In 2022, there were already too few commercial airline pilots in North America, leading to cutbacks in service to less popular and more rural destinations and a contraction of regional jet operations ...

The Bitcoin community is in turmoil. Ordinal NFTs — also referred to as “Digital Artifacts” and “Ordinal inscriptions” — surfaced on January 21, 2023, on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin maximalists are f...

The economic slowdown that has affected countries around the world as they were recovering from the impact of COVID-19 has threatened the tremendous growth experienced by the tech industry over recent...

India inherited the Group of Twenty (G-20) presidency from Indonesia on December 1, 2022 and will convene the 18th G-20 summit on September 9–10, 2023, in New Delhi. Coincidentally, India also assumes...

Open source intelligence (OSINT) is a fancy term for the gathering and analysis of publicly available data from unlimited and all-encompassing sources. This powerful, new tool is reshaping the frontli...

Work can be hard, but it shouldn’t be hard all the time. New research co-authored by Wharton’s Maurice Schweitzer shows that overloading workers with too many difficult tasks in a row makes them more ...

Around 8% of the U.K.’s population is at risk of flooding. In many areas structural flood defences protect households and businesses from flooding but only up to a certain threshold. If the flood is b...

Net-zero targets are driving companies’ efforts to reduce their carbon emissions by increasing circularity within their supply chains, especially as many of their emissions are Scope Three, which are ...

Bankruptcies, fraud allegations, perp walks, trillions of dollars in lost value: The past year has been terrible for cryptoasset markets. But it doesn’t mean the end of digital asset innovation....

In late 2021, when China’s real estate sector had already stagnated for months, the government dealt another serious blow to the sector, imposing restrictions on both developers’ and homebuyers’ finan...

Based on the research of  Yong-Chin Tan, Sandeep R. Chandukala, and Srinivas K. Reddy . Buying new products online that you haven’t used, or even seen, in real life can feel risky. You’re left guessi...

On February 25, Nigerians are scheduled to vote in a general election. It is difficult to fully appreciate the importance of these elections. The country’s potential for economic and political growth ...

Offshore wind farms play a major role in the quest to increase the world’s use of renewables and reduce its carbon footprint. While these facilities have had a prominent presence in Europe (the U.K. a...

2022 will go down in history as unpredictable and unprecedented. It started with a lot of optimism, then geopolitical unrest began, inflation took off, markets sold off and the era of cheap money effe...

On Tuesday (February 21), the U.S. Supreme court will hear arguments in a case that could have enormous ramifications for the internet. Under consideration is the so-called Section 230, which has prot...

Over the past few years, boards have become far more sensitized to the potential for workforces to both generate incredible value or pose incredible risk depending on how they’re managed. Workforces r...

Companies are paying closer attention to biodiversity, and after decades of inaction, international agreements and regulations are slowly falling into place, culminating in COP15 — the U.N.’s Biodiver...

This story originally published on Jun 22, 2022. Flooding is the most pervasive among natural disasters. According to the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, floods affect more people globally than any ...

Last week, Microsoft announced it was adding ChatGPT to its search engine. ChaptGPT has grabbed a lot of the headlines recently, but in many ways, other AI is likely to have a more profound impact for...

In disasters like the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and 7.5-magnitude aftershock that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6, 2023, international cooperation on satellite imaging plays a crucial role in the...

Big tech layoffs, Meta Platforms Inc’s volatile valuations, and conflicting data on daily active users on Decentraland and The Sandbox have led many to ask, “is the Metaverse dying?” This question ref...

Last month, the Chinese New Year celebration brought special joy to families who met in person for the first time in three years. When the zero-COVID policy ended abruptly in December 2022, the Chines...

Global commercial insurance prices increased 4%, on average, in the fourth quarter of 2022, a decline from 6% in the third quarter. It was the twenty-first consecutive quarter of rising average pricin...

Leadership in the current environment is very challenging. Remote working, mental health, gender fluidity, and Gen Z workers all demand new skills of senior executives.  Floyd Woodrow was a senior off...

“Unprecedented times” is a phrase we’ve tired of hearing. But the fact remains that we continue to experience extraordinary situations at home and abroad. How effectively you communicate to your emplo...

If there was any doubt that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third term as president of Brazil would look very different from his first two, there are few doubts left after the bizarre events of January 8t...

Europe hasn’t witnessed a conflict like this since World War II. Now, an even more ambitious reconstruction effort may be required. Russia’s devastating attacks have stirred calls to muster a Marshall...

Generation Z is a force to be reckoned with. Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z now accounts for 25% of the global population and is expected to be the world’s highest-spending cohort in the next decad...

Before long, 50% of the carbon in the world’s buildings will come from embodied concrete. So finding a way to greatly reduce the carbon intensity of concrete-making is essential.  The construction ind...

The tax breaks and subsidies for green investments contained in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have thrown the European Union into a state of confusion and alarm. The $369 billion program of green s...

This year’s Global Risks Report has highlighted the likely increase of polycrises as interacting risk events compound each other. This requires business leaders and policymakers to refocus their resil...

This is part one; read part two here.  The global need for mental health care remains a challenge worldwide. The prevalence of mental disorders is rising globally and places a burden on society that n...

On January 8, an extremist mob took over Brazil’s presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court buildings following President Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration. Altamar podcast hosts Peter Schecht...

The recent World Bank Tech Savvy report highlights the need for a whole-of-government approach to digital transformation. The lessons we have learned so far from implementing digital public sector pro...

Because supply chain emissions often dominate corporate carbon footprints, procurement is central to delivering on a company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda and ultimately on corpo...

At the start of last year, trendlines in the Middle East pointed to a cautiously optimistic trajectory. Regional states were engaged in a process of de-escalation after a period of heightened tension,...

2022 was one of the most significant years in the global energy sector since the 1973 OPEC crisis, with the conflict in Ukraine, the climate transition, the upending of the oil and gas markets, and th...

Given the current economic environment, inflationary pressures, and a tough labor market, people risk, perhaps previously a matter solely dealt with by HR, has garnered attention from organizational r...

It’s said that the chief technology officer is responsible for the survival of any company, especially in a three- to four-year time horizon, because of the innovation they deliver in next-generation ...

The shift away from a carbon-based economy risks stranding a large number of assets, particularly in sectors with high financial market exposure, such as oil and gas.  The nonprofit financial think ta...

Unhappiness has been steadily climbing for a decade, and its rise has been in the blind spot of almost every world leader. The editors of Unravel spoke with Jon Clifton, CEO of global analytics and ad...

An expanding list of e-commerce sellers, big-box stores, high-volume delivery services and a host of other businesses have been making pledges to convert their North American truck fleets to electric ...

The shift away from a carbon-based economy risks stranding a large number of assets, particularly in sectors with high financial market exposure, such as oil and gas.  The nonprofit financial think ta...

The pandemic didn’t invent workforce issues related to accelerated digitalization, flexible working, reskilling, and upskilling or diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it certainly exacerbated and ha...

People from Generation Z are entering the workforce with a sense of confidence, direction and empowerment that belies their age. This poses challenges for employers trying to recruit and retain them u...

In November, global leaders converged in Egypt for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the U.N. Convention on Climate Change (COP27). Many dubbed this the “implementation COP” because after years of...

Over the past 12 months, Asia has been buffeted by overlapping international crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  But there is a good case for cautious optimism ab...

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) — a biofuel similar in chemistry to conventional jet fuel but with significantly fewer carbon emissions — is probably the most important, and definitely the most immedi...

All around the world, inflation is having an impact. The rise in costs of oil, food and almost everything else — combined with lingering supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, floods and oth...

The big issues of our time transcend borders, nationalities and oceans. This past year, power has become more diffuse, many leading Western countries are paralyzed by crisis and polarization, and new ...

In October, BRINK reported on the start of a large trial involving multiple companies in the U.K. that had agreed to trial a four-day working week.  In the meantime, a smaller trial has just ended in ...

The effects of Hurricane Ian will be felt for years to come. The devastation has left Fort Myers and surrounding areas unrecognizable. It is hard to deny that the frequency and severity of not only hu...

The key space developments in 2023 with grand strategic implications revolve around space resource utilization missions, space-based solar power (SBSP), space launch systems, asteroid exploration, spa...

The past year might unfortunately be remembered as the year that Russia invaded Ukraine — or for some even stranger events such as the Oscar slap, Musk’s Twitter chaos, or Taylor Swift ticket mayhem. ...

As the volatility, velocity and magnitude of global risks increase, many organizations are caught unprepared for the cascading impacts of developing polycrises — multiple events occurring close togeth...

By many measures, Tim Cook is having a great year. Apple, which he runs as CEO, is the most-profitable company in the Fortune 500 and also was ranked by the magazine as the most admired company in the...

A number of large cities around the world are piloting the idea of chief heat officers to respond to the threat of extreme heat caused by climate change. According to research by the Adrienne Arsht-Ro...

Electrifying the transport sector will be critical to supporting national emissions reductions targets. The transport sector relies on fossil fuels more than any other industry: In 2021 it accounted f...

In November and December, China’s State Council announcements reducing COVID restrictions and enhancing targeted pandemic prevention and control marked the beginning of the end of China’s three-...

Predicting the outcome of national elections can be a mug’s game. Polls are often wrong and second-guessing how people will vote months down the line can leave even the most savvy election specialist ...

Adios, 2022! Aren’t we glad Latin America’s painful year is ending? 2022 was a year of electoral surprise, political instability, economic uncertainty and democratic-erosion throughout Latin America. ...

The work from home revolution is having a profound effect on office space in cities around the world. In some places, as much as 50% of the office space is lying vacant. Some empty offices can be conv...

Working remotely is a way for companies to attract and motivate talent and more generally to offer a new lifestyle contract to employees. The initial vague concept of working from anywhere is now givi...

Yesterday, we asked a cross-section of our experts to name — in a couple of sentences — what had been the most significant development in their areas of expertise over the last year. Today, in the sec...

With the current U.S. inflation rate at 7.1%, interest rates rising and housing costs up, many Americans are wondering if a recession is looming. Two economists discussed that and more in a recent wid...

To round out this year, we asked a cross-section of BRINK contributors to name — in a couple of sentences — what had been the most significant development in their areas of expertise over the last yea...

Economies have overheated and have begun slowing down, with some potentially in recession already. Are we there yet? Will monetary tightening lead to a deep recession? In this episode of the Critical ...

When most people think about retirement, their first inclination is to focus on financial readiness. But as many learn as they enter retirement, building a post-career life is more than a simple calcu...

What a year to run a business! An unprovoked war triggers a global energy crisis, the worst inflation in decades threatens to derail the global economy and geopolitical forces push even harder for a r...

In the aviation world, 2022 was projected to be a year of recovery. But that was before a series of exogenous shocks that exacerbated already malfunctioning global supply chains and prompted the indus...

One of the most difficult years in recent European history draws to a close, leaving a legacy of unresolved geopolitical and geo-economic challenges. Barring a black swan event that could completely u...

Gift-givers hoping to splurge this holiday season despite the pinch of high inflation have an easy option: buy now, pay later. An ever-growing number of financial companies and apps are offering consu...

As the first soccer World Championship to be held in the Middle East, the Qatar World Cup was both historic and controversial. And the political controversies have been on full display — from LGBTQ ri...

As we know, we’re coming out of the first ever global pandemic. The sports, entertainment and media industry was hit especially hard, but they’re back. Events are taking place — Qatar rece...

Businesses have been facing shocks on multiple fronts these days, from COVID-19 and inflation to the conflict in Ukraine and other escalating geopolitical tensions. COVID and the Russian invasion of U...

During the pandemic, depressed passenger volumes severely eroded the profit margins of most European train operators. But the energy transition will help European railways to grow, according to new re...

Although men and women apply in roughly even numbers to become lawyers, far fewer women end up as partners in law firms. In the U.S., there are five times as many male partners as female partners, and...

We need nearly two planet Earths to sustain our consumption of natural resources as human beings: Our use of ecological resources and services is about 75% higher than our planet’s capacity to regener...

For many years, raising the minimum wage has been a hot-button topic debated vigorously by politicians, business owners, and economists, with strong disagreement over how an increased wage would affec...

 The famous Build Back Better slogan, a staple of the Biden presidential campaign (coming as it did against turmoil wrought by COVID), serves to underscore how fundamental the incumbent president sees...

The ability to change minds and persuade people of the need to do something is essential for doing business. Yet, when it comes to the mechanics of persuasion, a lot of people find it difficult to do....

Opportunities for flexible working are an attractive part of any employment offer and, since the pandemic, have become far more common. In fact, remote and flexible work has become the norm for many c...

Investment in clean energy technology is now outpacing fossil fuels. According to the IEA, clean energy will be 60% of total investment in energy in 2022. New research from the Rocky Mountain Institut...

Employees have been bruised by the events of the last two years, and many are feeling a form of despair, anxiety and a lost sense of belonging. While the road ahead still appears rocky, employers can ...

The fintech sector in Africa is the only VC market posting double-digit growth this year — at a time when the rest of the global VC market has been slowing down.  According to Ashlin Perumall, partner...

The implications of COP27 will likely be felt for decades to come, for better or worse. While a broad range of analysis has already been published on the ultimate outcomes of COP27, this summary inclu...

Israel just completed its fifth election in four years. This time, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come back with a new, hard-right, extremist coalition. How will that translate into dome...

Large numbers of companies, big and small, are now electronically monitoring their employees. The trend of workplace surveillance accelerated considerably during the pandemic due to remote working.  I...

On Friday, November 11th, cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Limited (“FTX”) and its sister cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research (“Alameda”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Just a week earli...

Very little attention is paid to food in the conversation around net zero. But food production accounts for one-third of our global carbon emissions, so changing our eating habits is critical.  The LE...

Three years on from Black Lives Matter and MeToo, the idea of true equity is still far off in most workplace settings. Tina Opie, associate professor of Management at Babson College, has written a boo...

The labor shortage may be ending in many industries. For evidence, look at Uber, which attracted a record 5 million drivers in 2022. But there is one category where the problem remains stubbornly unso...

The climate crisis is a defining challenge for Asia and the Pacific, which as a region is the most vulnerable to global warming, and a significant contributor to its cause. Yet, it is not all doom and...

In a time when ESG is coming under increased scrutiny for ethics-washing, the bar is getting higher and higher for leaders and CEOs to operate in a truly sustainable way. Clarke Murphy recently steppe...

The architects of the financial system overhaul known as Dodd-Frank suffered numerous slings and arrows while crafting their historic legislation. The final rules put in place in 2010 to stabilize the...