GREEN CAPITALI$M

Show us the plan: 

Investors push companies to come clean on climate


By Simon Jessop, Matthew Green and Ross Kerber

Reuters/DENIS BALIBOUSE FILE PHOTO: 

2020 World Economic Forum in Davos

LONDON/BOSTON (Reuters) - In the past, shareholder votes on the environment were rare and easily brushed aside. Things could look different in the annual meeting season starting next month, when companies are set to face the most investor resolutions tied to climate change in years.


Those votes are likely to win more support than in previous years from large asset managers seeking clarity on how executives plan to adapt and prosper in a low-carbon world, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen activist investors and fund managers.

In the United States, shareholders have filed 79 climate-related resolutions so far, compared with 72 for all of last year and 67 in 2019, according to data compiled by the Sustainable Investments Institute and shared with Reuters. The institute estimated the count could reach 90 this year.

Topics to be put to a vote at annual general meetings (AGMs) include calls for emissions limits, pollution reports and "climate audits" that show the financial impact of climate change on their businesses.

A broad theme is to press corporations across sectors, from oil and transport to food and drink, to detail how they plan to reduce their carbon footprints in coming years, in line with government pledges to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.

"Net-zero targets for 2050 without a credible plan including short-term targets is greenwashing, and shareholders must hold them to account," said billionaire British hedge fund manager Chris Hohn, who is pushing companies worldwide to hold a recurring shareholder vote on their climate plans.

Many companies say they already provide plenty of information about climate issues. Yet some activists say they see signs more executives are in a dealmaking mood this year.

Royal Dutch Shell said on Feb. 11 it would become the first oil and gas major to offer such a vote, following similar announcements from Spanish airports operator Aena, UK consumer goods company Unilever and U.S. rating agency Moody's.

While most resolutions are non-binding, they often spur changes with even 30% or more support as executives look to satisfy as many investors as possible.

"The demands for increased disclosure and target-setting are much more pointed than they were in 2020," said Daniele Vitale, the London-based head of governance for Georgeson, which advises corporations on shareholder views.

COMPANIES WARM THE WORLD

While more and more companies are issuing net-zero targets for 2050, in line with goals set out in the 2015 Paris climate accord, few have published interim targets. A study https://www.southpole.com/news/survey-just-1-in-10-businesses-have-backed-up-net-zero-ambitions-with-science-based-targets from sustainability consultancy South Pole showed just 10% of 120 firms it polled, from varied sectors, had done so.

"There's too much ambiguity and lack of clarity on the exact journey and route that companies are going to take, and how quickly we can actually expect movement," said Mirza Baig, head of investment stewardship at Aviva Investors.

Data analysis from Swiss bank J Safra Sarasin, shared with Reuters, shows the scale of the collective challenge.

Sarasin studied the emissions of the roughly 1,500 firms in the MSCI World Index, a broad proxy for the world's listed companies. It calculated that if companies globally did not curb their emissions rate, they would raise global temperatures by more than 3 degrees Celsius by 2050.

That is well short of the Paris accord goal of limiting warming to "well below" 2C, preferably 1.5C.

https://tmsnrt.rs/3iJoUC8

At an industry level, there are large differences, the study found: If every company emitted at the same level as the energy sector, for example, the temperature rise would be 5.8C, with the materials sector - including metals and mining - on course for 5.5C and consumer staples - including food and drink - 4.7C.

https://tmsnrt.rs/3c13GhC

The calculations are mostly based on companies' reported emissions levels in 2019, the latest full year analysed, and cover Scope 1 and 2 emissions - those caused directly by a company, plus the production of the electricity it buys and uses.

'TAILWIND ON CLIMATE'

Sectors with high carbon emissions are likely to face the most investor pressure for clarity.

In January, for example, ExxonMobil - long an energy industry laggard in setting climate goals - disclosed its Scope 3 emissions, those connected to use of its products.

This prompted the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) to withdraw a shareholder resolution seeking the information.

Calpers' Simiso Nzima, head of corporate governance for the $444 billion pension fund, said he saw 2021 as a promising year for climate concerns, with a higher likelihood of other companies also reaching agreements with activist investors.

"You're seeing a tailwind in terms of climate change."

However, Exxon has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to skip votes on four other shareholder proposals, three related to climate matters, according to filings to the SEC. They cite reasons such as the company having already "substantially implemented" reforms.

An Exxon spokesman said it had ongoing discussions with its stakeholders, which led to the emissions disclosure. He declined to comment on the requests to skip votes, as did the SEC, which had not yet ruled on Exxon's requests as of late Tuesday.

'A CRUMB BUT A SIGN'

Given the influence of large shareholders, activists are hoping for more from BlackRock, the world's biggest investor with $8.7 trillion under management, which has promised a tougher approach to climate issues.

Last week, BlackRock called for boards to come up with a climate plan, release emissions data and make robust short-term reduction targets, or risk seeing directors voted down at the AGM.

It backed a resolution at Procter & Gamble's AGM, unusually held in October, which asked the company to report on efforts to eliminate deforestation in its supply chains, helping it pass with 68% support.

"It's a crumb but we hope it's a sign of things to come" from BlackRock, said Kyle Kempf, spokesman for resolution sponsor Green Century Capital Management in Boston.

