UN Secretary General António Guterres has called fossil fuel firms the “grandfathers of climate chaos” and argues that advertising limits like those imposed on tobacco should be applied to the fossil fuel industry as well. Unlike tobacco, energy is a demand inelastic necessity. Consumers do not buy gasoline because of a commercial, they buy gas because they need it and choose from amongst different suppliers. Under his logic, stopping defense contractors from advertising will end war, and increasing food commercials will stop hunger. Guterres probably expects newly elected Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to stop her countries oil production since she is a climate scientist. But the policies that have caused Mex...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.