The United Nations, while addressing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, said that sustainable consumption and production is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency, and promoting sustainable lifestyles. With that in mind, what could be a better tool to address resource efficiency than Technology?

The 21st century has been one of great change and advancement, especially when it comes to technology. This has had a profound impact on the way we live and work, as well as the way businesses operate. One country that is feeling the effects of this shift is Nigeria. In the past, Nigeria has been largely dependent on other countries for its consumption needs. However, with the rise of technology, Nigeria is now beginning to produce its own goods and services. This change is having a positive impact on the Nigerian economy, as well as its relations with other countries.

Moreover, we all are aware that the world is changing, and so is the way we consume as humans. The way we produce is also fast changing, and there is a big push to move countries from consumption to production. Evidently, technology is at the forefront of this change, hence the need for this discussion. In this article, we will explore how technology is moving a country from consumption to production. We will look at the different technologies that are being used and how they are making an impact. We will also look at the challenges that need to be overcome and what the future may hold for this area of change.

The current state of affairs reveals that Nigeria is a country rich in resources, yet its people are among the poorest in the world. The country has great potential for economic growth, but it has been held back by years of mismanagement, corruption, and conflict. The current administration is committed to reforming and increasing Nigerias production and export of goods and services. One of the ways it is doing this is by investing in technology. The government is working to improve infrastructure and increase access to technology in order to make Nigeria more competitive in the global marketplace.

Recent initiatives include the construction of a new broadband network and the launch of a national digital economy plan. These efforts are intended to attract more foreign investment and create jobs. If successful, they could help Nigeria move from being a country that relies on imports to one that produces its own goods and services. We however can learn a thing or two from others that have successfully implemented technology like the United States and China.

Technology has played a vital role in production in the United States for many years, with almost all the leading tech giants with headquarters in America. The use of technology in production has allowed the United States to become one of the most productive countries in the world. Technology has made production more efficient and has helped to reduce the cost of production as the United Nations posited in SDG 12. It has also made it possible to produce more goods and services in a shorter period of time. The use of technology has made it possible to improve the quality of products and services and by extension the quality of her citizens lives. Technology has helped to improve communication and coordination among workers, which has resulted in better-quality products and services.In recent years, there has been a trend toward using more advanced and sophisticated technology in production. This trend is likely to continue as companies seek to gain a competitive advantage by using the latest and most advanced technology available.

However, there are challenges related to moving a country from a consumption-based to a production-based economy some of which are that it requires a major shift in the way a countrys economy is structured. A production-based economy is one in which the focus is on producing goods and services, rather than consuming them. This shift can be difficult to achieve, as it requires a change in the mindset of both businesses and consumers. Such a mindset shift will require a strong leadership brokerage for successful implementation.In a production-based economy, businesses invest in research and development in order to create new products and services. They also focus on increasing efficiency and productivity, so that they can produce more goods and services at lower costs. This helps to make businesses more competitive and ultimately drives economic growth. Consumers also need to change their behavior in a production-based economy. Rather than spending money on unnecessary items, they should save or invest it. This will help to ensure that there is enough money available to finance businesses investment in new products and services. Ultimately, the challenge of moving to a production-based economy is one of changing peoples behavior. If businesses and consumers can embrace this change, then a countrys economy can be transformed.

There are, however, a lot of benefits of driving towards a production-based economy. A production-based economy is one that focuses on the production of goods and services, rather than entirely on consumption. With our focus on China, a production-based economy has several benefits.

First, a production-based economy is more efficient than a consumption-based economy. This is because production requires fewer resources than consumption. For example, producing one ton of steel requires less coal and iron ore than buying one ton of steel from another country.

Second, a production-based economy creates more jobs. This is because manufacturing and other production activities require workers. In China, millions of people have been lifted out of poverty as a result of the countrys switch to a production-based economy.

Third, a production-based economy is more self-sufficient than a consumption-based economy. This is because producing goods and services domestically reduces the need for imports. In China, the switch to a production-based economy has helped the country become more self-sufficient in many key industries.Fourth, a production-based economy can be more resilient to external shocks. This is because domestic producers are less reliant on foreign markets and supply chains than consumers are. In China, the resilience of the countrys production-based economy was put to the test during the global financial crisis of 2008/09. While many countries around the world were plunged into recession, Chinas export-oriented factories kept humming along thanks to strong domestic demand for their products.

Finally, a production-based economy is able to realize more tax from producing companies hence more internally generated revenue. Everyone wins in a production economy, hence must be encouraged and nurtured.

In recent years, China has been focused on becoming a world leader in production. To achieve this goal, the country has been investing heavily in technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. AI and data analytics are playing an increasingly important role in enhancing production in China. By helping to optimize processes and improve decision-making, they are making Chinese factories more efficient and competitive.In the future, AI and data analytics will become even more essential for Chinese manufacturers as they strive to maintain their edge in the global marketplace as The Worlds Factory. So much that we can learn from China and how this has brought their GDP to $17.7 trillion only second to that of the United State at $23.0 trillion and a much higher Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of $27.3 trillion with a rate of annual growth at 8.1 percent. Both countries, US and China have individual GDP percentage shares larger than 168 others (Nigeria inclusive).

Nonetheless, technology is playing an important role in Nigerias economy. For example, the use of mobile money has grown rapidly in recent years, with over 50 million Nigerians now using it to make payments. This is having a positive impact on businesses and individuals alike, as it makes transactions faster and easier. In addition, the use of mobile phones and the internet is helping to connect people and businesses across the country. There are also a number of initiatives that are using technology to boost economic growth in Nigeria. One example is the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, which is using technology to improve agricultural productivity. This is important as agriculture is a key sector of the Nigerian economy. Another initiative is the Power Sector Recovery Programme, which is using technology to improve power generation and distribution in Nigeria. This is vital for businesses and households as they need reliable electricity to function properly. It is clear that technology is starting to play a big role in Nigerias economy. If this trend continues, it could help to transform Nigeria into a prosperous country.

A recent study by the World Economic Forum found that a move from consumption to production can be achieved through technology. The study found that countries that have moved from consumption to production have experienced an increase in GDP per capita and employment, while those that have not made the shift have experienced a decline in these indicators. The study looked at a number of factors that contribute to this shift, including the availability of technology, the level of education, the willingness of the government to support businesses, and the existence of a strong private sector. All of these factors are necessary for a country to make the transition from consumption to production. The study found that countries that have made the shift tend to be small and open economies. This means that they are more nimble and able to adapt to change quickly. They also tend to have a high degree of integration into global value chains. This allows them to access new markets and new technologies more easily. The study provides a number of recommendations for policymakers who want to support this transition.

First, they need to create an environment that is conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship. Second, they need to provide support for businesses as they make the transition from consumption to production. Third, they need to ensure that there is access to finance for businesses. Fourth, they need to provide training and education for workers so that they are able to take advantage of new opportunities created by the transition. All of these point to the reality that a movement from consumption to production is a collective effort, everyone needs to have their skin in the game, especially in a third-world country like Nigeria.

With the aforesaid, Nigeria is not without huge potential for contribution to the world. It has the potential to become a major producer of food crops such as maize, rice, and cassava due to its vast amount of land area and conducive environment. Nigeria could also become a major producer of livestock such as cattle, pigs, and chickens, especially in processed forms. Nigeria has the potential to become a leading manufacturer of consumer goods such as processed foods, textiles, and footwear. Ranking amongst the highest quality globally, Nigeria has been a consistent supplier of leather to European and Asian markets. One such example is the unique Red Sokoto goatskin leather. Such could be processed further into finished goods rather than sold as raw material. The country could also become a major exporter of manufactured goods such as machinery and vehicles. Nigeria has the potential to become a leading provider of services such as transportation, telecommunications, banking, and tourism. The country could also provide exportable services such as education and healthcare, through a deliberate focus on mass training and development of doctors and nurses with the use of technology leverage.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that technology can play a major role in helping Nigeria to move from being solely focused on consumption to becoming more production-oriented. By investing in the latest technologies, businesses can increase their efficiency and productivity, which in turn will lead to more economic growth and development. In addition, by using technology to connect with consumers and clients from all over Africa, and the world, businesses can expand their reach and tap into new markets. With the right approach, and focus on what works, technology can be a powerful tool for driving positive change in any economy.

I remain open to deliberate conversations on Nation Building and personal development. Follow me on Medium: http://www.medium.com/@roariyo. Also, we can connect and chat as you send me an email: [emailprotected]

See the rest here:

The New Nigeria juxtaposed with US and China: From consumption to production through technology - TheCable

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Canada's abundant natural resources and its ability to develop them sustainably and inclusively are a significant comparative advantage in the global transition to a net-zero economy. That transition presents a generational economic opportunity for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. A key question on which Canada must collectively focus on is how to build on its regional comparative advantages in a manner that will create good jobs, economic opportunity and prosperity for all Canadians.

A significant part of the answer to that question is the Regional Energy and Resource Tables.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced five more provinces and territories are formally joining the Regional Energy and Resource Tables initiative, which is a partnership between the federal and provincial and territorial governments to support strong communities and job creation in every region of Canada.

With the addition of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon, a total of eight provinces and territories are now participating in the Regional Energy and Resource Tables after British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador helped launch Phase 1 on June 1, 2022. The federal government is setting up these tables during the next several months with the goal of establishing them with all 13 provinces and territories by early 2023.

At the federal level, the Regional Tables are an initiative led by Natural Resources Canada, involving multiple federal institutions, including Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, the Regional Development Agencies and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The Regional Energy and Resource Tables are collaborative fora that will bring the federal, provincial and territorial governments together with Indigenous partners, union partners, municipalities, industry, workers, experts and civil society to advance the top economic priorities in the natural resources space in every region of Canada through the development of place-based economic strategies. The Regional Energy and Resource Tables will gather input from relevant partners and seek to align resources, timelines and regulatory approaches to capitalize on key regional opportunities and priorities.

This collaboration will significantly advance the realization of economic opportunities that could range from mining critical minerals for made-in-Canada electric vehicles and batteries, to hydrogen in several regions across the country, to building small modular reactors. Other initiatives might include developing biofuels, making greater use of technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and storage, or advancing wind projects on the East Coast to generate clean electricity.

The Regional Energy and Resource Tables will help ensure that federal funding from existing sources are directed toward top regional priorities and projects, including the $8-billion Net Zero Accelerator, the $35-billion Canada Infrastructure Bank and the $3.8 billion allocated in Budget 2022 to implement Canada's first Critical Minerals Strategy. The Regional Energy and Resource Tables will also identify areas in which incremental resources may be required.

At the federal level, the Regional Energy and Resource Tables are being led by Natural Resources Canada while involving multiple federal institutions, including Innovation, Science and Development Canada; the Regional Development Agencies; and the Canada Infrastructure Bank.

By working together, Canadians will create the good jobs and enduring prosperity that will come with the unprecedented economic opportunities of building a net-zero world.

Quotes

"Just as any successful business must be capable of interpreting and reacting to changes in the business environment, countries must also be capable of thoughtful response and action to sustain and enhance their level of prosperity. This initiative will enable provinces, territories, the federal government and key Indigenous partners to collectively accelerate economic activity and position Canada as an economic leader in the global shift toward a low-carbon future."

The Honourable Jonathan WilkinsonMinister of Natural Resources Canada, Government of Canada

"With the highest tides and some of the best offshore wind in the world, we're using our natural resources to our advantage in Nova Scotia to develop our renewable energy markets. Through the Regional Energy and Resource Tables, we look forward to further collaboration with our colleagues across Canada to reach our ambitious climate change goals and create green jobs here at home."

The Honourable Tory RushtonMinister of Natural Resources and Renewables, Government of Nova Scotia

"As a province, we are very clear that our transition to net zero is a top priority. We know we require more resources to achieve our ambitious climate goals and look forward to working with the federal government and key partners to ensure a sustainable future for Prince Edward Island. We have unique circumstances in the Atlantic region, and we anticipate important discussions surrounding battery storage, carbon capture, electrification and other innovative ideas and technologies we can implement on the path to net zero."

The Honourable Steven MyersMinister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, Government of Prince Edward Island

"We look forward to the Table discussions and applaud Minister Wilkinson for this important initiative, which will help us align with the federal government on our provincial priorities such as small modular reactor development and hydrogen production and provide an opportunity for our key stakeholders to give input as we transition our economy to a net-zero world."

The Honourable Mike HollandMinister of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Government of New Brunswick

"The Northwest Territories is well positioned for economic growth and prosperity while deploying the energy solutions we need to make a successful transition to a low-carbon economy that runs on reliable, affordable energy. The territorial 2030 Energy Strategy advances several transformational energy projects such as transmission lines to bring clean hydro to diesel communities and the Taltson hydroelectricity expansion project to develop NWT clean energy potential. Through the spirit of collaboration and partnership at the Regional Energy and Resource Tables with all levels of government, including Indigenous leadership, we can advance priorities important to all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, create lasting economic opportunities, and promote the well-being of northerners for generations to come."

The Honourable Diane ArchieMinister of Infrastructure, Government of the Northwest Territories

"The Northwest Territories' resource sector is at an exciting moment in its history. With a rich supply of critical minerals and a regulatory framework that places environmental protection and Indigenous rights at the centre of decision-making, we are at the heart of ESG-I and future green energy solutions. We will continue working with our partners to create a strong, responsible resource sector that contributes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Canada and supports our goal of becoming a leader in Canada's low-carbon economy."

The Honourable Caroline WawzonekMinister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Government of the Northwest Territories

"The Yukon has many of the resources needed for the transition to a low-carbon economy and our government is proud to be advancing the territory to a green future. We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government, First Nations and all partners through the Regional Energy and Resource Tables to support a responsible and sustainable resource sector that keeps our environment and the generations to come in mind."

The Honourable John StreickerMinister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Government of Yukon

Quick facts

Backgrounder: Progress Update on the Regional Energy and Resource Tables

The Regional Energy and Resource Tables are a collaborative initiative between the federal government and the provinces and territories designed to identify, prioritize and pursue opportunities for sustainable job creation and economic growth in Canada's natural resource sectors as the world transitions to net zero.

The Regional Energy and Resource Tables were launched on June 1, 2022, with the Government of Canada partnering with British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador in Phase 1.

Phase 2 of the Regional Energy and Resource Tables was launched on October 13, with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

Progress to date under Regional Energy and Resource Tables Phase 1

Since the launch of Phase 1, the Government of Canada has engaged in regular discussions at multiple levels with the participating provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as with Indigenous partners and organizations in those three provinces.

These efforts have led to the identification of a number of shared priorities, the creation of work streams and the first steps toward developing action plans to align resources, timelines and regulatory approaches to seize those opportunities.

The following are snapshots of the early progress made through Phase 1:

In addition, the federal government and all three provincial governments remain committed to working in close collaboration with relevant experts and key stakeholders such as industry partners and labour representatives.

Roll out of Regional Energy and Resource Tables Phase 2 and Next Steps

In the coming months, officials from the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial governments will engage formally to:

Through the Regional Energy and Resource Tables, the federal government will continue to work with the provinces and territories to grow the economy, create sustainable jobs and lower emissions from coast to coast to coast.

Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan)

SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

For further information: Natural Resources Canada, Media Relations, 343-292-6100, [emailprotected]; Keean Nembhard, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Natural Resources, 613-323-7892, [emailprotected]

Go here to see the original:

Minister Wilkinson Launches Phase 2 of the Regional Energy and Resource Tables - Canada NewsWire

The Minister of Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Dr. Adeleke Mamora has expressed optimism that Nigerias potential in the STI, when adequately harnessed, can put the country among the top 20 economies of the world by 2030.

Dr. Mamora made this known during a critical stakeholders meeting to inaugurate the planning committee of the STI 2023 Expo in Abuja.

The 2023 Expo with the theme Actualising Effective Diversification of the Nigerian Economy through Science, Technology and Innovation will be held from the 16th to 20th of January 2023.

The minister noted the critical role of STI in all facets of human endeavours and its importance in the transformation of the Nigerian economy from resource -based to knowledge-based economy.

It spans through all the Ministries, Departments and agencies such as technology science, agriculture, aviation, Industry, Energy, health, Space Education, Entrepreneurship, Military amongst others. This is the reason for this dialogue today, to discuss the way forward for Science Technology and innovation and most especially the coming event of the Ministry, the Science technology and innovation Exposition 2023, Mamora said.

The Minister recalled that the previous editions of the STI Expo had given Presidential Awards to the best Engineers and Scientists.

The 2022 reviewed Science Technology and innovation policy was launched during the opening ceremony of the Expo in March 2022 to enable Science Technology and innovation maximally impact on the national social economic development landscape with a view to ensuring that Nigeria actually and in reality emerges and remains among the top 20 leading economies in the world before the year 2030 and beyond, he said.

According to the Minister, the 2023 STI Expo would be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari and would feature award ceremony, investors and researchers forum, technical sessions, and special days for interested partners among others.

He lauded the contributions of partners that made the event of the last editions a success even as he tasked them to strengthen their support to make the 2023 edition even more successful.

Also speaking during the inauguration, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Mrs Monilola Udoh, who was represented by the Director of Health, Biotechnology and Science in the ministry, Mr David Erabhahiemem, recognized the contributions of the private sector in nation building, stressing that their investment towards industrialization has been enormous.

I particularly welcome and appreciate participants from the private sector. The government cannot do without the contribution of the private sector as seen in the developed countries. It is the private sector that utilizes the policy of the government to accelerate industrialization.

I can assure you that the government needs the private sector and academia to fully get on board and ride on its policies and venture on demand driven research development and also to invest in viable products and services already invented or innovated, she said.

Read more:

'Science, Technology, Innovation To Drive Nigeria To Top 20 Economies By 2030' - Leadership News

UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova took part in a panel discussion at the Russian Energy Week today aimed at fostering international cooperation on hydrogen (H2).

Hydrogen offers the prospect to decarbonize the energy sector and large sectors of the economy. The shift to a decarbonized hydrogen-based economy could help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. This would require a rapid and extensive expansion of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production. For this to happen, massive investments and appropriate policy support will be needed.

During her intervention, the Executive Secretary expressed her solidarity with the people of Ukraine, called for the application of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations on Ukraines territorial integrity, the respect of the principles of the UN Charter and adherence to international law. She reiterated the UN Secretary Generals urgent calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

She also invited the Russian Federation to take its share of responsibility in the collective effort to deliver carbon neutrality and to limit global warming.

UNECE member States and other stakeholders still disagree on how to quantify the sustainability of hydrogen, said UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova. In view of the climate emergency and energy crisis the world is facing, we have no time to lose in decarbonising the energy sector and our economies. UNECE offers a unique platform to define and develop the future hydrogen-based economy. I invite member States to use our Committee on Sustainable Energy to overcome their differences and develop a comprehensive classification for hydrogen.