Asked for more details about its 2021 plans, such as if it might support Hohn's resolutions, a BlackRock spokesman referred to prior guidance that it would "follow a case-by-case approach in assessing each proposal on its merits".

Europe's biggest asset manager, Amundi, said last week it, too, would back more resolutions.

Vanguard, the world's second-biggest investor with $7.1 trillion under management, seemed less certain, though.

Lisa Harlow, Vanguard's stewardship leader for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, called it "really difficult to say" whether its support for climate resolutions this year would be higher than its traditional rate of backing one in ten.

'THERE WILL BE FIGHTS'

Britain's Hohn, founder of $30 billion hedge fund TCI, aims to establish a regular mechanism to judge climate progress via annual shareholder votes.

In a "Say on Climate" resolution, investors ask a company to provide a detailed net zero plan, including short-term targets, and put it to an annual non-binding vote. If investors aren't satisfied, they will then be in a stronger position to justify voting down directors, the plan holds.

Early signs suggest the drive is gaining momentum.

Hohn has already filed at least seven resolutions through TCI. The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, which Hohn founded, is working with campaign groups and asset managers to file more than 100 resolutions over the next two AGM seasons in the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia.

"Of course, not all companies will support the Say on Climate," Hohn told pension funds and insurance companies in November. "There will be fights, but we can win the votes."

(Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Sydney, Francesca Landini in Milan, Clara-Laeila Laudette in Madrid and Shadia Nasralla in London; Editing by Katy Daigle and Pravin Char)

CANADA HAS LITHIUM
China, Europe winning EV ‘battery arms race,’ House committee told

China and Europe are winning the “global battery arms race,” seen as a key factor in determining which economies will dominate in a decarbonized future, a parliamentary committee heard Monday.

The House of Commons natural resources committee has embarked on a study of “critical minerals” in Canada — a term referring to the raw materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, aluminum and copper that go into making lithium-ion batteries, the standard workhorse of the electric vehicle (EV) and energy-storage world.

Canada has a large domestic supply of these minerals, witnesses told the committee. But they aren't being mined in large amounts, they said. There is little ability in Canada to process the raw material into the components that ultimately go into producing batteries.

“Relative to the European Union and Asia, Canadian battery metals supply chains are currently in their infancy,” said Liz Lappin, president of the Battery Metals Association of Canada.

“However, with surging demand for battery metals to serve the expanding EV supply chain, the market opportunity for Canada is growing.”

In January, the European Commission approved a $4.4-billion package by 12 member states for a project to boost Europe's "battery value chain."

This month, Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt said it would build Europe’s largest energy-storage factory in Poland.

Meanwhile, China controls four-fifths of the world's refining capacity for lithium-ion battery minerals, as well as over three-quarters of battery cell manufacturing capacity and almost two-thirds of component manufacturing, according to BloombergNEF.

Simon Moores, the London, U.K.-based managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said there has been a global rush to build up battery manufacturing capacity, illustrated by almost 200 specialized factories — what EV-maker Tesla calls “gigafactories” — popping up around the world that produce lithium-ion battery cells at scale and at low cost.

“We are in the midst of a global battery arms race," said Moores. “These super-sized battery plants are becoming physical embodiments of a country’s industrial and technological ambition."

A quarter of the cost of an EV is the lithium-ion battery, while four-fifths of the cost of the battery itself is the minerals, metals and chemicals that go into it, he said.

Benchmark estimates that by 2030, China will hold 67 per cent of battery capacity and Europe will hold 18 per cent, while North America will hold 12 per cent.

“While the world’s governments and automakers focus on building EVs and battery plants, a true leader is yet to emerge in building the supply chains to feed them,” said Moores.

The federal government has touted EV manufacturing as a “critical” component of Canada’s climate plan. Automakers like GM and Ford have announced plans to build or retool large-scale EV manufacturing plants in Canada.

The government has also talked up “critical minerals,” promoting a joint plan on the issue with the United States in summer 2020.

Industry representatives say what's missing is more of a managed, coherent strategy to tie together all the different components of a battery supply chain.

“There has to be effort to put in to just co-ordinating everything and making it one sensible, strategic package for developing this industry,” Jamie Deith, chef executive officer of Eagle Graphite Corporation, told the committee.

“In other words — we should be doing this with intent and deliberately ... because that is what’s going to attract investors and what’s going to impress the end users, such as the automakers.”

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, has also tied a billion-dollar commitment from GM to build an all-electric delivery van in Ontario to the assumption that Canada is heading towards a fully domestic battery producing industry.

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan announced Monday that a new "federal-provincial-territorial task team" is developing an inventory of Canadian “critical minerals” that would help build an "integrated, all-Canadian critical minerals and battery value chain.”

Canada is the world’s third-largest aluminum producer, fourth-largest cobalt producer and fifth-largest nickel producer, according to Natural Resources Canada’s “Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan,” released in 2019.

The plan says the country is also “primed” to meet demand for graphite and lithium.

Carl Meyer / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Microsoft president: The only reason we know about SolarWinds hack is because FireEye told us

Lauren Feiner CNN

The massive hack into government systems through a software contractor would have remained unknown by the public if not for one company's decision to be transparent about a breach of its systems, Microsoft President Brad Smith told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday.

Smith's testimony highlights how cybersecurity incidents can potentially go undisclosed.

