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Glyphosate licence extended another five years by EU
 Glyphosate, the key ingredient in the world’s bestselling weedkiller, has won a new five-year lease in Europe, closing the most bitterly fought pesticide relicensing battle of recent times.

The herbicide’s licence had been due to run out in less than three weeks, raising the prospect of Monsanto’s Roundup disappearing from store shelves and, potentially, a farmers’ revolt.

Instead, an EU appeal committee voted on Monday to reauthorise the substance despite a petition by 1.3 million EU citizens last week calling for a ban.

In 2015, the World Health Organisation’s cancer agency, the IARC, famously declared glyphosate “probably carcinogenic to humans,” although several international agencies, including Efsa, subsequently came to opposite conclusions. Monsanto insists glyphosate is safe.

The EU health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: “Today’s vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision making.”

However, the approval falls far short of the 15-year licence the commission had originally sought and Conservative MEPs lashed out at what they called “an emotional, irrational but politically convenient fudge”.

Ashley Fox, the Conservative party’s delegation leader in the European parliament, said that the vote “simply prolongs the uncertainty for our farmers, who are being badly let down. They cannot plan for the future without long term assurances about the availability of substances they rely on.”

A re-run of the struggle to reauthorise glyphosate will now begin again in two years’ time, with a new safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa).

Greenpeace EU food policy director, Franziska Achterberg, commented: “The people who are supposed to protect us from dangerous pesticides have failed to do their jobs and betrayed the trust Europeans place in them.”

The Green party called it “a dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment”.

Chris Portier, an advisor to IARC in its glyphosate decision, told the Guardian that, in his view, the EU decision was scientifically unsound.

“The guidelines maintained by ECHA [the European chemical agency] would easily classify this compound as a group 1B carcinogen and, as such, it should be banned for use in Europe,” he said.

The row over glyphosate has raised questions over modern farming techniques, regulatory capture and scientific independence, as well as the safety of ubiquitous pesticides.

Traces of glyphosate are routinely found in tests of foodstuffs, water, topsoil, and human urine in amounts way above safe limits set by regulators. Ben & Jerry’s recently introduced a new line of organic ice cream, in a bid to sate public concern.

Campaigners say Monsanto ghostwrote research papers for regulators, enlisted EPA officials to block a US government review of glyphosate and formed front groups to discredit critical scientists and journalists, citing documents revealed in a US lawsuit by non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma sufferers.

More than 280 similar lawsuits are now pending against Monsanto, according to the US right to know campaign.

But the enzyme-blocking chemical has also become a mainstay of modern agricultural techniques that farmers’ unions see as environmentally friendly, even as critics condemn it as a “pesticide treadmill” of danger to plants, animals and people.

Monsanto argues that, as a no-till system, glyphosate lowers carbon emissions and protects soil quality. The company declined to comment on today’s result, deferring to farmers’ groups.

Guy Smith, vice-president of the National Farmers Union, said: “Today’s decision will be welcomed by farmers who have watched with growing concern as what should have been a straightforward decision has become increasingly political.”

“Glyphosate reduces the need to use other herbicides, it helps to protect soil and cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for ploughing, and it enables farmers in this country to grow crops that help produce safe, affordable, high-quality British food.”

Output: Glyphosate, the central component of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, has been granted a new five-year lease by the European Union (EU). The licence, which was due to run out in under three weeks, had been the source of an ongoing dispute between regulators, health organisations, and the public. In 2015, the World Health Organisation found that the chemical was “probably carcinogenic to humans”, but other international groups opposed this finding and Monsanto insisted its product was safe. Last week, an appeal committee ignored a petition by 1.3 million EU citizens and relicensed the pesticide.


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Climate change is increasing the number of child brides in Africa
 It was the flood that ensured that Ntonya Sande’s first year as a teenager would also be the first year of her married life. Up to the moment the water swept away her parents’ field in Kachaso in the Nsanje district of Malawi, they had been scraping a living. Afterwards they were reduced to scavenging for bits of firewood to sell.

So when a young man came to their door and asked for the 13-year old’s hand in marriage, the couple didn’t think about it for too long, lest he look elsewhere. Ntonya begged them to change their minds. She was too young, she pleaded. She didn’t want to leave. But it was to no avail. Her parents sat her down and spelled it out for her: the weather had changed and taken everything from them. There was not enough food to go around. They couldn’t afford another mouth at the table.

That night she lay down in bed for the first time with the man she had never seen before and followed the instructions of her aunt, who had coached her on the important matter of sex. Ten months later, she gave birth to their first daughter.

Around 1.5 million girls in Malawi are at risk of getting married because of climate change. That’s a huge number

Everyone has their own idea of what climate change looks like. For some, it’s the walrus struggling to find space on melting ice floes on Blue Planet II. For others, it’s an apocalyptic vision of cities disappearing beneath the waves. But for more and more girls across Africa, the most palpable manifestation of climate change is the baby in their arms as they sit watching their friends walk to school. The Brides of the Sun reporting project, funded by the European Journalism Centre, set out to try to assess the scale of what many experts are warning is a real and growing crisis: the emergence of a generation of child brides as a direct result of a changing climate.

And time and again, in villages from the south of Malawi to the east coast of Mozambique, the child brides and their parents told an increasingly familiar story. In recent years they had noticed the temperatures rising, the rains becoming less predictable and coming later and sometimes flooding where there had not been flooding before. Families that would once have been able to afford to feed and educate several children reported that they now faced an impossible situation.

None of the villages had any way of recording the changes scientifically, or indeed felt any urge to do so. All they knew was that the weather had changed and that where they used to be able to pay for their girls to go through school now they couldn’t. And the only solution was for one or more daughters to get married.

Sometimes it was the parents who made the decision. For the good of the rest of the family, a daughter had to be sacrificed. She would be taken out of school and found a husband, one less mouth to feed. Sometimes it was the girl herself who made the decision and forced it upon her parents. Unhappy, hungry, she hoped that a husband might be the answer.

Fatima Mussa, 16 and nine months pregnant, lives in Nataka, in the district of Larde, near the coast in eastern Mozambique

Carlina Nortino (main image, first left) sits with her husband, Horacio, in the dry sand that is all that is left of the river that once flowed past the village of Nataka in the Larde district of Nampula province, on the east coast of Mozambique. From the ground, there is nothing to see of the river. But a drone camera sent up to hover above reveals the ghost of the river, a darker line of green growth winding its way across the plain.

Carlina is 15, Horacio 16. They married when she was 13, two years after the river disappeared, she says.

“I remember when I saw people here fishing. I used to sell the fish, I took it from the fishermen and went to sell it to the village. There was water everywhere. I remember seeing Horacio with the other fishermen. But without rain, the fish died.”

Her family used to harvest as many as 20 50kg bags of cassava. Today it is down to one or two bags. She blames the lack of rain.

Horacio looks across to where the river once ran. “I can’t fish any more because the fish don’t have water any more. The water disappeared. Now I do agriculture. Before, the rain started in September and came regularly until March. Now the rain only comes in January and February and that’s it.”

Carlina had dreamed of becoming a midwife: school was the most important part of her life. “It was never my desire to get married at that young age. I wanted to go to school. But I was forced to by my father. The family didn’t have enough food to survive. So my father accepted the proposal because he couldn’t support me to go to school.”

She give birth to their first child, a boy, earlier this year. There were problems from the start. The family could not afford to go to a hospital with an incubator and the child died. “I am sure that if my father and my husband weren’t that poor, my son would be alive,” she says.

It wasn’t his choice to marry her off, says her father, Carlitos Camilo. The 49-year-old used to support his family through fishing and farming. Then the weather changed and there was no more fish. “If I was able to feed my children, I wouldn’t have pushed her to get married so young. Look at my other daughters, they grew up, they went to school, they got married at a normal age.”

In 2015 the United Nations Population Fund estimated that 13.5 million children would marry under the age of 18 in that year alone – 37,000 child marriages every day – including 4.4 million married before they were 15. Across the whole of Africa, Unicef warned in 2015 that the total number of child brides could more than double to 310 million by 2050 if current trends continue.

There are many reasons for children marrying young. In some societies, it is regarded as simply practical; when children reach puberty, sexual behaviour starts to carry with it the risk of pregnancy. Elsewhere, poverty is the driver: when parents cannot afford to feed several children, it tends to be the girls who have to go.

But set against that is a growing awareness of the issue and a stated desire by governments to tackle it. Malawi made it illegal to marry below the age of 18 in 2015 and wrote it into its constitution this year. The rate of child marriage should be falling. Yet it persists. In Mozambique the number of child brides is actually rising as a result of the growing population. Something else has entered the equation.

Little girls fetch water in Kachaso village, Nsanje district, Malawi. Extreme poverty in the region may compel them to marry before they’re ready.

The new factor is climate change, says Mac Bain Mkandawire, executive director of Youth Net and Counselling, which campaigns for the rights of women and children from its base in Zomba, Malawi.

“We do not have detailed figures, but I would say 30% to 40% of child marriages in Malawi are due to the floods and droughts caused by climate change,” he says. There are no detailed figures, he explains, because no one has previously thought to connect the two issues and to ask the right questions.

“Given that there are about 4 or 5 million girls at risk of getting married in Malawi, around 1.5 million girls are at risk of getting married because of climate change related events. That is a huge number.”

