Last week Vattenfall’s CEO and President, Anna Borg, spoke at the White House Leaders Summit on Climate at the invitation of President Biden. The main point of discussion, by Borg, focused on how Vattenfall is combating climate change through innovations including hydrogen produced using fossil-free electricity; furthermore, the firm’s strategy to enable fossil-fuel free living within one generation is an ambitious target which was well received. Another particular highlight of the ...

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Older Workers in Unemployment The UK’s ‘older workers’, defined as 50+ years old, have experienced the largest annual fall in employment since the 1980s in the current challenging COVID economy. Research, from Close Brothers, has suggested that 1 in 5 older workers have delayed their retirement due to the pandemic; meanwhile, unemployment has risen to around 5% with many more remaining on furlough. Over the pandemic, two-thirds of the workers who were ...

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Volvo Cars, a patron member of the BSCC, saw new UK car sales rise 15% for Q1 in comparison to the same period last year. This resulted in a total of 13,964 units being sold in the first 3 months of 2021 despite the overall market contracting 12% year-on-year. The Swedish icon now holds 3.28% of the UK car market (up from 2.50% for Q1 2020) and represents the largest ...

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BSCC Patron member Baker McKenzie has collectively worked to successfully reduce their environmental impact, achieve net-zero for carbon dioxide emissions and became climate neutral in 2020. Baker McKenzie’s office in Stockholm has been environmentally certified in accordance with ISO 14001 since 2013. Not only was their office, in Vasagatan 7, the first LEED-certified building in Sweden but it now has also installed solar collectors on the roof to produce comfort cooling and ...

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UK Economic Rebound UK exports to the EU surged by 46.6% (up £3.7bn) to a total of £11.6bn for the month of February following a disappointing 42% (down £5.7bn) slump in the month previous. However, imports from the EU into the UK only increased by 7.3% (up £1.2bn) for the month but had fallen by a comparatively lower percentage in January. The total trade deficit has also narrowed to £6.3bn in ...

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HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh On the morning of the 9th of April the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was announced by Buckingham Palace. HRH was the longest-serving royal consort in British history and had been married to HM The Queen for over 73 years. The Prime Minister described the Duke as having “earned the affections of generations here in the United Kingdom, across the Commonwealth, and ...

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BSCC member Schroders are committing to looking beyond profit in their investments. The firm believes that the way we direct capital can not only shape financial returns but also can change the world. Sustainable companies are now some of the most resilient and best placed for future growth - thus further justifying the mutual benefits for investing in sustainability. Schroders are measuring a company’s environmental and societal impact through their ...

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BSCC Patron member TMF Group has been championed as the ‘Best Fund Administrator’ at the Private Equity Wire European Awards 2021 in partnership with Bloomberg. The Awards recognise leadership and excellence among some of the continent’s best private equity fund managers and service providers. TMF specifically won in the ‘GPs with assets <$30bn‘ category and this success came not long before they were then later awarded ‘Corporate Services Provider of ...

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PM Confirms Reopening Following a scheduled review into the upcoming reopening of the UK economy: PM Johnson has concluded that further easing of COVID restrictions will commence on the 12th of April. This signals the return of ‘non-essential’ retail and outdoor hospitality which will come as welcome news to the nations pub-goers. The public can also expect hairdressers, nail salons, theme parks, zoos, gyms, leisure centres and life events (including weddings) ...

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Tech Tax In the April, of 2020, the UK Government introduced a new 2% ‘tech tax’ on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces which “derive value from UK users”. However, on Monday (29th March 2021) the US warned of tariffs being introduced to counter this impact with some British-made products potentially facing tariffs of up to 25%. UK ceramics and overcoats have both been identified as ...

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