He planned to tell lawmakers that private sector companies should be required to be transparent about significant breaches of their systems

.

© Provided by CNBC Microsoft president Brad Smith takes part in a roundtable discussion with US President Donald Trump and industry executives on reopening the country, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on May 29, 2020.

The massive hack into government systems through a software contractor would have remained unknown by the public if not for one company's decision to be transparent about a breach of its systems, Microsoft President Brad Smith told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday.

"The fact that we are here today, discussing this attack, dissecting what went wrong, and identifying ways to mitigate future risk, is occurring only because my fellow witness, Kevin Mandia, and his colleagues at FireEye, chose to be open and transparent about what they found in their own systems, and to invite us at Microsoft to work with them to investigate the attack," Smith told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, according to his prepared remarks.

"Without this transparency, we would likely still be unaware of this campaign. In some respect, this is one of the most powerful lessons for all of us. Without this type of transparency, we will fall short in strengthening cybersecurity."

Smith's testimony highlights how many cybersecurity incidents can go undisclosed. Smith told lawmakers that private sector companies should be required to be transparent about significant breaches of their systems. He compared the "patchwork" of disclosure requirements in the U.S. to more consistent obligations in places like the European Union.

FireEye disclosed in a regulatory filing in December that it had been hacked by what it believed to be a state-sponsored actor who mainly sought information related to its government customers. The company said the attack was unusually advanced, employing "a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past."

Soon after, Reuters reported that hackers possibly linked to Russia accessed email systems at the U.S. Commerce and Treasury departments through SolarWinds software updates. The Defense Department, State Department and Department of Homeland Security were also affected, The New York Times later reported. Reuters reported, citing sources, that the SolarWinds attack was related to the FireEye incident.

A few days later, Reuters reported that Microsoft was also hacked. U.S. agencies later shared that Russian actors were likely the source of the attack. Smith said in his written testimony that Microsoft does not dispute that assessment while he said, "Microsoft is not able to make a definitive attribution based on the data we have seen."

Smith told Congress that Microsoft notified 60 customers, mainly in the U.S., that they were compromised in connection to the attack. But he warned lawmakers that there are certainly more victims that have yet to be identified. A White House cybersecurity advisor said

last week that nine government agencies and roughly 100 private companies were affected by the attack. Smith told Congress that Microsoft identified further government and private sector victims outside the U.S. that were impacted.

VIDEO

WH cyber adviser: SolarWinds Hack compromised 9 agencies, about 100 private companies 

Smith proposed that in addition to requiring more disclosures from private companies, government should provide "faster and more comprehensive sharing" with the security community.

"A private sector disclosure obligation will foster greater visibility, which can in turn strengthen a national coordination strategy with the private sector which can increase responsiveness and agility," Smith said in his written remarks. "The government is in a unique position to facilitate a more comprehensive view and appropriate exchange of indicators of comprise and material facts about an incident."

But Mandia, FireEye's CEO, told CNBC's Eamon Javers in an interview ahead of the hearing Tuesday that disclosure is "a damn complex issue."

"The reason it's a complex issue is because of all the liabilities companies face when they go public about a disclosure," Mandia said. "They have shareholder lawsuits, they have lots of considerations of business impact. You also don't want to unnecessarily create a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt."

Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said in his opening remarks Tuesday that it may be worth considering greater disclosure requirements, even if it means creating liability protection for companies that follow those disclosure obligations.

-- CNBC's Jessica Bursztynsky contributed to this report.

Hearings examine consequences of massive SolarWinds breach

© Greg Nash Hearings examine consequences of massive SolarWinds breach

The massive Russian hacking incident that has become known as the SolarWinds breach will be in the spotlight on Capitol Hill this week as multiple House and Senate panels examine the extent of what is likely the largest cyber breach in U.S. history.

"Preliminary indications suggest that the scope and scale of this incident are beyond any that we've confronted as a nation, and its implications are significant," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) plans to say as part of his opening statement, which was provided to The Hill.

President Biden has made responding to the breach a priority. He intends to roll out an executive action to address "gaps" in federal cybersecurity, has tasked the intelligence community with completing an assessment on the extent of the breach and brought it up during his first call in office with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Warner is among the many bipartisan members of Congress focused on creating meaningful change in the wake of the breach, planning to discuss with witnesses topics including whether norms in cyberspace needed to be established and potential mandatory reporting with some liability protections for companies that get hacked.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will kick off the week of hearings on the breach on Tuesday afternoon, when SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna will testify alongside Microsoft President Brad Smith, FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia and CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz.

Former SolarWinds CEO Kevin Thompson will join Ramakrishna, Mandia and Smith on Friday morning to testify on the SolarWinds breach during a joint hearing held by the House Homeland Security and House Oversight and Reform panels.

Warner plans to use his panel's hearing, which follows a classified briefing the committee received in January, to underline the enormity of the threat from the cyber espionage incident, which was ongoing for more than a year before it was discovered.

"Even though what we've seen so far indicates this was carried out as an espionage campaign targeting 100 or so networks, the reality is that the hackers responsible have gained access to thousands of networks, and the ability to carry out far more destructive operations ... if they wanted to," Warner will say.

Both Congress and the Biden administration are still confronting fallout from the incident, which a White House official announced last week involved breaches of at least nine agencies and 100 private sector groups.