In 2020, under the auspices of its Groups of Experts on Gas, Renewable Energy and Cleaner Electricity Systems, UNECE established a Task Force on hydrogen, which launched a project to improve the capacities of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) to develop sustainable hydrogen production strategieswhile raising awareness and overcoming economic, technical, policy and investment barriers.

The Policy Brief on hydrogen published in November 2021 highlighted H2s potential to decarbonize the economy, described the state of play in the UNECE region and listed a series of recommended policy commitments.

Finally, last month theCommittee on Sustainable Energy mandated UNECE to develop specifications to apply the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) that is under development to hydrogen projects, through pilot projects and case studies.

In addition to its work on the production of H2, UNECEs regulatory work ensures the safe use of hydrogen through:

TheUnited Nations Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goodscontain provisions for the safe transport of hydrogen and other dangerous goods by all modes of transport. These provisions, developed by theECOSOC Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goodsserviced by UNECE, are then incorporated into all modal instruments for air, maritime and land transport.

International regulations developed by UNECEs World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations provide the basis to scale up the use of hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles (HFCVs) through theUN Global Technical Regulation (UN GTR) No. 13, under the 1998 Agreement andUN Regulation No. 134(mirroring the same provisions in the framework of the type approval system), under the 1958 Agreement.

A number of industrial activities produce or use hydrogen, e.g. chemical, nuclear or pharmaceutical industry, oil refineries, packaging activities, etc. Hydrogen is covered as a hazardous substance under the provisions of theUNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, which supports countries to strengthen prevention, preparedness and response in the case of an accident.

UNECE will continue supporting its member States in enhancing the understanding of the role of hydrogen to attain carbon neutrality and develop resilient energy systems across the region, in particular through hydrogen-related technical dialogues at COP 27 on 7 November 2022 and the Almaty Energy Forum on 14 November 2022.

Read the original:

Executive Secretary participates in Russian Energy Week to advocate for decarbonization in the UNECE region ahead of COP27 - UNECE

NATIONAL SECURITY MEMORANDUM/NSM-15MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE THE SECRETARY OF LABOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF STAFF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE UNITED NATIONS THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DOMESTIC POLICY THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONSUBJECT: Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health SecurityIt is a vital interest of the United States to prepare for, prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from biological threats at home and abroad. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted that the United States and the world are vulnerable to biological threats, whether naturally occurring, accidental, or deliberate. COVID-19 has cost millions of lives and has resulted in trillions of dollars in economic loss and major setbacks in health and economic development globally. No sector of the United States economy or society is immune to the effects of a major biological incident. Moreover, few other national security threats are capable of producing catastrophic and potentially existential global consequences at the scale and speed of biological threats. Therefore, countering biological threats, advancing pandemic preparedness, and achieving global health security are top national and international security priorities for the United States. Nearly all executive departments and agencies (agencies) contribute to the biodefense mission of the United States Government. Moving forward, the United States must fundamentally transform its capabilities to protect our Nation from biological threats and advance pandemic preparedness and health security more broadly for the world. Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to preserve our health, economic, social, and national security by protecting the Nation from biological threats and promoting pandemic preparedness and global health security. The United States Government will undertake actions at home and with partners globally to reduce the risk of naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate biological events with the potential to significantly impact humans, animals (domestic and wildlife), plants, and the environment, and to negatively affect health, the economy, society, and security. The foundational policies for the United States Governments role in biodefense include: the National Biodefense Strategy for Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health Security (Biodefense Strategy) and its associated Implementation Plan, American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming Our Capabilities, and the U.S.Global Health Security Strategy. Agency activities in support of the Biodefense Strategy and its Implementation Plan shall be conducted consistent with the Biodefense Strategy. Activities undertaken to implement existing Executive Orders and Presidential Directives, including but not limited to those listed in Annex IV of the Biodefense Strategy, shall be conducted consistent with the Biodefense Strategy. Further, implementation of this memorandum shall ensure consistent integration with Presidential Directives regarding domestic response. Sec. 2. Coordination and Governance of United States Biodefense Efforts. The policy set forth in section 1 of this memorandum shall be implemented, to the extent permitted by law and available appropriations and subject to the internal programmatic and budgetary processes of relevant agencies, as follows: (a) The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA) shall serve as the lead for policy coordination and review, acting through the process described in National Security Memorandum 2 (NSM-2) of February 4, 2021 (Renewing the National Security Council System), to provide strategic input and facilitate policy integration for Federal biodefense efforts. (b) In accordance with Executive Order 13987 of January 20, 2021 (Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified and Effective Response to Combat COVID-19 and to Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security), and National Security Memorandum 1 of January 21, 2021 (United States Global Leadership to Strengthen the International COVID-19 Response and to Advance Global Health Security and Biological Preparedness), the APNSA shall coordinate the Federal Governments efforts to prepare for, prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from biological threats and to advance global health security, international pandemic preparedness, and global health resilience. This subsection does not apply to Federal law enforcement activities, criminal investigations, or intelligence activities related to domestic incidents involving suspected terrorist threats, terrorist attacks, significant cyber incidents or other acts within the criminal jurisdiction of the United States. (c) The heads of agencies shall: (i) implement the Biodefense Strategy, as well as related strategies such as the U.S. Global Health Security Strategy, and include biodefense-related activities, including resourcing and achieving the goals of the Biodefense Strategy and the priorities, targets, and actions of its Implementation Plan, within their strategic planning and budgetary processes; (ii) in the event of the determination of a nationally or internationally significant biological incident, implement Federal response efforts in accordance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 of February 28, 2003 (Management of Domestic Incidents), Presidential Policy Directive 8 of March 30, 2011 (National Preparedness), Presidential Policy Directive 44 of November 7, 2016 (Enhancing Domestic Incident Response), and Federal Government response and recovery frameworks and operational plans; (iii) coordinate their biodefense policies with other agencies that have responsibilities or capabilities pertaining to biodefense, as well as with appropriate non-Federal entities; (iv) share information and coordinate decision-making related to the biodefense enterprise; and (v) monitor, evaluate, and hold their respective agencies accountable for the implementation of section 3(a) of this memorandum. (d) Heads of agencies are not required to share information on counterproliferation activities, military plans or operations, intelligence activities, or specific law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. Sec. 3. Implementation. (a) At least once every 3 years, in alignment with the annual budget cycle, the APNSA and the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor (APHSA), in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall review and update, as necessary, biodefense priorities under the Biodefense Strategys Implementation Plan. These updates shall be submitted to the President through the APNSA and, to the extent permitted by and consistent with applicable law and policy, released to the public. (b) Within 1 year of the date of this memorandum and annually thereafter, the APNSA or the APHSA, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, shall chair a Principals Committee Senior Officials Exercise (SOE) on a biopreparedness health emergency in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies. The SOE shall include a detailed summary of conclusions, which shall inform the review listed in subsection(a) of this section. The heads of relevant agencies shall, on an annual basis, submit all related SOE After Action Reports to the APNSA and the APHSA to inform the review listed in subsection (a) of this section; the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to inform the National Exercise Program; and the heads of relevant agencies to inform biopreparedness. (c) Within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, and annually thereafter in alignment with the annual budget cycle: (i) the heads of relevant agencies shall include in their annual budget requests to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) information on those activities, programs, and projects that are planned, programmed, or have been executed that advance or are expected to advance the Biodefense Strategy and its Implementation Plan; ensure that these new and existing activities are prioritized in their annual budget requests; quantify resources allocated to biodefense within their annual budget requests; make a determination on whether their budget requests are sufficient to meet priorities established in the Biodefense Strategys Implementation Plan; and meet annually with National Security Council (NSC) staff to review their annual budget requests; (ii) as part of the annual budget process, the Director of OMB, in consultation with the APNSA, shall conduct an analysis of Federal biodefense and pandemic preparedness programs to assess whether resources are sufficient to meet the objectives of the Biodefense Strategys Implementation Plan; and (iii) the APNSA, through the process described in NSM-2 and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall convene relevant agencies to ensure that interagency budgets for programs that contribute directly to the implementation of this memorandum and additional relevant resource requests are directed to meet the objectives of the Biodefense Strategys Implementation Plan. (d) To facilitate effective implementation of the Biodefense Strategy, within 90days of the date of this memorandum and at least quarterly thereafter, the NSC staff Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense shall convene lead agencies identified in the Biodefense Strategys Implementation Plan at the Assistant Secretary level. These agencies shall brief the NSC staff on progress towards key milestones and timelines, as well as on critical gaps and barriers to progress. The NSC staff Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense shall provide updates quarterly to the APNSA based off of these briefs, summarizing progress towards the implementation of the Biodefense Strategy by highlighting the extent to which the goals and objectives are being met, outlining major gaps and impediments to timely and effective implementation, and presenting options for overcoming these gaps. The APNSA shall provide to the President, on an annual basis, a memorandum summarizing these updates. (e) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum and annually thereafter, or more frequently as warranted, the Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the heads of relevant agencies, shall provide to the APNSA and the heads of relevant agencies a threat assessment on potential actors and threats, delivery systems, and methods that could be directed against or affect the national biodefense enterprise or that could negatively affect global health security, prioritizing high consequence or potentially catastrophic biological threats. These threat assessments shall be used to inform the review listed in subsection (a) of this section.

(f) Within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, the APNSA shall, in coordination with relevant agencies pursuant to Executive Order 13747 of November 4, 2016 (Advancing the Global Health Security Agenda to Achieve a World Safe and Secure from Infectious Disease Threats), recommend to the President updated goals and objectives for inclusion in the United States Government Global Health Security Strategy of 2019. These recommendations shall incorporate lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and shall guide the Federal Government in protecting the United States at home and abroad from health security threats; describe the health security capacities needed in partner countries to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats, whether naturally occurring, accidental, or deliberate; and outline the United States international support for the global health security architecture. Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) This memorandum rescinds and replaces National Security Presidential Memorandum 14 of September 18, 2018 (Support for National Biodefense). (b) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (c) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the UnitedStates, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Read more:

National Security Memorandum on Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health Security - The White House

Governors are prioritizing digital skill development across the education and training continuum, from K-12 curriculum to upskilling and reskilling for workers and adult learners.

(Download)

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated longstanding trends in the digital transformation of work and workplaces, revolutionizing online service delivery, remote work and workplace digitization across nearly every sector. Estimates suggest the pandemic advanced 10 years of planned technological change in the workplace in less than one year. Yet according to research by the National Skills Coalition, nearly one in three workers in the United States have few or no digital skills, and at least 38 percent of those workers are employed in jobs that require moderate or advanced computer usage. This skills gap creates talent and growth issues for businesses of all sizes from large companies looking to grow and invest in the United States, to small and mid-size companies that employ the greatest share of workers with low or no digital skills but require a more digitally-skilled workforce to remain competitive.

This rapid digitization of the economy has also exacerbated the digital divide defined here as the gap between individuals who have access to broadband, connected devices and digital skills and those who do not. This gap creates barriers to equitable economic participation for workers and their families and ultimately poses major risks to economic stability and resiliency at the household, community and state levels. Equipping workers and adult learners (especially those from historically underserved populations) with the digital skills required to succeed in high-quality jobs now and in the future, and access critical workforce services such as unemployment insurance systems and online job postings, is a growing imperative for state workforce systems. As a result, Governors are prioritizing digital skill development across the education and training continuum, from K-12 curriculum to upskilling and reskilling for workers and adult learners. At the federal level, investments in digital equity through the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) are providing unprecedented resources for states to advance digital skills and take full advantage of expanded broadband connectivity. Even with this investment, long-term and sustainable solutions to addressing digital skill gaps must go beyond the Acts provisions and programs.

To help states develop innovative, long-term plans to close digital skills gaps, meet employers talent needs and develop a workforce that is more resilient in the face of digital transformation, the National Governors Associations Workforce Innovation Network (NGA WIN) launched its second round of innovation grants to six states in November 2021. NGA WIN awarded Hawaii, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island $100,000 each and provided facilitation, guidance and support to state teams as they developed strategic plans to increase access to the digital skills needed to help all individuals in their states fully participate in training, education and work. States applied these resources to support personnel, project coordination and research (including assessing the states existing resources for digital upskilling), creating strategies and programs to support digital skill development, and drafting a comprehensive state action plan with policy recommendations to close digital skill gaps in alignment with their Governors workforce and economic development goals.

This publication provides lessons learned and case studies for Governors and state policymakers as they work to bridge the digital divide. It begins by highlighting the key activities that are part of the state strategic planning process, including analyzing the state digital skills landscape through data collection, asset mapping and stakeholder engagement. It then details how these planning activities inform the state action plans, including strategies and policies that address elements such as access and equity, partner alignment, data collection, training opportunities, digital navigation and resource allocation. The publication also features information on how states can align their state plans with plans developed for other federal programs such as the Digital Equity Act (DEA) and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) program, in-depth profiles of the six grantee states innovations, and a framework for creating state plans to advance digital skills.

Digital Equity: The condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States. (Digital Equity Act)

Digital Literacy: The skills associated with using technology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, create, and communicate information. (Digital Equity Act)

Digital Skills: A range of abilities to use digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information that enable people to create and share digital content, communicate and collaborate, and solve problems for effective and creative self-fulfillment in life, learning, work, and social activities at large. (UNESCO)

Digital Resilience: The awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skill demands. Digital resilience improves capacity to problem-solve and upskill, navigate digital transformations, and be active participants in society and the economy. (Digital US)

The state planning process to advance digital skills begins well before policy recommendations are considered and drafted. States may engage in a variety of activities to determine the baseline of the states digital literacy, assess needs for the workforce and employers, and gather information that will inform strategic planning and guide the development of state plans to close digital skill gaps.

The following activities were developed by NGA staff for WIN grantees to provide an initial structure for state plan development and can be utilized by other states in their own planning. These activities were designed to equip state teams with valuable information to develop a plan that is truly responsive to the needs of employers, workers, and service providers, and that ultimately bridges the digital divide to promote more equitable economic opportunity. These key activities in state planning processes include:

As with all state policy initiatives, it is critical to ground the planning process in a shared understanding of the existing landscape in this case, the landscape of digital skills and digital equity within the state. While more comprehensive assessments of financial and training assets as well as skill need and attainment data will be necessary as planning continues, states can use readily available tools coupled with a high-level ecosystem scan to gather key information from the outset. The State Digital Equity Scorecard, developed by Microsoft, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and the National Skills Coalition (NSC), was utilized by all six NGA WIN grantees in their planning process and can be a valuable resource for states beginning their analysis. This tool provides every state with a numerical score based on six indicators (as seen in the image below) related to state efforts to address digital equity. The Scorecard is a first step that can highlight states existing capacity and competency on digital skills and digital equity. Additional research to establish a baseline including information on existing state or local plans, programs, or initiatives that may have digital skills and digital equity components is also important. There are likely state efforts already underway that can be leveraged to provide a broader understanding of that states overall status on digital skills and digital equity, such as state broadband plans or technology-related training programs.

Once states have a general understanding of the current ecosystem of digital skills, training programs, plans and initiatives, they can then develop definitions, goals and a shared vision. Developing shared language for concepts such as digital divide, digital equity, digital literacy and digital resiliency can ease communication between partners and ensure that these terms are rooted in the states unique conditions and aspirations. In addition to the definitions established in the Digital Equity Act, resources available to states for defining these key terms include those developed by NDIA and those explored in the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) initiative. Using the defined terms, states can then craft a vision for the future of digital skill attainment. Key elements of a state vision may include target populations, scope, level of skill attainment, timeframe, and more. See pages 17-22 for each NGA WIN grantees vision. Whether concurrently or following the development of a vision, states may identify shorter-term goals that, when achieved in concert with one another, lead the state toward realizing its broader vision. The definitions, goals and vision will serve as the framework for the remainder of the planning process, so stakeholders should be engaged to ensure these guideposts are reflective of their needs and goals.

Once states have completed an initial evaluation of existing capacity and developed a vision for digital skill advancement, the next step is to map digital skills assets more comprehensively using a tool such as the State Digital Skill Asset Inventory Tool, developed by NGA and NDIA, and conduct a resource gap analysis. This includes assessing the demand for digital skills, workforce supply of digital skills competencies, and currently available training and educational opportunities. States can consider mapping information such as training and education resources, state and local initiatives, anchor institutions like public schools or libraries, training providers, community champions such as non-profits, service providers, and other assets dedicated to closing digital skill gaps.

NGA WIN grantee Pennsylvania partnered with Thomas P. Miller and Associates (TPMA) to develop the Digital Literacy Programming Map (as seen below), which provides accessible information on digital literacy training opportunities. The map serves a dual purpose: helping the state identify training deserts to inform where investments might be made to increase training opportunities; and serving as a public-facing tool for individuals to identify training programs in their area, organizations to connect their clients to resources, and for employers who wish to utilize training providers to advance their employees digital skills. Each node includes the name and contact information of the training provider, location, skill level for that program, program cost, and other relevant details.

As states are surveying their digital skills landscape, they may encounter a lack of readily accessible data that directly identifies digital literacy levels for certain populations, the digital skills demands of employers, and the gap between the two. This presents a challenge in determining where and for whom investments in digital skills training are most necessary. NGA WINs Using Data To Advance Digital Skills: A State Playbook provides states with recommendations for compiling a variety of existing data sources to inform their state plan, including data on education, employment, the labor market, public benefits, workforce programs and broadband connectivity. Once states have inventoried existing data sources, they may then develop a plan to collect or develop data to fill outstanding information gaps. Importantly, an ideal data landscape will include publicly available and transparent information on programs and credentials that demonstrate positive outcomes in advancing digital skills. With a robust data landscape, states can communicate the impact of improved digital skill levels on workers wages, career pathways and job quality, as well as employers competitive advantage. Additionally, states can capitalize on new and existing initiatives and goals to both connect digital skill advancement to larger state initiatives, such as postsecondary attainment or rural development, as well as to inform metrics and performance on digital skill attainment. States may also use the information on data gaps and inefficiencies gathered through this process to identify priority areas for improvement that may require new investment, partnerships, or other solutions.

NGA WIN grantee Oklahoma utilized data to tell a compelling story about the impact of digital skills advancement on a workers wages. By matching an occupational digital skill scores matrix developed by the Brookings Institution with occupational wage data produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and long-term occupational projections funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Oklahoma team found almost three-quarters of current jobs in the state require at least a medium level of digital skills, and that each additional point in a digital score, on a scale of 0-100, is associated with an extra $781 in annual earnings.

