The seas and oceans are fertile ground for innovation and
experimentation, with new technologies including:
Maritime operations at ever-greater depths
Robotics
Video surveillance
Submersible technologies.
Technological progress has been spectacular. In general, the
open location of ports and coastal communities is conducive to the emergence of
new ideas. Achieving environmental goals is a constant source of innovation.
Biotechnologies
The oceans are a goldmine for biotechnologies. Maritime
resources can be used
In cosmetics (creams, seawater therapy, etc.)
For the agri-foods industry (food supplements,
fertilisers, etc.)
In the energy sector (notably biofuels)
In pharmacology.
It is possible to create substances derived from algae for
food and cosmetics uses. In addition, scientists have discovered that
ingredients from oysters can slow skin ageing. The production of biofuels from
the triglycerides contained in algae is another potential area of interest.
Lithium
Seawater is a virtually unlimited source of lithium, with
the seas and oceans containing some 230 billion tonnes of it.[1] However,
lithium is highly diluted in seawater.
Researchers have been working for years to extract it
using evaporation or filtering membranes. They have already managed to do so in
small quantities. Lithium is used in the glass and ceramics industries, to
produce lubricant greases and in aluminium production. It is also essential in
making electric batteries.
Energy
The enormous energy in tides, swells and waves is already being tapped. However, this is just the beginning. Innovative technologies will complement the systems already developed.
The most favourable coasts are those between the latitudes
of 30° and 60°
In the southern hemisphere due to the wave
heights
In the northern hemisphere due to the length of
the coasts in question.
The Bay of Fundy’s tidal power station between Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick in Canada and the one in the bay of Mont Saint-Michel in
France were pioneers in the field. In addition to tidal power stations, systems
using energy from waves and tidal currents (underwater turbines and wave power
systems) are also being developed.
The European Union, already quite advanced in the field of
ocean power technology, should be producing 35% of its electricity from ocean
sources by 2050.[2] Reducing the cost of technologies generating wind power is
one of the main projects on which the most innovative blue economy players are
working.
Pharmaceuticals
The ability of marine organisms other than fish and shellfish
to contribute to the blue economy is beginning to be acknowledged thanks to the
new gene sequencing technologies for living organisms. Tests of antiviral
medicines obtained from nucleotides isolated from Caribbean sponges are already
under way. That’s how high the stakes are!
The oceans are a gigantic pharmacy. Marine species are
providing the pharmaceutical industry with a wide range of new compounds that
have already led to major applications in the antiviral field, but also in
cancer and pain treatment medicines.
The animal, plant and bacterial species living in the
oceans contain impressive numbers of compounds with unexpected properties that
are of interest from a medical standpoint. Some are already known such as those
from ‘cone snails’ – gastropod molluscs.
These cousins of land snails secrete neurotoxins.
Researchers have been working with them since the 1960s. Cone snails have
enabled the development of a compound used in a powerful pain medicine that is
stronger than morphine. Researchers are currently working on developing new
medicines from cone snail compounds.
Anti-cancer agents are being produced from marine
organisms. An anti-tumour medicine has been developed from small marine
invertebrates. The most promising medicines already come from the oceans. They
have been on pharmacy shelves and have been improving our health for several
years now. The research on marine organisms being conducted around the world
should continue to unveil new therapeutic properties.
A flourishing sustainable blue economy
Innovation is an essential factor in ensuring that a
sustainable blue economy can flourish. Blue technologies hold great promise for
established and start-up companies researching and developing solutions that
have a positive impact on the oceans.
As a global sustainability theme, investing in the blue
economy is fully aligned with BNP Paris Asset Management’s sustainable
investment priorities. These are focused on the energy transition,
environmental protection and equality & inclusive growth.
We believe investing in the blue economy will help advance
the fight against climate change and ensure that the oceans can continue to
function as a sink for carbon emissions from human activity. Such investments
are suited for investors with a long-term perspective, an interest in
contributing to a greener future and making a positive impact.
In our view, finance can play a major role in pushing companies linked to the blue economy to improve their practices. Those investors who consider the preservation of marine resources as an absolute priority are set to see investment opportunities in companies that develop marine and ocean projects opening up as awareness of the blue economy’s appeal grows.
[1] According to Agence internationale de l’Énergie in futura-sciences.com 21/07/2020
Any views expressed
here are those of the author as of the date of publication, are based on
available information, and are subject to change without notice. Individual
portfolio management teams may hold different views and may take different
investment decisions for different clients. This document does not constitute
investment advice.