Agencies impacted by the breach - which U.S. intelligence officials have said is "likely" Russian in origin - include the Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, State and Treasury departments. FireEye and Microsoft were also compromised as part of breach, and FireEye has been credited with drawing attention to the incident by announcing it had been breached.

The House Homeland Security and Oversight and Reform panels announced a joint investigation into the breach in December shortly after its discovery, and since the announcement, the House Armed Services Committee formed a specific cyber subcommittee that intends to also examine the hacking incident.

The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on a variety of cybersecurity concerns earlier this month, during which committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) emphasized that the committee would "treat cybersecurity as a central national security priority."

"We will use what we learn to inform policy that will raise the costs of sophisticated cyber campaigns, prevent intrusions into Federal and private sector networks when we can, and detect and eradicate the adversary more quickly when we cannot," Thompson said in a statement.

"We hope to learn how private sector companies doing business with the government will evolve their approach to cybersecurity in the wake of these attacks, whether there were missed opportunities for better information sharing that could have identified this campaign sooner, and how the Federal government can support private sector cybersecurity and supply chain risk management efforts," he continued.

A spokesperson for committee ranking member John Katko (R-N.Y.) also told The Hill Monday that Katko intended to use the hearing to zero in on risks associated with the supply chain and using third-party vendors in government.

"As SolarWinds has reinforced, third-party and supply chain risk is now a core component of all cybersecurity conversations, adding a new layer that amplifies the impact of a cyber-attack," the spokesperson said. "We expect witness testimony to provide key insight into significant questions that must be addressed to prevent and respond to future cyber espionage campaigns."

"Ranking Member Katko also expects the witnesses to highlight just how labor and resource intensive it is to hunt out adversarial access and remediate networks after a campaign of this magnitude and sophistication," the spokesperson added.

IT group SolarWinds has seen the intensive efforts of the hackers involved up close.

The company became the face of the breach in December, when it was revealed that Russian hackers had infiltrated up to 18,000 of its customers through software updates. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that up to 30 percent of compromised organizations have no affiliation with SolarWinds products.

Ramakrishna, who took over as CEO less than two months ago as the scope of the breach was beginning to come into view, said Monday at a virtual event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the hackers were extremely advanced and experienced in clearing their tracks.

"There wasn't one single technique used and it was a long drawn out process with a very deliberate focus on cleaning up after themselves at every step of the way, so that requires more manual focus and more deliberation and understanding of the environments," Ramakrishna said.

He noted that many of those customers did not install the compromised software, meaning that "a very small number of customers" were actually impacted by the hack, but emphasized that this did not mean that the nation had escaped damage.

"Given the tools, techniques and processes that they have been using, and the attribution to a nation state we feel that they were after a few prized assets ... maybe in some cases simply learning about those environments, and in some cases trying to get something out of those environments from an intelligence standpoint," Ramakrishna said.

There are many questions still unanswered about how the hackers were able to infiltrate and stay in classified systems for as long as they did, and Congress could have a role to play in ensuring the government is better prepared to defend itself against attacks in future.

Kiersten Todt, the former executive director of a cybersecurity commission under former President Obama, told The Hill that while the multiple public hearings were important to responding to the breach, concrete action is needed in order to allow Congress and the White House to work together.

"The size of this breach is so massive and disparate and we are still understanding it, we don't need siloed activities," said Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute. "This is truly a case where Congress needs to be working with the executive branch to figure out what makes the most sense for action."

Ransomware: Sharp rise in attacks against universities as learning goes online

Danny Palmer 

© Getty Images/iStockphoto
Young student watching lesson online and studying from home. Young woman taking notes while looking at computer screen following professor doing math on video call. Latin girl student studying from home and watching teacher explaining math formula on video chat.
© Provided by ZDNet

The number of ransomware attacks targeting universities has doubled over the past year and the cost of ransomware demands is going up as information security teams struggle to fight off cyberattacks.

Analysis of ransomware campaigns against higher education found that attacks against universities during 2020 were up 100 percent compared to 2019, and that the average ransom demand now stands at $447,000.

The sharp rise in the number of ransomware attacks, combined with the six-figure sums ransomware gangs demand in exchange for the decryption key means ransomware represents the number one cybersecurity threat for universities, according to the research by tech company BlueVoyant.

Ransomware is a problem across all sectors, but for higher education it currently represents a particular problem because the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means that students are receiving their teaching online while many academics are also working from home.

Overstretched IT departments might not have the ability to fully address security, providing cyber criminals with an opening to exploit.

"Operating in the middle of the pandemic provides even greater opportunity for the adversary," Austin Berglas, global head of professional services at BlueVoyant told ZDNet.

Berglas said IT staff are already busy ensuring students and staff have the necessary tools to conduct remote learning, from device configurations and the installation of new software and cameras to assisting end users that are having problems with the new technology. "These schools may not have the resources to properly secure the network," he said.

That means that universities could be considered an easy target for cyber attackers – and the lack of IT resources, combined with students and staff being reliant on the network being available, means that many victims of ransomware attacks in higher education will consider paying a ransom demand of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin in order to restore the network as quickly as possible.

Researchers suggest that in many cases, cyber criminals are specifically targeting universities because they perceive them to be a soft target, and one from which it is easier to extract a ransom payment than businesses in other areas, which might potentially provide more lucrative targets, but that require more effort from attackers.