The process of developing a state plan to close digital skills gaps requires thoughtful and consistent stakeholder engagement. Throughout each of the key activities identified above, stakeholders will provide varied and unique perspectives as well as qualitative and quantitative data. Governors and their planning team may consider engaging public sector stakeholders including state agencies of labor, commerce, education, justice, human services, libraries, veterans affairs, and others. There are also several stakeholders outside of state government to involve in this process.

Engaging workers and learners in the planning process will ensure plans, policies and programs are more effective at meeting user needs, especially when historically marginalized or underserved populations are intentionally engaged from the outset. These may include people experiencing poverty, justice-involved individuals, people with disabilities, English language learners, Native and Tribal populations, and more. It is also critical to engage non-government partners, who will be essential to carrying out the plan, including training providers, employers, industry associations, community-based organizations, K-12 districts and postsecondary educational institutions. Populations to be considered here are also identified as covered populations in the Digital Equity Act.

The Digital Equity Act also requires robust stakeholder engagement throughout the planning and execution stages of its programs, so establishing relationships and developing trust will be beneficial for both the DEA programs (as described further in pages 15-16) as well as the states broader strategic planning process to advance digital skills over both the short and long term. States will also benefit from establishing ongoing feedback loops with these stakeholders for regular engagement and data collection that ensures state efforts, policies and programs are achieving the desired impact and are responsive to evolving needs.Planning teams will also benefit from making the plan, data and programmatic information accessible to a wider stakeholder audience, including federal, state and local legislators, policymakers and the public, as this will increase broad awareness, transparency and buy-in as well as allow these partners to leverage the information collected through the state planning process.

NGA WIN grantee Rhode Island prioritized and executed a robust, iterative stakeholder engagement strategy throughout their planning process. Stakeholders included community leaders, residents, incarcerated individuals, digital skills training providers and participants, employers and philanthropic groups who provided their input through interviews, focus groups, surveys and other forums throughout the process of gathering information and drafting their state plan. As a result, the state plan that the Rhode Island team developed is both representative of current digital skills and literacy challenges and opportunities and will remain responsive as technology, skills and demands shift in the future.

The process map outlined above reflects broadly applicable best practices for state strategic planning developed through decades of NGA Center for Best Practices work to facilitate these processes across policy areas, citing most recently the process completed with NGA WIN state grantees as described in this report, as well as state strategic planning process maps developed in NGAs 2018-2020 Future Workforce Now initiative and in the NGA 2021 State Roadmap for Workforce Recovery.

Closing state digital skills gaps requires a blend of policies, programs and initiatives contained in a comprehensive plan that unites partners around a common vision and goals, informed by the key activities discussed previously. These plans serve to guide state efforts to advance digital skills but also exist as living documents to be updated as states needs and capacity evolves. Effective state plans acknowledge and provide for a continuum of digital upskilling throughout workers careers as technology and skills demands change. The following key elements offer a menu of policy areas to consider as states develop strategies and policy recommendations to advance digital skills. While all of these elements may be necessary for a long-term comprehensive plan, states should first consider which areas are most essential to address the unique needs of their state and meet their shared vision and goals.For a complete guide to developing a state plan to advance digital skills (including a policy recommendation template), please reference Appendix A: State Policy Plan Framework for Advancing Digital Skills.

The increasing digitization of the economy has exacerbated the opportunity gap between those who have access to resources to improve their digital literacy and skills and those who do not. The DEA provides a set of covered populations including individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group, veterans, incarcerated individuals, individuals who reside in a rural area and more. States may consider how to embed principles of access and equity in their policy recommendations, especially for the DEA-specified covered populations, and develop strategies to increase equitable access to training and services.Resources such as NSCs Applying a Racial Equity Lens to Digital Literacy, JFFs Advancing Access and Digital Equity: Challenges and Solutions and the DRAW initiatives. Findings from a National Landscape Scan on Adult Digital Literacy Instruction can provide states with actionable steps to address questions of access and equity for target populations.

Strategies to improve access and equity regarding digital skills include:

NGA WIN grantee North Dakota sought to capture a full picture of the digital connectivity and literacy levels of underserved populations in the state throughout their data compilation, analysis and plan development process. To achieve a comprehensive assessment, the North Dakota team developed a series of maps highlighting counties with the highest concentration of veteran, rural and Tribal populations. By layering these new maps with the states broadband connectivity map, the North Dakota team identified the need for connectivity and digital upskilling programs in counties with large Tribal populations, which have historically lacked access to these resources. Leveraging these data sets allowed the North Dakota team to target this population and make a recommendation in their state plan to engage with Tribal partners to identify digital skill gaps and training opportunities.

Aligning partners around a shared vision and coordinating efforts across public and private entities is critical to implementing state strategies to advance digital skills. States may consider policy recommendations for partnership, systems improvement and infrastructure development that are necessary to build and maintain a digitally resilient workforce.

Examples of policy recommendations or strategies to foster alignment, partnership and sustained momentum include:

NGA WIN grantee Hawaiirecognized the imperative for coordinated leadership of the states work to advance digital skills and recommended designating a Digital Workforce Hui in their state plan to close digital skills gaps. Building on the successful model of the Hawaii Broadband Hui as a convener for collaboration on broadband solutions, the Digital Workforce Hui will include state agencies involved in digital skills education and training, and will be led by the Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office in partnership with the Hawaii State Public Library (both of which were members of Hawaiis NGA WIN team). The Digital Workforce Hui will be responsible for implementing the states plan to close digital skills gaps and driving alignment with the states vision for digital skill advancement. This includes additional work such as: supporting community-based organizations to incorporate digital literacy into their goals and programs; developing pathways and tools for the progression from foundational literacy to digital literacy to occupational digital skills; creating a plan to digitally upskill and increase equity and access in the public sector workforce; and executing a digital skills communication campaign to excite and inspire residents to be a part of the digital workforce future.

A robust plan to collect and analyze digital skills data can provide states with valuable information to adapt and respond to the evolving needs of workers and employers. States can leverage new and existing data sources to ensure their strategies to advance digital skills are data-driven and to develop goals for digital skill attainment. While the initial data compilation and analysis efforts for planning will supply states with a baseline of information, it is important to develop strategies that promote ongoing data collection and analysis.This long-term, iterative process allows states to evaluate their progress toward identified goals for digital skill attainment and measure and improve outcomes for digital skills programming.

Examples of policy recommendations or strategies to facilitate data collection as well as performance assessment and improvement include:

Advancing digital skills often requires the expansion of existing training opportunities and/or the creation of new programs and services. Upon completion of a gap analysis of training availability, skills competencies and labor supply and demand, states may consider which successful models for advancing digital skills are best suited to be scaled, which existing, well-vetted digital skills curricula may be adopted, if it may be necessary to establish new programs or curricula, and opportunities to integrate digital skills into existing workforce training programs.

Examples of policy recommendations or strategies to create or expand digital skills training opportunities include:

Expanding digital navigation services can provide workers and families with critical information to access affordable internet, devices, and digital literacy and digital skills training. To help close the digital skills gap, states may consider policy recommendations and strategies to invest in digital navigation infrastructure that can serve as a key connector between individuals and the resources they need to increase their digital skills.

Examples of policy recommendations or strategies to support digital navigation services include:

Digital navigators are trusted guides who assist community members in internet adoption and the use of computing devices. Digital navigation services include ongoing assistance with affordable internet access, device acquisition, technical skills, and application support. (National Digital Inclusion Alliance)

NGA WIN grantee North Carolina prioritized digital navigation in their state plan to close digital skills gaps by including recommendations to establish both state-level leadership and on-the-ground digital navigation infrastructure. The team set three goals for digital navigation: leverage federal dollars to fund digital equity programs across the state (including digital navigation); empower community-based organizations to provide digital skills training and digital navigation services; and use existing state assets as working laboratories to train and connect workers with high-paying digital careers.

North Carolinas strategies to meet these goals include: using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to launch a competitive grant program housed in the North Carolina Department of Information Technologys Office of Digital Equity and Literacy to fund digital navigation projects; establishing a state digital navigator position to develop and maintain a digital literacy resources website and coordinate with local digital navigators; and developing a network of working laboratories within a 45-60-mile radius of the most underserved or unserved areas to provide residents a safe location, safe connection and devices to utilize broadband for telehealth, online classes, training or remote work.

Many of the policy recommendations and strategies suggested above may require funding to support the implementation and sustainability of state efforts to advance digital skills. This may include leveraging federal funds available through legislation such as the Digital Equity Act (DEA) or the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD), workforce funding streams such as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) or the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), or state-funded workforce development programs.

As states consider options for funding digital literacy and digital skill development, several principles may help inform the allocation of state resources now and in the future:

For example, Pennsylvania is currently in the third round of their Digital Literacy and Workforce Development Grants, which are funded by the WIOA Governors reserve fund. These awards to local workforce development boards, public libraries, non-profits and small businesses, particularly in areas of poverty or low digital literacy, support digital literacy classes emphasizing career development skills. Supported training is focused on digital fundamentals, digital job seeking, digital citizenship and digital information.

For more information on funding streams to support digital skill development, please reference Appendix B: Funding to Advance Digital Skills.

While Governors and state policymakers are planning to advance digital skills, the federal government has also recognized the need for robust and comprehensive investments in digital upskilling and digital equity. This has manifested in the Digital Equity Act (DEA) and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). DEA and BEAD provide a historic level of funding for planning and implementation of programs to provide equitable access to high-speed internet and the training necessary to fully access and utilize that connectivity. This offers a timely opportunity for states to advance digital skills that align with DEA and BEAD planning to amplify and sustain their combined impact. While state digital skills plans and programs may exceed the scope and five-year timeframe of DEA and BEAD, these programs include a mandate and funding to achieve common goals that support state visions for digital skill development, and these principles for alignment may be applied to any future federal investment in digital skills.

There will likely be overlap in the groups involved with DEA and BEAD planning, but it is critical that those working on planning for these two programs build awareness of one anothers work to ensure goals and activities are aligned to the extent possible and to take advantage of existing stakeholder networks and available data. To better coordinate planning efforts and avoid duplication, state teams developing and implementing state plans to advance digital skills should identify and connect with the agencies and teams leading their states work on DEA and BEAD planning. This alignment and information-sharing will ultimately lead to greater collective impact for all three plans.

Throughout the process of developing a state plan to close digital skills gaps, states will likely have engaged a wide range of stakeholders, from workers to employers to service providers. DEA and BEAD also require states to engage a diverse group of stakeholders in developing digital equity plans, which provides an opportunity for states to leverage their existing network of stakeholders and build on their previous engagement and data collection on digital skills needs and competencies. By including stakeholders who are involved in digital skills work, states can ensure digital literacy and digital skill advancement remain a priority as they work to address digital equity more broadly. It is critical to involve stakeholders in both the planning and implementation phases of these federal programs and look to them to identify challenges and successes in equitable access to digital skills training resources. Many of the service providers in the stakeholder network may also provide valuable information on lessons learned in overcoming barriers to access digital services to apply to other digital equity efforts. As discussed previously, states can also use the regular feedback loops they establish with stakeholders on digital skill advancement to ensure DEA and BEAD plans reflect evolving needs, and to regularly assess progress toward identified goals and metrics.

State plans to advance digital skills can include a broad vision with long-term strategies that look beyond federal programs, but they should also be aligned with the goals and metrics of time-limited programs like DEA and BEAD. The DEA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program requires states to identify barriers to digital equity as well as measurable objectives for documenting and promoting digital literacy access to services in their State Digital Equity Plan. The DEA also requires State Digital Equity Plans to assess how their objectives will impact and interact with the States (i) economic and workforce development goals, plans, and outcomes; (ii) educational outcomes; (iii) health outcomes; (iv) civic and social engagement; and (v) delivery of other essential services. Likewise, the BEAD NOFO for the Five-Year Action Plan requires states to identify needs, goals, and implementation strategies for digital equity and inclusion, which includes digital skills. To the extent possible, aligning goals and metrics for digital literacy and digital skill development across these three plans can increase coordination among partners implementing strategies to meet those goals. This alignment can also ensure sustainability of efforts to advance digital skills and literacy beyond the limited timeframe for the DEA and BEAD programs, which is essential for continued workforce competitiveness as digital skill needs are continuously and rapidly evolving.

(* Indicates state team lead)

State Team: Friends of the Library of Hawaii, Hawaii Broadband Hui, Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, Hawaii Literacy, Hawaii State Public Library System*, Hawaii Workforce Development Council, Office of Governor David Ige

Vision: Hawaii is known as a place where people learn.

Digital equity has been a top priority for Hawaii and for Governor David Iges administration, leading the state to develop a broadband strategic plan and adopt a Digital Equity Declaration outlining a vision, goals and priorities to move Hawaii toward a more equitable digital future. The state also conducted the Hawaii Digital Literacy and Readiness Study which assessed the digital literacy and readiness of the states workforce across segments of the population including demographics, education, occupation, industry and geography. The Hawaii NGA WIN team sought to expand on this work by developing a comprehensive plan to achieve a 100% digitally literate workforce that has the skills to adapt to the continuously changing job market and economy.

To gather qualitative and quantitative data on the digital skills gap in their state and to engage communities on their needs and priorities for a plan to advance digital skills, the Hawaii team conducted a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process that included one-on-one interviews, focus groups, roundtables and surveys with employers, workers, community-based organization, labor leaders and industry specialists. These conversations surfaced a multifaceted definition for digital readiness in Hawaii as well a continuum for digital upskilling. These definitions helped to shape a plan to advance both individuals digital skills and the public systems capacity to support those individuals. Outreach to organizations providing digital literacy and digital skills training also led to the development of the iterative Hawaii Digital Skills Training Resources map.

The Hawaii teams five-year state plan to advance digital skills emphasizes five key strategies: designate a Digital Workforce Hui; invest to grow existing programs; track longitudinal and skills-specific metrics; designate the Hawaii State Public Library System as a hub for digital skills learning; and continue building the digital skills resources map. The Digital Workforce Hui will lead the implementation of the strategies and sub-strategies laid out in their state plan as well as coordinate among partners to ensure sustainability of their efforts to achieve their shared vision.

My vision for the state includes a broad shift to a diversified economy with a focus on digital access and equity so all in our community have the tools needed to thrive in todays digital world.

State Team: North Carolina Department of Information Technology*, North Carolina Business Committee for Education, North Carolina Community College System, NCWorks Commission, Office of Governor Roy Cooper, State Library of North Carolina

Vision: All North Carolinians will be empowered to participate in the digital economy fully and equitably by increasing access to and awareness of digital literacy education and skills training.

Like many states, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed digital inequities between North Carolinians, including access to affordable high-speed internet and the skills needed to take advantage of broadband connectivity. Governor Roy Cooper has made digital equity a priority for his administration, creating a plan to close the digital divide in North Carolina by 2025 and establishing the nations first Office of Digital Equity and Literacy (ODEL) to coordinate digital literacy efforts and digital skills training statewide. Building on this investment, the North Carolina NGA WIN team sought to develop strategies to provide access to digital skills resources and training through data-driven coordination among state, local and private partners.

To address their states unique barriers and prioritize activities for their state plan to close the digital skills gap, the North Carolina team identified three areas of focus early on in their work: system infrastructure and partner alignment; digital skills training on career pathways for in-demand occupations; and community and stakeholder engagement and awareness. Additionally, the North Carolina team prioritized two key deliverables from the outset: including developing a virtual hub for digital skills training and creating a Digital Navigator position in ODEL to lead work on the virtual hub and collaborate with communities across the state in digital equity planning. The team also deployed a statewide survey of employers to assess digital skills attainment and needs in the states workforce, providing valuable data to quantify the digital skills gap.

North Carolinas plan to close the digital skills gap contains policy recommendations and strategies that support alignment and partnership, data collection and performance improvement, and digital navigation and resource development. Key recommendations include: establishing a working group to coordinate digital literacy and digital skills programming across state agencies; partnering with community-based organizations to conduct focus groups and listening sessions with digitally-excluded populations; implementing data collection tools to capture a more robust picture of digital skills needs; determining targets for job readiness and job creation and aligning digital skills metrics with those targets; training and connecting residents with FAST TRACK, high-paying digital careers, and employment opportunities.

Without access to digital skill development opportunities, gaps in career, education and health care opportunities will only widen. Keeping North Carolina at the forefront of digital innovation and workforce development is critical to our states continued success.

State Team: North Dakota Department of Commerce*, North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Office of Governor Doug Burgum, North Dakota Workforce Development Council

Vision: All North Dakotans will have equitable access to opportunities to develop digital skills to meet the needs of North Dakotas 21st Century workforce.

North Dakotas position as the top state in the country for providing high-speed fiber optic access, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, provided the North Dakota NGA WIN team with a foundation to expand the states digital inclusion work to advance digital skills. To better understand the states connectivity landscape, the North Dakota team partnered with the Dakota Carrier Network, a collective of rural broadband service providers, to access a broadband connectivity map. After assessing statewide connectivity and connectivity for underserved populations, including veterans and Tribal communities, the team compiled additional data in partnership with Job Service North Dakota, the Department of Public Instruction and others. The team used the data they complied to assess additional factors such as internet speeds, digital skill gaps among adult learners and jobseekers and the potential return on investment for workers who increase their digital skills. This process surfaced two key findings: the in-demand jobs on the North Dakota Job Service website have higher average digital skills requirements than the average for all occupations and increasing a North Dakotans digital skills score by one point on a scale of 0-100 can increase annual income by an average of just under $660.

Using these insights, the North Dakota team prioritized upskilling the workforce to meet employer needs while also improving workers economic opportunity by advancing digital skills. In their state plan to close digital skills gaps, the North Dakota team recommended the appointment of a Digital Equity Director, who will be responsible for overseeing the states digital equity efforts, aligning partners and policy, data collection and program evaluation. The plan also included a recommendation to increase the number of people utilizing state services or programs who receive fundamental digital skills training. The plan identified several agencies including workforce system partners, human services agencies, state libraries and others that should include foundational digital skills training in their training or assistance programs.

North Dakotas economy is changing more rapidly than ever in part due to advancements in technology. A skilled workforce is vital to our success as a state. North Dakota leads the nation in providing high-speed connectivity for its residents, so we are well-positioned to pursue this opportunity to advance digital equity throughout the state.

State Team: Office of Governor J. Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission*, Oklahoma State Senate

Vision: Create economic opportunities that transform the rural workforce to meet the foundational and occupational digital skills demands of todays workforce.

