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Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
CITY WEEK 2025 – Where the International Financial Services Community Meets
LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM, June 26, 2025 / / -- More than 1,000 top-level senior decision-makers from UK and overseas financial institutions will be descending on London to attend City Week 2025 – the 15th International Financial Services Forum, which will take place on 30 June – 2 July 2025 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. Organised under a partnership between the UK Government's Department for Business and Trade, the City of London Corporation, TheCityUK, UK Finance and City & Financial Global, the forum is widely regarded as the premier gathering of the international financial services community. The programme reflects the boardroom agendas of leading financial institutions from across the world and comprises three separately bookable summits: 30 June – Day One The Net Zero Finance Innovation Summit It explores how to reconcile the competing requirements of a pro-growth agenda, energy security and net zero against the backdrop of a rapidly warming planet. The case for the energy transition and decarbonisation is overwhelming for purely economic reasons. Against this background, this day brings together government ministers, regulators and leaders of financial institutions from across the world to discuss the huge opportunity that financing energy transition and decarbonisation presents, as well as the latest innovations in financing net zero. Speakers include: Emma Reynolds MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, HM Treasury; Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade; Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Tim Adams, President and CEO, The Institute of International Finance; and Juergen Maier, Chair, Great British Energy Sir Douglas Flint CBE, Chair, abrdn. 1 July – Day Two The AI and Digital Innovation Summit This summit explores the real-world applications of Gen AI for financial institutions and the huge potential for the industry of the next phase of AI, Agentic AI. It will also provide a detailed analysis of all the related issues, including regulation, data governance, AI infrastructure, the impact on financial markets and specific financial products, international developments and risk management. Top AI experts will share their insights, global regulators will discuss emerging AI regulation and financial services leaders will discuss current and future AI applications. Speakers include: Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology; Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK; Leon Butler, General Manager, UK and Ireland, IBM; Zahra Bahrololoumi CBE, CEO, Salesforce UK and Ireland; and Vishal Marria, CEO and Founder, Quantexa 2 July – Day Three The Digital Assets Innovation Summit Digital assets, tokenisation and cryptocurrencies are developing quickly. The U.S. is very supportive of crypto, while the UK and other jurisdictions are establishing their own regimes. The tokenisation of financial assets through distributed ledgers and blockchain will shift the way that assets are managed and leveraged, while digital assets will transform the way that capital and financial markets work. This international summit brings together innovators and traditional financial firms to map out the future of financial markets and the challenges ahead. Speakers include: The Honorable Caroline D. Pham, Acting Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Hester Peirce, Commissioner, US Securities and Exchange Commission; Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director, Financial Conduct Authority; Sasha Mills, Executive Director, Financial Market Infrastructure, Bank of England; Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Assets and Strategic Investments, Barclays; and Dr Robert Oleschak, Advisor and Member of the Management Board, Swiss National Bank Packed with high-level keynote addresses and thought-provoking panel discussions, the speakers at the three summits include a list of over 100 well-known names from the global financial services industry, the world of politics and the international regulatory community. A full list of speakers and the event programme can be found at Maurice Button, Chief Executive of City Week, said: 'At a time of significant change in geopolitics, international trading patterns and potentially the global financial architecture, City Week offers delegates a unique opportunity to hear the insights of 100+ eminent speakers drawn from the international financial services industry on financing net zero, the AI revolution and the emergence of digital assets and crypto into the mainstream of financial services.' Please confirm your attendance by email (indicating which Summit you wish to attend). If you would like to interview any of the speakers ahead of or during the event, please let us know and we will be delighted to assist you. Notes for Editors City Week is the leading forum for the international financial services community. Taking place in person and with virtual access, City Week 2025 will build on the success of previous editions of the event, all of which have attracted over 1,000 delegates from more than 60 countries around the world. It will consist of three summits, social events and networking opportunities, with a strong focus on the latest developments in financing net zero, the impact of AI on the financial services industry, and tokenisation and institutional adoption of digital assets. Attendance is by invitation only and the majority of the delegates are CEOs and main board directors of the world's largest banks, investment managers and insurance companies. The balance is made up of senior representatives from international regulators, national treasury departments and multinational corporations that use international financial services. Paul Hooper City & Financial Global email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn YouTube X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
The Age
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
A long list of unfulfilled environmental promises presents a challenge to the Albanese government in its second term, after it recently approved a major gas project and halted reform progress in the past three years as it tries to balance protecting nature with creating jobs. In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions. Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections. The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines. Loading Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction. 'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said. 'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
Sydney Morning Herald
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
A long list of unfulfilled environmental promises presents a challenge to the Albanese government in its second term, after it recently approved a major gas project and halted reform progress in the past three years as it tries to balance protecting nature with creating jobs. In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions. Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections. The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines. Loading Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction. 'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said. 'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
Borneo Post
27-05-2025
- General
- Borneo Post
Artificial nests boost biodiversity of "China's water tower"
