Politics

WHAT'S NEXT?: Break up of traditional political structures is on the cards in many parts of the world as technology brings challenges to slow and bureaucratic decision-making. New forms of more agile democratic structures are likely to emerge.

[New] The UK government is facing legal action over Boris Johnson's moonshot project, which could involve up to £100bn being spent on an attempt to increase Covid-19 testing capacity to 10m per day.
[New] The CBI has launched a Green Recovery Roadmap, which calls on the UK government to take ambitious steps nationally and use the rest of the year to reignite global efforts to achieve net-zero by 2050.
[New] In 2020, the Japanese government began offering tax incentives to incentivize network service providers to invest in secure 5G infrastructure and mitigate supply-chain risks.
[New] The World Bank estimates that connecting every African business, individual and government to digital technologies by 2030 can boost growth by up to 2% per year, and reduce poverty by 1% per year.
[New] More recently, in the first semester of 2020, COVID-19-related disruptions to the local markets and trade, already hampered by the lingering impact of the prolonged conflict, provided further support, as did the lower imports due to the border screening implemented by the Government of Uganda.
[New] South Korea's LNG imports are projected to rise over the outlook period to reach 43 million tonnes by 2025, driven by supportive government policies.
Today, China's Huawei, whose equipment powers many of the UK's mobile services warned of an £18.2 billion ($23.5 billion) hit to the UK economy as a result of the recent government decision to ban it on security grounds.
As the 2020 presidential election draws closer, advanced persistent threat actors operating with tacit backing from the Russian government are ramping up cyber attacks on organisations in the US right on schedule.
Mining coal for thermal power is now being phased out by the UK government by 2024, but Banks Group has continued to try to push through plans for metallurgical coal - coking coal for steel - for industrial use.
A new report has called on the UK Government to secure a windfall of the emerging digital climate tech sector by embracing low-carbon innovation through policy measures - a move which could help slash emissions and add billions to the UK economy.
The Indonesian government is expected to limit annual production at lower levels over the outlook period, in order to safeguard coal reserves for future use.
To help drive the consistent adoption of social value across central government, a new social value framework developed by the Cabinet Office is due to be released in summer 2020 and will give social value a mandatory minimum weighting of 10% in all government contract awards going forward.
The UK government will spend GBP 6849.9 million towards national infrastructure and construction pipeline project in communication sector which will create a huge market for thick film devices.
With increased expenditures and decreased tax revenues, the debt owed by the US federal government is expected to exceed the GDP of the US in 2021.
In addition to there being fewer high-profile stories in the news in 2020, platforms have been publicly discussing the steps they plan to take or are taking to prevent or mitigate the harms their users experience, and the UK government has made several announcements around Online Harms regulation.
The UK government has announced that it will be providing a £27m green loan to the Ghanaian government to support the adoption of solar energy to sterilise potable water for rural communities, utilising technology from UK-based firm Aqua Africa.
The UK government should set legally-binding targets to reduce single-use plastics by 50% by 2025, and introduce mandatory corporate reporting on plastic reduction, in order to create a level playing field for all sections of the grocery industry.
The German government supports a European initiative to make the EU climate neutral by 2050, which if enacted would translate into more ambitious climate targets for Germany.
The amount of debt held by the U.S. government by the end of 2020 will roughly equal the size of the American economy, and will surpass it in 2021.
The Indian government has been promoting use of electric vehicles (EVs) in India with a goal of reaching 30% EV penetration by 2030.
In March 2019, the UK Government added to the Buildings Mission by committing to introduce a Future Homes Standard by 2025, for new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world leading levels of energy efficiency.
Canada faces huge hurdles in meeting its target of reducing greenhouse gases from 2005 levels by 30% by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, as pledged by the Liberal government.

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Last updated: 23 September 2020