The Oklahoma NGA WIN team recognized early on in their process that Oklahoma, like many other states, has a challenge in connecting residents, and specifically workers, with access to broadband and the skills they need to utilize the internet for all that it has to offer. In some regions of the state, particularly in rural counties, broadband access is not currently available, accessible or reliable enough to allow residents to fully participate in life and the economy. Additionally, the Oklahoma NGA WIN team recognized that there was also a distinct lack of digital skills in more rural areas of the state, where broadband may have recently become available and has not been widely adopted. As a result of this analysis, the Oklahoma team chose to focus their state plan to advance digital skills on rural Oklahomans and their communities.

The Oklahoma team leveraged their state Labor Market Information office to develop a narrative about the impact that connecting rural Oklahomans to remote working opportunities could have on the economic opportunity for those families as well as their communities. By analyzing publicly available labor market data, the team was able to demonstrate that each additional point added to a workers digital skills score, on a scale of 0-100, is associated with an extra $781 in annual earnings.In rural Oklahoma, the impact of becoming more digitally literate could directly impact the ability to afford living expenses.

As part of their state plan to advance digital skills, the Oklahoma team developed a pilot project to connect rural Oklahomans to high-quality jobs in the digital economy. The team is partnering with an Oklahoma employer to identify jobseekers who live in rural areas and are interested in remote work. They will then conduct digital skill assessments to connect those jobseekers either to immediate employment based on their skills, or to digital skills training to prepare them for future employment with the business partner. The team will specifically target rural Oklahomans who receive unemployment insurance benefits or who are long-term unemployed and will leverage existing reemployment services to connect these jobseekers to digital skills training. Lessons learned from the pilot project will help the Oklahoma team continue to develop wider-reaching digital upskilling opportunities, especially for rural jobseekers and other underserved populations.

Bridging the digital skills gap is critical to growing and maintaining a thriving workforce in Oklahoma. Im proud to support our states efforts to find innovative ways to bring digital training and quality jobs to as many Oklahomans as possible.

State Team: Office of Governor Tom Wolf*, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board*, Team Pennsylvania

Vision: Within the next five years, Pennsylvanians will have the abilities needed to fully, safely, and responsibly participate in a society reliant on digital technology and the Internet. Each Pennsylvanian will have the ability to useand the ability to continue to learn to usefrequently changing devices and software platforms, and to find, access, organize, evaluate, create, and communicate information competently and confidently enough to accomplish that individuals needs of living, learning, and working.

From the outset of their project, the Pennsylvania NGA WIN team strove to align their activities and priorities with those of the newly created Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. The collaboration and integration of these efforts grounded the teams work and promoted discussion about the best means of ensuring those who were already connected, and especially those who would be gaining access, would have the ability to digitally upskill. The Pennsylvania team carefully considered whether to target specific populations with their plan to advance digital skills and whether to focus on foundational or occupational digital skills. Through a comprehensive data collection and analysis and stakeholder engagement process, the Pennsylvania team determined that the needs of their residents and employers would be best served by a concerted effort on digital upskilling for foundational digital literacy for all Pennsylvanians.

The Pennsylvania team prioritized an assessment of the statewide digital skills landscape to better understand currently available training opportunities as well as the digital skills needs of employers. To gather this information, the team launched an employer survey that received over 350 responses and provided valuable insight including that slightly fewer than half of respondents agreed with the phrase, My employees digital skills needs are met. To better understand the Commonwealths digital skills training infrastructure, the Pennsylvania team contracted with TPMA to build a training asset map. This map, which will soon be made public, will allow policymakers and service providers to determine areas and populations that lack digital literacy and digital skills training resources and make investments in those communities. To support these efforts, the Pennsylvania team included a policy recommendation in their plan to identify and engage anchor institutions that serve as trusted entities within communities to provide foundational digital literacy skills training or connect people to training opportunities.

Broadband availability and devices have little meaning if people do not have the skills to use these tools to accomplish tasks in a digital world. Advancement of digital skills must be discussed in the context of broadband and device access for a holistic approach to address digital gaps.

State Team: Office of Governor Dan McKee, Office of Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, Providence Public Library, Rhode Island Commerce, Rhode Island Department of Education, Rhode Island Governors Workforce Board, Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, Skills for Rhode Islands Future*

Vision: To support digital equity through access to high-speed internet, appropriate devices, and digital skill development that ensures an equitable Rhode Island economy.

The Rhode Island NGA WIN team, with a diverse cohort of members, sought to capitalize on the states focus to create an equitable and opportunity-rich economy by improving equity and access to digital skills. The vision adopted by the Rhode Island team includes goals for the state, the workforce and workplace, the digital skills service delivery ecosystem as well as individuals. This intersectional, crosscutting approach to addressing the digital skills gap resulted in a process that was rooted in stakeholder engagement and centered the Rhode Islanders who would be impacted by digital upskilling efforts.

Rhode Islands plan to close the digital skills gap was informed by a robust data compilation and analysis effort, which included stakeholder interviews, focus groups and surveys. To bolster the anecdotal and qualitative data, the Rhode Island team reviewed and considered adult basic education training program data, American Community Survey and other federally compiled data, recent state and local reports on broadband access and digital skills, as well as information from community-based service providers.

Following months of engagement and reflection, Rhode Islands state plan to advance digital skills contains policy recommendations and strategies that promote systems-level action to close the digital skills gap. Key recommendations from the plan include: encouraging the Broadband Advisory Council to integrate policy, planning, and funding for high-speed internet, device access, and skills training; developing a common framework for assessing and addressing the digital equity gap; building the capacity of the digital skills training ecosystem; and developing a statewide data repository that inventories, tracks, measures, and monitors progress toward achieving digital equity, among others.

During the pandemic, households had increased reliance on digital connectivity, and access to such became essential for employment, education and daily activities. It is our intent to tackle barriers to access for low-and moderate-income households assuring they have reliable and affordable high-speed internet at home for critical resources and information.

The National Governors Association Workforce Innovation Network (NGA WIN) is a nonpartisan learning and action collaborative for state leaders who have demonstrated strong commitments to developing a resilient workforce. The initiative is dedicated to building state capacity for near-term innovation and longer-term strategy development to prepare state workforces for a post-COVID-19 economy. NGA WIN was launched in January 2021 in partnership with its founding sponsor, the Cognizant Foundation. NGA WIN is an initiative of the Workforce Development and Economic Policy Program in the NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center).

The NGA Center thanks the Governors and state workforce system leaders who participated in the second cohort of NGA WIN. Without their leadership and commitment to sharing best practices, this publication and other NGA WIN resources would not be possible. The NGA Center would also like to thank the Cognizant Foundation, Intel, Microsoft, Walmart and Western Governors University for their sponsorship and partnership, as well as the NGA WIN Advisory Network for their partnership in supporting Governors and state policymakers and their thoughtful review of this publication. This publication was prepared by Sophia Yager and Jordan Morang, policy analysts at the NGA Center, with guidance and direction by Rachael Stephens, program director for workforce development and economic policy at the NGA Center. The authors thank their colleagues Katherine Ash, Jack Porter and Katie Nichols for their contributions to this publication and to the success of NGA WIN.

See the rest here:

Lessons Learned In Workforce Innovation: How Six States Are Planning to Advance Digital Skills for Equitable Economic Participation - National...

Vancouver, BC - Global Energy Metals Corporation TSXV:GEMC | OTCQB:GBLEF | FSE:5GE1 ('Global Energy Metals', the 'Company' and/or 'GEMC'), a company involved in investment exposure to the battery metals supply chain, is pleased to provide an exploration update from its Millennium copper-cobalt-gold (Cu-Co-Au) project ('Millennium' and/or the 'Project') located in Queensland, Australia. The exploration program is being fully funded by Metal Bank Ltd. ('MBK') as it earns up to an 80% interest in the project through staged exploration and milestone share equity payments. Global Energy Metals currently holds 100% of the Project through its wholly-owned subsidiary Element Minerals Australia Pty Ltd and has a 31,250,000 share equity position in MBK.

Highlights

Assay results continue to return high cobalt grades

First diamond drilling assays received including: 12m @ 0.62% Cu, 0.14% Co and 0.34g/t Au from 51m (MI22DD01)

Additional RC results received including: 3m @ 0.22% Co from 61m (MI22RC04)

12m @ 0.53% Cu and 0.14% Co from 39m (MI22RC08 - outside current resource)

Scope of the Central Resource area extended approximately 120m north of existing Resource

Electrical (IP/resistivity) geophysics survey completed

Resource upgrade work to commence upon receipt of final outstanding assay results

Mitchell Smith, CEO & Director of GEMC commented:

'The Metal Bank funded drill campaign has not only been successful in achieving the main objective of confirming the extent and continuity of high-grade cobalt and copper mineralisation at Millennium but has also extended the limits of mineralisation defined by the current JORC Mineral Resource model. We look forward to continued drilling success by our partner and the advancement of this important cobalt-copper project in Australia at a time when jurisdictionally safe supply of critical battery minerals is so highly regarded.'

Commenting on the results, Metal Bank's Chair, Ines Scotland said:

'Great results. Cobalt is recognised as a critical mineral for the production of renewable energy technologies and just this past week there was significant media coverage regarding the Quad Fund and their charter to invest in Cobalt and Copper companies. The additional near surface extensions in the Central Area are particularly encouraging, and we still waiting on the assay results of the deeper drilling.'

Following resource extension and infill drilling program completion in mid-September, assay results have now been received for the first of MBK's diamond drill (DD) holes (MI22DD01) and additional reverse circulation (RC) drilling (MI22RC04, MI22RC08-11) at the Southern and Central Resource Areas of the Millennium project.

Results include:

12m @ 0.62% Cu, 0.14% Co and 0.34g/t Au from 51m (MI22DD01)

3m @ 0.22% Co from 61m (MI22RC04)

12m @ 0.53% Cu and 0.14% Co from 39m (MI22RC08, outside current resource)

1m @ 2.19% Cu from 40m (MI22RC10, outside current resource)

These results form part of the Millennium resource update, infilling gaps, extending mineralisation and resource confidence, along with metallurgical sampling acquisition. Of particular note are the strong cobalt (Co) grades hosted in hydrothermal veins and crackle breccias. The cobalt grades reiterate Millennium as one of Australia's highest grade undeveloped battery metals projects, contained within granted mining licenses. (Figure 2).

Furthermore, results from holes MI22RC08 and MI22RC09 have extended the scope of the Central Area resource some 120m north of the existing JORC 2012 Inferred Resource of 5.9Mt @ 1.08%1 CuEq (Figure 2).

Results for a further four diamond drill (DD) holes and seven reverse circulation (RC) holes including the deep resource drilling and exploration and extension work in the Northern Area are awaited.

In addition, a small Induced Polarisation/resistivity electrical geophysical survey (as utilised to excellent effect at Carnaby Resources and Hammer Metals Cloncurry region projects) was also conducted. This survey aimed to better delineate key structural and geological features to aid drill targeting over untested parts of the project.

Millennium Project

The Millennium Copper and Cobalt Project near Cloncurry in NW QLD currently holds a JORC 2012- compliant Inferred Resource of 5.9Mt @ 1.08% CuEq (Cu-Co-Au-Ag) across 5 granted Mining Leases with significant potential for expansion. It is located 19km from the Rocklands copper-cobalt project with an established processing plant capable of treating Millennium-style ores once recommissioned.

MBK's 2021 drill results and other previous drilling, in conjunction with significant appreciation in copper and cobalt prices since maiden Resource reporting, provided support for an initial Exploration Target for the Project of 8 - 10Mt @ 1.0 - 1.1% CuEq.

MBK developed a three-phase work program for Millennium in 2022 seeking to confirm the Exploration Target for the Project, and future Resource expansion and development potential. The Exploration Target is based on extensions both along strike and at depth in both the Southern and Central Area copper-cobalt-gold Resources and in the Northern Area, where shallow copper intervals at broad spacing have been returned some 800-1000m north of the closest Resource.

Upon receipt and assessment of all results from the current 2022 drilling program, MBK will embark on a JORC 2012-compliant Resource update and Scoping Study utilising appropriate economic parameters aimed for completion late 2022.

It should be noted that the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient drilling at depth of the existing Resource and in the Northern Area of the project and insufficient information relating to the Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE) of the Millennium project to estimate a Mineral Resource over the Exploration Target area, and it is uncertain if further study will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource over this area. It is acknowledged that the currently available data is insufficient spatially in terms of the density of drill holes, and in quality, in terms of MBK's final audit procedures for down hole data, data acquisition and processing, for the results of this analysis to be classified as a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC Code.

About Metal Bank

Metal Bank Limited is an ASX-listed minerals exploration company (ASX: MBK) holding a significant portfolio of advanced gold and copper exploration projects with substantial growth upside, including: the right to earn up to 80% of the Millennium Copper & Cobalt project which holds an inferred 2012 JORC resource of 5.9Mt @ 1.08% CuEq, across 5 granted Mining Leases with significant potential for expansion; a 75% interest in the advanced Livingstone Gold Project in WA which holds a JORC 2004 Inferred Resource of 49,900oz Au at the Homestead prospect, a JORC 2012 Inferred Resource of 30,500oz6 Au at Kingsley, and an Exploration Target6 of 290 - 400Kt at 1.8 - 2.0 g/t Au for 16,800 - 25,700oz Au at Kingsley; and the 8 Mile, Wild Irishman and Eidsvold Gold projects in South East Queensland where considerable work by MBK to date has drill-proven both high grade vein-style and bulk tonnage intrusion-related Au mineralisation.

Metal Bank's exploration programs at these projects are focussed on: short term resource growth - advancing existing projects to substantially increase JORC Resources; identifying additional mineralisation at each of its projects; and assessing development potential and including fast tracking projects through feasibility and development to production.

Metal Bank is also committed to a strategy of diversification and growth through identification of new exploration opportunities which complement its existing portfolio and pursuit of other opportunities to diversify the Company's assets through acquisition of advanced projects or cash- flow generating assets to assist with funding of the exploration portfolio.

Qualified Person

Mr. Paul Sarjeant, P. Geo., is the qualified person for this release as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Global Energy Metals Corporation

(TSXV:GEMC | OTCQB:GBLEF | FSE:5GE1)

Global Energy Metals Corp. offers investment exposure to the growing rechargeable battery and electric vehicle market by building a diversified global portfolio of exploration and growth-stage battery mineral assets.

Global Energy Metals recognizes that the proliferation and growth of the electrified economy in the coming decades is underpinned by the availability of battery metals, including cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium and other raw materials. To be part of the solution and respond to this electrification movement, Global Energy Metals has taken a 'consolidate, partner and invest' approach and in doing so have assembled and are advancing a portfolio of strategically significant investments in battery metal resources.

As demonstrated with the Company's current copper, nickel and cobalt projects in Canada, Australia, Norway and the United States, GEMC is investing-in, exploring and developing prospective, scaleable assets in established mining and processing jurisdictions in close proximity to end-use markets. Global Energy Metals is targeting projects with low logistics and processing risks, so that they can be fast tracked to enter the supply chain in this cycle. The Company is also collaborating with industry peers to strengthen its exposure to these critical commodities and the associated technologies required for a cleaner future.

Securing exposure to these critical minerals powering the eMobility revolution is a generational investment opportunity. Global Energy Metals believes Now is the Time to be part of this electrification movement.

Contact:

Global Energy Metals Corporation

#1501-128 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC, V6B 1R8

Email: info@globalenergymetals.com

T: + 1 (604) 688-4219

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:

Certain information in this release may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve risks associated with regulatory approvals and timelines. Although Global Energy Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

GEMC's operations could be significantly adversely affected by the effects of a widespread global outbreak of a contagious disease, including the recent outbreak of illness caused by COVID-19. It is not possible to accurately predict the impact COVID-19 will have on operations and the ability of others to meet their obligations, including uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, and the length of travel and quarantine restrictions imposed by governments of affected countries. In addition, a significant outbreak of contagious diseases in the human population could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that could further affect operations and the ability to finance its operations.

See the original post here:

Global Energy Metals Announces Results of Partner Funded Exploration at the Millennium Project Including Confirmation of High Cobalt and Copper Grades...

The Debate|Opinion

With its presidency of the G-20 this year, the country is finally beginning to fulfill its potential as a regional and global leader.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 29, 2022.

Indonesia has just hosted the G-20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Bali. Today, President Joko Widodos Indonesia stands strong on the global stage, using its neutral non-aligned status to carefully navigate a diplomatic crisis in this case the war in Ukraine. The Indonesian leader, known as Jokowi, has met with both U.S. and Russian presidents, as well as fellow G-20 leaders and Ukraines president, in order to try and add some cool Javanese diplomacy to the simmering diplomatic tensions between the West and Russia.

Indonesia is also increasingly vocal in combating Chinese expansionism in its backyard, specifically in the South China Sea. Indonesia frequently turns back or in some cases blows up illegal Chinese fishing boats. Indonesia is beginning to assert itself on both the regional and global diplomatic stage something that many commentators, including myself, have been arguing it should do for almost a decade.

The ascent of Indonesia should be welcomed. As an archipelagic nation, Indonesia is so big and sprawling that it has no interest in expansion but is solely focused on keeping its disparate and stretched territories together. Its neutral status in which it is allied neither with the West nor China should also be seen as a positive. By maintaining a neutral stance, Indonesia plays a fine balancing act of attracting both.

Having been fortunate enough to have spent almost my entire career and adult life in Indonesia, I have witnessed first-hand the steady, although admittedly sometimes messy, economic rise of Southeast Asias largest economy and ASEANs leading power.

Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.

Indonesia, growing again after a global COVID-19-induced economic slump, is becoming more developed and advanced every year. It is on the cusp of using its advanced and increasingly strong tech status to move or at least gradually shift the economy from a pure natural resource-based export-orientated economy to a mixed service, manufacturing, and natural resource-based economy and an Asian hub.

Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.

Since the time of colonialism and the Dutch East Indies, and before that trading with Indian and Arab merchants, Indonesia has been rich in natural resources and successful at exporting these goods around the world. It will likely and should continue to do so. Awareness of the negative impacts of climate change is increasingly growing in policy circles in Indonesia and with the public at large, with Indonesia making greenhouse gas reduction pledges, but natural resources such as palm oil, love it or loathe it, form the base on which Indonesia is able to develop other strands of the economy.

With the right economic management, and a leader who can strike the right balance between climate change reduction and natural resource development while nurturing Indonesia as a regional manufacturing, service and tech hub, there is no reason why Indonesia will not meet its potential after Jokowis second term comes to an end in 2024. With its economic ascent it will be able to increase its political weight on the global stage further something which Jokowi has started with aplomb.

All this would not be possible without a very aspirational and demographically young and growing Indonesian population. It is unique and striking that Indonesians seem to possess an innate entrepreneurial ability, from the humble street shop or roadside restaurant to Indonesias rapidly expanding multibillion dollar tech scene. Years of painfully slow incremental improvements in education, healthcare, and social security programs now finally seem to be showing results.

