Government

• [New] The Scottish government, has set out options that would allow people to leave home more often while staying within their local area and only mixing with their own household group.
• [New] The highly anticipated public debut of Ant Group is likely to be delayed in 2021 as China looks to overhaul and implement new rules and regulations related to the fintech industry.
• [New] The recently published EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 describes an ambitious political agenda and gives reason to hope that future governmental interventions in the EU will be increasingly geared towards nature conservation.
• [New] The debate over ways for governments to lawfully gain access to encryption communications - often referred to as a backdoor - have continued in 2020 and will likely become a public fight in 2021.
• [New] The UK government is set to launch a new Digital Markets Unit in April 2021, part of the existing Competition and Markets Authority, designed to level the playing field for smaller rival businesses.
• [New] A new report commissioned by a number of car firms has questioned the UK government's decision to ban new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030, calling for a broader approach to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
• [New] Assuming the world continues to try and meet provisions set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, Canada's regulator projects oil will average about $57 (U.S.) a barrel between 2025 and 2050 - far below what the Alberta economy is used to.
• [New] The continued growth of electric vehicle (EV) transport continues to accelerate particularly with the recent announcement by the UK Government to remove petrol and diesel cars from 2030,.
• [New] The U.S. government plans to initially roll out 6.4 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine next month, and is confident in meeting its goal of distributing about 40 million doses by the end of the year.
• [New] If an agreement on trade and law enforcement co-operation can be reached by the end of 2020, the UK might then be willing to discuss foreign, security and defence policy co-operation.
• [New] An analysis projects the growth of Canada's oil export supplies flattening out through 2050 if the world continues to strengthen action on climate change.
• [New] Environment and Climate Change Canada has indicated regulations on gaseous and solid fuels are targeted for 2022 and will come into force in 2023.
• [New] The UK Government announced that as part of its Green Finance Strategy, all listed issuers and large asset owners would be required to make disclosures in line with the TCFD's recommendations by 2022.
• [New] The UK government has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and AstraZeneca says it will make three billion doses for the world in 2021 at a not-for-profit level.
• [New] Modelling commissioned by the Clean Energy Regulator forecasts investment in rooftop solar will remain strong, indicating installed capacity could double over the next four years to 26 GW.
• [New] The UK government is providing £1.1 billion to support farmers and land managers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2021-22.
• [New] In the United States, the incoming Biden administration may have an opportunity to introduce new green stimulus spending, and Japan has indicated its next recovery package will focus on shifting to a green society.
• [New] Earlier in 2020, U.S. regulators issued a final rule that would allow the bulk transport of LNG in specialized rail tank cars in what could be a boon for small-scale projects across the United States.
• [New] The federal government has committed to increasing protected areas of land and water to 30% by 2030, and the Government of British Columbia has been reluctant to support that.
• [New] Chang' e 5 is part of the four-phase Chinese Lunar Exploration Program run by the Chinese government, and is probably a preparatory step towards sending Chinese taikonauts to the moon in future, perhaps around 2030.
• [New] Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to launch a Government-backed satellite that will help British scientists monitor rising sea levels in a bid to tackle climate change.
• By 2025, through the implementation of 5G technology, which includes IoT, Malaysia is expected to add approximately $3 billion to its GDP, creating around 39.000 new jobs.

Last updated: 02 December 2020