The published figures may underestimate the scale of the problem because many marriages are informal affairs, not officially recorded. Often they are simply an agreement between two families, or if there are no parents then between the boy and the girl themselves. Sometimes a small dowry is paid by the husband or his family.

That’s how it was for Filomena Antonio. She was 15 when 21-year-old Momande Churute approached her father, Antonio, and offered him 2,000 Mozambican meticals (£25) to marry his daughter.

Antonio Momade Jamal is 50. He has lived in Moma in Nampula province, all his life. He started fishing in 1985 when it was still a profitable business. Back then, buyers used to come from the city of Nampula to compete for the catch. Then the weather started to change.

“We see that it’s too hot. We talk about that and we all agree that it’s difficult to catch enough fish because of these high temperatures,” he says. “In the areas where we used to go, the sea level is rising and the waves are much stronger.”

He thought Filomena too young to marry but he felt he had little choice and when Momande offered to support her to stay in school, he agreed. He says he is not the only one.

“I’ve seen other neighbours who, because they are struggling, let their daughters get married. I have five other kids who go to secondary school. I have two other daughters, one of 13, another of 11. If a man came to ask for their hand, I would think about it, I would consider it. This man could help me support not only my daughter, but also help my other kids continue their education.”

Filomena sits next to him, listening. She appears to have accepted her fate as long as it means she can go off to study in the city. She wants to be a nurse.

“We met here in the neighbourhood and he asked me to be with him,” she says, indicating Momande. “I liked him. I thought he was a beautiful man.”

Its course still visible from the air, the river in Nataka, Larde district, Mozambique was a vital source of fish and water for irrigation until the rains became unreliable and the river dried up.

She told him he had to ask her father’s permission. “My father accepted because he had poor conditions, so he believed that my husband could support me to go to school. I accepted because my father allowed me to. Since my father is poor, I thought I would get married so that my husband would help me. I believe that if my father had kept doing well with the fishing, he wouldn’t have accepted the proposal because then he could afford my education, the school fees, my books.”

Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest countries, with almost 70% of its 28 million people living below the poverty line. It is particularly vulnerable to climate change: the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment warns that “climate-related hazards such as droughts, floods and cyclones are occurring with increasing frequency”.

The legal age of marriage is 18 (16 with parental consent) but still Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with nearly one in two girls married by the age of 18 and one in seven by 15. The highest rates of child marriage are found in the northern provinces, including Nampula, which also has the highest number of adolescent pregnancies.

Fatima Mussa is 16, and nine months pregnant. She hadn’t really wanted to get married. On the other hand, her father could no longer afford to keep her. She married 18-year-old Priorino Antonio last year when she was 15 after he approached her father in the village of Nataka, in Nampula province, and offered him 2,000 meticals. There was no ceremony.

“My father said ‘I would have never considered allowing my daughter to marry now, because she is young. But she will marry because I don’t have enough money to send her to secondary school.’ I didn’t want to get married at such a young age, but I didn’t know what to do, since I couldn’t go to school. So I saw an opportunity to marry someone who could maybe improve my life a little bit.”

Across the border in Malawi, nearly half the country’s girls are married by the age of 18 and nearly one in 10 by age 15, leaving Malawi ranked by Unicef as the 11th worst country in the world for child marriage. The legal age of marriage was raised to 18 in 2015 but there have been no reports of any prosecutions.

Poverty is the key factor, increasingly driven by climate change. The International Monetary Fund says that 70% of the 19 million population live below the poverty line, and 25% live in extreme poverty: “Considering that a significant number of the non-poor in rural areas are highly vulnerable to weather shocks, the poverty rate is – if anything – expected to increase due to the impact of recent floods and drought.”

For Lucy Anusa, it was the drought of 2016 that tipped her over the edge. She was 14, the youngest of three sisters living with their farmer parents in Namalaka, near the southern end of Lake Malawi, when the drought laid waste to their crops.

Lucy Anusa, now a 15-year-old mother, has returned to live with her family near Lake Malawi.

“I met this man who proposed to get married. I had to accept despite the fact that my parents kept telling me good things about education. But I opted for marriage given the way things were at home.”

Her parents were unhappy, but she was too stubborn. Only when she became pregnant and the husband turned her out of their home did she start to regret her decision.

Now 15, she gave birth to their daughter earlier this year. “My mother had to welcome me back. But she kept reminding me: ‘My daughter, I told you about this. You are too young for marriage. You have a lot of challenges when you go into marriage so young.’”

The changes in the weather are wrong-footing farmers, says Amos Mtonya from Malawi’s department of climate change and meteorological services. “When it starts to rain, they immediately start planting. But then, three weeks later, they realise that everything they planted is dry,” he says. “So to some, giving away their girl child can be a relief. It can also help the husband’s family, since it gets someone to assist with the household chores. Of course tradition plays its role, but climate change will encourage people to get married early.”

The government’s own report on the 2015 floods listed child marriage as one of the side effects, a view shared by the anti-child marriage campaign group Girls Not Brides. “If we don’t act now we risk another generation of childhoods being lost,” says its executive director Lakshmi Sundaram.

Maliya Mapira dropped out of school because a teacher got her pregnant. She was 15 at the time. Her parents are tobacco farmers and the worsening harvests meant they were living hand to mouth. When they discovered who the father was, they wanted Maliya to marry him. “But along the way the teacher was unable to support me, not even the baby. If my parents could have supported me, I would have preferred to continue with education rather than get married. But I didn’t want to put pressure on them. So I just decided to get married to this man to survive.”

But marriage has changed little for her. She and tobacco farmer Maliki Hestone, trying to raise her six-month-old son, Bashiru Akim, face the same problems her parents failed to overcome. “Sometimes, because of the floods, the crops get washed away. At the end of the day, we get very little harvest from it,” she says. “I don’t want to have more children because we are struggling taking care of the one I have. It would just make things more difficult.”

Five hundred miles away, in the courtyard of a house on the edge of Moma, Majuma Julio is stirring a pot of maize, preparing lunch for husband, Juma Momade, who is holding their year-old daughter, Fatima, on his lap.

Majuma Julio, now 17, married at 15 and has a daughter nearly two: ‘I don’t blame anyone. The weather just changed.’

The couple married two years ago when Majuma was 15 and Juma was 19. It’s not what she wanted, Majuma says. But she was staying with an uncle, a farmer, who was paying to support her through school. The weather changed and there was no more money; marriage was the only solution.

“It was because of the sun. There was too much sun and the rain was not falling enough. His production started to decrease three years before the marriage,” says Majuma. “It used to rain for two months, but after a while it started coming less and less. I don’t blame anyone. The weather just changed. My uncle called me and informed me that there was a man who wanted to marry me. I accepted. I didn’t like the idea but I just accepted because I wanted to study.”

Majuma knew that marriage would mean children. But Juma had promised to support her. “Juma and the imam came to my uncle’s house, they did the ceremony and we were married. I am all right now. I feel better than when I was in my uncle’s house because my husband treats me well, I keep going to school, there’s no problem.

“I won’t let my daughter get married at 15 years old. She has to study.”

Up the coast from Moma, administrator Brigi Rupio looks out across the wide blue expanse of the Larde river. “When I arrived here in 2014, there was a house right next to the river,” he says, pointing to where the bank is being undercut by the current. “But in 2015, there were severe floods that destroyed houses and increased the level of the river. Then there was drought. We had areas where we used to produce rice. But because of the dry spells, it’s not possible any more. The weather is changing. Even those who cannot read or write can notice that.”

The young girls taken out of school to marry early can attest to that.

Output: Climate change is causing the emergence of a generation of child brides across Africa, according to research by The Brides of the Sun project. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and floods are leading to food shortages and making it difficult for families to feed and educate all their children, incentivising them to marry their daughters off. In Malawi alone, 1.5 million girls are at risk of marriage due to climate change-related factors. In 2015, Unicef warned that the number of child brides in Africa could double to 310 million by 2050 if current trends continue.


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European Investment Bank lends €50m to Italian wind projects
 The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 150 million (USD 177m) to Italian wind projects with a combined capacity of 165 MW, developed by E2i Energie Speciali.

The bank said today the line of credit, granted to Italian electricity and natural gas producer Edison SpA (BIT:EDN), will finance both new and full refurbishment wind projects in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Campania, Puglia and Sicily. With these, E2i’s portfolio will grow to more than 700 MW.

E2i Energie is a joint venture between Edison and F2i, which is also known as Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture SGR SpA. It will use the EIB funds to complete the eight projects, awarded in the 2016 auction by GSE. Six of the projects are already under construction, while work in Puglia is planned to start later in 2017.

The EIB loan may be deployed in multiple tranches, each having a term of 15 years, and will be available for 24 months.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.18)

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Output: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has lent €150m to Italian natural gas and electricity producer Edison for 165 MW of wind projects. The eight financed projects will form part of E2i Energie's portfolio, a joint venture between Edison and F2i, a private equity firm, bringing the total portfolio to more than 700 MW of capacity. Six projects have already begun construction, with a Puglia project due to start later this year. The loans each have a term of 15 years, being available for two years.


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Atlantis signs lease for 160 MW tidal barrage project in England
 Atlantis Resources Ltd (LON:ARL) has signed heads of terms with the Duchy of Lancaster for an option for the long-term lease of the riverbed for the proposed 160-MW tidal barrage and flood protection project in the Wyre estuary, northwest England.