Indonesia of course remains beset by economic problems outlined in multiple World Bank reports namely, deep-seated corruption at all levels of business, regulation, and government and a still largely closed nationalistic economy that both favors local investors and makes it unnecessarily difficult for foreign backers to get even the basic permits to operate. However, the countrys progress and improvement should be celebrated. Indonesia has come a long way over the last five years, let alone the last decade. With the right will and leadership, matched with sound policymaking and financial management, there is no reason why Indonesia cannot accelerate its economic ascent further over the next decade and claim a coveted place at Asias top table of superpowers.

See the original post here:

The Rise of Indonesia on the Global Stage: Reflections on an Economic Ascent - The Diplomat

Yearly expansion in the US advanced quickly to an incredible 9.1% in June this year, the most elevated in 40 years. Furthermore, this while food and gas costs proceed to increase and property holder loan fees presently surpass 5% on a 30-year fixed-rate contract. Stagflation, as Larry Summers portrayed it, is a powerful coincidence that consolidates easing back GDP development and rising expansion, with a durable impact.

The US economy contracting 1.4% in the principal quarter of 2022 could proclaim this financial discomfort. Join that with the typical APR on customary investment accounts of a weak 0.10%, a lowest pay permitted by law not raised at the government level in north of 10 years, and its undeniable we really want better approaches to make our government issued currency reinforce. based economy and supplement our ventures.

In his book The Changing World Order, mutual funds titan Ray Dalio depicts monetary cycles that rehash the same thing from the beginning of time as the force of countries shifts.

At the point when a nation turns into the prevailing force to be reckoned with, its money turns into the save cash until the end of the world. For instance, during the rule of the British Empire, real once controlled the worldwide economy.

Notwithstanding, in 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement made the US dollar the accepted hold cash of the world. Despite who is in control, one steady remaining parts: in the midst of rising expansion, the simplest way for an administration to think about rising obligation is to print more cash; as such, to blow up out.

ALSO READ: ICO Pitchmen Sentenced to Prison

There has been a ton of discuss national bank computerized monetary forms (CBDCs), yet on the off chance that we as of now have deflationary stablecoins in the environment whose worth can be fixed to security like other digital currencies or even conventional resources, what is the genuine advantage of a CBDC?

The entire thought of a stablecoin is to offer a crypto resource whose worth isnt defenseless to outrageous instability. Most stablecoins accomplish this dependability by fixing their worth to a government issued money like the US dollar, or a bushel of resources that could incorporate fiat and digital currencies.

Furthermore, most stablecoin projects additionally boost individuals to remain put resources into the environment by offering subordinate adaptations of resources theyve gotten into liquidity pools, permitting financial backers to engage with other DeFi conventions, regardless of whether their fundamental ones resources stay obstructed.

They can acquire liberal premium despite everything use subordinates to get from us, or procure returns somewhere else, increasing their underlying ventures.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing

Read this article:

Key To Building Wealth In Times Of High Inflation - Crypto & DeFi - - The Coin Republic

Abortion laws are one of the top factors driving voters to the polls, and theres broad support for making major structural changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, a recent poll from The Nevada Independent and OH Predictive Insights indicates.

Nearly 17 percent of respondents indicated that abortion laws were the issue most motivating them to vote, coming in second to the economy (40 percent) but ahead of other issues such as education (4 percent), gun laws (7 percent) and tax laws (2 percent). About 92 percent of respondents said they see at least some circumstances where abortion should be legal, with only 8 percent indicating it should be illegal in all circumstances.

Of those 92 percent of respondents, 45 percent said abortions should be legal under any circumstances, while 47 percent indicated legality should exist, but only under certain circumstances.

The poll results come nearly six weeks after the nations highest court overturned abortion protections provided by Roe v. Wade, signaling the major role the decision could play in the upcoming midterm elections.

The broad-based, cross-party support for abortion rights also showed its colors Tuesday when Kansas voters rejected an effort to block abortion access (59 to 41 percent) in the form of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have removed the right in the state Constitution and cleared the way for the Legislature to ban the procedure. It was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the Supreme Court decision.

Democrats are really struggling for enthusiasm this election, said Mike Noble, chief researcher and managing partner of OH Predictive Insights. The abortion [issue] really woke them a little bit why should they be engaged, why it matters to get out and vote.

Nine in 10 Nevadans believe abortion should be legal in some way, shape or form. Noble said polling also showed that those with an anti-abortion stance were more willing to shift their positions depending on circumstances than those with pro-choice views.

Though support for abortion rights is high in Nevada, consensus differs on abortion protection timelines. About 23 percent of respondents said abortion should be legal at any point in a pregnancy, more than a third said 24 weeks is enough (the current legal timeframe in Nevada), while 23 percent said the legal cutoff should be 15 weeks. Another 28 percent said abortion should not be permitted at any time in a pregnancy (which is supposed to last 40 weeks).

Noble said the Supreme Court decisions surrounding abortion and other issues such as gun control have galvanized activism for overhauls to the high court itself. Poll results showed strong support for binding Supreme Court members to a code of ethics, expanding the number of justices, implementing term limits and placing an age cap on judges, among other changes.

The support tended to depend on party preference, with respondents identifying as Democrats expressing the most support for changes, followed by nonpartisans and Republicans. Noble said the party identification-based support for reforms is not surprising, especially because of the courts conservative lean.

Changes to abortion protections in Nevada

Abortion rights in the Silver State have been protected by state law for more than 30 years and could only be overturned by a direct majority vote from the people. Nevadas lawmakers and governor have no power to restrict abortion access earlier than 24 weeks into pregnancy the point at which a fetus is generally considered able to survive outside the womb with support.

The most recent effort to outlaw abortions came in 2012 when anti-abortion activists circulated but failed to qualify a ballot initiative to reverse abortion protections by defining life as starting at conception.

The polling from OH Predictive Insights/The Nevada Independent indicates that such a policy would have little support. Only 22 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to support a candidate who favors a petition drive to overturn Nevadas abortion statute compared to 38 percent who said they were unlikely to select such a candidate.

Forty percent of respondents indicated a level of indifference, saying they were neither likely nor unlikely to favor a candidate promoting those stances. During his unsuccessful bid for governor earlier this year, former Sen. Dean Heller vowed he would raise the money necessary to get a measure overturning abortion on the ballot, saying, I realize thats the only way it will change.

But undoing abortion protections isnt the only avenue being sought by those opposed to abortions.

This year, anti-abortion advocates are pushing for a ballot initiative to implement a parental notification measure, requiring parents to receive at least 48 hours notice before a minor has an abortion, though previous attempts have failed. Initiative backers have until Nov. 23 to submit their signatures.

More than half of poll respondents indicated support for a 48-hour parental notification window, a quarter said they were neutral on the issue, and 19 percent were opposed.

Abortion has emerged as a bellwether ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, with candidates either latching onto the issue or shying away from saying much, if anything at all.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) has made protecting abortion rights a core tenet of her re-election campaign. In contrast, her Republican challenger, former Attorney General Adam Laxalt, has downplayed the issue's campaign significance, instead calling attention to rising gas prices and economic problems. Laxalt has not responded to specific questions about his stance on abortion rights but has called the Roe v. Wade decision a joke while bemoaning Nevadas abortion protections.

In the governors race, Gov. Steve Sisolak has said, As long as Im Governor, I will oppose any attempts whether at the federal or state level to attack a Nevada womans right to an abortion within 24 weeks of her pregnancy.

His opponent, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, has said he is pro-life but remained largely noncommittal on his stance on abortion protections, noting, Abortion policy is already addressed in Nevada law. The governor and legislature cannot make changes to it. The voters put it into law, and only they can change it.

Lombardos campaign said he supports parental notification for minors but has not taken a position on spousal notification because it was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in 1981. Recent campaign finance reports show a $1,500 expense from Lombardos campaign to the anti-abortion advocacy organization Nevada Right to Life, along with an expense of a little more than $1,400 to an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center Womens Resource Medical Centers for Southern Nevada for special event fees.

For more information on the abortion stances of top candidates, visit this story.

Find the full poll results and crosstabs here.

Go here to see the original:

Poll: Abortion trails only the economy as a motivating issue for Nevada voters The Nevada Independent - The Nevada Independent

On July 31, 2022, the 2022 China (Ningbo) New Infrastructure and Digital Economy Summit Forum was successfully held. Sun Telecomwas invited to participate in this forum. This forum aims to further promote the exchange and connection of related enterprises, technical forces and industrial resources in the field of digital new infrastructure.

The new infrastructureuses new generation information technologies such as Mobile Internet, 5G, Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud Computing and AI to promote the process of digital economy comprehensively. Entering the era of new infrastructure, enterprises need to build their own optical network environment first. Through the Space-earth integrated communication networkand Cloud-Network Integrationto help the development of the digital economy.

Space-Earth Integrated Communication Network

New infrastructure requires strong and stable communication network support. Comprehensively upgrade the communication network infrastructure, form a high-speed ubiquitous, interconnected, and integrated communication network support system, and promote cloud-network collaboration and computing-network integration.

Space-earth integrated communication networkintegrates the satellite network with the traditional terrestrial optical fiber network, and consists of a space-based backbone network, a space-based access network, and a ground-based node network. Data relay satellites operating in GEO orbit, Pigeon, Iridium, OneWeb, Hongyan Project, etc. Put the processing, switching, network control and other functions on the star to complete. Global seamless coverage is achieved through the interconnection of satellite-to-ground optical links, and the system can operate independently of ground nodes.

The space segment integrates all kinds of owned and leased GEO and orbital communication satellites and manages them in a unified manner, thereby providing resource guarantees for various users in land, sea, air and space. The satellite resource pool uses L, S, C, Ku, Ka and other spectrum resources, the scale can be adjusted according to needs, and provides mobile or broadband services through the ground coverage of multi-point beam antennas. The ground segment consists of infrastructures such as hub ports and earth stations, as well as core networks, IT systems, and edge clouds. Upgrade the existing earth station to form the ability to connect the sky, the earth, and the cloud network, and realize the interconnection and interoperability of heterogeneous networks.

Cloud-Network Integration

All-optical networks (AON)technology allows data to be transmitted without any electrical processing, which can result in farther transmission distances. AON technology is used in Telecom Network, FTTH, Data Center, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT), etc. As the fiber optic solutions providerSun Telecom said, the all-optical network will evolve from a bandwidth-driven pipeline network to an experience-driven cloud-based network, and needs to have five characteristics of the deterministic bearer, full-service access, network flattening, operation and maintenance automation, and cloud-optic integration. Based on the quality of rigid pipelines Connectivity, consolidate the bearing base of the digital economy.

The Cloud-Network integration is the core driver and essential connotation of new infrastructure, and the digital base of new infrastructure. Through the high-speed interconnection between different resource pools of the same cloud service provider, the differences in business relationships caused by different distribution regions of user cloud hosts in practical applications can be resolved to ensure network stability and transmission security. Or high-speed interconnection between public cloud resource pools between different cloud service providers, breaking through the resource barriers of different manufacturers, and realizing the interconnection of cross-cloud service providers and cross-cloud resource pools.

Summary

Optical fiber networks, 5Gand other network infrastructure have become the infrastructure that is as important to the national economy and peoples livelihood as water and electricity. The new infrastructure is inseparable from the infrastructure of the optical fiber network. Only by steadily laying the foundation for the network, building a communication network that integrates the sky and the earth, and implementing the integration of the cloud and the network, can we move into the new infrastructure era, meet the needs of computing power development, and promote the development of the digital economy.

Media ContactCompany Name: Sun TelecomContact Person: Yannie LiuEmail: Send EmailPhone: +86-21-60138638City: ShanghaiCountry: ChinaWebsite: https://www.suntelecom.cn

Original post:

New Infrastructure Network Construction Helps the Digital Economy - Digital Journal

While the fight against climate change remains on the agenda as one of the most important problems in front of humanity, the war between Russia and Ukraine undoubtedly impacts the efforts in this direction negatively. This crisis, which started before the wounds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could heal, causes the actions against climate change to be put into the background because many countries want to protect their national interests economically. Even the European Union (EU), whose leadership we have witnessed in the fight against climate change, is making statements that it expects an increase in the use of fossil fuels in the coming period and adopting policies in this direction.

On the other hand, the Russia-Ukraine war and the pandemic revealed that global supply chains have very fragile structures and are quite insufficient to resist shocks. Therefore, in addition to the consequences of climate change, it is highly likely to expect that these shocks will adversely affect global trade, create inflationary pressure on economies and increase the supply problems already experienced due to the global pandemic. As a matter of fact, serious problems have started to occur in food and energy issues so far. As a result, this situation necessitated countries to consider climate-friendly models in which they can use their own resources more efficiently and make them less dependent on foreign sources as little as possible.

At this point, while taking action on the most urgent issue of climate change, we need to change all our production and consumption habits and adopt policies that will help us achieve economic models based on more sustainable foundations. Turkey's current economic models have a linear structure based on the "buy-use-discard" approach. Simply put, in linear models, resources are extracted, converted into products, and then turned into waste. At this point, the material in question becomes waste in a way that cannot be reused. This process results in an intensive supply of inputs, energy use, and the generation of significant amounts of waste. This system, which assumes that natural resources are unlimited and that we humans have the right to drown the world in unlimited waste, has now become unacceptable under today's conditions.

Contrary to the linear model, circular economies are aimed to extend the lifecycle of existing products as much as possible by resorting to methods such as sharing, renting, reusing, repairing, and recycling. In addition, it is aimed to reduce the use of materials in this way, produce less resource-intensive products and recover waste through recycling. All products consumed in a circular economy are used repeatedly; if the product breaks down, it is repaired, and in cases where this is not possible, it is foreseen to manufacture new products from this product. In a circular economy, as it is popularly said, waste becomes the new raw material.

On the other hand, it would be a big mistake to describe the circular economy as only reuse and recycling because, thanks to its model, changes in production and consumption methods will also reduce emissions. In this model, the share of renewable energy and recyclable resources increases; the use of water, soil, energy, and especially raw materials decreases; therefore, positive environmental effects arise. It also ensures sustainable development, reduces the dependence of economies on external dynamics and makes production and consumption structures more resistant to external shocks.

This approach creates business models that include designing more durable and recyclable products, reusing materials in the production cycle, and promoting more responsible consumption. In this way, it leads to innovation and helps to provide new employment opportunities. In a study conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the subject, it is predicted that 7-8 million net employment will increase on a global scale until 2030, thanks to the transition to a circular economy. Within the framework of its economic gains, it is estimated that the transition from a linear structure to a cyclical system has a potential of $4.5 trillion for global economic growth until 2030.

Despite all these positive aspects, the progress achieved from circular economic models does not seem sufficient on a global scale. The Circularity Gap Report (CGR) 2021 reveals that only 8.6% of the global economy is currently cyclical. However, the report also shares that the target of 17% cyclical by 2030 for sectors with high change potential seems possible.

Undoubtedly, this situation can be attributed to the lack of policies to support or encourage the circular economy, the failure to correctly convey the policies in this direction to the stakeholders, and the inability to realize pricing in this context. In addition, this situation may be caused by the limited supply chains, insufficient technological infrastructures, or the insufficient level of knowledge and expertise of the stakeholders for the circular economy. All these issues make it essential to implement a comprehensive and inclusive transformation with the participation of all relevant stakeholders under the leadership of the public authority.

It is very important to determine at what level of the economy the transformation in question will be initiated. Urbanization policies greatly affect economies considering their economic, social and environmental effects. On the other hand, by 2050, 70% of the world's population is expected to live in cities. Cities currently account for around two-thirds of global energy demand, responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of global waste. Therefore, if it is taken into account that the negative effects of climate change will increase, especially if linear economic models continue to be adopted in cities, the risks people face become more evident.

The rapidly growing city population and the increasing demand for goods and services make the efficient use of resources and the construction of environmentally friendly structures even more important and necessitate the creation of healthy and shorter supply chains. The transformation in question will affect not only the actions to be taken by the industrial sector in the cities but also the materials and designs used in the construction sector, public transportation and other transportation methods, food systems and many other products and services. In this way, all economies will be more resilient to climate and other external shocks, starting with cities.

The importance of cities for the circular economy was also included in the final declaration of the Group of 20 (G-20) Leaders' Summit held in Rome in 2021 under Italy's term presidency. In the declaration, country leaders underlined the key role of cities in promoting, facilitating and enabling the circular economy and committed to supporting location-based solutions by local governments. Countries have also committed to supporting efforts to improve cities' resource efficiency and circular approaches, including through the G-20 Resource Efficiency Dialogue.

A circular economy, an issue that developed countries agreed upon even before the Russia-Ukraine war, needs more consideration and acted on as soon as possible due to the fragility of the supply chains. Undoubtedly, this transformation will not be easy. Especially in developing countries, many business lines are connected to a linear economy. Just as it is impossible to shift employment from fossil fuel-based business lines to renewable energy-based business opportunities in a very short time, a detailed and planned transition process seems necessary to return from a linear economic structure to a cyclical model. Because the most important condition for this transformation to be successful is to ensure that the fragile segment of the society working in traditional industries is not adversely affected by this change.

Turkey has foreseen the circular economy's potential and clearly demonstrates its determined stance to realize this transformation. In this context, comprehensive studies are carried out with the participation of all stakeholders to implement its green development plan with the net-zero emission target by 2053, set by President Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

The Zero Waste Movement, initiated under the auspices of First Lady Emine Erdoan and praised by all biased and unbiased segments, is a critical step toward transformation in this direction. With the mentioned initiative, great benefits are provided in terms of preventing waste, using resources more efficiently, reducing the amount of waste, establishing effective collection systems and recycling waste. In this direction, the Turkish Environment Agency was established, which carries out its activities to implement the most efficient practices in waste collection, carry out the deposit return system effectively and popularize the Zero Waste Movement.

On the other hand, within the framework of Turkey's bilateral relations with the EU, which constitutes more than 50% of its foreign trade, the circular economy has an important place in harmonization with the European Green Deal policy (EGD). As a matter of fact, it would not be wrong to say that the EGD will have a significant impact on the country's EU accession process and its commercial and economic relations with the union. Being aware of this, one of the nine main headings determined within the scope of the EGD Action Plan prepared by Turkey has been determined as a "Green and Circular Economy."

Preparing the circular economy action plan as part of the Green Deal Action Plan continues. Another step taken within the scope of these studies has been the project aiming to strengthen Turkey's institutional and technical capacity in the transition to a circular economy in line with the EU Circular Economy model. In the process that will involve all relevant stakeholders, it is aimed to analyze the transition potential of Turkey to a circular economy, develop a comprehensive national strategy for the implementation of the EU circular economy strategy, and develop the management capacities of central and local governments in the field of integrated waste management.

