NEWS & INSIGHT
SWEEPING IMPACT OF MINING CHANGES PROJECTED IN STUDY
MISMATCH BETWEEN BUSINESS AND PUBLIC OPINION ON ESG ISSUES COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham governance (ESG) issues, according to a survey commissioned by Birmingham Business School. One of the biggest disparities can be seen in net- zero strategy. While 74% of British adults believe that businesses should have a net-zero strategy, 50% of business decision-makers admitted that their companies did not currently have one. Another area of contention is in reporting on pay. Businesses are not meeting the standard expected by public opinion on environmental, social and corporate More than half (52%) of the public thought that the gap between the highest-paid and lowest-paid employees should be published, whereas only 14% of business decision-makers agree with this. There is also a misconception of what consumers want from business. A third (28%) of people surveyed said they would choose the most sustainable consumer option if they were given the right information, whereas only 13% of business decision-makers believe that this would have an impact on consumers’ decision-making. These results – from a survey commissioned by Birmingham Business School’s Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business and carried out by YouGov – canvassed 1,104 senior business decision- makers and 2,233 British adults. ‘What this survey proves is that business is stuck in the traditional view of what it’s purpose in the world is,’ said Ian Thomson, Director of the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business, and the author of Urgent Business. ‘The business community needs to completely revolutionise the way it sees itself and make radical changes in order to reach net zero, and have a positive impact on the world. If business doesn’t make the most of the time we have left to make these changes, then before we know it, it will be too late,’ . A key problem identified by the survey is that engaging with ESG issues is seen as a luxury by some businesses, with the results suggesting that most businesses are not making any radical changes to become more sustainable. Large businesses, in particular, tend to be making only minor changes if they are making any positive changes at all. / EB
COUNTRY: Chile SCHOOL: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad del Desarrollo
Between 142,000 and 187,000 jobs – up to 3% of total employment in Chile – could be affected if mining production were to fall by 10%, according to a study by the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD). Entitled Global effects of a fall in the Mining GDP , the study came amid proposals for a new mining tax, or royalty, in Chile which many in the industry believe would impact negatively on production. A fall of 10% is estimated to bring with it a direct 1% drop in Chile’s GDP, as well as additional drop in GDP of between 0.8% and 1.3% because of the way in which the mining sector interconnects with other industries. The example of a 10% drop in mining production is said to represent one of the more moderate estimates among commentators who have tried to work out how a range of proposed changes to the mining sector might impact Chile’s economy. ‘The mining sector has important linkages with the rest of the economy, mainly through “upstream” linkages,’ said Rodrigo Cifuentes, who led the study. ‘This systemic importance stems both from its size and from the inputs it demands from other sectors. It is the third most important sector in the Chilean economy, preceded only by the manufacturing industry and the trade, hotels and restaurants sector.’ Most affected, according to the UDD study, would be business services (which in the projection would experience a decline of 1.7%); electricity, gas, water and waste management (2.3%), and construction (1.8%). A higher decline, of 3.5%, was calculated for the sub-sector of non-residential building and engineering works. Chile’s constitutional convention has since rejected some of the more controversial proposals made to reform the mining industry, including plans to nationalise the country’s copper and lithium mines (Chile is the world’s top copper producer and second-top lithium producer) thereby restricting private property rights in these areas of the industry. However, the debate over the future of this linchpin of the Chilean economy continues in other official channels. / TBD
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