The value of
investments and the income they generate may go down as well as up and it is
possible that investors will not recover their initial outlay. Past performance
is no guarantee for future returns.
Investing in
emerging markets, or specialised or restricted sectors is likely to be subject
to a higher-than-average volatility due to a high degree of concentration,
greater uncertainty because less information is available, there is less
liquidity or due to greater sensitivity to changes in market conditions
(social, political and economic conditions).
Some emerging markets offer less security than the majority of international developed markets. For this reason, services for portfolio transactions, liquidation and conservation on behalf of funds invested in emerging markets may carry greater risk.
Britain’s economy entered a shallow recession last year, official figures confirmed on Thursday, leaving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with a challenge to reassure voters that the economy is safe with him before an election expected later this year.
Gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter and by 0.3 per cent in the fourth, unchanged from preliminary estimates, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday.
The figures will be disappointing for Mr. Sunak, who has been accused by the opposition Labour Party – far ahead in opinion polls – of overseeing “Rishi’s recession.”
“The weak starting point for GDP this year means calendar-year growth in 2024 is likely to be limited to less than 1 per cent,” said Martin Beck, chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club.
“However, an acceleration in momentum this year remains on the cards.”
Britain’s economy has shown signs of starting 2024 on a stronger footing, with monthly GDP growth of 0.2 per cent in January, and unofficial surveys suggesting growth continued in February and March.
Tax cuts announced by finance minister Jeremy Hunt and expectations of interest-rate cuts are likely to help the economy in 2024.
However, Britain remains one of the slowest countries to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of last year, its economy was just 1 per cent bigger than in late 2019, with only Germany faring worse among Group of Seven nations.
The economy grew just 0.1 per cent in all of 2023, its weakest performance since 2009, excluding the peak-pandemic year of 2020.
GDP per person, which has not grown since early 2022, fell by 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter and 0.7 per cent across 2023.
Sterling was little changed against the dollar and the euro after the data release.
The Bank of England (BOE) has said inflation is moving toward the point where it can start cutting rates. It expects the economy to grow by just 0.25 per cent this year, although official budget forecasters expect a 0.8-per-cent expansion.
BOE policy maker Jonathan Haskel said in an interview reported in Thursday’s Financial Times that rate cuts were “a long way off,” despite dropping his advocacy of a rise at last week’s meeting.
Thursday’s figures from the ONS also showed 0.7 per cent growth in households’ real disposable income, flat in the previous quarter.
Thomas Pugh, an economist at consulting firm RSM, said the increase could prompt consumers to increase their spending and support the economy.
“Consumer confidence has been improving gradually over the last year … as the impact of rising real wages filters through into people’s pockets, even though consumers remain cautious overall,” Mr. Pugh said.
Britain’s current account deficit totalled £21.18-billion ($36.21-billion) in the fourth quarter, slightly narrower than a forecast of £21.4-billion ($36.6-billion) shortfall in a Reuters poll of economists, and equivalent to 3.1 per cent of GDP, up from 2.7 per cent in the third quarter.
The underlying current account deficit, which strips out volatile trade in precious metals, expanded to 3.9 per cent of GDP.
Falling fertility rates could bring about a transformational demographic shift over the next 25 years.
It has been described as a demographic catastrophe.
The Lancet medical journal warns that a majority of countries do not have a high enough fertility rate to sustain their population size by the end of the century.
The rate of the decline is uneven, with some developing nations seeing a baby boom.
The shift could have far-reaching social and economic impacts.
Enormous population growth since the industrial revolution has put enormous pressure on the planet’s limited resources.
So, how does the drop in births affect the economy?
And regulators in the United States and the European Union crack down on tech monopolies.
Lack of business investment is the main culprit. Canadians are digging holes with shovels while our competitors are buying excavators
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Published Mar 28, 2024 • 5 minute read
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It speaks to the seriousness of the situation that the Bank of Canada is not so much taking the gloves off as slipping lead into them.
Senior deputy governor, Carolyn Rogers, came as close to wading into the political arena as any senior deputy governor of the central bank probably should in her speech in Halifax this week.
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But she was right to sound the alarm about a subject — Canada’s waning productivity — on which the federal government’s performance has been lacklustre at best.
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Productivity has fallen in six consecutive quarters and is now on a par with where it was seven years ago.
Lack of business investment is the main culprit.
