‘Fat Cat Tuesday’ as top bosses’ pay overtakes UK workers
Top UK bosses will have earned more money by the end of Tuesday than the average worker will do in a year, campaign group the High Pay Centre has claimed. The think tank has declared the day ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’, based on chief executives earning £5 million a year, compared with the median UK salary of £27,645. The calculations were criticised as “pub economics, not serious analysis” by the Adam Smith Institute. “None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves,” said the institute’s executive director, Sam Bowman. Nonetheless, High Pay Centre director Stefan Stern said its figures raised doubts about the effectiveness of government efforts to curb top pay. “Overpayment at the top is fuelling distrust of business,” he said. (BBC)
China Telecom boss Chang Xiaobing quits amid corruption crackdown
Chang Xiaobing quit as chairman and chief executive of China Telecom after his detention by Beijing authorities this week for “severe disciplinary violations”. The boss of one of China’s biggest companies has become the latest target of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption. Yang Jie, executive director, president and chief operating officer of the company, will take over until a permanent replacement for Chang was found, China Telecom said. A succession of business figures have been detained in recent months as Xi’s attempts to root out corruption intensifies. The brief and as yet unexplained detention of Guo Guangchang, a billionaire tycoon some call China’s Warren Buffett, this month has sent shockwaves through the international business community. (Guardian)
Tax
Apple agrees to settle Italian tax dispute
Apple has agreed to pay €318 million to settle a tax dispute with Italian authorities after the iPhone and iPad maker was investigated for suspected fraud. The US technology giant’s Italian subsidiary and several of its senior executives had been under investigation for fraud over its alleged failure to comply with obligations to declare its earnings in Italy between 2008 and 2013. According to Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, Apple Italia should have paid corporation tax of €880 million for the period. But, after months of negotiations, the tax authorities agreed to close the case in return for about a third of that amount. Apple Italia is part of the company’s European operation which is headquartered in Ireland, a country with one of the lowest levels of corporation tax in the EU. This month, the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, described accusations that the world’s richest company was sidestepping US taxes by stashing cash overseas as “political crap” and insisted: “We pay every tax dollar we owe.” (Guardian)
Energy
China to close 1,000 coal mines, ban new ones until at least 2019
China has announced it will “in principle” block any new proposed coal mines until at least 2019, while output at existing operations will continue to be cut during 2016. The move, which according to state media will see the world’s largest consumer of coal close over 1,000 existing mines this year alone, is in response to faltering demand for coal, low prices, and increasing public concern over the country’s air pollution crisis. One study released last year linked air pollution to 1.6 million deaths in China each year, equal to almost 4,500 per day. According to state-run news agency Xinhua News, China now intends to source 13.2 per cent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources, compared with around 12 per cent in 2015, cranking up further pressure on the country’s coal industry. (BusinessGreen)
Climate change could dry up global power production, study warns
Hydro- and thermo-electric power plants are vulnerable to dwindling rivers and reservoirs as the planet warms, according to a new study. Thousands of power plants around the world may face severe reductions in their ability to generate electricity by mid-century due to water shortages, according to this new research. These technologies, which provide 98% of global electricity supply, depend on water to cool generators and pump power at dams. Lower river levels and warmer water temperatures could reduce their capacity to generate by as much as 86% in thermo-electric- and 74% in hydro plants. It comes as water demand for power generation is set to double within the next 40 years, the report said. Global warming is set to boost river levels in Canada, India and central Africa as global weather patterns shift. Yet most hydroplants are in regions forecast to see shortages, like South America, which generates almost two-thirds of its electricity from hydro. (Guardian)
Image source: Pound Coins by William Warby / CC BY 2.0
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