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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
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Hello!
As business elites gather this week for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, a report by anti-poverty group Oxfam highlights a long-running dilemma – the rich are getting richer as the poor get poorer.
The Oxfam report found that the combined fortunes of the world’s five wealthiest men have more than doubled to $869 billion since 2020, while five billion people have been made poorer.
It also found that a billionaire is now either running or is the main shareholder of 7 out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies.
Also on my radar today:
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Klaus Schwab, founder World Economic Forum (WEF), gestures as he speaks during the 54th annual meeting of the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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800 million workers’ wage stagnation
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The inflation-adjusted surge in wealth of the top five billionaires was driven by strong gains in the assets of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and investor Warren Buffett.
Meanwhile, nearly 800 million workers saw their wages over the past two years fail to keep up with inflation, resulting on average in the equivalent of 25 days of lost annual income per worker, according to Oxfam’s analysis.
Of the world’s 1,600 largest corporations, just 0.4% of them have publicly committed to paying workers a living wage and to supporting a living wage in their value chains, the study found.
It estimated that 148 top corporations made $1.8 trillion in profits, 52 percent up on a 3-year average, allowing hefty pay-outs to shareholders even as millions of workers faced a cost of living crisis as inflation led to wage cuts in real terms.
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The report’s release follows a flood of layoff announcements across the tech industry last week after the sector hired heavily during the pandemic.
Walt Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios is set to cut jobs as the studio has completed production on some shows and now has more staff than it needs, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday.
TechCrunch reported earlier that Pixar was set to undergo layoffs as high as 20% this year, with the studio’s team of 1,300 people reduced to under 1,000 over the coming months.
The source disputed that number and said Pixar was yet to determine how many employees would lose their jobs, and that the layoffs were not imminent. The person did not provide an estimate of how many job cuts the studio expected but said they would not impact Pixar’s theatrical output.
Alphabet’s Google said it is laying off hundreds of employees across multiple teams, with Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman also leaving the company, as the tech giant continues to cut costs.
Google said it will lay off hundreds at its Voice Assistant unit, while a few hundred roles are being eliminated in the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, with the majority of people in the augmented reality (AR) team being let go. Hundreds of roles in the search giant’s central engineering team are also being impacted, the company said.
Amazon.com will lay off several hundred employees in its streaming and studio operations, it said in an internal note as companies extend their massive job cuts over the past two years into 2024.
The staff facing exit at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios in the Americas will be informed by the end of the week.
The online retail behemoth last year cut more than 27,000 jobs.
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Lava flows from a volcano in Grindavik, Iceland. Icelandic Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERS
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- A volcano that erupted in southwest Iceland for the second time in less than a month, setting fire to several houses in a fishing town, appeared to be less active early on Monday. “A black day” read the front page headline of Icelandic daily Morgunbladid across an image of bright-orange lava fountains and houses burning in the town of Grindavik, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-west of the capital Reykjavik.
- The U.S. proposed a fee on emissions of methane from big oil and gas producers as required under the 2022 climate law and as a backstop to wider regulations on the greenhouse gas from energy operations.
- Gender inequality: The percentage of women appointed to board-level roles at large financial services firms in the European Union fell last year, making it harder for the sector to meet the bloc’s looming diversity target, a survey from consultants EY showed.
- This year has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter than 2023, which was already the world’s hottest on record, scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.
- The head of Japan’s biggest business lobby Keidanren called for wage hikes this year that exceed the inflation rate, setting the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to exit its ultra-easy monetary policy.
- Social inequality: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Oregon city’s bid to enforce local laws against people camping on public property, teeing up a legal fight over a homelessness crisis that has vexed municipalities across the Western United States. Click here for the full Reuters story.
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Jonathan Reckford, CEO of nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity International, shares his thoughts on sustainable housing initiatives:
“For far too long, access to affordable, safe housing has been overlooked in the global conversation around sustainability and impactful climate action.
“Today, more than 2.8 billion people live in inadequate housing, including 1.1 billion living in slums and informal settlements. And while these communities contribute the least to carbon emissions, they are often the most affected by the increasing intensity and frequency of climate disasters.
“As the World Economic Forum in Davos is underway, we invite global business and world leaders committed to advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs) and climate action to join our Home Equals campaign to increase access to sustainable, safe housing for those living in the eye of the climate storm.
“The world urgently needs greater investment in housing-focused climate tech to facilitate the adaptation and greening of informal settlements to protect millions of vulnerable families, especially in the Global South.
“Affordable, safe, climate resilient housing is not only foundational to addressing global warming and achieving the UN SDG goals – it is also the lynchpin to building more equitable communities and strong healthy economies for generations to come.”
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Indonesia’s Marapi volcano erupted on Sunday, with ash rising 1,300 meters (4,300 feet) from the peak six weeks after a fatal eruption, according to the country’s geological agency.
The volcano in West Sumatra province erupted at least twice, the agency said, urging the evacuation of people within 4.5 km (2.8 miles) of the center of the eruption, with the possibility of lava flows in rivers and valleys.
In December more than 20 people were killed after Marapi, one of Sumatra’s most active volcanoes, erupted and spewed gray clouds of ash as high as 3 km (2 miles).
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A drone for aerial seeding used for a reforestation project is pictured, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rodrigo Paiva/MORFO Brasil Unipessoal/Handout via REUTERS
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Today’s spotlight shines a light on the use of green technology to tackle deforestation in Brazil.
The seaside city of Rio de Janeiro, famed for its crowded beaches and lush surrounding hills, is sending drones buzzing into the air to disperse seeds, part of a high-tech push that seeks to speed up local reforestation efforts.
The green initiative, a partnership between Rio’s city hall and startup Morfo, is being used to seed local native species in hard-to-reach areas that would be more difficult using traditional methods.
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