Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to HSBC Global Viewpoint, the podcast series that brings together business leaders and industry experts to explore the latest global insights, trends, and opportunities.
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Speaker: This podcast was recorded for publication on the 1st of August 2024 by HSBC Global Research.
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Speaker: Hello, I'm Piers Butler, and welcome to the Macrobrief.
Speaker: We're getting closer to the summer break here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Speaker: And as the sun comes out, our ESG team has started to publish their summer series, which looks at sustainability issues in places that you might not have thought about.
Speaker: We're joined by three members of the ESG team here in London, Yurina Kobel, Amy Tyler, and Jay Hingarani, to discuss some of the highlights.
Speaker: Yurina, Amy and Jay, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker: Thanks for having us.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: So, Amy, perhaps you could kick us off by giving us a little bit of background to this summer series.
Speaker: It was very popular last year, so we have done it again this year, and it is looking at sustainability issues in less obvious places.
Speaker: And we expect these issues could grow to become bigger trends into the future.
Speaker: So one of the first papers written in the series was on live music and concerts.
Speaker: Jay, you contributed to that paper.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: So we looked at the sustainability footprint of live music festivals, and we found that contrary to what most people believe, it's not so much about the waste that's generated.
Speaker: In fact, more of the sustainability footprint is accounted for by the travel, both
Speaker: before the concert actually happens and after, and also the energy used at the concert.
Speaker: And one of the other interesting aspects of the paper was that there are environmental implications to streaming music.
Speaker: Yes, exactly.
Speaker: Streaming is something that a lot of people don't realize also has a substantial carbon footprint, and a lot of it is tough to measure because of different measurement standards across different countries.
Speaker: But Urena did work on that quite a bit, so I'd like to throw it over to her.
Speaker: Urena.
Speaker: Yes, sure.
Speaker: Actually, it was interesting because when people think about streaming, they think about data centers and emissions from data centers.
Speaker: But in fact, it's the user devices that make up the largest portion of the carbon footprint of music streaming, just over 50%.
Speaker: So everyone can adopt more climate-friendly practices by, for example, listening music on smaller devices to emit less CO2 or, for example, downloading their favourite songs and playing them from storage, just basically to use less of battery capacity.
Speaker: Yeah, I like the thought of that.
Speaker: And coming back to concerts, Amy, I'm led to believe that you went to Glastonbury?
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: The absolutely massive festival.
Speaker: What was that like?
Speaker: It was great, thank you.
Speaker: We had a lot of sunshine.
Speaker: But writing on this, it definitely makes you think about the way you travel to the festival.
Speaker: And there was a lot of beer consumed?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And there are some environmental points around that.
Speaker: Yurina, you contribute to one of the series on that.
Speaker: Yes, indeed, climate change affects the taste of beer.
Speaker: So rising temperatures associated with climate change, they are heating the beer world by decreasing the alpha acid content in hops.
Speaker: and alpha acids levels, they are key to beer's signature bitter taste and flavor.
Speaker: And considering the shift in consumer preferences towards more flavored beer, this is a real question.
Speaker: How the beer companies are going to meet the demand?
Speaker: You know, what measures can be taken?
Speaker: Is it more about building irrigation systems?
Speaker: Is it more about building some protective shading?
Speaker: Or maybe we will see a shift away from traditional hop-groving regions towards more
Speaker: cooler climate locations.
Speaker: Think Norway, think Finland.
Speaker: And talking about water, there was a report that was entitled Flash Droughts.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Jay, what was that about?
Speaker: Well, a flash drought, by definition, is a period of time with persistent water deficit.
Speaker: And if you want to think about sort of being on holiday and all of a sudden, you know, high temperatures,
Speaker: and high winds and so on contribute to just a lack of water and local authorities have to ration it.
Speaker: So that really could put a damper, pardon the pun, on your holiday.
Speaker: It's things like that that were explored in this note and there are a lot of economic impacts from flash droughts going beyond just water usage to also agriculture in regions.
Speaker: And in fact, it sort of ties in with one of the papers from last year's series, which was tourism in a changing climate, that in fact, there is this aspect of too many tourists in one place in one go, it really strains the local infrastructure.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: In fact, on the music note, we also found that, you know, if you take a country like Spain, for example, that tourism accounts for almost double the global average on their emissions.
Speaker: So, you know,
Speaker: This is a country where not only do they have high tourism, but they also have a lot of concerts and tours.
Speaker: And that's sort of a double whammy if you think about it.
Speaker: But thanks for bringing up last year's notes.
Speaker: I think there were a fair few interesting ones.
Speaker: They were indeed.
Speaker: Quite a series is building up.
Speaker: Maybe we could finish by each of you telling me which was your favorite one so far.
Speaker: Amy.
Speaker: Oh, from last year, I'd definitely say coffee is up there, as I consume a lot of coffee.
Speaker: Don't tell me I've got to stop drinking coffee because I'm in real trouble.
Speaker: Maybe the way you consume it would be the answer.
Speaker: And also surfing and sunscreen.
Speaker: There's some sustainability issues there that weren't so obvious.
Speaker: What about you, Irina?
Speaker: I think ice cream, because I love ice cream.
Speaker: I make my own ice cream at home as well.
Speaker: So I think it's great to learn how we can all enjoy ice cream in a more sustainable way.
Speaker: And Jay?
Speaker: And if I could sustain my love for wine, I would gladly do so.
Speaker: That was my favorite from last year, of course, for this year, both the music and the flash drop ones.
Speaker: I'm being biased, I know, but those are my favorites.
Speaker: The one I found most fascinating was the one about edible insects.
Speaker: And I confessed I haven't taken the encouragement to eat edible insects yet, but they may come a time.
Speaker: But all of you, I wanted to thank you for joining us today on the podcast and giving us, no pun intended, a flavor of this summer series.
Speaker: There's more to come, so watch out for that.
Speaker: And thank you for joining.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you.
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Speaker: It's been a busy week for central banks across the globe.
Speaker: The Federal Reserve kept rates on hold, but opened the door for a rate cut in September.
Speaker: The Bank of England did commence their easing cycle, with a 25 basis point reduction.
Speaker: And in Asia, the Bank of Japan raised rates for only the second time in 17 years.
Speaker: taking the policy rate from 0.1 to 0.25%.
Speaker: In Latin America, Colombia's central bank delivered a cut, while Brazil and Chile stayed on hold.
Speaker: Elsewhere in global research, our equity strategy team has looked at what they think is an overlooked solution to Asia's demographic problem, the role of women.
Speaker: Smarter labor policies, more access to education, better training, and improvements in employment opportunities could mobilize over 300 million additional female workers, boosting productivity and growth.
Speaker: The report identifies four investable themes and stocks that could benefit.
Speaker: And finally, our currency team has just published the latest edition of the Emerging Markets FX Roadmap.
Speaker: They argue that while the top-down setting for EM currencies is not promising, there are some forces that could slow the pace of their decline.
Speaker: If you'd like more details on anything that we've talked about today, please email askresearch at hsbc.com.
Speaker: And don't forget that if you're a client of HSBC Global Research, you can download our mobile app.
Speaker: So that wraps things up for today.
Speaker: From all of us here, thanks for listening.
Speaker: We'll be back again next week.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us at HSBC Global Viewpoint.
Speaker: We hope you enjoyed the discussion.
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