The tidal power company said today it expects that it will take about three years to secure all needed consents to begin development. Atlantis said it will now work with the Duchy of Lancaster, the Wyre and Lancashire councils, local stakeholders, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the supply chain and investors to advance the project. It has begun discussions with potential development stage investors.

According to the firm, which will be the lead developer of the Wyre project, the scheme could be a pathfinder for similar barrage projects across the UK. Chief executive Tim Cornelius said it "offers a route to low cost, predictable and sustainable domestic electricity supply."

The tidal barrage is forecast to generate almost 300 GWh per year.

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Output: Tidal power firm Atlantis Resources has signed a long-term lease for the riverbed in the Wyre estuary in northwest England with the Duchy of Lancaster. The company plans to develop a 160 MW tidal barrage and flood protection facility, though it will take about three years to gain the appropriate consent. Atlantis will work alongside the Wyre and Lancashire council, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and local stakeholders to complete the project, which is due to generate nearly 300 GWh per year.


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LEDs linked to increasing light pollution
 Story highlights Satellites can pick up less light from LEDs However, as many countries switch to LEDs, they are also adding more lights Light pollution affects many animals as well as human health

CNN —

Artificial lighting at night is contributing to an alarming increase in light pollution, both in amount and in brightness, affecting places all over the world, a new study has found.

Some regions have showed a steady increase in light pollution aligned with economic development, but more developed nations that were thought to be “going dark” by switching to energy-saving LEDs showed no apparent decline in their rates of light pollution.

Globally, there has been a push toward more energy- and cost-efficient light sources, such as LEDs, but this has directly contributed to an alarming increase in light pollution, the researchers believe.

Using the first calibrated satellite radiometer for night lights, which can detect radiance, a team of scientists found a 2.2% increase in the Earth’s outdoor artificial lighting each year between 2012 and 2016.

“I was very surprised by the result of the study, particularly in wealthy well-lit countries like the US,” said Christopher Kyba of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, lead author of the study.

“When we switch from a sodium lamp to a white LED, what we observe is a decrease in the total amount of light that the satellite can see. But what we saw instead for the US was basically a constant amount of light; new lights were added in other places,” he said.

In many other developed countries that are already very bright, the team saw an increase in the total amount of light, despite the fact that many cities appear to be “going dark” by switching to LEDs, Kyba added.

As with the US, some of the world’s brightest countries like Spain, Italy and the Netherlands showed stability in levels of outdoor light over this time frame.

The United States at night as seen by the Suomi NPP satellite in 2012. NASA Earth Observatory

The study also noted a consistent growth in lighting in South America, Africa and Asia, with a few exceptions in regions like Yemen and Syria, which showed a decrease due to escalating conflict and warfare.

The risks from light pollution

The study concluded that a steady increase in the use of energy-efficient lights that are cheap and readily available will result in even more light pollution and a reduction of natural day-night light cycles in areas that still experience them.

Light pollution poses a threat to 30% of vertebrates and more than 60% of invertebrates that are nocturnal, including plants, microorganisms and, most alarmingly, human health, the researchers add.

White LED light has been linked to disruptions in sleep patterns, and the glare is found to affect eyesight.

Last year, the American Medical Association issued an official policy statement about LED street lighting, recommending a radiance and color temperature level less harmful to health.

In August, a Harvard study found an increased risk of breast cancer in women living in neighborhoods with higher outdoor lighting. This was linked to increased brightness at nighttime, as the body expects light during daytime and darkness at night.

The health of birds is also at risk. A study published last month found that high-intensity light in urban areas can alter their behavior in terms of migration, foraging and vocal communication. The impact was especially adverse in nocturnal migrating birds that were used to orienting in darkness and were failing to do so due to light pollution.

Another landmark study published last year found that 83% of the world’s population and more than 99% of the US and European populations were affected by light pollution and could not see the stars at night.

Gareth Jones, professor of biological sciences at the University of Bristol, who was not part of the new study, said it is “an important paper because it uses new and carefully calibrated methods for quantifying light pollution over a wide range of wavelengths at high spatial resolution. The study confirms that light pollution continues to increase and is of global relevance.”

“Although there are benefits in terms of greater energy efficiency associated with changes to new lighting technologies such as LEDs, nevertheless light pollution and its associated risks to human health and biodiversity continue to increase,” Jones added.

The Rebound Effect: How much is too much light?

The arguments for the transition to LEDs include cost-saving and reductions in energy consumption, but this has led to increased demand and greater use of outdoor lighting.

Large cities like Milan appeared to have a decrease in radiance around the city center but an increase in rural areas, which the scientists attributed to the replacement of older lamps with LEDs.

“From energy economics, there’s a phenomenon called The Rebound Effect,” Kyba said: If we have an energy-efficient car, for example, we allow ourselves to live farther from work and thus end up driving more. Though there’s a limit to the amount of time one spends driving, with LED lights, there seems to be no saturation point.

Milan after transition to LED technology in the city center. International Astronomical Union/NASA/ESA

The improved energy efficiency has therefore led to more LED lighting being installed in households and outdoors, Kyba said.

He also highlighted an issue with the way people are using LEDs, which offer features like dimmers that are going unused.

“What is currently happening is that we take take the old lamps out, keep the masts standing and get the new lamp on,” he said. “So we’re not using these amazing ways of using LEDs.”

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He also offered a practical solution to reduce the light being emitted in cities.

“In city centers, we need to completely rethink the way we light by putting people at the center and not cars, which have their own lights,” Kyba said. “We shouldn’t have streetlights anymore. We should have lighting for pedestrians and for the people riding bikes.”

Output: Light pollution is increasing as the low cost and energy consumption of LED lights leads to greater demand and use, according to a study by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. The research, which used the first calibrated radiometer for night lights, discovered a 2.2% increase in global outdoor artificial lighting each year between 2012 and 2016. Light pollution affects wildlife behaviour and has also been linked to sleep disruption and breast cancer in humans.


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Managers launch ETFs in India despite lack of demand
 Passive funds emerged in USA more than two decades ago. The first modern day ETF S&P SPDR or Spiders started trading there in 1993. The market for ETFs has grown tremendously since then. Today, there are 2,000 ETFs listed in the US. Industry estimates suggest ETFs manage $4 trillion globally. India got its first ETF in Nifty BeES in 2001 launched by Benchmark AMC. It was probably way ahead of its time. Sensing category’s slow growth, Benchmark decided to sell it to Goldman Sachs MF in 2011. Sensing a potential for passive funds, Reliance Nippon Life lapped up Goldman Sachs schemes.

Benchmark AMC managed merely Rs 70 crore in ETFs in 2004. The size of the Indian ETF market has now grown to Rs 65,124 crore. The growth has been tepid at best if we compare that of ETFs with actively managed equity funds. During the same period, the size of the actively managed equity funds galloped from Rs 29,362 crore in 2004 to Rs 8.55 lakh crore as on October 2017.

Let’s look at the reasons for slow growth of ETFs in India. The most important factor for investors and advisers’ aversion to this category is the superior performance of actively managed funds vis-a-vis passive funds. For instance, actively managed large cap fund category has delivered 15 percent CAGR return over a five-year period while BSE Sensex has grown by 12 percent during the same period.

Since ETFs passively track their underlying indices, they come with lower expenses as compared to their active fund peers. ETFs which track the broader indices like Sensex and Nifty charge 0.05 percent-0.10 percent annual total expense ratio (TER) whereas the TER of actively managed funds can go up to as high as 3 percent. Due to their low-cost nature, ETFs have no room to pay commissions on par with actively managed funds, providing little incentive for distributors prefer to sell passive funds.

Paltry commission and performance are not the only reasons for slow take off of passive funds. ETFs can be only bought through the exchange from demat accounts and majority of MF investors in India have been investing physically through their neighborhood distributors. Even those who hold demat accounts prefer to buy shares or subscribe to IPOs rather than buying dull ETFs. This is in sharp contrast to US where seven out of the 10 most actively traded securities on US stock markets last year were ETFs, not shares, says a Financial Times report.

Passive funds are seeing huge inflows in the US as active fund managers have found it increasingly difficult to beat the market due to an efficient and developed market. We are witnessing similar trend in India in the large cap funds space. Over a 10-year period, 45 percent of active funds have underperformed the Nifty 50. High costs/TER can be one of the reasons for this underperformance. That said, fund managers believe there will be ample opportunities for outperformance especially, in the mid- and small-cap space, which are not well researched.

The lackluster demand for ETFs in India has not stopped fund houses from launching ETFs. Starting from Gold ETFs and equity ETFs, fund houses are innovating their offerings by adding new flavour to their products. Today, we have ETFs to participate in the US indices and debt markets. Further, while traditional ETFs mimic their underlying index based on market capitalisation, the new age ETFs called smart beta ETFs have emerged. These ETFs combine both active and passive methods of investing by looking at factors such as earnings, low volatility, return on equity, dividend yield, etc. through custom build indices.

While this looks like an interesting innovation, investors should note such ETFs may not be able to outdo active funds as the underlying factors/theme may not outperform in all market cycles. Active fund managers on the other hand can avoid such factors depending on market conditions. One area where smart beta ETFs score over active funds is they do not come with key-person risk as they operate on fixed automated processes.