According to the report, more than three-quarters of the universities studied had open remote desktop ports, and over 60% had open database ports – both of which provider cyber attackers with an entry point into networks and a means to eventually deliver and execute ransomware attacks.
remium)

While cyberattacks and ransomware continue to pose a threat to universities – and will continue to do so even after in-person teaching resumes – there are things that can be done in order to improve cybersecurity and reduce the chances of falling victim to malicious hackers.

This includes applying multi-factor authentication across all email accounts, so if cyber criminals can breach login credentials, it's much more difficult to exploit them for access around the network.

"Ensure multi-factor authentication using a single sign-on solution. Multi-factor authentication will prevent the majority of phishing attacks, which is one of the top ways ransomware is being deployed," said Berglas.

It's also recommended that universities monitor networks for abnormal behaviour, such as fast logins or logins to multiple accounts from the same location, as that could indicate suspicious activity.

SEE: Phishing: These are the most common techniques used to attack your PC

SEE: Network security policy (TechRepublic )

More on privacy
Microsoft to apply California's privacy law for all US users
Mind-reading technology: The security and privacy threats ahead
How to replace each Google service with a more privacy-friendly alternative
Cyber security 101: Protect your privacy from hackers, spies, and the government

MORE ON CYBERSECURITY
University warns that 'serious cyber incident' could take weeks to fix
How ransomware attackers are doubling their extortion tactics TechRepublic
University of California SF pays ransomware hackers $1.14 million to salvage research
FBI and European law enforcement shut down VPN used by ransomware groups CNET
Ransomware: Attacks could be about to get even more dangerous and disruptive

The robot revolution is here: How it's changing jobs and businesses in Canada

Joshua A. Marshall, Associate Professor of Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering, Queen's University, Ontario

In 2017, I returned to Canada from Sweden, where I had spent a year working on automation in mining. Shortly after my return, the New York Times published a piece called, “The Robots Are Coming, and Sweden Is Fine,” about Sweden’s embrace of automation while limiting human costs.

© (Shutterstock) 

The future of automated labour may not spell the end of human employment.

Although Swedes are apparently optimistic about their future alongside robots, other countries aren’t as hopeful. One widely cited study estimates that 47 per cent of jobs in the United States are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence.

Whether we like it or not, the robot era is already upon us. The question is: Is the Canadian economy poised to flourish or flounder in a world where robots take over the tasks we don’t want to do ourselves? The answer may surprise you.
Robots are everywhere

Modern-day robots are how artificial intelligence (AI) physically interacts with us, and the world around us. Although some robots resemble humans, most do not and are instead specifically designed to autonomously carry out complex tasks.



Over the last few decades, robots have rapidly grown from specialized devices developed for select industry applications to household items. You can buy a robot to vacuum your floors, cut your grass and keep your home secure. Kids play with educational robots at school, where they learn to code, and compete in robot design teams that culminate in exciting international competitions.

Robots are also appearing in our hospitals, promising to help us fight the COVID-19 pandemic and performing other health-care tasks in safer and more efficient ways.

The media is abuzz with stories about the latest technical claims, rumours and speculations about the secret developments of major international corporations, including Waymo, Tesla, Apple, Volvo and GM.

And NASA just landed the Perseverance rover on Mars, with an autonomous helicopter called Ingenuity attached to its belly.

Oh, and there are the dancing robots too, of course.
Robots behind the scenes

I have been working on robotics and autonomous vehicles technology in mining since the late 1990s. As such, I have been part of an industry that is undergoing a sea change, with fully autonomous machines steadily replacing workers in dark, dirty and dangerous scenarios.

© (Joshua Marshall) A fully autonomous underground load-haul-dump vehicle developed for Swedish mining equipment manufacturer Epiroc AB and in partnership with Canadian robotics firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.

This robot revolution is happening behind the scenes in other industries too. Robots fill Amazon orders, manufacture stuff in factories, plant and pick crops, assist on construction sites, and the list goes on.

In fact, robots even build other robots. Will we soon run out of jobs for people?
Robots in Canada

There are many who paint a bleak picture of the future, where robots and AI take away all the “good jobs.” Although I fully acknowledge that we must be mindful of possible inequalities and unintended outcomes that might arise as a result of new technologies, I contend that Canadians have the potential to thrive.

But to make it happen, my colleagues and I agree that our country needs a “robotics strategy.”

In 2017, Canada launched the world’s first national AI strategy. Called the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy and costing $125 million, the strategy aims to strengthen Canada’s leadership in AI by funding institutes, universities and hospitals to meet key objectives.

In its 2020 list of future jobs, the World Economic Forum listed “robotics engineers” as No. 10, in close company with “AI and machine learning specialists.” In Canada, I see huge potential for our robotics industry, with companies such as Clearpath Robotics, OTTO Motors, Kinova, Robotiq and Titan Medical already world leaders in the design and manufacture of robots for purposes ranging from materials handling to surgery.

Beyond building robots, Canada’s most significant opportunities may lie in the increased adoption of robots into economically important industry sectors, including mining, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation.

And yet, Canada may be the only G7 country without a robotics strategy.
The robot revelation

As it turns out, there is hope. According to a November 2020 report from Statistics Canada, Canadian firms that employed robots have also hired more human workers, contrary to what you may instinctively believe. In fact, they hired 15 per cent more workers!