Workers conduct routing inspection of power transmission lines at Tanggulashan Township of Golmud City in the Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi, northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 3, 2023. (Photo by Pan Binbin/Xinhua) XINING (May 28): Under the blue skies and white clouds of the Sanjiangyuan area in northwest China's Qinghai Province, raptors like golden eagles and upland buzzards soar through the air, frequently returning to nests perched atop electricity transmission poles and towers. There, they incubate their eggs and feed their young. Surprisingly, these nests were installed by local power grid workers in a public welfare initiative that the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) launched in the province in 2016 to promote biodiversity conservation. The artificial nest project is now being expanded across China and globally, and has been selected as a flagship case for the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16). CONFLICTS The Sanjiangyuan area, known as 'China's water tower,' is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, and boasts among the highest levels of high-altitude biodiversity in the world. The area now hosts approximately 300 bird species, including over 20 raptors, such as golden eagles, saker falcons and upland buzzards. These birds, which favor high nesting sites, use the soaring transmission towers — tens of meters in height — as ideal habitats. In the past, birds frequently built nests on transmission towers using materials like iron wires and thin ropes, which often electrocuted the birds and triggered power outages. To resolve the conflict between power grid development and avian habitat conservation, which had long been recognized as an industry-wide challenge, maintenance workers from the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company initially installed bird deterrent and exclusion devices on power towers. However, over time, the birds became habituated to these devices and grew unafraid. 'We even tried relocating nests, but the area's high altitude and scarce tree coverage leave few suitable nesting sites for raptors,' said Wang Hui, former head of the maintenance team. COEXISTENCE According to the Yushu Power Supply Company, which is under the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company, 40 percent of power failures in the province's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in 2015 were bird-related. Each repair mission required crews to traverse snow-capped mountains and vast grasslands, covering hundreds of kilometers at tremendous operational costs. To solve the problem, Wang and his colleagues devised the idea of building nests for birds on the towers, at positions that wouldn't affect power transmission safety. Soon, the first batch of simple artificial bird nests — bamboo baskets lined with straw — were installed and put to use. 'At first, the results were promising — eagles and other large birds gradually moved in,' maintenance worker Ren Liang said. However, frequent sandstorms in Qinghai blew away the straw in the bamboo baskets, and the baskets themselves quickly weathered and fell apart. After repeated trials and improvements, the workers switched to weaving nests from rattan and lining them with coir mats secured by metal fasteners. 'These upgraded nests were not only sturdier and safer, but also more comfortable for hatching chicks,' Ren said. Working with wildlife experts, the power company ultimately designed bowl-shaped nests measuring about 100 centimeters in diameter and 40 centimeters in depth, specifically sized for the physical requirements of the area's raptors. These conservation efforts have yielded significant results. Since 2016, the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company has installed 5,053 artificial bird nests in the Sanjiangyuan area, successfully attracting birds to nest in more than 2,600 of that total. The company now says it will install new nests while optimizing existing sites this year. This optimization will include relocating long-unoccupied nests to areas with higher concentrations of birds, thereby enhancing both utilization efficiency and the scientific deployment of these conservation structures. Wang Jianting, president of the Bird Watching Association of Qinghai National Park, noted that these artificial nests have successfully attracted raptors that prey on plateau pikas and other small animals, strengthening vulnerable links in Sanjiangyuan's ecological chain. Professional monitoring results show that according to current artificial nest installation standards in Sanjiangyuan, each nest assists in the predation of about 50 small grassland rodents in the surrounding area during the raptor breeding season alone, significantly enhancing ecological balance stability. In recent years, the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company has also collaborated with non-profit organizations on interdisciplinary research integrating ornithology and power grid systems, dynamically monitoring and evaluating the artificial nest project. The project has been expanded to provinces and regions such as Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Xizang. – Xinhua animal spec bird's nests China fauna
Daily News Egypt
12-05-2025
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt expands migratory bird conservation, eco-tourism initiatives
Egypt's Ministry of Environment has unveiled new measures to enhance the protection of migratory birds and promote eco-tourism, reinforcing the country's broader biodiversity strategy through collaboration with national and international partners. Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad met this week with Khaled El-Noubi, President of the Egyptian Society for Nature Conservation, and Tim Appleton, founder and director of the UK-based Global Birdfair, along with their delegation. During the meeting, a mural featuring various migratory bird species was presented and will be installed at the Galala Bird Observatory—symbolizing Egypt's enduring commitment to biodiversity conservation. Minister Fouad highlighted Egypt's longstanding leadership in environmental protection, dating back to 1983 when the Nature Conservation Sector laid the foundation for the country's environmental governance. A significant milestone came in 2014, when Egypt hosted the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. That event prompted the country to integrate wildlife protection into its growing renewable energy agenda—particularly to safeguard migratory birds. This dual focus yielded international recognition in 2019, when Egypt was awarded the AEWA (African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement) Award for its efforts to protect birds along the Afro-Eurasian flyway. Among Egypt's practical steps is the development of birdwatching sites, beginning in Sharm El-Sheikh, where rehabilitated oxidation ponds have been repurposed to attract migratory species. The Ministry has also partnered with tourism operators to incorporate birdwatching into eco-tourism itineraries. Complementing these initiatives is the Eco Egypt campaign, which promotes 13 designated eco-destinations and raises public awareness of sustainable tourism. As part of this campaign, the Ministry—together with the Ministry of Tourism—introduced Egypt's first official standards for eco-lodges. Minister Fouad also discussed restoration efforts at Lake Qarun in Fayoum, a once-critical migratory bird stopover that suffered from severe environmental degradation. Since the Ministry's intervention in 2018, bird populations have returned to the lake within just three years—an early sign of ecological recovery. Fouad noted a growing public interest in wildlife, pointing to a recent photography exhibition by the Wildlife Conservation Association, which showcased images captured by local nature enthusiasts. The exhibit reflected an encouraging shift toward grassroots engagement in conservation. Khaled El-Noubi commended the Ministry's leadership in mitigating threats to migratory birds and creating a solid framework for eco-tourism. He underscored Egypt's rising profile as a birdwatching destination amid global growth in avian tourism, citing the success of the Galala Bird Observatory. The site has recorded thousands of migratory birds, including sightings of endangered species such as the Egyptian vulture. He noted that protective measures implemented there demonstrate Egypt's growing role in global conservation. Tim Appleton also praised Egypt's progress, calling the Galala initiative a strong example of how conservation and tourism can work in synergy. He emphasized the importance of international cooperation and local community engagement in addressing today's environmental challenges.