While the ETF market could take decades to flourish in India, fund houses are fully prepared to cash in on this opportunity. The popularity of ETFs is growing due to the government’s plans to divest its holdings in PSUs through this route. The first divestment through CPSE ETF mopped up Rs 11,500 crore and the second version in the form of Bharat 22 ETF is expected to mop up Rs 8,000 crore. Fund houses are in intense race to get a mandate for managing such issues. Additionally, media reports suggest the Employees Provident Fund Organization’s or EPFO investment in ETFs is expected to touch Rs 45,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. This massive flush of flow into ETFs suggest that the category will only grow from here.

Ravi Samalad is Assistant Manager, Editorial, Morningstar Investment Adviser India Private Limited

Output: Fund managers are introducing exchange-traded funds into the Indian market, despite the fact that actively managed mutual funds still dominate in the country. One possible reason for this is the high performance of active large-cap stocks funds in the country, which have outperformed indexed offerings, returning 15% over the last five years. By comparison the BSE Sensex index has returned 12%. Distributors of fund products also have more incentive to sell mutual funds, due to the greater commissions they can reap thanks to the products' higher expense ratios.


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Statoil delivers wind farm 15% under budget
 Dudgeon offshore wind farm operator Statoil and partners Masdar and Statkraft say they delivered the 67 turbine project 15 per cent under budget on its opening this week.

The 402 megawatt wind farm in Great Yarmouth is now delivering electricity to the U.K. grid, providing renewable energy to around 410,000 homes.

Since the investment decision was made in 2014, construction costs have been reduced from GBP 1.5 billion to approximately GBP 1.25 billion.

“Dudgeon represents an important contribution to realizing the U.K.’s renewable energy strategy,” Statoil chief executive officer Eldar Sætre said in a statement. “The U.K. has already achieved impressive reductions in CO2-emissions with clear policies to phase out coal, and last year achieved the lowest CO2 emissions since before year 1900. Statoil is proud to contribute to this both by being a large supplier of natural gas and by our investments in offshore wind.”

The opening also moves the Norwegian state controlled company further into the green energy sector as it leverages its offshore oil and gas expertise to complement its portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions. "As part of our strategy to develop from an oil and gas company to a broad energy major, Statoil will grow significantly in profitable renewable energy, with an ambition to invest around NOK 100 billion towards 2030,” said Sætre.

It comes as Norway's trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund is proposing to drop oil and gas companies from its benchmark index, in part to make the Norwegian government's wealth less vulnerable to a permanent drop in oil prices.

It also comes as the U.K. government doubles down on electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. In its budget this week, the government announced a £400 million fund for EV charging infrastructure projects across the country and pledged to invest an extra £100 million to help people buy EVs and £40 million toward charging research and development. The more renewables are feeding the grid, the greener EVs become.

Also this month, California Gov. Jerry Brown met with top Statoil executives to discuss the company's pursuit of wind power off the Golden State's coastlines. Because of the depth of its continental shelf, the state would likely require floating wind turbine technology, another specialty of Statoil, which has in its portfolio Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating offshore wind farm that came into production in October.

Statoil’s current offshore wind portfolio, which includes the Sheringham Shoal wind farm in the U.K. and the Arkona wind farm in Germany, has the capacity to provide more than one million homes with renewable energy.

Dudgeon is located 40 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk in England. Local suppliers account for more than 40 per cent of the value creation in the project.

Toward 2030 it is estimated the installed capacity of offshore wind in Europe can grow from 12 GW (2016) to 70 GW. Improved technology, increased deployment and lower costs are the key drivers turning offshore wind into an attractive power source, outcompeting traditional sources of energy in important markets, Statoil said.

Output: Statoil and partners Masdar and Statkraft said they delivered the 67 turbine Dudgeon offshore wind farm for about 15% below its original budget. In 2014, the 402 MW wind farm in Great Yarmouth was predicted to cost £1.5bn and was eventually brought in for about £1.25bn. Statoil’s offshore wind portfolio has the capacity to provide more than 1 million homes with electricity.


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Shell gets 10-year licence extension for Nigeria power plant
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The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has renewed the power generation licence for Afam VI Power Plant, a 650MW-capacity facility that has delivered over 24.16 million Megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity into the Nigerian grid between inception in 2008 and 2016.

Shellâ€™s Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan confirmed this development in a statement yesterday.

Afam VI is owned by The Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture (SPDC JV) and located in Okoloma in Oyigbo Local Government area of Rivers State.

Presenting the renewed licence to the leadership of SPDC at the Commissionâ€™s office in Abuja yesterday, NERCâ€™s Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Mr. Dafe Akpeneye, described SPDC JV as a committed partner in the Nigerian power sector adding that the companyâ€™s belief in the sector and its resolve to help it develop were remarkable.

â€œWe hope for greater efficiency and improved operations from Afam VI in the next 10-year phase of your operations just as we look forward to working together to resolve some of the challenging issues in the power sector,â€ he said.

Receiving the licence, the General Manager, Gas of SPDC, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, described the Afam VI as a model worthy of emulation by government and other players in the power sector.

â€œHereâ€™s a power plant with a dedicated gas plant operating with high uptime generating clean and efficient power from the combined cycle of three gas and one steam turbines,â€ he added.

He lamented the challenges of debt, power evacuation and off-take which he said prevented the plant from delivering optimally at 15 percent of the total national grid-connected electricity.

Afam VI uses combined cycle gas turbine technology that burns 40 percent less gas than plants using older open cycle technologies. This also contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, Afam VI power plant supplied approximately 12 per cent of the nationâ€™s grid-electricity.

Built with the most efficient technology in the industry and utilising waste heat energy from the gas turbine exhaust, the plant generates an additional 200MW from the steam turbine without consuming any additional gas, thereby considerably reducing its carbon footprint.

As a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project under the United Nations Executive Board for Climate Change, Afam VI Power Plant eliminates over 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, while also maintaining excellent safety standards.

The operations at Afam VI have generated subcontract opportunities and employment for over 150 staff from the 16 host communities. It also provided hands-on and offshore training for 15 youths in Electrical, Mechanical and Instrumentation engineering on Combined Cycle Power Plant operations and maintenance. All the trainees are already employed in the Nigerian power industry. Arrangements have been concluded for the training of another 15 community youths.

The power plant also won SPDC the Best Company in Climate Action Award in the 2016 edition of Sustainability, Enterprise, Responsibility Awards for Corporate Social Responsibility (SERAsâ€“CSR), an annual event to celebrate organisations that invest resources to improve the socioeconomic living conditions of people in Nigeria and Africa.

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Output: The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has renewed the power generation licence for the Afam VI Power Plant, a 650 MW facility that has delivered over 24.16 million MWh of electricity into the Nigerian grid since 2008. In 2016, the combined cycle gas power plant supplied about 12% of Nigeria's grid-electricity. Afam VI utilises waste heat energy from the gas turbine exhaust to generate an additional 200 MW from a steam turbine.


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Total to install 8,000 biodigesters in India
 French oil and gas major Total SA (EPA:FP) said on Monday it will deploy 8,400 biodigesters for households in the Indian state of Telangana as part of a voluntary carbon neutrality initiative.

The so-called Adilabad project will see Total start deploying the units this month, with the goal of completing work on the first ones next year.

These biodigesters use a fermentation process to convert livestock manure into biogas for cooking and hot water. What is left as solids after the fermentation can then be used as a nutrient source for crops, the company’s statement says.

The initiative is eligible for certified carbon credits and will benefit some 45,000 people. In addition, it will help eliminate 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year for a period of 10 years.

The project will be implemented under a newly-signed agreement with the GoodPlanet Foundation.

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Output: Total has said it will deploy 8,400 biodigesters for households in the Indian state of Telangana in the coming years as part of a voluntary carbon neutrality initiative. The biodigesters use a fermentation process to convert livestock manure into biogas for cooking and hot water; the solid by-product of the fermentation process can be used as a fertiliser. The initiative is eligible for certified carbon credits and will help eliminate 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 10 years.


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South Africa to test country's first vanadium redox flow battery
 South Africa’s first utility-scale vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) will be deployed and tested over 18 months at local grid operator Eskom’s Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) Centre in Rosherville.

Bushveld Minerals Ltd (LON:BMN) today said commissioning is expected in the first half of next year. The battery, to be produced by UniEnergy Technologies (UET), is to have peak power of 120 kW and will be able to store peak energy of 450 kWh.

Bushveld Energy Ltd, a 84%-owned unit of BMN, is working on the project together with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC). Eskom will test the battery, its performance and applications under various simulations, including minimum load shifting, wind and solar power generation smoothing, power quality improvement and self-black-start capability. Independent power producers (IPPs), energy storage developers, decision-makers and various capital providers will also be able to get access to the VRFB.

After the 18 months of testing, the battery will be moved to a commercial site.

Eskom has identified the need for up to 2 GW of additional, daily balanced energy storage. Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals, pointed out that South Africa is extremely well-positioned to take advantage of the expansion of the energy storage market as it has the second largest reserves of vanadium in the world in the Bushveld Complex.