However, this does not mean that we can all sit back and relax. Along with the increased economic activity that robots bring to businesses comes a shift in the workforce from “workers spending less time performing routine, manual tasks, in favour of non-routine, cognitive tasks.”

© (Heshan Fernando) Mobile robotics researchers from the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute at Queen’s University.

The roles of education and research and development — such as new programs to train the next generation of robot-savvy Canadians and collaborative research clusters — are paramount. And they need to be combined with a national robotics strategy and a progressive socioeconomic system that supports a transitioning workforce to ensure the success, well-being and happiness of Canadians, alongside our robot friends.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Joshua A. Marshall receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under Discovery grant RGPIN-2015-04025. He also receives funding from the NSERC Canadian Robotics Network (NCRN) and its industry partners, including Clearpath Robotics, under grant NETGP 508451-17, from the NSERC Collaborative R&D program, General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada), and Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) under grant DNDPJ 533392-18, from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) under grant agreement SC-AI4L-118-1, as well as from the NSERC CREATE for Building Trust in Connected Autonomous Vehicles under grant 542999-2020.

RACIST REPUBLICANS
Fracking and Deb Haaland: 

How to view the Senate debate

Q&A by Zachary B. Wolf and Drew Kann, CNN 


President Joe Biden nominated the most diverse Cabinet in history, but the Senate, which gets to offer "advice and consent," is suddenly full of members -- mostly Republicans -- who are critical of partisan tweets and are carefully scrutinizing nominees' job qualifications

.

© Joshua Roberts/Getty Images Nominee for Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland, speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his climate and energy appointments at the Queen theater on December 19, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Haaland is the first Native American nominated to serve on the presidential cabinet.

The attention has chiefly fallen on three domestic policy roles:

Office of Management and Budget nominee Neera Tanden has written a lot of mean tweets about conservatives and progressives and clashed with Bernie Sanders' future presidential campaign manager. She'd be the first woman of color in charge of the executive budget.

Department of Health and Human Services nominee Xavier Becerra played important roles defending the Affordable Care Act from the Trump administration's efforts to get it declared unconstitutional and in California's pandemic response. He'd be the first Latino to run HHS.

Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland has supported the Green New Deal and wants to end fracking on public land. She'd be the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

The difficulty faced by Haaland is particularly interesting since it's not just political -- opposition or support for a fossil fuel economy -- but also scientific. One party wants to actively address climate change and the other does not.

What Matters went to CNN's Drew Kann, who covers climate change for the network, to find out more about how energy policy intersects with climate science and where Haaland fits into that equation.


What is fracking and why is it controversial?

WHAT MATTERS: One criticism of Haaland is that as a lawmaker, and unlike President Biden, she supports a ban on fracking on federal land. That's pretty much the opposite of the Trump administration, which worked hard to expand fracking on public land. Why are fracking in general and fracking on public land in particular such key issues? Is it a scientific or political dispute?

KANN: Through a purely scientific lens, the link between fracking and climate change is fairly simple. Fracking -- short for hydraulic fracturing -- is a process of extracting oil and gas by blasting liquids deep underground into rock formations to unlock fossil fuel reserves hidden inside.

When we burn that oil and gas in our cars and trucks and power plants, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And the more carbon dioxide (CO2) that we put in the atmosphere, the thicker the blanket of greenhouse gases around the globe gets, and the hotter the planet gets as well.

Fracking doesn't just add more CO2 to the equation. Oil and gas drilling also releases huge amounts of methane -- another greenhouse gas that isn't as abundant in the atmosphere as CO2, but has the potential to trap more than 25 times more heat and is already causing around 25% of the warming we feel today.

While burning fossil fuels isn't the only reason that Earth is heating up, it is the biggest cause of global warming. And nearly all scientists agree that to stop the worst effects of global warming, we need to stop burning oil and gas -- and fast.

But figuring out how -- or whether -- we stop burning oil and gas is where this gets political.


What is the public lands piece of this?

WHAT MATTERS: Where does most fracking occur and why is it so important to some lawmakers?

KANN: While most drilling in the US occurs on private and state lands, about 9% of both the oil and gas produced onshore is extracted from federal lands. In 2019, land leasing to oil and gas companies through the Department of the Interior brought in $4.2 billion in revenue for the federal government.

That's a nice chunk of revenue, but what's even more important to some politicians are the jobs that those fracking leases are connected to. There is little debate that a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewables will come at the expense of fossil fuel extraction jobs. But the Biden administration has argued that moving the US towards a net-zero emissions economy will ultimately create more better-paying jobs than the ones that are lost along the way.

This jobs argument is at the center of the Biden administration's climate pitch. And it is also central to the Republican opposition to Haaland's nomination, and explains why fracking has become such a political football.


Undoing Trump's policy

WHAT MATTERS: A large portion of the Biden energy policy is undoing President Donald Trump's energy policy, which was to expand drilling and increase oil and gas production and exports. Is this back-and-forth just going to continue with administrations in the future?

KANN: US climate policy over the last few years has certainly been whiplash-inducing. President Trump spent most of his four years in office gutting Obama-era climate change regulations, and now President Biden's task will be to roll back the rollbacks.

