25 Jul AGM SHOWDOWN; THE END OF CARBON CREDITS?
AGM SHOWDOWN
The benefits of hybrid AGMs are clear – shareholders can attend physically or virtually despite geographic distance, health concerns or time constraints. However, federal Labor is considering making virtual-only AGMs permanent…
Enter Geoff Wilson, veteran fund manager, and his 130,000 strong investor army to stop this extreme shift. Wilson argues that hybrid AGMs are critical in maintaining shareholder rights and transparency, and that a shift to virtual-only would negatively impact these meetings.
Amongst rising tensions, the Australian Institute of Company Directors (ACID) shared that the legislation for virtual AGMs should not “impose minimum expectations that are overly prescriptive”, rather, companies should make the decisions reflecting the wants of their shareholders.
THE END OF CARBON CREDITS?
The UN’s firm stance against carbon credits will force companies to seek alternative methods to curb their emissions, according to the Financial Times (FT).
A UN draft policy document, obtained by the FT and initiated by Secretary-General António Guterres and his task force, stresses the importance of genuine emission reductions over purchasing offsets as oil, gas, and technology companies across the globe increasingly rely on the carbon trading market to fulfil climate promises to stakeholders.
“Carbon credits used cannot be counted as their [polluters’] own emission reductions” outside of state-regulated schemes, the task force wrote in the document obtained by the FT.
DIGITAL WORKERS, REAL CONCERNS
Is the world ready for AI co-workers? Sarah Franklin, CEO of Lattice, a human resources platform, said yes and announced plans of integrating AI avatars, otherwise known as ‘digital workers’, into the company. These digital workers were likely to be treated as staff and even assigned goals and KPI’s.
Met with fierce backlash, where comments of “disrespectful” and “terrifying” were posted online, Franklin quickly suspended these plans despite their initial excitement.
These responses mirror critical sentiment around the integration of AI in the workplace – despite AI possessing undeniable benefits, working side by side with a digital worker may cause more harm than good.
Feel free to share these updates with colleagues or friends. They can sign up here to receive our daily newsletter.