“This project brings new technology to South Africa to make the local power system more efficient and more importantly create a new industry to not only supply South Africa, but offer significant export potential as well,” Mojapelo said. In 2016, Bushveld Energy and the IDC signed a cooperation agreement to partner to bring significant portions of the VRFB value chain to South Africa.

Christo Fourie, Head of the IDC's New Industries Strategic Business Unit, said that in the next year the company will support the deployment of multiple "pilot" energy storage systems together with local or international partners and technology firms.

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Output: South Africa’s first utility-scale vanadium redox flow battery will be deployed and tested over 18 months at local grid operator Eskom’s Research, Testing and Development Centre in Rosherville. Bushveld Minerals said commissioning is expected in the first half of next year. The battery, to be produced by UniEnergy Technologies will have peak power of 120 kW and will be able to store peak energy of 450 kWh. After 18 months of testing, the battery will be moved to a commercial site.


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World Bank promises $100m for Indian solar
 India Signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for $100 Million for utility-scale Solar Parks.

India and the World Bank have signed a guarantee agreement of $98 million provided through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF) loan and grant agreement for $2 million for the “Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project” in India, on November 20, 2017.

Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India, and Hisham A. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India, has signed the agreement.

A loan agreement was also signed by K S Popli, Chairman and MD, India Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and Hisham A. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India.

The project consists of two components namely, first, shared infrastructure for Solar Parks (estimated total project cost of $98 million, including $75 million in IBRD loan and $23 million in CTF Loan) and second, $2 million technical assistance under CTF Grant.

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The objective of the project is to increase solar generation capacity through establishment of large-scale parks in the country.

The project will help establish large-scale solar parks and support the government’s plan to install 100 GW of solar power out of a total renewable-energy target of 175 GW by 2022.

Output: The World Bank has signed a guarantee with India for $98m for the “Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks" project. The funds will be provided through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Clean Technology Fund loan and grant agreement schemes. A further $2m will be provided for technical assistance from CTF.  The initiative forms part of the Indian government's plan to install 100 GW of solar power and 175 GW of renewables by 2022.


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Google partner to support 130,000 Indian developer scholarships
 To create a pool of highly skilled tech workers, Google in association with education websites Pluralsight and Udacity on Thursday announced a new scholarship programme to help 130,000 mobile and web developers and students across India.

“In this joint effort, Google is sponsoring 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight technology learning platform and 30,000 scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies such as mobile and web development, machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud platforms,” said a company release.

“Since we announced our skilling initiative in India, 210,000 students have completed Google-developed courses on Udacity, with 117,000 completing the course this year,” said William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google, in the release.

Arun Rajamani, Country Head and General Manager, Pluralsight, said: “We are excited to see technology professionals in India future-proof their skills, move strongly towards full-stack development and push the boundaries of innovation that will create a stronger India and a better world through technology.”

Ishan Gupta, Managing Director, Udacity India, said: “With this scholarship programme, students can master web- and mobile-development skills with the experts from Udacity and Google.

“The programme will have two phases. The first phase will have free access to our courses in mobile and web development along with mentorship and community support.

“The top 1,000 students will earn an additional six-month scholarship to our mobile and web developer nano-degree programmes.”

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Output: Tech giant Google is partnering with education websites Udacity and Pluralsight to offer mobile and web development scholarships to 130,000 Indian students and developers. Recipients will learn advanced technical skills in emerging areas such as AI, machine learning, and the cloud. 210,000 students have completed Google-backed training with Udacity so far. The scholarships will grant free initial course access, mentorship and community support, with an extra six-month scholarship for the top 1,000 performers in the web and mobile development disciplines.


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Engie cancels six-turbine wind project after veterans' backlash
 French utility Engie (EPA:ENGI) has abandoned plans to build a six-turbine wind farm at the site of a former First World War battlefield.

The company’s decision was confirmed by Australia’s Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans’ Affairs Dan Tehan on Tuesday. The so-called Bullecourt project was planned to be developed at the small village of Bullecourt, northern France, where thousands of Australians died.

The proposal spurred a widespread emotional reaction in Australia, forcing the developer to cancel the project. Its plans called for the installation of six turbines at the historic site, which were expected to start power generation in 2020, local media reports.

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Output: Engie has cancelled plans to build the Bullecort project, a six-turbine wind farm on the ground of a former First World War battlefield in France. The decision was announced by the Australian Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans’ Affairs, Dan Tehan. Thousands of Australians perished at the site, leading to a backlash over the project's development. The site would have begun generating power in 2020.


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Demand is weak at Japan's first solar auction
 A solar tender in Japan seeking to award contracts to 500 MW of projects got roughly 140 MW of valid bids, with the lowest offer being JPY 17,200 (USD 154.4/EUR 130.7) per MWh.

The highest bid in the tender was of JPY 21,000 (USD 188.5/EUR 159.6) per MWh. In comparison, recent solar auctions in Germany, the Middle East, India and Latin America have attracted bids per MWh lower than or roughly equal to EUR 50 (USD 59), SAR 67 (USD 18.4/EUR 15.6), INR 2,650 (USD 41/EUR 34.6) and USD 25, respectively.

Nikkei Asian Review reports that the auction in Japan, in which rates are apparently more attractive than in other parts of the world, have lured several foreign companies. It mentions Canadian Solar, Hanwha Q Cells and X-Elio among the winners of power contracts. In total, the nine winning projects have been proposed by eight companies -- four Japanese and four international.

At the end of 2016, the Japanese government announced the start of tenders for 2-MW-plus solar power plants, including this 500-MW auction and two more in fiscal 2018/19.

(JPY 100 = USD 0.9/EUR 0.76)

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Output: Prices at Japan's first solar auction are triple the average of other global tenders. The lowest offer on 140 MW of tenders was $154.4/MWh and the highest $188.5 per MWh. A total of 500 MW will be auctioned. Nine successful projects were proposed by eight firms; four Japanese and four global, including Canadian Solar, X-Elio and Hanwha Q Cells.


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Portable skin cancer detector wins Dyson Award for Canadian team
 Meet sKan

Detecting skin cancer early isn't easy. Currently, it's done through visual inspections or biopsies, but some doctors may not pick up on the disease using the former, while some patients may not be able to afford the latter. As such, a team of graduates from McMaster University in Canada set out to develop an inexpensive skin cancer detector, and their innovative work has earned them the prestigious international James Dyson Award.

Cancer affects the metabolic rate of skin cells, with cancerous cells heating up faster than their healthy counterparts following a shock of cold temperature.

To make identifying these cells easier, the McMaster University team — Michael Takla, Rotimi Fadiya, Prateek Mathur, and Shivad Bhavsar — built a skin cancer detector with 16 thermistors that can track the rate of temperature increase following a cold shock from an ice pack.

The thermistors are simply placed on the potentially cancerous area of skin, and the device produces a heat map that can be used to determine the presence of melanoma.

“By using widely available and inexpensive components, the sKan allows for melanoma skin cancer detection to be readily accessible to the many” award founder James Dyson said in a statement announcing the win. “It’s a very clever device with the potential to save lives around the world.”

In addition to winning the Dyson Award for their skin cancer detector, the team also received a cash prize of approximately $40,000 to advance their research. They received $10,000 at the the Forge’s Student Start-up Pitch competition in March.

Diagnosing Skin Cancer

According to Mathur, the team was inspired to create sKan after realizing technology hadn't had the same impact on skin cancer diagnosis as it had on other medical fields.

“We found research that used the thermal properties of cancerous skin tissue as a means of detecting melanoma. However, this was done using expensive lab equipment," he said in a McMaster University news release. "We set out to apply the research and invent a way of performing the same assessment using a more cost-effective solution.”

Going forward, the sKan team hopes to create a more advanced prototype that will allow them to begin pre-clinical testing.

Image Credit: James Dyson Awards

As reported by The Guardian, nearly 39 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day in the U.K., and the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates 87,110 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. 2017, with 9,730 people dying from the condition. Early detection is key to cancer survival, so if sKan succeeds, it could significantly reduce that number.

“Our aspirations have become a reality,” said Mathur. “Skin cancers are the most common form of cancer worldwide, and the potential to positively impact the lives of those affected is both humbling and motivating.”

Output: A graduate team at McMaster University in Canada have won the James Dyson Award for their portable skin cancer detector, sKan. The device uses a pad of 16 thermistors to track the increase in skin temperature following a cold shock to a potentially cancerous patch of skin caused by an ice pack. The device then produces a heat map that can be used to determine the presence of melanoma. The prize comes with an investment of $40,000 in sKan, which the team said would help them create a more advanced prototype to use in pre-clinical testing.


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Indian solar output almost doubles in third quarter
 India’s solar parks generated 5.3 billion kWh of electricity in the third quarter of 2017, up 91% in annual terms thanks to new capacity additions, Mercom Capital Group said on Thursday.

However, solar power generation in the three months was lower than the 5.5 billion kWh produced in the second quarter, the consultancy said, citing data from India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Newly-added capacity in July-September totalled 2.2 GW, according to Mercom’s quarterly market update.

In the first nine months of the year, solar power production in the country rose by 88% on the year to 15 billion kWh. New PV installations accounted for 39% of India’s total power capacity additions in the first three quarters of the year, representing a total of 7.1 GW.