President Biden has already issued a number of executive orders aimed at reversing Trump's policies. He rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office and soon after temporarily halted new oil and gas leases on public lands.

But experts say crafting climate policy that can last long after Biden is out of the White House will be one of his biggest challenges. One of the problems with executive actions and even agency rule-making through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior is that many of those rules can be challenged and eventually undone by future administrations.

And with a razor-thin Democratic Senate majority, Biden will face a tall task to pass climate legislation that can endure after he is out of office.

WHAT MATTERS: If confirmed, how large a role exactly could Haaland play in furthering Biden's climate agenda?

KANN: Michael Regan, Biden's nominee to lead the EPA, will be at the tip of the spear when it comes to rebuilding the climate and environmental guardrails that were dismantled under Trump. But the Department of the Interior will also play a huge role in the Biden administration's all-of-government approach to tackling climate change.

Interior manages more than 413 million acres of federal lands, as well as millions more acres held in trust for Native American tribes. What happens on that land -- whether it is leased out for fossil fuel exploration or protected -- will have a huge impact on the lives of Americans today, as well as future generations.

Haaland's confirmation would also be historic because of her heritage -- she is a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, one of the 574 Native American tribes recognized by the US government. And given the federal government's long history of mistreatment and injustice toward Native Americans, having Haaland in charge of all federal lands as the country's first Native American cabinet member would be rich in symbolism

THE PHILIPPINES MAIN EXPORT
Coronavirus vaccines: Philippines offers to let nurses work in Britain and Germany in exchange for shots

"We are disgusted on how nurses and health care workers are being treated by the government as commodities or export products," says union.

The Philippines will let thousands of its health care workers, mostly nurses, take up jobs in Britain and Germany if the two countries agree to donate coronavirus vaccines, a senior official said on Tuesday.

© Ezra Acayan/Getty Images Medical personnel work inside a makeshift nurse station at a parking lot converted into a Covid-19 isolation facility at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute Hospital in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines, on May 1, 2020.

Britain's health ministry said it was not interested in such a deal and its priority was to use shots domestically, but added it would share surplus vaccine internationally in the future.

The Philippines, which has among Asia's highest number of coronavirus cases, has relaxed a ban on deploying its health care workers overseas, but still limits the number of medical professionals leaving the country to 5,000 a year.

Alice Visperas, director of the labor ministry's international affairs bureau, said the Philippines was open to lifting the cap in exchange for vaccines from Britain and Germany, which it would use to inoculate outbound workers and hundreds of thousands of Filipino repatriates.

Nurses are among the millions of Filipinos who work overseas, providing in excess of $30 billion a year in remittances vital to the country's economy.

"We are considering the request to lift the deployment cap, subject to agreement," Visperas told Reuters.

Britain has the world's fifth-highest coronavirus death toll, while Germany has the 10th most infections globally.

Britain said there were 11,000 more nurses working in the National Health Service (NHS) than last year. It said that while it was grateful to the 30,000 Filipinos working for the NHS, Britain did not need to trade vaccines for more.

"We have no plans for the UK to agree a vaccine deal with the Philippines linked to further recruitment of nurses," a health ministry spokeswoman said, citing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to share spare shots later in the year.

"We have confirmed that we will share any surplus vaccines in the future -- for example through the COVAX international procurement pool."

The Philippines wants to secure 148 million doses of vaccines altogether, while Britain has ordered more than 400 million doses, six times its population.

While Britain and Germany have inoculated a combined 23 million people, the Philippines has yet to start its campaign to immunize 70 million adults, or two-thirds of its 108 million people. It expects its first vaccines this week, donated by China.

Calls to Germany's mission in Manila went unanswered.

In 2019, almost 17,000 Filipino nurses signed overseas work contracts, government data showed.

While Filipino nurses have fought to lift the deployment ban to escape poor working conditions and low pay at home, the workers-for-vaccine plan has not gone down well with some medical workers.

"We are disgusted on how nurses and health care workers are being treated by the government as commodities or export products," Jocelyn Andamo, secretary general of the Filipino Nurses United, told Reuters.

#ALCHEMY

Scents of time: Belgrade's last craft #perfumery

From a cobblestoned street in downtown Belgrade, the Sava perfumery has seen more than half a century sweep past without ceasing in its mission to keep the city's citizens smelling flowery and fresh

.

© Andrej ISAKOVIC 

Nenad Jovanov (right) and his son Nemanja in their perfume shop in Belgrade

The artisanal shop -- which mixes its perfumes in-house -- is the last of its kind in the Serbian capital, thanks to the Jovanov family who are committed to keeping the craft alive.

While the city has gone through many changes, the store remains a snapshot in time, with glass bottles, mixing vials and other tools passed down through three generations.

The work is a labour of love for the Jovanovs, whose other sources of income enable them to continue with the perfumery.

"We have remained because of tradition, love, affection and willingness to do a job which at certain times doesn't earn you enough money to subsist," the shop's jovial owner Nenad Jovanov, 71, told AFP as he mixed a custom eau de toilette in the shop's laboratory-like back room, measuring out ingredients with beakers and pipettes. 

© Andrej ISAKOVIC 

Nenad Jovanov's shop perfumery dates back to the 1940s

The perfumery dates back to the 1940s but opened under its current name a decade later, when communist authorities in then-Yugoslavia reversed a decision to ban private business, allowing the family to take back ownership.

