Podzept - The Bigger Picture

James Brand, Head of European Utility Research discusses with Debbie Jones, Global Head of ESG Company Research the ambitious targets set by Germany's coalition government, arguably Europe's most ambitious decarbonisation targets. The targets aims to transform Germany's power market, reaching 80% renewable generation by 2030 while closing its remaining nuclear plants and phasing out coal. It could put Germany at the forefront of the energy transition.

Nicole DeBlase, lead analyst covering the US Multi-Industry and Machinery Research, speaks with Luke Templeman, Thematic Research Analyst, on the macro setup of the sector in 2022. Often said to be a bellwether for the economy, will Industrials be constructive or destructive in 2022 as the US begins to raise interest rates?

Tim Rokossa, Global Head of Automotive Research, and Luke Templeman, Thematic Analyst discuss the 2022 outlook for global automotive.

Matthew Barnard, Head of Company Research, US speaks with Peter Hooper, Global Head of Economic Research and Matthew Luzzetti, Chief Economist discussing economic predictions over the next two years. They base their ominous predictions on several factors: Inflation is pushing 6% or more in Europe and the US while central banks continue quantitative easing. A new and more infectious strain of Covid is spreading rapidly as vaccination rates lag. Supply chains remain clogged with delivery times and transport costs near all time highs. Potential populist-driven political turmoil, climactic tempests, and geopolitical storms loom.

In a new podcast our China Chief Economist Yi Xiong and Luke Templeman from our Thematic Research team discuss China's housing activity, which remains weak, and help to explain the implications for growth in China next year.

In this episode we discuss the corporate response to growing biodiversity concerns, which has been slow. The problem is that companies with higher biodiversity risks can find their stock prices underperform. Customer and political scrutiny are amplifying the situation.

We interview Daianna Karaian, Founder and CEO of Today Do This, a firm that works with Blue Chip global corporates to help them achieve specific sustainability goals. We address several big questions that corporates have about exactly how to implement sustainability processes.

We discuss the US economy, in particular what President Biden has done in his first 100 days in office, including the enormous fiscal stimulus package. Is the package politically possible as Washington looks forward to mid-term elections next year?

We discuss the key trends of digital currencies; which central banks are leading and lagging the race; the different sets of opportunities, or hurdles even, faced by different countries; and what to expect in terms of regulatory framework looking ahead. Katharina Paust-Bokrezion, Head of payments policy, Political Affairs, joins the conversation.

Being ‘asset-light’ has been Wall Street dogma for years. And no wonder. Over the last decade, US stocks with low levels of Property, Plant, and Equipment (PPE) have seen double the stock market returns of high PPE stocks. In Europe, the returns have been triple. But could it all come to an end?