Mercom projects that India will deploy between 9.5 GW and 10 GW of PV plants this year and 7 GW next year, expecting the market to be affected by the rising prices of Chinese PV modules, certain infrastructure and power evacuation issues and the renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPAs) terms in line with the record-low level of solar tariffs.

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Output: In the third quarter of 2017 Indian solar parks generated 5.3 billion kWh of electricity, an increase of 91% YoY, according to Mercom Capital Group. However, data from India’s Central Electricity Authority shows this number was slightly lower than the second quarter, which produced 5.5 billion kWh. Mercom projected that India will have deployed between 9.5 GW and 10 GW of solar PV this year; that is projected to fall to 7 GW next year as the market reacts to rising prices of Chinese PV modules and the renegotiation of power purchase agreements in line with record-low solar tariff levels.


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African drug supply chain start-up mPharma wins backing from US
 Greg Rockson, founder of mPharma, sometimes struggles to sum up the myriad services his three-year old startup provides. But it’s safe to say the Accra, Ghana-based company is starting to disrupt Africa’s pharmacy retail supply chain and is setting its sights on bigger targets beyond the continent.

MPharma manages prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers in four African countries. It provides inventory financing to clients and is using its growing purchasing power to help lower the cost of prescription drugs for patients.

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The scale of its ambition to disrupt such a significant sector has attracted a bevy of major international investors for its recent Series A funding round, amounting to $6.6 million announced today.

The most recent round was led by Shravin Bharti Mittal, who runs a fund for India’s Bharti Mittal family, best known in Africa for its mobile operator Airtel. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Social Capital and local VCs Golden Palm Investments and 4DX Ventures, also joined the round. In addition, the company got backing from several new family office investors from Senegal, Kenya, and Turkey.

Early Facebook investor Jim Breyer is also investing and joining the board as an observer, Rockson says. It’s Breyer’s first investment in the Africa tech ecosystem.

mPharma had previously raised up to $5 million in seed funding led by Silicon Valley’s Social Capital. Ashley Carroll and Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital both joined the board in 2015.

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To date, mPharma employs over 40 people and has operations in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It currently has over 70 outlets serving more than 20,000 patients each month, largely via pharmacies in private hospitals.

The company intends to use its new funding to accelerate the use of its proprietary software for more clients. Rockson sees huge opportunities in the expansion of health insurance and the growth of private hospitals in Africa, as well as the increasing number of middle class professionals entering the workforce.

Africa’s healthcare challenges are well-chronicled. With a deficit of 4.2 million health workers, it has the world’s second-worst health worker shortage, exacerbated by a general lack of healthcare infrastructure and medical technology. And after decades of prioritizing health systems to deal with communicable diseases like malaria and HIV/Aids, the continent is now seeing a steady rise in non-communicable diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Most countries are ill-prepared.

These challenges, along with weak input from governments, have made private pharmacies the primary healthcare providers in many African countries. Driving down prescription drug costs for end users could have a significant impact.

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The big opportunity for mPharma is fixing the fragmented prescription drug supply chain common in African countries and other emerging markets. In the four countries it operates, the 10 biggest pharmacy chains have a total of just 186 outlets, while there are up to 15,000 independent pharmacies, according to mPharma.

“The drug supply chain in Africa is built on a ‘push’ data model,” Rockson explains. “Distributors have to wait to receive a purchase order from providers before supplying drugs to them. This model is built on siloed data systems between distributors and providers. As a result, both parties are unable to forecast demand which leads to frequent stockouts,” he adds.

By taking over the inventory management of a pharmacy, accurately forecasting demand of prescription drugs, and building up bargaining power with suppliers, Rockson says mPharma has been able to lower costs for patients by as much as 30% in some cases.

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“We can serve more patients and bring down drug costs if mom and pop pharmacies are able to better manage their inventory.”

Output: Ghana-based start-up mPharma is looking to improve the pharmaceutical supply chain across Africa. mPharma operates in four African countries managing drug inventories for pharmacies and suppliers, while also providing inventory financing and helping to lower prescription drug costs. The company's ambitions have caught the attention of investors worldwide, with a recent series A funding round raising $6.6m. This followed an initial $5m in seed funding led by Silicon Valley’s Social Capital. mPharma counts among its board members an early investor in Facebook, Jim Breyer.


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Greatcell Solar secures $3m for perovskite test facility
 An Australian food, water and energy fund has agreed to invest AUD 4 million (USD 3m/EUR 2.6m) in Perovskite Solar Cell (PSC) technology developer Greatcell Solar Ltd (ASX:GSL).

The company intends to use the fresh funds to accelerate the development of its prototype facility at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria, and immediately commence procurement of the needed long lead-time capital equipment.

“The investment will allow us to expedite our scale-up and commercialisation plans and move forward with great financial confidence,” said managing director Richard Caldwell. He added that the company looks forward to announcing emerging international business relationships as the year unfolds.

Greatcell anticipates to get the investment early next month in exchange for the issuance of 18.2 million shares. It noted that the particular fund has indicated its desire to maintain its percentage shareholding and possibly even increase it over time.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.762/EUR 0.643)

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Output: Solar Cell technology developer, Greatcell Solar has secured investment of $3m from an Australian food, water and energy fund. Greatcell looks to use the funding to push development of its prototype facility at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria. "The investment will allow us to expedite our scale-up and commercialisation plans and move forward with great financial confidence," said managing director Richard Caldwell. Greatcell noted that the investor is looking to maintain its shareholding ratio and potentially increase it over time.


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Tower building boom hits central Manchester
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This is the development that could transform the skyline of Manchester city centre... and it’s been a decade in the making.

A total of 25 towers – seven of which are more than 40 storeys tall – have been earmarked for the area around Great Jackson Street, with some already under construction.

Plans to transform the south of Manchester city centre have been been on the table for years... but these new images give a glimpse of how the scheme would finally look.

Proposals for the scheme were published two years ago but a new revised document promises to increase the height of some towers and raise the number of homes and apartments to more than 6,300.

(Image: Deloitte Real Estate)

The development will stretch right out to the Hulme border as part of a strategy to expand the city centre’s borders and would include restaurants, cafes, shops, and even gyms.

Several huge towers, one of which is 64 storeys in height, are already being built at Owen Street, near Deansgate, while developers DeTrafford received permission in September for a fresh cluster of skyscrapers just across the road.

The updated blueprints, which have just been revealed, show that the apartment blocks destined for the Mancunian Way/Chester Road corner of the site will also be taller than originally anticipated, after planners decided that ‘a development of a greater height could be accommodated’.

A cluster of seven buildings, known as Plot C ‘Crown Street’, will range from 50, 46, and 39 storeys in height.

It is the largest of the eight plots in the Great Jackson Street development, and this cluster alone is expected to boast almost 1,900 homes.

(Image: Deloitte Real Estate)

According to the plans, the tallest buildings will be on the outskirts of the developed area, and should ‘step down in height towards the centre of the framework area’.

The document, put together by Deloitte Real Estate, says the majority of homes will be one, two and three-bed apartment.. but does not rule out the possiblity of more family-oriented town houses.

It said: “The overall mix of apartments will be justified per plot based on market demand; however, a maximum of 33 per cent one-bed apartments should be sought.

“Opportunities to introduce Town Houses, with their own front doors and defensible space, will be used as an alternative means of creating active frontages and encouraging safe and well animated public realm.”

(Image: SimpsonHaugh & Partners)

It also provided more details on the amenities the development would bring with it, stating: “In order to provide a long-term, sustainable residential development, there will be a need to ensure a convenience offer which includes an attractive range of amenities in order to satisfy the immediate needs of the resident population - such as morning workouts, evening drinks and daily necessities.”

The document adds: “Potential ground floor uses could include retail and leisure uses such as restaurants, cafes and local convenience stores, as well as amenity facilities to support the primary

residential use, such as a residents’ lounge, gym, health care facilities and flexible working space.”

Deloitte however said in the plans that there would be no ‘nightclub-type uses or other potentially anti-social night-time’ of buildings later than 11pm.

Output: A development of 25 tower blocks in the Great Jackson Street area of Manchester could bring an additional 6,300 homes to the city, according to proposals. Deloitte Real Estate reported that the majority of homes would be one to three-bedroom flats, with no more than 33% having one bedroom. In addition, family-oriented townhouses are not ruled out. Deloitte added: “Potential ground floor uses could include retail and leisure" while "no nightclub-type uses or other potentially anti-social night-time" usage would be allowed after 11pm. The tallest tower planned is 64 storeys high.


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Enel to build 90 MW wind farm in Russia
 Italian energy group Enel (BIT:ENEL) intends to build a wind farm of over 90 MW on the Don river region in southwestern Russia, the Russian Association of Wind Power Industry (RAWI) reports.

The wind power facility will be situated in Azov, Rostov Oblast, at the site of a former gambling zone. Construction works are slated to begin next year, RAWI said on Monday, adding that talks for the implementation of the scheme have been carried out between Rostov Oblast’s governor Vasily Golubev and Enel Russia’s CEO Carlo Palasciano Villamagna.

According to the report, Enel has bought the project from Sowitec Russia OOO, the Russian subsidiary of Germany’s Sowitec Group. In earlier reports, local media said that the wind farm will consist of 80 turbines that will be installed in stages at a total cost of USD 178 million (EUR 151.6m).

