Category: 3. Business

Summary

A technical assistance mission visited the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) of Peru during February 3–7, 2025. The objective of the mission was to review, assess, analyze, and validate the results of the Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA) and Air Emissions Accounts (AEA) for 2019 and discuss dissemination strategies, and guidelines for preparing metadata and data releases of these accounts. The Covid-19 Pandemic affected the availability and timeliness of the source data for compiling the accounts. The accounts for 2019 are being developed as a learning exercise and will be published as experimental accounts in May 2025. The time series up to 2023 will be compiled as soon as the new data is available. This mission was conducted with support from the Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) under a two-year “Environmental and Climate Change Statistics Capacity Development Program” to assist countries in designing and implementing programs for developing timely and internationally comparable statistics that can help in formulating policies to address the environmental, financial, economic, and social implications of climate change. This mission also provided recommendations for improvement as needed, in particular, on the adjustments for residence principle. The mission provided hands-on assistance to make residence adjustments on land, water and air transport operated, both on PEFA and AEA, using national accounts data on transport as well as the data on air transport from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Most of the adjustments were incorporated to the accounts on site. The mission also discussed guidelines for preparing the publication of the results of the accounts and their respective metadata. The objective is that by May 2025, the country would release the first set of experimental indicators that can be used for broader stakeholder engagement and for setting up a mechanism for regular production of the accounts. To accomplish this, additional human resources need to be allocated to the compilation of the PEFA and the AEA. The present mission reaffirmed the need to enhance communication, collaboration and coordination among data producing agencies and implement data sharing. To support progress in the above work areas, the mission recommended the following priority recommendations to compile PEFA and AEA: Use the data from the supply and use table of the national accounts and the balance of payments to finalize the adjustments of transport services; publish the results and metadata of the PEFA and the AEA for 2019; and update the AEA for 2019 and compile the accounts for 2020 and 2021 when the inventory data are available in March 2025. Compile the PEFA 2020–2022, as energy balances for those years are already available.

Subject:

Climate change,
Environment,
Greenhouse gas emissions,
National accounts,
Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA),
Public financial management (PFM)

Keywords:

Air Emissions,
Climate change,
Climate policy,
Climate.,
Energy,
Environment,
Greenhouse gas emissions,
Human capital,
National accounts,
Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA)

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Canada has announced 25 critical minerals investments and partnerships with allies as it races to develop C$6.4bn (US$4.6bn) worth of projects to counter China’s dominance of the global trade.

The government on Friday announced the investments and offtake agreements, which would underpin the projects, following two days of talks in Toronto with other G7 countries.

Canada’s energy minister Tim Hodgson said Ottawa would use the country’s Defence Production Act to stockpile critical minerals. The move echoes the US’s use of national security legislation to strengthen its domestic supplies.

“This enables Canada to launch our own defence stockpiling regime, and to support multilateral stockpiling efforts,” Hodgson said.

G7 nations met this week in Toronto to develop a so-called buyers club as part of a critical minerals production alliance that seeks to restore multilateralism at a time when countries such as Australia and Japan have negotiated rare earth deals with the US.

The announcements come as Canada tries to position itself as a crucial supplier to western economies that have grown concerned about China’s stranglehold on rare earth and critical minerals supplies.

US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping struck a deal earlier this week to settle a dispute over Beijing’s restrictions on exports of rare earths, minerals critical to global manufacturers, in particular defence. But the agreement is for one year only and leaves China as the dominant supplier.

The White House has stepped up its buying of critical minerals, which are vital for smartphones, electric vehicles and fighter jets.

The EU is also racing to develop stockpiling strategies as anxieties remain about China’s control of supply chains.

Dan Jørgensen, the European commissioner for energy and housing, said fostering international co-operation on critical raw materials among G7 countries was an important development.

“Responsible and secure supply chains are a shared strategic asset, not a competitive zero-sum game,” he said on Friday.

Canada’s critical minerals investments come as part of its increased Nato defence spending commitments, which Trump has criticised as too low.

According to the announcement, Norway’s Vianode would build a multibillion-dollar synthetic graphite plant in Ontario to supply anode materials for EV batteries while Rio Tinto’s scandium plant in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, also secured multilateral support.

As part of the deal Canada will guarantee to buy the producers’ output at a pre-determined price, helping to guarantee a return on upstream investment.

Nouveau Monde Graphite has acquired offtake arrangements with Japan’s Panasonic and Luxembourg-based Traxys, as well as a pledge of investment from the Canadian and Japanese governments.

Ottawa has also sought to spur more critical minerals mining in some of Canada’s deposits across the country.

Earlier this month, Teck Resources said it was in talks with the US and Canada about supplying minerals used in defence.

Hodgson told the G7 conference this week: “We’ve been working closely with Teck to expand capacity at their Trail smelter in British Columbia to produce niche minerals like germanium and gallium and antimony, where mechanisms like stockpiling or floor pricing will be necessary to proceed to a construction decision.”

China dominates the supply chain for rare earths and imposed sweeping export controls this year that escalated tensions.

Additional reporting from Camilla Hodgson in London

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Private jet owners are cashing in on a supply chain crunch by leasing their engines to people facing long waits for their own aircraft to be repaired.