As a country, Turkish people have to be aware that their planet's resources are limited and only if they sustainably use these resources can they leave a good and healthy tomorrow for future generations. The devastating effects of climate change and recent external shocks clearly show that the transition from linear economic models to cyclical structures will enable them to overcome current crises and be a powerful tool in the fight against climate change. Therefore, Turkish people must think through every step they take with their children and future generations and leave them a livable planet with a beautiful environmentalist and circular economy.

View post:

Circular economy is the only option | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

The Incubation Network designed this series with the support of The Circulate Initiative to help organizations better understand the latest methods and technologies available to reach sustainability goals as we move toward a circular economy, said Anne Johnson, Principal and VP, RRS.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (PRWEB) August 04, 2022

The Incubation Network , a partnership between The Circulate Initiative and SecondMuse, alongside Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) Asia have developed a no-cost, online video learning series entitled, Circularity Concepts: Exploring Key Drivers of the Plastic Circular Economy. The educational series is designed to bolster awareness and knowledge of new and emerging issues, key policies, and other strategic efforts for implementing sustainable recycling solutions to help organizations meet 2025 circular economy goals with a focus on Southeast Asia and India.

The five-part video series, with downloadable presentations, covers a series of topics to grow understanding of material issues and actions companies might consider to reduce their consumption of plastic or utilize alternative materials and business models moving forward. For example, one topic reviews the current state and use of plastic credits in the region while another looks at reuse and refill strategies emerging strategies that can support transition towards a more circular economy.

At a time when there are some projections that ocean plastics will quadruple by 2050, finding solutions to better manage and recover waste plastics is critical to the health of our oceans and communities. The Incubation Network designed this series with the support of The Circulate Initiative to help organizations better understand the latest methods and technologies available to reach sustainability goals as we move toward a circular economy, said Anne Johnson, Principal and VP, RRS.

Circularity Concepts will help to open doors for circular economy innovation. Beneath the underbelly of Asias plastic waste challenge is a web of complex stakeholder, cultural and social structures that can be incredibly difficult to unpack alone. This is where The Incubation Network comes in, to connect our community of changemakers with learning tools and resources like Circularity Concepts to better identify pain points and map out opportunities for better solutions, said Simon Baldwin, Global Head of Circularity at SecondMuse.

The greatest impact comes from an ecosystem approach - corporates, startups, investors, and policymakers working together to develop circular economy solutions. To this end, we recognize the importance of addressing knowledge gaps in the system to facilitate action. Drawing on our subject matter expertise and understanding of the circular plastic value chain, we supported The Incubation Network and RRS Asia in identifying priority topics for Circularity Concepts and sought to showcase the circular economy in action through practical, real-world examples, said Umesh Madhavan, Research Director at The Circulate Initiative.

CIRCULARITY CONCEPTS MODULES:

Module 1 (16 min.) Setting the Stage for a Successful Circular Economy: EPR and Policy Developments in Asia takes a look at the role of policy in supporting the development of sustainable recycling systems and how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) plays a significant role in the process.Module 2 (26 min.) Bioplastics and Alternative Materials: Evaluating the Role of Bioplastics in the Circular Economy examines the role of bioplastics, a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics, and the key drivers that must work in harmony to realize the benefits of bioplastics as production continues to grow.

Module 3 (29 min.) Advanced Recycling Technologies and a Circular Economy for Plastics explores how Advanced Recycling Technologies (ARTs) work alongside more traditional mechanical recycling systems and the pros and cons of scaling these technologies both from an environmental and financial standpoint.

Module 4 (38 min.) Evaluating the Opportunities and Benefits of Reuse & Refill in a Circular Economy discusses the different models of reuse and refill, its benefits, successful business models as well as examples emerging in Asia and beyond.

Module 5 (36 min.) Plastic Credits: Evaluating the Opportunities and Benefits of Plastic Credits in a Circular Economy explores the challenges faced by companies incorporating the plastic credit system into their own corporate ecosystem and the way plastic credit systems could help or hinder the management of plastics in emerging markets, particularly when it comes to overlaying policy on EPR.

The Circularity Concepts: Exploring Key Drivers of the Plastic Circular Economy modules are now available at https://www.circularityconcepts.org/. To learn more about RRS Asia and The Incubation Network, visit: https://recycle.com/our-services/industries-we-serve/rrs-asia and https://www.incubationnetwork.com.

About RRSResource Recycling Systems (RRS) Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, RRS is a sustainability and recycling consulting firm that strives to create a world where resources are managed to maximize economic and social benefit while minimizing environmental harm. The firm has industry professionals, engineers, economists, technical analysts, and communication specialists who share this vision and possess core strengths in materials and recovery, life cycle management, applied sustainable design, and collaborative action development. http://www.recycle.com.

About The Incubation NetworkThe Incubation Network is an impact-driven initiative that sources, supports and scales holistic innovative solutions to combat plastic pollution through strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems with a diverse network of key partners.

Part of a highly collaborative community of startups and entrepreneurs, investors, partners and programs, The Incubation Network works together with industry players to tackle key barriers to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy. This includes sourcing and supporting, to scaling early stage or pre-investment solutions, and connecting compatible ecosystem players to reinforce the value chain in waste management and recycling.

Established in 2019, The Incubation Network is a partnership between non-profit organization, The Circulate Initiative and impact innovation company, SecondMuse.

The Incubation Network is open to interested collaborators, corporations, and mentors, looking to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy in South & Southeast Asia.

For more information, visit: http://www.incubationnetwork.com.

About The Circulate InitiativeThe Circulate Initiative is a non-profit organization committed to solving the ocean plastic pollution challenge by supporting the incubation of circular, inclusive and investible waste management and recycling systems in South and Southeast Asia. We achieve this by collaborating with key stakeholders across the sector, and by producing insights to support and accelerate investment and scale across the value chain.

Learn more: https://www.thecirculateinitiative.org/

Share article on social media or email:

Read more:

The Incubation Network and RRS Asia Offers Circularity Concepts Online Learning Series - PR Web

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 2, 2022

Contact: press@michigan.gov

Gov. Whitmer Celebrates CHIPS and Science Act that will Bring Supply Chain from China to Michigan

Executive directive will prepare Michigan to compete for every project and job, leverage once-in-a-century investment in American manufacturing, and lower costs for working families

HEMLOCK, Mich. Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer celebrated the CHIPS and Science Act, bipartisan federal legislation that will boost American manufacturing, create and protect tens of thousands of jobs, and lower costs for working families. Governor Whitmer has been a national leader on this issue for the past year, bringing Republicans and Democrats from across the country together to advocate for this critical legislation. At the event, the governor was joined by representatives from Michigan-based polysilicon manufacturer Hemlock Semiconductor, labor unions, Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05), and virtually by President Biden.

The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act will make a once-in-a-century investment in American industry to create and protect tens of thousands of jobs, bring supply chain from China to Michigan, and help lower costs for working families on electronics, cars, and so much more, said Governor Whitmer. The ongoing chip crisis is having a stark impact on Michigan. We need to move fast, which is why I signed an executive directive today preparing Michigan to harness every available resource from the CHIPS and Science Act to set up our state for decades of growth. I will fight hard to ensure that Michigan brings home as many resources as possible from the CHIPS and Science Act, and I look forward to unleashing our states potential. Lets keep putting the world on notice and show everyone that Michigan is the place to build the future.

The executive directive can be viewed here.

Executive Directive Background

Governor Whitmers executive directive instructs state departments and agencies to leverage all available resources from the CHIPS and Science Act to continue bringing in projects and jobs to Michigan.

The directive requires each department and agency to identify a designee to facilitate inter-departmental coordination and outreach with potential private sector, higher education, and state partners. It also furthers collaboration with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to continue attracting long-term, sustainable investments from semiconductor companies around the world.

Additionally, it instructs departments and agencies to identify opportunities for workforce development geared towards the needs of the semiconductor industry, including adapting existing programs, collaborating with higher education institutions, and providing targeted education and training with additional federal resources. Finally, it urges efficient approval of any permits, applications, or requests from the state to avoid duplication or delay.

Todays executive directive will empower Michigan to effectively and efficiently deploy incoming resources from CHIPS and Science Act, building on a previous executive directive to streamline the permitting process, including for major projects like semiconductor plants.

Competing for CHIPS

In the past year, Michigan has secured bold investments in semiconductor and polysilicon manufacturing.

From cars to home appliances to cellphones, our everyday lives depend on semiconductor chips. This shortage has hurt Michigan autoworkers, businesses and families, said Senator Debbie Stabenow. Thats why I led the effort with Senator Peters to secure dedicated funding for chips used by the auto industry. Im glad to partner with President Biden to make these important investments in American manufacturing while lowering costs, bringing hundreds of thousands of jobs home, and strengthening our national security.

The CHIPS and Science Act will provide a significant boost for Michigan workers, manufacturing and our economy, said Senator Gary Peters. I was proud to lead the charge with Senator Stabenow to secure funding that will expand domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips, including for our auto sector, and pass this legislation through the Senate. By coming together to get this done, we will strengthen our supply chains, support more good-paying jobs, lower costs for families and bolster our national security.

Americas economy and Michigan workers should not have to rely on foreign made semiconductor chips. This bipartisan bill will help bring chip production back to Michigan and the United States, said Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05). Im proud to have led efforts in Congress to pass this critical legislation that will help lower costs for working families, boost Michigans economy and create good-paying jobs, while also strengthening Americas national security and our ability to compete with China.

We are honored to welcome President Biden to HSC in celebration of the CHIPS Act, a monumental bipartisan accomplishment, said AB Ghosh, Chairman and CEO of Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation. The CHIPS Act signals to HSCthe sole U.S.-headquartered polysilicon manufacturerthat investment in the entire domestic semiconductor supply chain is a national priority. We also thank Governor Whitmer, Senators Stabenow and Peters, and Congressman Kildee for championing the CHIPS Act and for bolstering American innovation, manufacturing and global competitiveness.

Polysilicon is the semiconductor in semiconductor chips, said Kristen Opperman, Culture and Communications Manager of Hemlock Semiconductor. Without polysilicon made to the level of purity that we do, the breakthroughs in our technology that keep our world connected and energized would not be possible. The infrastructure here at HSC is extraordinary, and the work being done to run these assets is second to none. I thank our esteemed visitors for bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. so we can have more Americans doing great work to change the world.

Michigans Leadership to Deliver CHIPS and Science Act

CHIPS and Science Act Opportunity

The CHIPS and Science Act would fund $52 billion in incentives to boost domestic semiconductor production and research, $2 billion of which would be dedicated to incentivizing production of the mature node semiconductors used by automakers and parts suppliers. Mature node chips are also used in medical devices, agricultural machinery like farm tractors and combines, as well as radiation-proof chips required by our national defense industrial base.

The CHIPS and Science Act would provide a new, powerful tool in Michigans economic development toolbox. Increasing domestic chip production near automakers and other manufacturers will spur innovation, reduce inefficiencies, and avoid costly delays, helping Michigan attract long-term, sustainable investments from companies around the world.

Late last year, the Michigan Legislature, businesses, labor, and utilities worked with Governor Whitmer to pass bipartisan economic development legislation that helped Michigan land a $7 billion investment from GM creating and retaining 5,000 good-paying jobs, and earlier this year, Ford invested $2 billion creating 3,200 jobs. Signing the CHIPS and Science Act into law will pave the way for more transformational projects that will invest billions into our communities and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs.

Chip Crisis Impact

Semiconductor chips are a vital component of many products used by people every day. The global shortage of these chips, exacerbated by the pandemic and supply chain constraints, has impacted people and industries across the country from auto manufacturing to consumer electronics, home appliances, medical devices, agriculture, defense and more. These shortages have resulted in reduced production and in some cases, idled plants, impacting more than 575,000 auto-related American jobs. In 2021, automakers in North America lost an estimated 2.2 million vehicles, equaling over 3,000 days of work.

This means workers with less income, higher prices at the store, less products for consumers to buy and an ever-growing dependence on foreign supplies. In the long run, increasing domestic production of chips will protect and create jobs, strengthen our supply chain, and grow the economy. The CHIPS and Science Act will bring chip manufacturing back home, creating and protecting thousands of good-paying jobs, growing Americas economy, and lowering costs for families.

###

More:

Whitmer Celebrates CHIPS and Science Act that will Bring Supply Chain from China to Michigan - Michigan (.gov)

Since February 2022, food insecurity due to the war in Ukraine has become a key issue of public debate in Tunisia, shedding light on the countrys food dependence, given that it imports more than half of its needs.

This alarming figure exacerbates peoples concerns, and rightly so, because the annual crop yields do not enable the country to cope with a sudden interruption of food imports. The agricultural production model is not free of contradictions. For instance, it does not take into account demographic changes that occurred between 1984 and 2014 (GPHC 2014). Despite the growing needs of a population that increased from 7 to 11 million during this period, the surface area of lands allocated to cereal production since 1984 has not significantly changed. The Tunisian government instead chose to increase cereal imports and gradually withdraw from harvesting in favor of private developers.

The crisis caused by the war in Ukraine is a drawn-out event with long-term consequences. It cannot be isolated from the crises and shortages that have occurred in Tunisia in the past. The countrys current food insecurity stems from the agricultural, economic and social policies introduced by successive governments since independence and which are directly related to global food systems. They face two temporal contradictions: the urgency of meeting immediate daily needs, on the one hand, and, on the other, the importance of building a perennial and fair agricultural model that prevents potential environmental, social and political crises.

This paper will analyze the significant changes concerning agriculture and food in terms of dependency and sovereignty in the contemporary agricultural history of Tunisia.

The halting of trade in two major grain, mineral and hydrocarbon exporting countries has raised key issues underlying the problem of food insecurity: food sovereignty, farmer displacement, agrarian reform, etc.

In Tunisia, the debate on food sovereignty has taken on a sense of urgency since February 2022, which is felt by both the public and mass media. This comes after years of documentation, studies and action research in Tunisia, positioning the country as part of the global struggle for food sovereignty, particularly at the level of the international farmers movement La Via Campesina. Some of the most notable associations specialising in these issues include the Observatory of Food Sovereignty and the Environment (OSAE) (since 2017), the Working Group for Food Sovereignty (GTSA) (2019), the Tunisian Association of Permaculture (2013), Terre et Humanisme, etc. Research in rural social sciences is gradually being undertaken and brings together geographers, sociologists and historians for a multidisciplinary and systemic analysis of contemporary trends in Tunisia and the region (Arab region and the Global South generally). At the heart of this new space of activist research in Tunisia is an agricultural vision that considers access to resources and the dignity of farmers as key factors for responsible agriculture. Farmers, who are the pillars of our food systems and our very survival, continue to be considered by bourgeois elites as obstacles to the modernity to which Tunisia aspires. Paradoxically, their mobilization is seen by the authorities as a disturbance of public order and a threat to national interests.

Despite the convergence of the struggles for rights and dignity since the Arab Spring, which brought together urban and rural areas in Tunisia, change has yet to materialize. However, despite these difficulties, new research spaces have been developing a new narrative that respects both history and current lived realities, filling the existing gap. This narrative existed on a small scale before the revolution but has since expanded. Building on previous works, a bibliography has been documented and published on the Tunisian association Observatory of Food Sovereignty and the Environment (Observatoire de la Souverainet Alimentaire et de lEnvironnement - OSAE) website. Documentaries, films, books, and study reports were produced, such as the documentaries Thirsty Tunisians, Couscous: the Seeds of Dignity, Pousses de printemps (Spring Sprouts), and field reports by the Working Group for Food Sovereignty (GTSA) . The screening (at cinemas, universities and associations) of these works has allowed farmers voices to reach urban areas and has redirected public attention towards the rural world.

In a State that resorts to more borrowing to repay its existing debts, the hope of food sovereignty seems utopian for some, but realistic for others. However, if this hope was difficult in times of peace, will it become possible in times of war? Will Tunisian agriculture succeed in its transition towards a model that is more concerned with food security and less concerned with productivity and surplus production?

Food sovereignty, which is more urgent than ever before, is a potential response to the current food crisis. It is a solution to the food dependency and insecurity that come to light with each crisis.

The first aspect of local actors fight for food sovereignty is semantic. There are slight but important nuances in the meaning of each concept, which affect the conditions of agriculture and the food that is generated. This has been argued by La Via Campesina (the international farmers movement) since 1996:

La Via Campesina, extract from the website

Following the energy, drought and hunger crisis of the 1970s, food security has become an important topic of discussion at the World Food Summit. Agriculture is now based on productivity and crop intensification to feed the greatest number of people in an attempt to fight global hunger. This coincided with the advent of the Green Revolution in developing countries: a production-centered approach to agriculture without farmers. At that time, hybrid seeds were distributed for years free of charge by the government to Tunisian farmers, as evidenced by Jalel, a farmer who worked in a cooperative farm in Sidi Bourouis. As a result, many farmers abandoned ancestral seeds. This was by no means a trivial development, as it represented another means of dispossession of farmers (an article published on Houloul platform highlights the introduction of these seeds in Tunisia).

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Higher Education in Agronomy advocated for modernity, which brought the promise of development to the country. The modernity that Bourguiba referred to in his daily speeches led people to believe that everything related to traditions is archaic and must be replaced. To be fair, these shifts were already underway before independence. Inspired by the agricultural techniques used by the colonizers, Tunisian farmers were already tempted to use modern means through farm automation on their plots of land, which were remarkably smaller than the colonized fields around Wadi Majardah.

Large farms and intensive agriculture replaced subsistence farming under the successive regimes that have ruled Tunisia since the Ottoman era to date. Subsistence farming, food crops and farmer-family agriculture are the antitheses of profit-based agriculture. Subsistence farming based on ancestral seeds harvesting represents a heritage of practices and know-how that the new seeds introduced cannot bring. A practice widely used by wheat and barley farmers was the matmoura: underground granaries where seeds were stored and used for consumption and adaptation to harsh seasons. Matmoura also existed in Morocco and Algeria but started to disappear in the 1980s. For the crop of the following year, breeders reserved the seeds of the best plants. This peasant engineering contributed, over the centuries, to the development of local species and varieties highly adapted to the land that is, species that offer higher resistance to precipitation and temperature fluctuations and to diseases. The cultivation of ancestral seeds also requires less water, according to Zakaria Hechmi, a farmer from the oasis of Chenini Gabes, where agroecology is still being practiced. Zakaria is known for his adamant efforts to preserve peasant seeds and the respect of the peasantry.

