world including Mexico should benefit from, he said.

Ganfeng did not respond to Al Jazeeras request for comment.

As economies around the world decarbonise, the race has only intensified to lock in lithium supply chains.

Ganfeng, which supplies Tesla with lithium, accounted for 24 percent of the global output of lithium hydroxide last year, according to China Minmetals a substantial increase of the 18 percent market share it commanded in 2019.

With warnings of potential lithium shortages looming, Mexicos lithium deposits, as well as those in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, have become prime prizes in the ever-heating competition between Washington and Beijing for economic supremacy and influence over the most powerful industries of the near future.

Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, said that China will rely on lithium in order to ensure that it grows efficiently in the coming years.

As such, lithium in Latin America is a critical mineral for its (Chinas) own growth, and also a potential choke point with the US or with other countries that may rely heavily on lithium, as well as rare earths and other tech essential minerals.

AMLO had already taken steps to reduce any potential fallout from grandfathering a Chinese company against his high-profile pledges to nationalise strategic minerals.

As talk of nationalising lithium ramped up in October, Mexico hosted an international mining conference in Acapulco, during which the Mexican federal geological service downplayed the significance of the Sonora lithium deposit, describing it as in reality, clay and saying that claims of large reserves of lithium in Mexico had been exaggerated.

That balancing act, analysts have said, is born of AMLOs need to maintain Chinese investment in Mexico.

Carlos Flores, an expert on Mexicos energy sector, told Al Jazeera that Mexico and China have been growing closer in recent years.

Chinese companies, for example, are responsible for the refurbishment of one of the lines of Mexico Citys subway, he said. [They] are also in charge of the construction of one of the sections of the Mayan Train (Tren Maya) located in the Yucatan peninsula. There is also one Chinese company that invested in renewables in Mexico, they own wind farms.

But Myers noted that China is nevertheless very concerned by AMLOs efforts to potentially nationalise certain sectors of Mexicos economy, or to impose regulations that would make certain sectors unprofitable and untenable for Chinese companies.

This is evident among oil companies, she said. [Chinas] CNOOC, in particular, has assets in Mexico.

At the same time, said Meyers, of all of the countries in Latin America, especially the major economies, Mexico is the least dependent on China economically speaking noting that the vast majority of Mexicos trade is with the United States, while the extent of Chinese investment in Mexico is minuscule in comparison to whats coming from the US.

So in Mexico, China just doesnt have the sort of leverage in Mexico that it does in other places, she said.

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Mexicos lithium and the global race to lock in white gold - Al Jazeera English

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The European Commission is set to propose three new levies aimed at repaying the 800 billion debt mountain it plans to issue to reboot the EUs economy.

The package of so-called own resources, to be adopted on December 22, includes revenues from a looming levy on the worlds 100 biggest companies, from the EUs planned carbon border tax, and from a proposed extension of the blocs cap-and-trade carbon market, as POLITICO reported last week.

These initiatives require EU action, and therefore constitute an appropriate base for EU own resources, the Commission wrote in a draft communication on the proposals, obtained by POLITICO.

Own resources taxes raised on behalf of the EU are central to the Commissions plans of paying back the EU debt it is issuing to finance the bloc's massive recovery fund that is set to pay out a total of 800 billion to capitals over the next five years.Without them, governments will have to either increase the amount of money they pay into the EU budget or cut down existing EU programs, both of which are unpopular prospects for politicians.

The draft communication stops short of saying how much revenue the Commission will seek to appropriate from each policy, but officials told POLITICO that Brussels aims to raise about 15 billion per year. The three new levies should start applying from 2023.

Getting all 27 EU countries to sign up wont be easy, with many wary of entrusting even more revenue-raising powers to Brussels.

We will discuss but still our core feeling is were reluctant on it, said a diplomat from a so-called frugal country. We need to be convinced.

The Commission's plans to use part of the EU's income from the global levy for multinationals to help pay back its debt could also complicate an international accord to reform corporate tax rules.

The levy, known as Pillar 1, is part of a two-pronged global accord that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development brokered in the fall to ensure multinationals and tech giants pay their fair dues. Pillar 2 of the OECD agreement sets a minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent for companies with revenue above 750 million. Leaders from G20 countries rubber-stamped the global tax deal in late October.

The Commission's draft communication specifies the levy for multinationals would only be introduced once a multilateral convention is negotiated by global policymakers and the related EU directive is agreed and in force. The EU bill for Pillar 1 is expected in late July.

But skeptics abound. As long as these objectives have not been reached, I think it is a bit pointless to talk about the possibility of redistribution, a top official in the French finance ministry said.

There are also questions over how much revenue the levy would generate. Pillar 1 aims to reallocate $125 billion of residual profits worldwide, of which only some will end up in the EU.

If you take a small amount from a small amount, it doesnt add up to much, said Dutch S&D member Paul Tang, who heads the European Parliaments subcommittee on tax. Changing the terms of a contentious global deal could also prove complicated, he added. We need a stable source for own resources.

The other two options arent without critics.

The Commission will propose that a still to-be-determined share of revenues from auctioning emission permits, currently accruing to national coffers, will flow into the EUs budget.

Given plans to extend the EUs carbon market to shipping and aviation, while creating a new one for heating and transport fuels and factoring in the recent spike in carbon prices, revenues from emission permit sales are expected to boom to several hundred billion euros per year by 2050, according to some estimates.

But shifting part of that cash to the EU budget would hurt countries balance sheets at a time of much-needed public investment.

You get a certain redistribution towards countries with less CO2 intensive industries the beneficiaries are countries like France with nuclear power, rather than fossil [energy] and so on, said Clemens Fuest, president of the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research. But he added that an EU levy based on its own carbon market makes sense as it is related to a policy, and a policy problem, which is genuinely European.

The result will be that you have some losers; Poland is probably the biggest loser, he said.

Brussels is aware of that risk and that is why its proposing to cap the contributions from lower income and carbon intensive countries and set a minimum contribution for low-carbon countries until 2030.

This will avoid that some Member States contribute [disproportionately] to the EU budget in comparison to the size of their economy, during the period of transition to more sustainable economies and societies, and ensures a just contribution from all, the Commission wrote in the draft communication.

Finally, the Commissions plan to direct part of the profits from a new carbon border levy isnt likely to go down well with countries that are just starting negotiations on it.

An agreement on [a carbon border adjustment mechanism] is not an agreement on a new own resource based on it. Thats a next step and part of the broader discussion on own resources, said the EU diplomat from a frugal country.

Two more tax bills will emerge Wednesday alongside, but unrelated to, the own resources package. They aim to crack down on tax havens and companies that use accounting tricks to avoid paying their fair share of dues.

The big-ticket item is the EUs bid to implement the 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate, as part of the OECD accord. The initiative already has the political backing of all 27 capitals but some treasury officials harbor fears over Estonia and Hungary, which were among the last holdouts over the OECD deal.

Budapest could hold the initiative hostage in retaliation to drawn out talks with the Commission over getting money from the recovery fund, officials said. Tallinn, meanwhile, is wary over how the global overhaul will complicate its tax code. Tax initiatives need unanimity before they can become law in the EU.

The second initiative will aim to make letterbox companies across the bloc useless as a means of getting tax breaks. The initiative will require national tax authorities to scrutinize these shell companies to ensure they serve an economic activity. If not, tax authorities will have to wind them down.

All the draft documents are subject to change prior to approval by the Commission next week.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the day that two tax bills are scheduled to emerge alongside the own resource proposals. They're due Wednesday.

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EU plans to tax its way out of recovery debt - POLITICO.eu

Two Kenai Peninsula cities are weighing in on a lawsuit over the closure of part of Cook Inlet to salmon fishing.

Kenai and Homer both are submitting amicus briefs to a suit from the United Cook Inlet Drift Association that attempts to stop the closure before it takes hold next summer. The cities say the ramifications of the decision on their local economies could be intense.

If council was interested in participating in the lawsuit, I think that would be our narrow focus," said Kenai City Attorney Scott Bloom. "That, Look, as a city, we were never consulted. We think there is a large impact to the city and the fishermen that participate in the fishery.'"

The lawsuit is over the decision to close part of Cook Inlets federal waters to commercial salmon fishing, estimated to impact the 500 permit holders who fish from the southern tip of Kalgin Island to Anchor Point.

Then and now, the decision has been unpopular among commercial fishermen and Kenai Peninsula cities. But members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to shut the commercial fishery down anyway last December, when they were tasked with picking a new fishery management plan. After the state said it wouldnt manage the fishery alongside the federal government, the council said it had no other option but to close the area entirely.

Two separate lawsuits have been filed against the federal government since.

The first is from several Cook Inlet fishermen and the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation. That suit argues that the composition of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is illegal, and therefore the council does not have the authority to make decisions like the one it did last year.

Thats sort of not an argument I think the city has an interest in," Bloom said. "That's sort of a technical, legal argument.

The second is from the drift association, UCIDA. The association says the closure does not count as a management plan and that it could really hurt the fishery and its communities.

An impact statement from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council said last year the federal area makes up just under half of the revenue that comes from Upper Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishing around $10 million.

Those landings are spread out across the peninsula. Homer has the highest average ex-vessel value from that part of the inlet, at about $2,647,402. Kenais ex vessel value is about $938,453. Those estimates come from annual averages for the years between 2009 and 2018.

Homer Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins said the closure will have a huge impact on the city. Most of the permit holders in the Upper Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishery are from Homer.

We are continually challenged with the ups and downs of harvests and how it affects our fleet because that directly affects the community," he said.

He said it goes beyond the fishermen, tenders and processors that actively fish the area.

"Of course theres the secondary revenue thats generated from commercial fishermen that are working on their vessels during the wintertime to prepare them for the end season," he said. "All of those things play into the economy. Not just Homers economy but the peninsula in general.