The aerospace industry has been plagued by labour and parts shortages since the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to protracted delays in deliveries of engines and aircraft for both private and commercial jets.

Wealth advisers and industry experts said some owners wanted to rent just the engine because they were attached to their customised jet interiors, which can include gold and marble bathroom fixtures and large cinema spaces.

Laura Uberoi, head of private wealth finance at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, said: “It’s the first time in my career I have seen families turning a profit on their private jets, which are usually a depreciating liability.”

To hire a mid-size jet engine for a couple of days would cost about $50,000, and the engine could be removed fairly quickly, even overnight.

“Typically people didn’t do that in private jets, the jets are in busy use,” but the practice has been increasing for the past five to eight years as the commercial incentive has made it worthwhile, Uberoi added.

Kevin Michaels, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, said there was “a well-known issue with small propulsion engine supply chain” which was delaying maintenance and repairs. Business aviation operators typically had small fleets and few stocked spare engines, he added.

“Turnaround times are averaging four to six months and sometimes eight to 10 months versus two to three months typical,” he said. “This adds to the demand for exchange engines.”

Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell are the biggest makers of business jet engines.

Increased demand is worsening the situation. “The number of flights in business aviation is up more than 30 per cent compared to pre-Covid levels,” Michaels said. This had taken some aircraft manufacturers “by surprise” and “their supply chains are trying to catch up”.

Daniel Hall, senior valuation consultant at Cirium Ascend Consultancy, said business aviation was suffering from the same problem as commercial jets — supply chains, parts, facility capacity — but also “a dwindling supply of aviation maintenance professionals . . . a sector which young people are no longer entering”.

Health concerns have been raised over plans to open the UK’s first plastic film recycling facility.

Endolys Ltd announced plans to install pyrolysis oil production units at the former Cleveland Bridge site in Darlington, which it has taken over.

Liberal Democrat campaigner Simon Thorley has launched a petition calling for plans to be halted, over concerns about the impact of a plant which “chemically breaks down plastic waste in the middle of our community”.

A spokesman for Endolys said the process used diverted “materials away from incineration and landfill” and the appropriate environmental permits would be sought.

Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process that can chemically break down plastic into its constituent oil and gas, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Thorley, who previously stood as a Tees Valley mayoral candidate, said he did not believe this was a “simple, safe recycling plant”.

“Google what a plastics pyrolysis plant does and make your own mind up,” he said.

“I’ve made mine up, and we can’t allow it here.”

Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen disputed the claims and praised the impact the new facility would have on jobs and investment in the region.

He said turning a disused site into “good quality jobs for local people” was “exactly the kind of project our area needs”.

Endolys said plastic film was one of the most challenging plastic materials to recycle in the UK, with no current large-scale recycling facilities available and limited kerbside collection.

The first phase of the development would see six units process 60,000 tonnes of shredded plastic film waste into 40,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil each year.

All of the film waste will be sourced from municipal waste facilities.

A spokesman explained the process took place within “fully enclosed vessels and within a building”.

They added: “It does not involve combustion and, in fact, diverts materials away from incineration and landfill, delivering an estimated 170,000 tonnes of CO2 savings per year.”

Treasury yields climbed this week as traders scaled back expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December following hawkish signals from Chair Jerome Powell and signs of resilience in the US economy.

The yield on 10-year notes closed around 4.09% on Friday after starting the week below 4%. The move reflects a shift in market sentiment with interest-rate swap contracts tied to the Fed’s December meeting now implying roughly even odds of a rate cut.

Seven new illnesses and two additional deaths have been reported in multistate Listeria outbreak tied to prepared pasta meals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday in updates.

A total of 27 people in 18 states have been infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes, with 25 hospitalizations and 6 deaths. One pregnancy-associated infection resulted in fetal loss. Deaths have been reported in Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, and Utah.

The illness-onset dates range from August 6, 2024, to October 16, 2025. Patient ages range from 4 to 92 years, with a median age of 74 years. Two thirds of patients are women.

Infections linked to pre-cooked pasta

The outbreak has been linked to prepared meals that include pre-cooked pasta made by Nate’s Fine Foods, which does not sell its products directly to consumers. On September 30, the company expanded its recall of certain lots of pre-cooked pasta after a sample of linguini collected from a frozen meal made by FreshRealm tested positive for the outbreak strain of Listeria. The strain matched one identified earlier in pasta from a FreshRealm chicken alfredo meal.

According to the CDC, of the 13 people who have been interviewed by state and local public health officials, 7 reported eating precooked meals purchased from Walmart and Kroger, and 4 specifically reported chicken fettucine alfredo. Two people also reported eating deli salads from other stores.

Among the products that have been recalled are Sprouts Farmers Market Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad, Scott & Jon’s Shrimp Scampi with Linguini Bowls, and Trader Joe’s Cajun Style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettucine Alfredo.

“CDC and states are working to get information on whether sick people ate recalled food or if additional foods may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes,” the FDA said. “Consumers should double check their refrigerators and freezers for recalled foods.”

The FDA said the company is working with the agency and its customers to determine if additional recalls are needed.

Listeriosis primarily affects older people, young children, those with compromised immune systems, and pregnant women. In pregnant women, even mild illness can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth.