Companies

What is an asset manager? Asset managers invest other people’s money with the aim of growing their client’s wealth and protecting them from financial risk. By pooling lots of investors’ money they can reduce the risk to them by spreading it across a range of asset classes: stocks, property, bonds, commodities and other funds. Asset managers make money by taking a fee for providing these services to their clients. Since the 2008 financial crisis, high fees and poor performance have seen money flowing away from “active” funds, with a manager who researches and selects investments using a particular philosophy, to “passive” funds. What is a passive fund? The most common form of passive investing is a “tracker fund” that follows an index such as the FTSE 100 or the S&P 500. Instead of selecting particular companies in which to invest, passive fund managers buy everything on an index and hold the shares over a long period of time. … [Read more...] about Why are asset managers investing in fossil fuel companies?

Shipping companies worldwide have spent billions of pounds installing devices that scrub sulphur from their vessel's exhaust and dump them in the ocean instead. Untreated, airborne sulphur fumes can turn into aerosols — which can cause lung and heart conditions — and also can form damaging acid rain. Regulations from the UN's International Maritime Organisation that will come into effect next year call for ships using heavy fuel oil to cut their sulphur emissions. However, a loophole means that most shipping firms are able to use systems that dump this scrubbed waste underwater rather than storing it for safe disposal in port. This wastewater emission could have a devastating effect on marine habitats and wildlife, experts warn. Scroll down for video Shipping companies worldwide have spent billions of pounds installing devices that scrub sulphur from their vessel's exhaust and dump them in the ocean instead WHAT ARE OPEN-LOOP SCRUBBERS?  Scrubbers are devices … [Read more...] about Shipping companies ‘will dodge UN emissions regulations’ by dumping toxic waste into oceans across the world instead of out their engine exhausts

Apple will finally allow its iOS users to launch music on Spotify via voice-command despite a long-held grudge between the two companies. With a Spotify update released today, anyone using the newest iOS 13 can play music by song, album, or artist on the iPad or iPhone by activating Apple's voice assistant Siri.  The integration also extends to Apple's Car-Play for use while driving and AirPlay, which allows for use on Apple's smart speaker, the Homepod, and Apple's AirPod wireless earphones.  iOS users can now launch songs on Spotify using Apple's Siri voice assistant in a new update that brings the companies closer together (File photo)  To make Siri play music via Spotify and not the default app, Apple Music, users must specify while uttering their request (i.e. 'Hey Siri, play Discover Weekly on Spotify'). In addition to Siri integration, Apple customers using Apple TV will now be able to take advantage of a new app that brings Spotify's capabilities to the … [Read more...] about Hey Siri, let’s be friends: Spotify users can finally launch music using Siri despite a long-held grudge between the company and Apple

Jeremy Clarkson and his chums have made millions through the success of motoring TV shows Top Gear and The Grand Tour. But they are in danger of losing much of it with their social network for petrolheads, DriveTribe. I can disclose that the company behind it, Digital Tribe Holdings — which Clarkson set up with his co-hosts Richard 'The Hamster' Hammond and James May, along with their producer Andy Wilman — lost a staggering £6.7 million last year. Jeremy Clarkson and his chums have made millions through the success of motoring TV shows Top Gear and The Grand Tour (pictured)  It comes after losses of £8.3 million in 2017 and £4.2 million in 2016. Earlier this year, the presenters mortgaged their business to Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of media mogul Rupert, for only £5 million. DriveTribe — which they created in 2016 as an online community for car lovers — borrowed the cash in exchange for security over the company and its assets. But … [Read more...] about SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Jeremy Clarkson and his former Top Gear colleagues see their DriveTribe social network company lose a whopping £6.7million in one year

The businesses controlling the future of the global climate are names most people have never heard of. State-owned companies with rights over the exploitation of national fossil fuel reserves now account for a majority of oil and gas produced around the world, overtaking publicly listed companies such as ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. But most of these 71 state-controlled companies – with a few exceptions, such as Norway’s Equinor – are remarkable for their secrecy, their lack of accountability to any but a small cadre of top government officials, and their absence from globally coordinated attempts to tackle the climate emergency. Of the world’s 20 biggest emitters, according to Richard Heede’s research, 12 are national oil companies (NOCs): state-owned or state-controlled entities set up to exploit a country’s fossil fuels, mostly oil but also gas and coal. Three of the five biggest emitters are NOCs: Saudi Arabia’s Aramco is the biggest of all, … [Read more...] about Secretive national oil companies hold our climate in their hands