In the 1950s and 60s, such perfumeries enjoyed a "golden age" in Belgrade, said Nenad, recalling more than 20 other family-run shops.

But as Yugoslavia started opening up to imports, mass-produced fragrances poured in, pushing local mixers out of business.

Crippling sanctions in the 1990s, when Serbia and other ex-Yugoslav republics broke apart in a series of wars, dealt another blow to the industry.

"One by one they started shutting down. And in the end, we were the only ones to remain," said Nenad.

- No labels -

When customers enter the tiny store, Nenad or his son Nemanja, who also works in the film industry, help them navigate the wooden shelves of label-less glass bottles.

"We don't have brand names. We don't have brand bottles. We don't have brand boxes. We simplified our packaging and our interior as much as we could so we can allow customers the experience of discovering what they like," explained Nemanja.

After enquiring about preferences -- floral, citrus, sweet or musky -- they use an old-fashioned pump to test different fragrances on the client's arms.

Shoppers are then encouraged to take a walk and return later to choose which perfume they like best, as the scent evolves over time after its first contact with the skin.

Most of their ingredients come from France.

"Men, at least those in this region, would be terrified if they knew that many masculine fragrances -- wonderful and popular fragrances -- have floral components," Nenad said with a laugh.

The store stays afloat thanks to a loyal clientele, plus a growing interest from tourists interested in what Nemanja calls its "living museum".

At a time when Covid-19 has taken away many people's sense of smell, an appreciation of its power has also deepened.

"The sense of smell is one of the most important," mused Nenad, who works in a white lab coat.

"It can transport us to another place, another time."

COMMENTARY: Dispute over beach carving is one of many miseries at Royal BC Museum

Mike Smyth  GLOBAL NEWS

Things were looking up for Victoria's Royal BC Museum last summer when a local man taking an early morning stroll on the beach made a remarkable discovery.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

 Former Royal BC CEO Jack Lohman

It was a 100-kilogram stone pillar, exposed at low tide with a light covering of seaweed, carved into a mysterious human face with bulging eyes and lips.

Bernhard Spalteholz took some pictures of his find and then notified the museum, which declared it an important discovery.

“This is a remarkable find with a remarkable story,” Jack Lohman, then the CEO of the museum, wrote in a now-deleted blog post that triggered excitement in the archeological community.

The museum said the stone pillar was likely a spiritual totem used by the local Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, possibly displayed on the beach to attract migrating salmon.

Read more: Outgoing Royal BC Museum Indigenous collection curator calls it a ‘wicked’ place

The discovery brought some badly needed happiness to a museum struggling through a COVID-19 pandemic that decimated attendance numbers at one of the B.C. capital's top tourist destinations.

But the excitement waned after Victoria artist Ray Boudreau spotted a picture of the carving in the local newspaper — and immediately recognized it as his own work.

"I knew right away that it was my carving," Boudreau told me, saying he carved the rock on the beach in 2017 over a period of three days.

He said he returned to the beach to continue the sculpture on the fourth day, but the rock was gone.

"I figured someone had taken it," said Boudreau, who had made earlier rock carvings on local beaches.

Video: Departing Royal BC Museum curator calls it a ‘wicked’ place

He showed me a cellphone photo of the original carving — date-stamped Jan. 23, 2017 — and it looks identical to the carving "discovered" on the beach more than three years later, minus the seaweed.

"You can still see the fresh chisel marks on it," he said, noting that he meant for the sculpture to be a symbol of unity.

I asked him what went through his mind when he heard the museum had declared the sculpture to be a historic archeological discovery.

"At first I thought, 'Well, maybe I won't say anything and just let this have a life of its own.' But then my friend said to me, 'You have to tell them! This is your work!'"

Read more: First Nations leaders condemn widespread reports of racism at Royal BC Museum

He decided to alert the museum, which has now launched an investigation.

"The review into the provenance of the stone pillar is ongoing," the museum said in a brief statement.

Things went from bad to worse when Lohman — the CEO who announced and then un-announced the pillar's discovery — was forced to resign over accusations of institutional racism at the museum.

The resignation came after an outside consultant declared the institution a "dysfunctional and toxic workplace characterized by a culture of fear and distrust."

The consultant had been brought in after the museum's head of Indigenous collections and repatriation had resigned, citing institutional racism and discrimination. The museum's Indigenous collections curator also resigned.

Read more: Ex-finance minister Carole James named to Royal BC Museum board amid racism controversy

Now the B.C. government has stepped in, appointing former provincial finance minister Carole James — who is of Metis heritage — to the museum's board of directors.

"The museum has challenges," James said. "I'm looking forward to contributing to the board and being able to resolve those issues."

She would appear to have a lot of work to do to repair the museum's shattered internal structure and damaged reputation.

A small start might be clearing up the dispute over the stone pillar, which Boudreau says he would like to see again.

"I haven't heard from the museum," he said.

"But I wouldn't mind having it back, and seeing what kind of life it has after that."

Mike Smyth is host of ‘The Mike Smyth Show’ on Global News Radio 980 CKNW in Vancouver and a commentator for Global News. You can reach him at mike@cknw.com and follow him on Twitter at @MikeSmythNews​.