With seed technology, farmers have been demoted to the bottom of the production cycle, becoming mere consumers:

Seed Production Cycle

Since these major shifts, farmers have found themselves dependent on companies that provide them with the package to be planted: seeds, fertilisers and insecticides. In this regard, fruits have become ready-to-plant products, bereft of their natural essence. Currently, 50% of global seed production is controlled by three multinational companies: Syngenta, Monsanto and Dupont-Pioneer. Deprived of their autonomy and misled by promises of enrichment and development, farmers have lost control of their work and are being forced to adapt to market prices.

Moreover, farmers face problems related to agricultural land management and the dual legal system currently in place, resulting in land fragmentation. Given the restrictions related to their land rights, farmers have resorted to annual leasing for the cultivation of cereals and sometimes even for cattle breeding. These leases only offer smallholdings, with an area of no more than a few hectares, with limited possibility of expansion. Based on the testimony of Amine, a 25-year-old young man from El Krib, more and more farmers favor cattle breeding or monoculture of olives over cereals. Cattle breeding earns him 2,000 dinars per month on average, depending on the price of fodder (alfa) and sales.

Quantity of Milk Produced Daily

(Logbook of daily quantities sold by a cattle breeder)

The current crisis reminds us of our collective priority. As Edgar Morin says, By sacrificing the essential for the urgent, one ends up forgetting the urgency of the essential. We have disregarded what is essential at the cost of short-term solutions that have only eased the food crisis since its emergence. Indeed, the adoption of an agricultural model based on food security, at the expense of nutrition-centered agriculture, has led to a complex situation: the loss of local seeds, increased food dependence and the irreversible uprooting of the peasants. Fifty years after the World Food Summit, there are still famines and food insecurity around the world, in addition to the loss of a substantial genetic heritage (75% of seed varieties have disappeared over the past century according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO). The outcome is clear: food security has impoverished our diet. It prevents consumers from choosing their foods and reduces the genetic wealth inherited from millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of agriculture.

This is the basis for the struggle for food sovereignty across the world, by restoring seeds, reviewing seed legislation, rehabilitating soils, learning once again how to farm and changing production methods, especially with the imminent threat of climate change. Countries, farmers, researchers and social actors around the world should make concerted efforts in this regard.

Beyond our nostalgia for a romanticized era that remains under-documented in Tunisia, when sovereign fellahin were masters of their seeds, their land and their (more abundant) water, the return to responsible agriculture is still possible today.

Different associations are now calling for more access to land, water, peasant seeds and food sovereignty. Rural social movements are emerging and joining forces with movements in the neighborhoods of Tunis, Sfax and the agglomeration born of the rural exodus of the last century.

The very origin of the Arab Spring in Tunisia can be traced back to the dispossession of farmers: the injustice felt by Bouazizi is primarily linked to the dispossession of his land and his indebtedness to the National Bank for Agriculture (BNA). The struggle for food sovereignty adopts some of the same slogans that dominated public discourse after 2011: dignity, rights, justice... Protesters in Tunis carry slogans in support of farmers, such as the #WrongGeneration movement in solidarity with the #OuledJeballah movement, as seen in the photos below. Ouled Jebalah also protested against the rising prices of fodder and the shortage of fertilizers, which strongly affected the harvest season in 2021.

Mobilizing Support for #Wrong Generation in #Ouled Jebalah

Despite the presence of unions like SYNAGRI and UTAP, farmers suffer from a lack of union representation, as they do not represent the interests of small farmers. In the absence of an agricultural inventory (data and agricultural map), there is a lack of knowledge regarding farming trades. As a result, it is more difficult for social actors to diagnose the situation, as Wassim Laabidi from the Working Group for Food Sovereignty explains.

Indeed, given the scarcity of literature, surveys and field research are often retrospective and very basic in their initial stages. In light of the few documentary resources available, social actors form on-site research groups with the farmers to better understand the current situation. This qualitative analysis of Tunisias diverse agricultural lands is adding more meaningful insight to the purely technical diagnosis of agriculture to which we are accustomed. Within these new frameworks of analysis and documentation, a new narrative (which integrates international solidarity and class consciousness) is beginning to take shape: multidisciplinarity, the revival of the role of social sciences and access to political rights are all elements that contribute to these efforts.

These researchers and activists believe that experts and technicians tend to limit the analysis of the vulnerability of our agriculture to environmental factors or the inescapable impacts of globalization to conceal political liability. Terms such as "water stress" and "climate change" become an abuse of language, since water scarcity (and environmental problems more generally) is primarily due to the obsolete management of resources by the State.

The choice of crops, irrigation in the heart of the desert, and the overexploitation of groundwater for export crops are examples of poor resource management or even a lack of sovereignty over these resources. Current agricultural policies are indeed a significant colonial legacy, which modified the customs regime in favor of exportation. In 1904, the Customs Union exempted wheat exports and fruits that ripened before their time from taxes, at a time when France was in dire need of wheat. Hence, an orientation towards an agriculture that produced the highest yield was required.

Degrowth is a concept that refers to a collective effort to reconsider our consumption patterns, primarily in industrialized countries. It is a favorable framework that can unite efforts for the restoration of a better and fairer lifestyle.

Countries that have witnessed major political and food crises as well as economic embargoes have shifted towards an agricultural policy that best suits their lands and their population needs. This was the case of Iran and Cuba. In Cuba, for example, the malnutrition rate fell from 21.9% to 5% during the 1990s.

The Republic of Cuba is the most prominent example of food sovereignty relevant to Tunisia (we all remember when Cuban doctors came to support Italy during the spike in mortality rates in 2020). Land management ensures that farmers cultivate their land without resale and without capital accumulation. However, even by shifting toward agroecology (or ecological agriculture), Cuba has not managed to completely break free from industrialization, as the State still keeps fields of monoculture. It should be noted, however, that agroecology, which is practiced in 25% of agricultural lands, produces 65% of the countrys food. These concrete indicators show that food sovereignty, which is an integral part of the degrowth model, is not unattainable, but is rather the most pragmatic alternative for the current model that has proven its shortcomings. However, we still have a long ways to go in terms of seed production: Despite the fact that the Tunisian Association of Permaculture organizes an annual seed festival with farmers, this practice remains illegal. In the week of April 7, 2022, Hafedh Karbaa from Monastir was forced to stop distributing his peasant seeds for free and to dispose of the seeds he had. After first appearing on the 8 pm news bulletin of El Watania channel, he stated on Shems radio that he was prohibited from pursuing his project. Seed laws, which are adopted in all countries, are legal instruments used by multinational companies empowered to classify living organisms as being illegal. Law No. 99-42 of 10 May 1999 is the legal text which governs the use of seeds and intellectual property in Tunisia. Article 44 of Chapter IV (Crimes and Sanctions) stipulates that fines can reach 50,000 dinars: In the event of recidivism [of the crime], the penalties provided for in Articles 43 and 44 [...] shall be doubled.

Social and solidarity economy, permaculture, agroecology, agroforestry and other similar concepts are all agricultural approaches that take into account the sustainability of practices and ecosystems. These are still practiced in isolation, but they promise a much more efficient usage of resources, not to mention that they would allow farmers to become more independent, especially with regard to water and land restrictions. Although solutions do exist, researchers and activists believe that the structural problems of access to land should first be addressed. Farmers right to land is undeniable, yet the distribution of State land does not prioritize landless farmers. Agrarian reform is necessary in Tunisia, as it is on the basis of such a reform that the situation of thousands of farmers could be changed for the better and the experience of a perennial agricultural production meeting local needs could be achieved.

The views represented in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Arab Reform Initiative, its staff, or its board.

Visit link:

War in Ukraine and Food Insecurity in Tunisia: Where is reform most needed? -

August 1, 2022

Click for PDF

On July 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into an $84.8 million settlement agreement[1] with several poultry processing companies over allegations that the poultry processors conspired with one another to share wage and benefits information through third-party data aggregation firms.[2] The companies entered the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing or liability. In addition to the $84.8million restitution payment, the settlement agreement also imposed a court-appointed compliance monitor for ten years to ensure compliance with the proposed settlement decree.[3] Government enforcement actions based on information-sharing are rare,[4] and this settlement agreement includes important lessons for all companies that provide internal wage or benefits data to third parties, including consulting firms or trade groups that engage in other information sharing with competitors.

The DOJs settlement is the latest in a series of aggressive enforcement of the antitrust laws to protect labor markets. Since the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commissions (FTCs) 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals, the DOJ has been outspoken about intending to prosecute criminally stand-alone wage-fixing and no-hire, no-poach, and non-solicit agreements. Over the past two years, the DOJ has given these threats teeth, bringing criminal indictments against several companies and individuals for alleged wage-fixing, no-poach, and no-solicit agreements.

Here, the DOJ alleged that three poultry processors engaged in a long-running conspiracy to exchange information about wages and benefits for poultry processing plant workers and collaborated with their competitors to deprive a generation of poultry processing plant workers of fair pay set in a free and competitive labor market.[5] In addition, the government alleged that the processors coordinated the conspiracy by sharing information with third-party data consulting firms[6] and, importantly, that the information exchanged was current or future, disaggregated, or identifiable in nature, which allowed the poultry processors to discuss the wages and benefits they paid their poultry processing plant workers.[7] The data consulting firms also hosted in-person meetings where, the government further alleged, the poultry processors shared additional compensation information and collaborated on compensation decisions.[8]

Key to the governments case, the complaint alleges that the poultry processors failed to abide by the safe-harbor requirements for sharing information outlined in the 2016 Guidance.[9] Under this Guidance, information sharing is unlikely to have anticompetitive effects when [1]a neutral third party manages the exchange, [2]the exchange involves information that is relatively old, [3]the information is aggregated to protect the identity of the underlying sources, and [4]enough sources are aggregated to prevent competitors from linking particular data to an individual source.[10] The DOJ alleged that the poultry processors did not qualify for the safe harbor because their information was current or future, disaggregated, and identifiable.[11]

Looking ahead, the safe harborwhich the DOJ and FTC have long used in contexts beyond labor marketsmay be revised as a result of President Bidens July 2021 Executive Order On Promoting Competition in the American Economy. Section5(f) of the Order directs the Attorney General and the Chair of the FTC ... to consider whether to revise the Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals of October 2016 in order to better protect workers from wage collusion.[12] The Fact Sheet on the Executive Order suggests that those revisions may be aimed at information sharing: the President ... [e]ncourages the FTC and DOJ to strengthen antitrust guidance to prevent employers from collaborating to suppress wages or reduce benefits by sharing wage and benefit information with one another.[13] To date, the guidance on information sharing has not been modified.

One other noteworthy aspect of the settlement agreement is the imposition of a ten-year monitorship. Monitorships for antitrust violations are uncommon and typically last only three yearseven in the context of hard-core criminal cartels.[14] The groundbreaking agreement to a ten-year monitorship may be an indication that the new regime of antitrust enforcers will seek out monitorships, including lengthy ones, as part of future settlement agreements.

Take-aways

________________________

[1] See Proposed Final Judgment, U.S. v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., et al., (July25, 2022), here, [hereinafter Proposed Settlement]. The data analysis firms and their executives entered into a separate settlement agreement. See Proposed Final Judgment, U.S. v. Webber, Meng, Sahl and Company (July25, 2022), here.

[2] See Complaint, U.S. v. Webber, Meng, Sahl and Company (July25, 2022), at 5 [hereinafter Complaint].

[3] Proposed Settlement at 12-17.

[4] This is the first DOJ antitrust case involving information sharing since 2016. See Complaint, U.S.v. DirectTV Group Holdings, LLC and AT&T, Inc. (Nov. 2, 2016), here.

[5] See Complaint at 4.

[6] Id. at 75152.

[7] Id. at 75.

[8] Id. at 85.

[9] Id. at 88.

[10] See Department of Justice, Antitrust Division & Federal Trade Commission, Antitrust Guidance for Human Resources Professionals (October 2016), here.

[11] Complaint at 75.

[12] Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (July9, 2021), here.

[13] FACT SHEET: Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, (July9, 2021), here.

[14] See Judgment, U.S. v. AU Optronics Corporation (Oct. 2, 2012) (imposing a three-year monitorship).

[15] See Department of Justice, Antitrust Division & Federal Trade Commission, Statements of Antirust Enforcement Policy in health Care (August 1996), here (providing that the collection of information qualifies for a safety zone when (1)the collection is managed by a third party, (2)the data is more than three months old, and (3)and the data is sufficiently aggregated such that recipients could not identify the data of any individual participant).

The following Gibson Dunn lawyers prepared this client alert: Kristen Limarzi, Rachel Brass, Matt Butler, and Nick Marquiss.

Gibson Dunn lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding these developments. Please contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work, the authors, or any leader or member of the firms Antitrust and Competition or Labor and Employment practice groups:

Antitrust and Competition Group:Kristen C. Limarzi Washington, D.C. (+1 202-887-3518, klimarzi@gibsondunn.com)Jeremy Robison Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8518, wrobison@gibsondunn.com)Rachel S. Brass Co-Chair, San Francisco (+1 415-393-8293, rbrass@gibsondunn.com)Stephen Weissman Co-Chair, Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8678, sweissman@gibsondunn.com)Ali Nikpay Co-Chair, London (+44 (0) 20 7071 4273, anikpay@gibsondunn.com)Christian Riis-Madsen Co-Chair, Brussels (+32 2 554 72 05, criis@gibsondunn.com)

Labor and Employment Group:Jason C. Schwartz Co-Chair, Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8242, jschwartz@gibsondunn.com)Katherine V.A. Smith Co-Chair, Los Angeles (+1 213-229-7107, ksmith@gibsondunn.com)

2022 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Attorney Advertising: The enclosed materials have been prepared for general informational purposes only and are not intended as legal advice.

Continued here:

Settlement Agreement with U.S. Department of Justice Demonstrates the Risks Associated with Third-Party Information Sharing - Gibson Dunn

Economic view of human attention as a commodity

Attention economics is an approach to the management of information that treats human attention as a scarce commodity and applies economic theory to solve various information management problems. According to Matthew Crawford, "Attention is a resourcea person has only so much of it."[1]

In this perspective, Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck[2] define the concept of attention:

Attention is focused mental engagement on a particular item of information. Items come into our awareness, we attend to a particular item, and then we decide whether to act. (Davenport & Beck 2001, p.20)

As content has grown increasingly abundant and immediately available, attention becomes the limiting factor in the consumption of information.[3]A strong trigger of this effect is that it limits the mental capability of humans and the receptiveness of information is also limited. Attention allows information to be filtered such that the most important information can be extracted from the environment while irrelevant details can be left out.[4]

Software applications either explicitly or implicitly take attention economy into consideration in their user interface design based on the realization that if it takes the user too long to locate something, they will find it through another application. This is done, for instance, by creating filters to make sure viewers are presented with information that is most relevant, of interest, and personalized based on past web search history.[5]

Research from a wide range of disciplines including psychology,[6] cognitive science,[7] neuroscience,[8] and economics,[9] suggest that humans have limited cognitive resources that can be used at any given time, when resources are allocated to one task, the resources available for other tasks will be limited. Given that attention is a cognitive process that involves the selective concentration of resources on a given item of information, to the exclusion of other perceivable information, attention can be considered in terms of limited processing resources.[10]

The concept of attention economics was first theorized by psychologist and economist Herbert A. Simon[11] when he wrote about the scarcity of attention in an information-rich world:

[I]n an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. (Simon 1971, pp.4041)

He noted that many designers of information systems incorrectly represented their design problem as information scarcity rather than attention scarcity, and as a result, they built systems that excelled at providing more and more information to people, when what was really needed were systems that excelled at filtering out unimportant or irrelevant information (Simon 1971).

Simon's characterization of the problem of information overload as an economic one has become increasingly popular in analyzing information consumption since the mid-1990s, when writers such as Thomas H. Davenport and Michael Goldhaber[12] adopted terms like "attention economy" and "economics of attention".[13]

Some writers have speculated that "attention transactions" will replace financial transactions as the focus of our economic system (Goldhaber 1997, Franck 1999). Information systems researchers have also adopted the idea, and are beginning to investigate mechanism designs which build on the idea of creating property rights in attention (see Applications).

According to digital culture expert Kevin Kelly, the modern attention economy is increasingly one where the consumer product costs virtually nothing to reproduce and the problem facing the supplier of the product lies in adding valuable intangibles that cannot be reproduced at any cost. He identifies these intangibles as:[14]

Attention economics is also relevant to the social sphere. Specifically, long-term attention can be considered according to the attention that a person dedicates to managing their interactions with others. Dedicating too much attention to these interactions can lead to "social interaction overload",[15] i.e. when people are overwhelmed in managing their relationships with others, for instance in the context of social network services in which people are the subject of a high level of social solicitations. Digital media and the internet facilitate participation in this economy by creating new channels for distributing attention. Ordinary people are now empowered to reach a wide audience by publishing their own content and commenting on the content of others.[16]

Social attention can also be associated to collective attention, i.e. how "attention to novel items propagates and eventually fades among large populations".[17]

"Attention economics" treats a potential consumer's attention as a resource.[18] Traditional media advertisers followed a model that suggested consumers went through a linear process they called AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.[19] Attention is therefore a major and the first stage in the process of converting non-consumers. Since the cost to transmit advertising to consumers has become sufficiently low given that more ads can be transmitted to a consumer (e.g. via online advertising) than the consumer can process, the consumer's attention becomes the scarce resource to be allocated. As such, a superfluidity of information may hinder an individual's decision-making who keeps searching and comparing products as long as it promises to provide more than it is using up.[20]

Advertisers that produce attention-grabbing content that is presented to unconsenting consumers without compensation have been criticized for perpetrating attention theft.[21][22]

One application treats various forms of information (e.g. spam, advertising) as a form of pollution or 'detrimental externality'.[23] In economics, an externality is a by-product of a production process that imposes burdens (or supplies benefits), to parties other than the intended consumer of a commodity.[24] For example; air and water pollution are negative externalities that impose burdens on society and the environment.

A market-based approach to controlling externalities was outlined in Ronald Coase's The Problem of Social Cost (1960).[25] This evolved from an article on the Federal Communications Commission (1959),[26] in which Coase claimed that radio frequency interference is a negative externality that could be controlled by the creation of property rights.