Enel Russia was selected as preferred bidder for 291 MW of wind schemes in Russia’s latest renewables auction, in which a total of 2,221 MW of projects were selected. The Italian group won two projects in the tender -- a 201-MW scheme in Murmansk and the 90-MW one in Rostov.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.852)

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Output: Italian energy company Enel is set to begin construction work next year on a 90 MW wind farm, one of two projects it secured during Russia’s latest renewables auction. The Rostov Oblast project will consist of 80 turbines, installed in phases, and is set to cost $178m, according to local media reports. Implementation talks have already taken place between Enel Russia’s CEO Carlo Palasciano Villamagna and Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov Oblast region. Enel's other Russian wind project is a 201 MW scheme in Murmansk.


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Wind tables lowest bid in Argentine renewable energy auction
 The lowest bid received in the Round 2 tender of Argentina's RenovAr renewable energy auction programme was of USD 37.30 (EUR 31.48) per MWh and it came from the wind sector.

The lowest bid for solar technology was USD 40.44 per MWh, Argentina's Ministry of Energy and Mining said on Thursday as it announced the opening of economic bids in the tender.

Round 2, launched in August, follows two previous tenders under the programme, Round 1 and Round 1.5, which were conducted in the second half of 2016. The latest tender aims to contract a total of 1.2 GW of capacity. Of the about 9.4 GW bids received, some 7.5 GW have been qualified to remain in the competition, whose results will be announced on November 29. The qualified bids include over 3.75 GW of solar offers and almost 3.5 GW of wind, the ministry said on Thursday.

The average Round 2 prices for wind and solar were USD 47.64 and USD 48.67 per MWh, respectively. For wind this marks a fall of 31.5% compared to Round 1 and 12.1% compared to Round 1.5, while for solar the declines are of 36.2% from Round 1 and 13.2% from Round 1.5.

The table below gives more details about the lowest and average prices per technology. The average is calculated on the basis of qualified offers.

Technology lowest USD/MWh average USD/MWh Wind 37.30 47,64 Solar 40.44 48.67 Biomass 92.00 107.07 Biogas 150.00 157.97 Biogas from landfills 128.00 129.18 Small hydropower 89.00 97.28

Under the RenovAr programme, awarded projects sign 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company (CAMMESA). A total of 2.4 GW of projects were awarded under the first two tenders of the programme.

The announcement comes on the heels of the completion of a power auction in Mexico, where a price of USD 20.57 per MWh was achieved.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.844)

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Output: The second round of Argentina's RenovAr renewable energy auction saw the lowest bid come from the wind sector, at $37.30 per MWh, while the lowest solar bid was $40.44 per MWh, said the country's Ministry of Energy and Mining. Round two was launched in August, following two previous auctions (Round 1 and Round 1.5), and procured 1.2 GW of capacity. 9.4 GW of capacity was bid, of which 7.5 GW qualified for the auction. The ministry said average prices in round two for solar and wind were $48.67/MWh and $47.64/MWh, respectively.


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India plans 2 GW wind tender
 India's renewable energy ministry on Thursday announced a tender for 2 GW of wind capacity to be carried out by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

India is in a process of transitioning from feed-in tariffs (FiTs) to auctions in the wind sector. The government's first 1-GW wind auction achieved a price of INR 3.46 (USD 0.053/EUR 0.045) per kWh and was followed by a second 1-GW tender, concluded in October, that resulted in a price of INR 2.64 per kWh.

Announcing approval for the bigger tender on Wednesday, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said that the competitive prices are encouraging distribution companies (discoms) to purchase wind power to meet their non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO). Buyers under the scheme will be discoms of non-windy states that need wind power to fulfil the non-solar RPO.

According to the document, published by the ministry, SECI should issue a request for selection (RfS) in a few days. Projects of at least 50 MW and up to 400 MW will be awarded per bidder. The off-take contracts will be for 25 years.

Navigant Research this week said that wind turbine orders announced globally fell in the first half of 2017 in part due to the shift to bidding in the Indian wind industry.

When reporting half-year results earlier this month, domestic wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd (BOM:532667) said the "transition period" was impacting volumes, but expressed confidence that the industry would regain momentum. "With the newly discovered tariff, Wind is competitive with respect to other sources of energy and has emerged as a mainstream energy source," chief executive J P Chalasani said then.

Last month there were reports in local media that the Indian government was considering tendering 4.5 GW of wind projects in three batches by February 2018 to speed up capacity additions.

(INR 100 = USD 1.546/EUR 1.303)

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Output: As the country moves from feed-in tariffs to auctions, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has revealed a tender for 2 GW of wind capacity will be carried out by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), part of 4.5 GW of wind projects set to be auctioned by February 2018. The most recent tender in October reached a price of INR2.64 ($0.04) per kWh, a price competitive enough to attract distribution companies looking to meet non-solar renewable purchase obligations. SECI will be issuing a request for selection soon.


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Black Friday to increase pollution and plastic waste
 The online shopping frenzy of the Black Friday weekend will see 82,000 diesel vans and trucks on UK roads, raising concerns of air pollution spikes on residential streets as more than £7bn of purchases are delivered.

In the UK online shoppers are expected to spend up to £1.35bn today alone, according to analysts at IMRG, the UK’s online retail association. Plastic toys, games and electronic goods are among the most sought after items in the biggest weekend of shopping in Britain and the US, with environmentalists and health experts warning that it will add to the mountain of plastic waste and increase air pollution.

The relatively modern post-Thanksgiving tradition has been adopted from the US, where nearly 70% of Americans – 164 million people – plan to shop this weekend, which spans Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation.

In the UK, Black Friday is mostly an online event, although retailers also saw queues this morning at shopping centres across the country. 81% of Black Friday purchases include a home delivery, with Amazon expected to take the majority of sales. A diesel truck will leave an Amazon fulfilment centre every 93 seconds at peak times, according to Staveley Head, which insures trucks and vans for retailers.

Stephen Holgate, professor of immunopharmacology at the Medical Research Council, said online shopping contributed to the air pollution crisis. “Vans are key contributors to diesel pollution. In our RCP [Royal College of Physicians] report we show van use continues to increase. Vans are now up to 10-12% of vehicles in our cities. They, along with small goods transport vehicles, are almost all diesel and make up about 12% of diesel emissions in urban settings.

“Supermarket and internet shopping really drives this and unlike people going to the shops themselves, the vans penetrate into quiet residential roads where vulnerable groups like children and the elderly live in large numbers. These vans sit and idle for hours in the road as they wait to deliver more packages, and this is a huge problem.”

He said the chancellor had missed an opportunity not to tackle “white van man” in the budget. Vans were explicitly left out of increases in tax on new diesel cars.

The weekend also marks the start of the Christmas shopping season, during which air pollution spikes are recorded around shopping centres, according to Gary Fuller of King’s College London. “Any increase in traffic, and especially diesel traffic on our roads, will not be helpful for air pollution,” he said.

Brian Kay, director of Green Business Watch, said reports still suggested online shopping impacted less on the environment than individuals driving to the shops. “What is important is that this online shopping is done in an as environmentally friendly way as possible, so, for example, those 82,000 diesel vehicles should be electric,” he said.

Some retailers are not taking part in Black Friday. In Seattle, outdoor clothing retailer REI is giving its 12,000 employees a paid holiday and will not process any online orders. Instead it is encouraging customers to spend time outside with family and friends.

Greenpeace is launching an alternative to what it labels the “hyper-consumerism” associated with Black Friday. It has organised an international makers festival – called “Make Smthng” – where people around the world are asked to come together to make, upcycle or repair something rather than shop.

“Black Friday has become one of the major peaks of consumerism,” said Chiara Campione, Greenpeace’s global project leader. “This shopping binge also generates greater volumes of waste than ever. This dangerous trend is harming our planet. We buy without thinking for a minute, but the waste we create will sometimes last for centuries.”

Plastic toys and games are expected to be some of the most sought after items over the weekend, according to Euromonitor International. But Roland Geyer, author of the first global analysis of mass produced plastics, said recycling and incineration would not be enough to stem the plastic flow from such consumerism.

“Even if we stay on the current trends of increasing recycling and incineration rates, we will have doubled the amount of plastic waste discarded since 1950 in the next 20 years,” he said.

“The easiest way to reduce plastic waste is to not buy that product made of plastic or packaged in plastic, destined to become rubbish much sooner than we like to think.”

Output: Black Friday-related online shopping will bring 82,000 diesel vans and trucks onto UK roads, sparking fears that air pollution will spike on residential streets. Shoppers are expected to spend £1.35bn ($1.8bn) on Friday alone. The biggest shopping weekend in the UK and US sees particularly high numbers of plastic toys, games and electronic items being purchased, leading environmentalists to also warn of an increase in plastic waste. However, Brian Kay, director of Green Business Watch, said that the evidence suggested that online shopping was still less environmentally damaging than customers driving to shops.


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Apple patents suggest move into health monitoring
 A new wave of speculation from industry analysts is putting Apple in the spotlight over its supposed plans for creating a new sort of EHR – the soul of a new device, so to speak.

The new speculation is fueled by the patents Apple has recently secured.

Analysts reason that Apple may be poised to enter the mobile healthcare monitoring device, EHR, and healthcare data storage markets.

Healthcare IT News reported in June that Apple was working to put health records on the iPhone, where iPhone users could easily access their medical records, including lab results, medical tests, appointments and other healthcare records in one place.