Advocates of the closure plan said fishermen who typically fish that part of the inlet can take their business elsewhere, like closer to shore. They also suspect a redistribution of the resource could balance out some of the economic losses.

The state of Alaska also filed to join the lawsuit on the side of the federal government.

In an emailed statement, Aaron Sadler, a spokesperson from the states Department of Law, said that was because Alaska has significant interests in this dispute and is moving to intervene in order to fully and meaningfully represent those interests in all phases of the litigation.

The state was an advocate for closing the inlet at the council meeting last year. Unlike the cities, the state would be joining the case.

Bloom said Kenai will file its brief in February. He says UCIDA has asked for expedited consideration of the case, in anticipation of the closure that will go into effect in 2022.

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Citing economic concerns, cities will weigh in on fishing suit - kdll.org

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As geopolitical conflict between the United States and China continues to grow, some China watchers have called into question the countrys economic direction. It could be said that Chinas economic trajectory is the least clear it has been in decades, as China moves from a period of rapid growth and reform to what it deems high-quality growth and development. Due to the strong guidance of Xi Jinping, the best way to understand Chinas long-term economic direction is through the words of its president.

So, what can we say about Xi? Xi Jinping is heavily guided by Marxist theory, particularly as viewed through a Chinese lens. While Marx called for capitalism to be entirely overturned, the first leader of economic reform in China, Deng Xiaoping, stated, Both planning and the market are economic means. The essence of socialism is to liberate the productive forces, develop them, and eliminate them. Eliminate exploitation, polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity. This diverged from the Marxist view that a market-based economy, viewed as unique to capitalism, was to be rejected. Deng believed that socialism would eventually lead to communism after economic development has been completed: Socialism itself is the primary stage of communism, and China is in the primary stage of socialism, the stage of underdevelopment.

Xi has clearly stated that China will move away from its previous economic trajectory beginning in 2021, and this is what has happened. The 14th Five-Year Plan period is after my country has built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and achieved its first centenary goal, Xi said. In the first five years, our country will enter a new stage of development. This stage of development involves moving toward common prosperity of the people and less emphasis on GDP growth rates. Xi has said that we must strive to promote the common prosperity of all people and achieve more obvious substantive progress. [We must] no longer simply talk about heroes based on the growth rate of GDP.

Xi further says that development must be sustainable and healthy, in line with customer interests, and not in violation of the law. Xi has also noted that practice tells us that development is a constantly changing process, so that the development process will change over time.

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Interestingly, Xi has also promoted market forces, stating that market allocation of resources is the most efficient form.the market should play a decisive role in resource allocation. The 14th Five-Year Plan has a section devoted to stimulating market vitality. In this section, it is written that we will be unswerving in consolidating and developing the non-publicly owned sector and in encouraging, supporting, and leading the development of the non-publicly owned sector. This section also commits to continued support for the state-owned sector.

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Given the complexity of Chinas ideological backdrop and the lack of precedents for a Chinese-type socialist market economy, it is challenging to interpret these statements. Perhaps the best way to understand them is to look at what China has been doing in 2021, when the country entered what its leaders called a new stage of development. Since that time, new regulations have been implemented, including a policy that lays out plans to further regulate the economy in the next five years. Regulations have sought to protect consumer data, curb excessive marketing practices, reduce gaming time, break up monopolies, and reduce tutoring profitability. Such regulations appear to constitute a weird hodge-podge of rules thrown out by an overzealous government. However, they are in line with what Xi Jinping has committed to do protect the people, Communist style.

The new regulations, and the speeches made by Xi himself, do not attack the private sector in the wholesale way that some observers fear. While the rules have called out tech companies in particular for becoming too large or harming consumer interests, they have not sought to obliterate private firms, and according to statements by Xi and the 14th Five-Year Plan, noted above, this is not in the works. If this were the case, Xis economic trajectory would be clearer; what we are left with is an uncomfortable coexistence between a heavy-handed Communist government and a market economy. This domestic economic tension coincides with an increasingly hawkish view of China from the Western world, led by the United States, with international economic ramifications embodied in tariffs, blacklisting, and sanctions. This has created a substantial amount of economic fragility, which can be seen in Chinas slowing growth numbers.

Chinas long-term economic growth prospects are therefore far more muted than prospects in previous decades. Whether China can balance internal and external tensions is unclear, and gives rise to some questions, such as: will government economic intervention be successful in promoting common prosperity without stamping out market forces? Will the China-sanctioning international order force China to take a different path? What exactly will come to be included under the auspices of common prosperity, and will this become a euphemism for damaging practices? Finally, is Chinas new stage of reform compatible with its anticipated role on the world stage?

While Chinas intentions for long-term economic reform have been laid out in its speeches and doctrine, and embodied in recent reforms, this transition comes at a time of great uncertainty. China wants to usher in quality GDP growth; whether China will indeed be successful in implementing a phase of common prosperity is unknown.

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China's Long-Term Economic Direction The Diplomat - The Diplomat