In essence, Canadians are digging holes with shovels while many of our competitors are buying excavators.
“You’ve seen those signs that say, ‘in emergency, break glass.’ Well, it’s time to break the glass,” Rogers said.
She was explicit that government policy is partly to blame, pointing out that businesses need more certainty to invest with confidence. Government incentives and regulatory approaches that change year to year do not inspire confidence, she said.
The government’s most recent contribution to the competitiveness file — Bill C-56, which made a number of competition-related changes — is a case in point. It was aimed at cracking down on “abusive practices” in the grocery industry that no one, including the bank in its own study, has been able to substantiate. Rather than encouraging investment, it added a political actor — the minister of industry — to the market review process. The Business Council of Canada called the move “capricious,” which was Rogers’s point.
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While blatant price-fixing is rare, the lack of investment is a product of the paucity of competition in many sectors, where Canadian companies protected from foreign competition are sitting on fat profit margins and don’t feel compelled to invest to make their operations more efficient. “Competition can make the whole economy more productive,” said Rogers.
Using the Monopoly board game as a prop, Williams, the party’s critic for pan-Canadian trade and competition, claims that in every sector, monopolies and oligopolies reign supreme, resulting in lower investment, lower productivity, higher prices, worse service, lower wages and more wealth inequality.
Williams said that Canadians pay among the highest cell phone prices in the world and that Rogers, Telus and Bell are the priciest carriers, bar none. The claim has some foundation: in a recent Cable.co.uk global league table that compared the average price of one gigabyte, Canada was ranked 216th of 237 countries at US$5.37 (noticeably, the U.S. was ranked even more expensive at US$6).
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Williams noted that two airlines control 80 per cent of the market, even though Air Canada was ranked dead last of all North American airlines for timeliness.
He pointed out that six banks control 87 per cent of Canada’s mortgage market, while five grocery stores — Sobeys, Metro, Loblaw, Walmart and Costco — command a similar dominance of the grocery market.
“Competition is dying in Canada,” Williams said. “The federal government has made things worse by over-regulating airlines, banks and telecoms to actually protect monopolies and keep new players out.”
So far, so good.
The Conservatives will “bring back home a capitalist economy” — a market that does not protect monopolies and creates more competition, in the form of Canadian companies that will provide new supply and better prices.
That sounds great. But at the same time, the Conservative formula for fixing things appears to involve more government intervention, not less.
Williams pointed out the Conservatives opposed RBC buying HSBC’s Canadian operations, WestJet buying Sunwing and Rogers buying Shaw. The party would oppose monopolies from buying up the competition, he said.
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The real solution is to let the market do its work to bring prices down. But that is a more complicated process than Williams lets on.
Back in 2007, when Research in Motion was Canada’s most valuable company, the Harper government appointed a panel of experts, led by former Nortel chair Lynton “Red” Wilson, to address concerns that the corporate sector was being “hollowed out” by foreign takeovers, following the sale of giants Alcan, Dofasco and Inco.
The “Compete to Win” report that came out in June 2008 found that the number of foreign-owned firms had remained relatively unchanged, but recommended 65 changes to make Canada more competitive.
The Harper government acted on the least-contentious suggestions: lowering corporate taxes, harmonizing sales taxes with a number of provinces and making immigration more responsive to labour markets.
But it did not end up liberalizing the banking, broadcasting, aviation or telecom markets, as the report suggested (ironically, it was a Liberal transport minister, Marc Garneau, who raised foreign ownership levels of air carriers to 49 per cent from 25 per cent in 2018).
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The point is, Canada has a competition problem but solving it requires taking on vested interests. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has indicated he is willing to do that, calling corporate lobbyists “utterly useless” and saying he will focus on Canadian workers, not corporate interests.
“My daily obsession will be about what is good for the working-class people in this country,” he said in Vancouver earlier this month.
Even opening up sectors to foreign competition is no guarantee that investors will come. There are no foreign ownership restrictions in the grocery market (in addition to the five supermarkets listed above, there is Amazon-owned Whole Foods). When the Competition Bureau concluded last year that there was a “modest but meaningful” increase in food prices, it recommended Ottawa encourage a foreign-owned player to enter the Canadian market. It was a recommendation adopted by Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, to no avail thus far.
But it is clear from the Bank’s warning that the Canadian economy requires some shock treatment.
Robert Scrivener, the chairman of Bell and Northern Telecom in the 1970s, called Canada a nation of overprotected underachievers. That is even more true now than it was back then.
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