Coase's approach to the management of externalities requires the careful specification of property rights and a set of rules for the initial allocation of the rights.[27] Once this has been achieved, a market mechanism can theoretically manage the externality problem.[28]

Sending huge numbers of e-mail messages costs spammers very little, since the costs of e-mail messages are spread out over the internet service providers that distribute them (and the recipients who must spend attention dealing with them).[29] Thus sending out as much spam as possible is a rational strategy: even if only 0.001% of recipients (1 in 100,000) is converted into a sale, a spam campaign can be profitable. Of course, it is very difficult to understand where all the revenue comes from since these businesses are run through proxy servers. However, if they were not profitable, it is reasonable to conclude that they would not be sending spam.[30] Spammers are demanding valuable attention from potential customers, but avoid paying a fair price for this attention due to the current architecture of e-mail systems.[31]

One way this might be mitigated is through the implementation of "Sender Bond" whereby senders are required to post a financial bond that is forfeited if enough recipients report an email as spam.[32]

Closely related is the idea of selling "interrupt rights", or small fees for the right to demand one's attention.[33] The cost of these rights could vary according to the person who is interrupted: interrupt rights for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company would presumably be extraordinarily expensive, while those of a high school student might be lower. Costs could also vary for an individual depending on context, perhaps rising during the busy holiday season and falling during the dog days of summer. Those who are interrupted could decline to collect their fees from friends, family, and other welcome interrupters.[34]

Another idea in this vein is the creation of "attention bonds", small warranties that some information will not be a waste of the recipient's time, placed into escrow at the time of sending.[35] Like the granters of interrupt rights, receivers could cash in their bonds to signal to the sender that a given communication was a waste of their time or elect not to cash them in to signal that more communication would be welcome.[36]

As search engines have become a primary means for finding and accessing information on the web, high rankings in the results for certain queries have become valuable commodities, due to the ability of search engines to focus searchers' attention.[37] Like other information systems, web search is vulnerable to pollution: "Because the Web environment contains profit seeking ventures, attention getting strategies evolve in response to search engine algorithms".[38]

Since most major search engines now rely on some form of PageRank (recursive counting of hyperlinks to a site) to determine search result rankings, a gray market in the creation and trading of hyperlinks has emerged.[39][40] Participants in this market engage in a variety of practices known as link spamming, link farming, and reciprocal linking.[41]

Another issue, similar to the issue discussed above of whether or not to consider political e-mail campaigns as spam, is what to do about politically motivated link campaigns or Google bombs.[42] Currently, the major search engines do not treat these as web spam, but this is a decision made unilaterally by private companies.

The paid inclusion model, as well as more pervasive advertising networks like Yahoo! Publisher Network and Google's AdSense, work by treating consumer attention as the property of the search engine (in the case of paid inclusion) or the publisher (in the case of advertising networks).[43][44] This is somewhat different from the anti-spam uses of property rights in attention, which treat an individual's attention as his or her own property.

More here:

Attention economy - Wikipedia

ST. JOHNS Canada holds the resources, clean technology and experience to thrive in the global net-zero economy, creating prosperity and high-quality jobs for generations to come.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canadas Minister of Natural Resources, addressed members of the St. Johns Board of Trade to highlight the energy and resource opportunities Atlantic Canada can seize to create sustainable jobs and thrive in a global low-carbon future.

Minister Wilkinson spoke in advance of the Energy and Mines MinistersConference that begins July 6 a conference that will bring together the energy and mining ministers from the federal and provincial governments, and which will be co-hosted by the governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Minister Wilkinson emphasized the particular importance of the federal government working in partnership with the provinces and territories, as well as engaging Indigenous Peoples, industry and labour, to develop regional approaches that will foster prosperity and strengthen competitiveness while reducing Canadas greenhouse gas emissions.

The Minister said the recentlylaunched Regional Energy and Resource Tablesseek to achieve all of those goals by having the Government of Canada partner with individual provinces and territories, Indigenous groups and stakeholders to identify and pursue high-impact, place-specific opportunities for sustainable growth.

He noted that Newfoundland and Labrador is one of three provinces (along with British Columbia and Manitoba) participating in the first phase of the Regional Energy and Resource Tables and that early discussions have included the significant potential for building and expanding upon the provinces competitive advantages in areas such as offshore renewables, hydrogen and critical minerals. He also commended Newfoundland and Labrador on its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Minister concluded that a sustainable natural resources-based economy will grow Canadas economy in every region, while creating sustainable jobs and achieving Canadas ambitious climate and nature goals.

Quote

Just as any successful business must be capable of interpreting and reacting to changes in the business environment, countries must also be capable of thoughtful response and action to sustain and enhance their level of prosperity. The federal government is working with Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Indigenous partners, industry and labour to collectively accelerate regional economic activity and position the province as an economic leader in the global shift toward a low-carbon future.

The Honourable Jonathan WilkinsonMinister of Natural Resources

We are thankful to have Minister Wilkinson with us today to talk about the future of energy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Our members span many industries and sectors they are businesses big and small, and we all have a keen interest and part to play in a low-carbon future. As the association representing over 700 businesses and over 10,000 business leaders, the St. Johns Board of Trade is pleased to host this important conversation that allows our members direct access to government. Together, with input from many groups and stakeholders, we can determine how we best use our resources, knowledge and technology to responsibly reach our full potential as a province as we move away from carbon-intensive industries.

AnnMarie BoudreauCEO, St. Johns Board of Trade

Follow this link:

Minister Wilkinson outlines process to create sustainable jobs in Atlantic Canada ahead of Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference - BOE Report

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL July 8, 2022 Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Peabody Energy Corp. BTU, Alliance Resource Partners L.P. ARLP, ARCH Resources Inc. ARCH and CONSOL Energy Inc. CEIX.

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/1948439/4-stocks-to-watch-amid-strong-prospects-of-the-coal-industry

The Zacks Coal industry stocks have staged a rebound courtesy of global demand after the pandemic-led lockdowns and surging natural gas prices. Improving coal prices and demand boosted the profit levels of coal operators last quarter. The trend might continue for the next few years.

With increased vaccinations and global economic activity, electricity demand is rising, and utility operators are buying more coal to boost production. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is creating fresh demand from coal importing countries and pushing up coal prices.

As global steel production improves, coal stocks like Peabody Energy Corp., Alliance Resource Partners L.P., ARCH Resources Inc. and CONSOL Energy Inc. are expected to gain.

The Zacks Coal industry comprises companies involved in the discovery and mining of coal. Coal is mined by either the opencast or the underground method. The commodity is valued for its energy content and used worldwide to generate electricity, and manufacture steel and cement. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration ("EIA") report, the current U.S. estimated recoverable coal reserves are about 252 billion short tons, of which about 58% is underground mineable coal.

Given the current production rates, coal resources are likely to last many more years. Five states in the United States contribute nearly 70% of yearly production and 60% of coal production from surface mining. Per EIA, the coal industry may benefit from the rise in natural gas prices in the United States. This would result in additional demand for coal.

Coal to Benefit from Higher Steel Production: Improving coal exports are boosting the prospect of U.S. coal miners. The rollout of vaccines and easing of pandemic-related restrictions have revived industrial and commercial activities across the globe, spurring electricity demand. EIA expects U.S. coal production volumes to increase 3.9% in 2022 and touch 601 MMst (millions of short tons) but decline by 2.1% in 2023 to hit 588 MMst. Per the World Steel Association, global steel demand will improve 0.4% in 2022 to reach 1,840.2 Mt. Coal plays an important role in steel production.

Story continues

Global Coal Demand and Prices to Move Upward: Coal was continuously losing ground to natural gas and other renewable energy as a fuel source, but a global economic recovery in 2021 resulted in a rebound in demand. Per the International Energy Agency ("IEA"), the demand for coal can attain new highs in 2022 due to a rebound in the global economy, aided by demand arising from the Asian countries.

Even though the rising usage of renewable energy will pose a big challenge for coal, the demand and use of the commodity will not fall in the Asian economies. This, in turn, would continue to boost the prospects of U.S. coal miners.

The ongoing military conflict in Ukraine has hampered the supply of coal volumes from Russia to other countries, creating coal export opportunities for U.S. coal producers. Taking into consideration all factors, IEA expects global coal demand to increase to 8,025 million tons in 2022 and remain strong throughout 2024.

New Emission Policy Will Hurt Coal Industry: The improvement in demand for coal is expected to be short-lived as the new environmental policy will target 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, which will significantly lower demand for coal from the U.S. electricity space. Unless utility operators invest heavily in pollution-control measures to reduce emissions from power plants, domestic coal usage will fall significantly.

The new policy will also aim at lowering greenhouse emissions by 50-52% by 2030 from the 2005 levels. Going forward, coal industry operators are likely to face many difficulties as a number of electric utilities have decided to become carbon neutral by 2050 and completely cut down coal usage. Per EIA, total coal consumption in the United States will drop 3.3% in 2022 to 528.1 MMst and drop further by 6.3% to 496.9 MMst in 2023.

The Zacks Coal industry is an eight-stock group within the broader Zacks Oil and Energy sector. The industry currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #28, which places it in the top 11% of more than 251 Zacks industries.

The group's Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates strong performance in the near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

The industry's position in the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of the positive earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts are gaining confidence in this group's earnings growth potential. Since August 2021, the industry's earnings estimates for 2022 have gone up 510.3%.

Before we present a few coal stocks that you may want to consider, let's take a look at the industry's recent stock market performance and valuation picture.

The Zacks Coal industry has outperformed the Zacks S&P 500 composite and the Zacks Oil and Gas sector over the past 12 months.

The stocks in the coal industry have gained 91.4% compared with the Zacks Oil-Energy sector's growth of 15.1%. The Zacks S&P 500 composite has declined 12.4% in the same time frame.

Since coal companies have a lot of debt on their balance sheet, it makes sense to value them based on the EV/EBITDA (Enterprise Value/ Earnings before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization) ratio.

The industry is currently trading at a trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA of 4.1X compared with the Zacks S&P 500 composite's 12.26X and the sector's 3.66X.

Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 7.6X, as low as 3.05X and at the median of 4.81X.

Peabody Energy: St Louis, MO-based Peabody Energy engages in the coal mining business and has both thermal and metallurgical operations. In 2021, nearly 26% of the company's revenues was derived from five customers with whom it still has 17 coal supply agreements (excluding trading and brokerage transactions) expiring at various periods from 2022 to 2025. This assures a steady flow of revenues.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Peabody Energy's 2022 earnings and revenues suggests a year-over-year rise of 53% and 48.4%, respectively. Over the past 60 days, this company's Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 has gone up 57.6%. The stock has gained 62.2% over the past six months compared with the industry's rally of 44.1%.

Peabody Energy currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Alliance Resource Partners L.P.: Tulsa, OK- based Alliance Resource Partners produces and sells coal to utilities and industrial users in the United States. The firm produces coal from seven mining complexes operated by its subsidiaries. ARLP earns royalty income from coal produced by its mining complexes and royalty income from mineral interests it owns in different basins. The firm currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings per unit and revenues implies a year-over-year rise of 151.5% and 47.2%, respectively. Over the past 60 days, this firm's Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings has gone up 22.9%. The stock has gained 33% over the past six months.

Arch Resources Inc.: St. Louis, MO-based Arch Resources currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company produces and sells metallurgical and thermal coal. The company commenced longwall production at the Leer South mine, which will add high-quality 3 million tons of metallurgical coal annually to its total production. The ongoing rebound in production in the steel industry will create fresh demand for met coal supplied by the company.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2022 earnings and revenues indicates a year-over-year rise of 205.9% and 67.2%, respectively. Over the past 60 days, this company's Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings has gone up 40.1%. The stock has gained 42.7% over the past six months.

CONSOL Energy: Canonsburg, PA-based CONSOL Energy, having a Zacks Rank of 3, produces and exports bituminous thermal coal. The company owns and operates the Pennsylvania Mining Complex and the Baltimore Marine Terminal, and controls more than 1 billion tons of undeveloped reserves. The company is consistently operating its four longwalls and utilized the fifth longwall in 2021 to meet increasing demand.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings and revenues suggests a year-over-year rise of 360.2% and 36.9%, respectively. The stock has gained 90.5% over the past six months.

Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?

Our 5 best-performing strategies have blown away the S&P's impressive +28.8% gain in 2021. Amazingly, they soared +40.3%, +48.2%, +67.6%, +94.4%, and +95.3%. Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.

See Stocks Free >>

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch/

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumedthat any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein andis subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportPeabody Energy Corporation (BTU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAlliance Resource Partners, L.P. (ARLP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportArch Resources Inc. (ARCH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportConsol Energy Inc. (CEIX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Read more:

Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Peabody Energy, Alliance Resource, ARCH Resources and CONSOL Energy - Yahoo Finance

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almaden Minerals Ltd. (Almaden or the Company; TSX: AMM; NYSE American: AAU) is pleased to report that the Ixtaca project has been selected to be included in a pilot project conducted by the United Nations (UN) Expert Group on Resource Management in coordination with Mexicos Ministry of Economy.

The purpose of the pilot project is to explore how the application of standards such as those of the UNFC (United Nations Framework Classification) and the UNRMS (United Nations Resources Management System see below) may help strengthen activities with different stakeholders and encourage the achievement of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals1.

Almaden initially expressed its interest in being part of this project in 2021, and after a site visit and several presentations on the project, the UN group of experts on sustainable resource management have agreed that Ixtaca meets the general criteria to be considered in the work to be carried out in this pilot project. The project will be managed through the UNs Centre of Excellence in the Sustainable Management of Resources for Mexico and Latin America in coordination with the Extractive Activities Unit at the Ministry of Economy.

Duane Poliquin, Chair of Almaden, stated We are very pleased to have been selected for this pilot project. We believe this project dovetails very well with the standards to which we intend to complete our environmental permit submission, and the ongoing Human Rights Impact Assessment at the project. We are proud to be able to contribute to Mexicos efforts to introduce standards and procedures which reinforce the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

1 https://sdgs.un.org/goals

About the United Nations Framework Classification and the United Nations Resources Management System

The United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) are frameworks developed by experts from government, industry, the financial sector, and academia to bring in the required rigor in the sustainable management of all resources. UNRMS is a globally applicable system that can be applied to petroleum, mineral, renewable energy, nuclear fuels, injection projects, and anthropogenic resource endowments. Rather than tracking a single metric of volumes or quantities that can be produced and the profits, UNRMS considers a range of socio-economic, technological, and knowledge factors that are important for the sustainable development of each project. The UNRMS guiding principle is to make resource management entirely in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and see how resource production can contribute to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About the International Centres of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management-ICE-SRM -Mexico Latin America

The International Centres of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management will strengthen the sustainability and financial resilience of the resource management sectors. The focus will be on the development of a financially profitable, competitive, and resilient, resource management sector in the region as well as the core vision of Resources for Sustainable Development. The system will ensure actions that are required to promote acceptability among stockholders and stakeholders. Resource management, when undertaken through the UNRMS framework, will bring good social, environmental, and economic outcomes in Latin America, and in Mexico as the leader of the project.

UNRMS is being applied to continental frameworks in Europe and Africa, and national implementations are witnessed in many countries, such as China, India, Russia, and Ukraine. In 2019, a large-scale project (pilot project), led by the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) in coordination with the Ministry of Energy (SENER) and the Safety, Energy and Environment Agency (ASEA), was implemented in Mexico.

International Centres of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management (ICE-SRM)2 is a collaborative network of organizations focused on supporting the sustainable management of the resources needed for development in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement. The centres are conceived to provide in full compliance with the adopted United Nations standards and guidelines policy support, technical advice and consultation, education, training, dissemination, and other critical activities for stakeholders involved in the sustainable development of extractive industries and energy.

Each centre will promote within its activity footprint the global deployment of the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) to describe the resources needed for the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and support their management.

The centre for Mexico and Latin America is led by Ulises Neri, a member of the Expert Group on Resource Management. Neri studied petroleum engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, where he is also a professor), has a master's degree from the French Petroleum Institute, and doctoral studies at the Paris business school. His professional experience began at Schlumberger, carrying out projects in Latin America. Later, he joined the National Hydrocarbons Commission where he served as director of reserves, director of measurement, and head of the extraction unit. He also held a diplomatic position, representing Mexico in international organizations, such as the OECD, the IEA, the UN, and OPEC. From 2019 to 2021, he was Director General of Promotion of Productive Chains in the energy sector in the National Content Unit of the Ministry of Economy.

2 https://unece.org/ice-srm-0

About Almaden

Almaden Minerals Ltd. owns 100% of the Ixtaca project in Puebla State, Mexico, subject to a 2.0% NSR royalty held by Almadex Minerals Ltd. The Ixtaca deposit hosts a proven and probable reserve containing 1.38 million ounces of gold and 85.1 million ounces of silver (73.1 million tonnes grading 0.59 g/t Au and 36.3 g/t Ag). A report titled Ixtaca Gold-Silver Project, Puebla State, Mexico NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Feasibility Study, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR and on the Companys website. The Ixtaca Gold-Silver Deposit was discovered by Almaden in 2010.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

J. Duane PoliquinJ. Duane PoliquinChairAlmaden Minerals Ltd.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things, the timing of the official notification of the decision to the Company, whether the final decision of the SCJN will be modified and differ from the draft, the nature of any such modifications, the timing and procedures for any consultation by the Ministry of the Economy with indigenous communities and the timing and procedures for the Ministry of the Economy to re-issue mineral titles to Almaden.

These forward-looking statements and information reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant legal, regulatory, business, operational and economic uncertainties and contingencies, and such uncertainty generally increases with longer-term forecasts and outlook. These assumptions include: stability and predictability in Mexicos consultation process with indigenous communities and judicial decisions thereon; stability and predictability in Mexicos mineral tenure, mining, environmental and agrarian laws and regulations, as well as their application and judicial decisions thereon; continued respect for the rule of law in Mexico; prices for gold, silver and base metals remaining as estimated; currency exchange rates remaining as estimated; availability of funds; capital, decommissioning and reclamation estimates; mineral reserve and resource estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); no labour-related disruptions; all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals being received in a timely manner; the ability to secure and maintain title and ownership to properties and the surface rights necessary for operations; community support in the Ixtaca Project; and the ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company cautions the reader that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to: Mexicos consultation process with indigenous communities and potential litigation in respect thereof; political risk in Mexico; crime and violence in Mexico; corruption; environmental risks, including environmental matters under Mexican laws and regulations; impact of environmental impact assessment requirements on the Companys planned exploration and development activities on the Ixtaca Project; certainty of mineral title and the outcome of litigation; community relations; governmental regulations and the ability to obtain necessary licences and permits; risks related to mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers or claims and other defects in title; changes in mining, environmental or agrarian laws and regulations and changes in the application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations which may increase costs of doing business and restrict operations; as well as those factors discussed the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Almaden's Annual Information Form and Almaden's latest Form 20-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to on forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact Information:

Almaden Minerals Ltd.Tel. 604.689.7644Email: info@almadenminerals.comhttp://www.almadenminerals.com/

The rest is here:

Almaden Announces Selection by United Nations UNECE for Mining Pilot Project in Coordination with Mexican Ministry of the Economy - GlobeNewswire