The more recent efforts appear to go beyond healthcare records, however.

Patent US 9723997 B, obtained by Apple back in August, for example, is an electronic device that computes health data of the user based upon sensor data regarding the received light.

In some implementations, the electronic device may also include one or more electrical contacts that contact one or more body parts of the user.

As described in the patent, “in such implementations, the health data may be further computed based on the electrical measurement obtained using the electrical contacts.

According to the patent description: “'Electrical measurements may be used to measure heart function, compute an electrocardiogram, compute a galvanic skin response that may be indicative of emotional state and/or other physiological condition, and/or compute other health data such as body fat, or blood pressure.”

Apple is not the lone tech giant showing an interest in healthcare. Amazon, too, has kept a close eye on the market.

Back in July, Amazon started a secret lab at its Seattle headquarters to explore business prospects in the healthcare sector, including EHRs and telemedicine. At the time Amazon was reportedly considering developing an EHR platform as well as telemedicine and health apps for existing devices, such as its Echo smart speakers, which connect to a personal assistant, called Alexa. It dubbed the project “1492,” the year Columbus first landed in the Americas.

Later, it appeared that Amazon was looking into ways to break into the pharmaceutical sector.

Output: Speculation has mounted that Apple may be developing a health monitoring device after it secured a number of patents relating to the technology. In August, the company obtained a patent relating to a device that would use electrical contacts to monitor heart function and generate an electrocardiogram, as well as measure other indicators such as body fat and blood pressure, and gauge people's emotional states from their skin responses. In June it was reported that Apple was working on an app to put patients' medical records on to their iPhone to help them manage their health.


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Bank Negara Malaysia expected to issue crypto-regulation early 2018
 The Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), is expected to issue a directive to regulate the use of digital currencies in the country in early 2018. The central bank has been discussing and working on a proposed cryptocurrency regulation for some time now and this new development is expected to be hailed by industry players.

According to BNM Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, the introduction of regulations for virtual currencies are intended to prevent abusing the system for criminal and illegal activities and to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system.

“The advent of digital currencies as some have forecast will mark the beginning of a new era in the financial sector. As authorities, we cannot be oblivious to these developments….The banking sector needs to adopt the latest and most advanced technologies to improve its risk management framework.”

Possible impact(s) of the new regulations on the cryptocurrency market

Under the regulations, individuals who convert their virtual currencies into fiat currencies will be considered as reporting institutions and will be subjected to Malaysia’s Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act of 2001. This means that cryptocurrency transactions will be subjected to laws similar to those imposed on banks.

However, the implementation of regulations as a guide for digital currencies would not automatically mean that the virtual tokens are already accepted as legal tender in the country. It is just seen as an indication that the central bank is keeping an open mind on the new wave of innovative technologies being introduced in the financial sector.

The expected introduction of digital currency regulations also shows that an interesting future is awaiting the virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin in Malaysia. It remains to be seen, however, if this will lead to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country.

Output: Traders in Malaysia converting digital currencies, such as bitcoin and litecoin, into fiat coinage will be considered reporting institutions regulated by the same laws covering the nation's banks, if widely expected regulations are unveiled by the country's state bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The regulations are expected in early 2018 and would subject traders to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism provisions. Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim said the regulatory framework was necessary to ensure the stability and integrity of Malaysia's financial system and prevent fraud. There are, however, no definitive moves to make digital currencies legal tender.


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Council tax hike on empty homes won't solve problem, says MP
 The government’s plan to tackle the housing crisis by increasing council tax on empty homes has been labelled a joke which will have little effect on the oligarchs, foreign royals and multi-millionaire businesses who own expensive vacant properties in the UK. .

Philip Hammond announced on Wednesday that councils would be able to charge 100% extra council tax on properties that have been empty for two or more years. Currently local authorities can charge up to 50%.

“It can’t be right to leave property empty when so many are desperate for a place to live,” the chancellor said in his budget address.

There are 1,652 empty homes in Kensington and Chelsea, the west London borough which includes Grenfell Tower, according to a leaked list. More than 600 of them have been empty for more than two years, and would be included in the higher tax.

Under Hammond’s plan, council tax on homes in the borough’s highest band would increase from £2,124 a year to £4,248. The average selling price there is £2.1m, with semidetached homes fetching an average of £6.2m. Some homes in the borough are valued at as much as £85m.

Paul Sweeney, the Labour MP for Glasgow North East, said Hammond’s plan would not solve the issue generally.

“We need to have a punitive rate above normal council tax to actually incentivise reuse of empty properties,” Sweeney said on Twitter. “What a joke.”

Hammond announcing an allowance for councils to charge a 100% council tax rate on empty property won't solve this issue. We need to have a punitive rate above normal council tax to actually incentivise reuse of empty properties. What a joke. #Budget2017 #FitForTheFew — Paul Sweeney MP (@PaulJSweeney) November 22, 2017

Henry Pryor, a buying agent for luxury property, said the increased tax would have no effect on wealthy buyers. “[It would be] water off an oligarch’s back,” he said. “The impact on the market is unlikely to be more than resentment from natural Conservative voters, some of whom had hoped they would be overlooked this time. Most higher value owners will regard this as a cost of doing business in London in particular and for the chance to own a home in one of the most highly regarded global centres.”

Pyror pointed out that more than 200 wealthy foreigners were already choosing to pay £218,200 a year in tax rather than declare which of London’s £20m-plus mega-mansions they owned.

Helen Williams, the chief executive of the charity Empty Homes, said the council tax increase would be little disincentive for those buying properties as investment. “For a very wealthy buyer spending millions, 100% council tax is not really enough of a disincentive,” she said. It would be more helpful if the government carried out a review into why overseas buyers kept their properties empty, she added.

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, said: “We need a large-scale publicly funded house building programme, not this government’s accounting tricks and empty promises.”

According to Kensington and Chelsea data there are 64 homes listed as vacant in Notting Dale, the ward where Grenfell Tower was built. Of those, six are recorded as having been vacant for more than two years, and the remainder fall into the category of unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.

The ward listed as having the highest number of long-term empty properties is Brompton and Hans Town, which includes Sloane Street and Harrods. The ward has 100 homes listed as empty for more than two years and another 128 recorded as unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.

Analysis by the specialist trade magazine Inside Housing suggested there was a strong correlation between high house prices and the number of empty homes. “This will fuel suggestions that the so-called ‘buy to leave’ phenomenon – whereby investors buy properties to leave them empty – is rife in the borough,” the magazine said.

There are more than 200,000 homes in the UK that have been empty for more than six months, according to the latest government data.

Output: The decision by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, to allow local authorities to double council tax on properties left vacant for more than two years has been dubbed "water off an oligarch’s back" by critics. Hammond's changes would increase the highest band council tax charges on empty properties in Kensington and Chelsea from £2,124 a year to £4,248. Helen Williams, the CEO of charity Empty Homes, said: "It would be more helpful if the government carried out a review into why overseas buyers kept their properties empty."


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Financial consultants shrug off robo-advice threat
 "The poor customer take up of pure robo-advice propositions in the market today highlights the ongoing importance of the human aspect of an adviser’s service."

The research from Aegon found that the degree of concern felt by advisers correlates to the typical size of their client portfolios, with advisers whose client portfolios are at the lower end of the scale more alert to the threat from the lower cost option of robo-advice.

In some cases, this may also be explained where those with smaller portfolios may have less complex needs that could be served on a more basic, standardised approach.

For advisers with client portfolios of more than £200k, 88% feel it offers no threat to their business, and even for portfolios of up to £100k, the figure remains high at 73%.

While the majority of advisers believe robo-advice is no threat to their business, a third (31%) do point to robo-advice and similar digital services as one of the top challenges to the wider industry over the coming two years, a little behind Brexit (40%). Advisers who manage less than £5 million in client assets are three times more likely to feel threatened by the technology than those who manage over £100 million (63% vs 20%), suggesting advisers with less scale consider the new technology as more of a challenge to their business.

Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon, said: “The increasing use of technology in financial services is essential to engage customers in the future. It also provides opportunities for adviser firms to find new ways for people to access advice, particularly on less complex topics, which may not have been open to them in the past. This innovation has real potential to enhance adviser businesses, providing parallel advice and guidance offerings that can benefit customers and help close the advice gap.

“The poor customer take up of pure robo-advice propositions in the market today highlights the ongoing importance of the human aspect of an adviser’s service. For this reason we see robo-advice technology as being most likely to represent an opportunity for advisers to complement their offerings, and not a threat. Customers will increasingly come to expect digital services alongside traditional advice so it’s important advisers embrace technology and consider how best to deliver a seamless experience across digital and physical channels.

“Providers need to support intermediaries to create a successful market for advice and we believe robo developments will prove to be healthy for the adviser industry. As advisers grow used to the new innovations, they should prove to be a useful and valuable extension to face to face financial advice.”

Output: More than three-quarters of UK financial advisers don't see robo-advice as a threat to their businesses, according to research by Aegon. Advisers with larger client portfolios are less likely to view these platforms as a threat, according to the research. Advisers managing less than £5m ($6.7m) in client assets are three times as likely to view robo-advice as a significant threat to their businesses. Nonetheless, they expect demand for robo-advisers to increase over the next 12 months.