Take advantage of news analytics to enhance ESG investing, from monitoring the performance of companies to building alpha-generating trading strategies. The number of assets invested in sustainable funds has surged in recent years from just over $5bn in 2017 to $25bn in 2019 due to the increasing importance of responsible, ethical, and sustainable investing. Investors can make the most of the new trend in sustainable investing, known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), with the help of RavenPack’s news analytics data. The...

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Green IT is a global movement that aims to minimize the technological footprint in the environment. The growing popularity of adopting ESG criteria is redefining priorities in companies. The issue is monopolizing the corporate agenda and encourages greater participation by organizations in promoting actions that reduce the environmental footprint – including the active participation of technology sectors through the so-called green IT. These new values, guided by good sustainability, social, and governance practices, make it clear that sustainable development is an obstacle to...

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The EACC, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep its members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together a selection of brief reports from articles contained in IPTI Xtracts which can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). UNITED STATES New York: If Property Values Are Down, Why Are Property Taxes Up? When property values go down, it’s only natural to expect your property taxes to...

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The US Department of Transportation has announced a $1 billion funding opportunity with a new focus on sustainability and equity. Previously known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program began back in 2009 and supported innovative projects — including multimodal and multijurisdictional ones, which are difficult to fund through traditional federal programs. Successful BUILD projects are ones that leverage resources, encourage partnership, catalyze investment and growth, and fill a critical void in...

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On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that contains a new, temporary COBRA subsidy. From April 1, 2021 through September 31, 2021, the ARPA requires employers to cover 100% of an employee’s cost of continuing group health coverage under COBRA if the employee was eligible for COBRA continuation coverage during the indicated period regardless of whether the employee may not have previously elected coverage or discontinued coverage.  Employers that provide such paid coverage may...

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On Wednesday, Fabio Panetta, Member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board, presented the European Parliament’s ECON Committee with the ECB’s future approach towards a digital euro following a public consultation on the topic.  “A digital euro can only be successful if it meets European citizens’ needs and expectations”, Panetta said during the hearing. The consultation, which was conducted between October 2020 and January 2021, was designed to inform the ECB’s future approach on a digital euro, with the vast majority...

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Cybersecurity expert Praveen Madhavankutty looks at the risks providers face as they try to keep pace with the swift rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. In his inauguration speech on January 20, President Joe Biden promised to “get at least 100 million vaccinations into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days.” Recent evidence indicates he is on track to reach that ambitious goal. The rollout of the vaccine in the United States, and elsewhere for that matter, is a ray...

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Seemingly overnight, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have exploded onto the market and into the public consciousness. The eye-popping prices that some have commanded—and their potential to revolutionize the concept of ownership itself—have investors, creators, platforms, and brands champing at the bit for a piece of the action. The concept seems straightforward enough: a digital file—an image, GIF, audio or video file, or even virtual real estate or video game tokens and virtual gear—gets minted as a unique copy on the blockchain,...

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What happened? On 2 February 2021, the European Data Protection Board (the “EDPB”) adopted its response to the European Commission’s request for clarification on the consistent application of the GDPR1 in the field of health research (the “EDPB Response”). On several occasions, questions posed to the EDPB have remained partly unanswered or open. The EDPB underlines that it will soon clarify these points in its forthcoming Guidelines on the processing of personal data for scientific research purposes (to be released during 2021). Main...

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Patents filed, research and investment are undergoing sustained growth, which is reducing costs in an increasingly mature market Electric vehicles (EVs) have been commercially available for some time, but their popularity has been growing in recent years as greater emphasis has been placed on green alternatives to traditional fuels, and their average cost has come down. Rapid advances in technology to support EV efficiency and charging capabilities look set to make EVs even more attractive, as government targets and regulations...

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