Is your game Carbon?

If so then you’ve come to the right place. The University of Edinburgh Business School has now launched a specialist Masters Programme in Carbon Finance. This programme, the first of its kind in the World, will site nicely with our established Masters in Carbon Management. Both programmes fits with the School’s decision to make Business and Climate Change one of our key areas of focus. Of course you don’t get a cleaner world simply from trading carbon but these programmes are about so much more and from the MBA viewpoint the programmes “spill over” and we are then able to offer electives to the MBA in selected areas as well. Speaking of the MBA, this is the fourth week of classes. Can you believe it? It’s interesting to observe the group dynamics and friendships develop. Despite the workload the group still finds time for social stuff and this is essential of course.

During my lunch beak I was catching up with the news and despite the longevity of this the story about the Chilean miners still catches my eye. You will probably know that 33 miners have been trapped more than 600 metres below ground since 5 August when the mine shaft collapsed. The amazing things is that all survived and if all goes well the rescue team will within the next 24 hours begin to transport the miners to the surface using a new rescue shaft. Obviously the excitement is mounting but I just hope these poor people will not be hauled off to press conferences but be given a chance to come to terms with the miracle of being alive after this ordeal in peace and quite with their families.

The iPad, Copenhagen syndrome and well, yes, the economy

Whether or not it’s just a big iPhone, the launch of the iPad was eagerly awaited. But around the World the audience hesitated in breaking out in the kind of raptures that are normally seen when Steve Jobs take centre stage. He didn’t seem too impressed either. We’ll have to wait and see but I admit I’m not Googling for the nearest Apple dealership and my credit card sits nicely tucked away in my purse.

Yes, I admit I’ve been quiet about the economy lately. And to be frank I don’t think there’s anything to celebrate just yet. I guess you saw that Standard & Poor issued a warning to Japan about its borrowing (this kind of warning normally comes just before a downgrading of a country’s credit rating), the UK’s borrowing is in the news for all the wrong reasons and soon Greece may qualify for the joke that went around the World about Iceland not too long ago. Missed that? Ohh here it is: “What’s the capital of Iceland?”  “Five pounds, fifty” or some similar small amount of money in your local currency.

To a Dane, the headline “Obama and the Copenhagen Syndrome” had to spark an interest. It was a piece in the WSJ Europe edition by Bret Stephens. Stephens describes the Copenhagen Syndrome as a belief in your own ability to create a miracle. It is the Copenhagen Syndrome because Obama twice recently has come to Copenhagen hoping to dramatically influence a decision, first about the host city for the 2016 Olympics and most recently at the UN climate change summit. On both occasions Obama arrived late, maybe expecting his presence to alter the situation, and on both occasions the decisions did not go is way. In the case of the 2016 Olympics Chicago was overlooked in favour of Rio de Janeiro and most recently at the UN climate change summit, well you can say the World was overlooked in favour of money.

The run up to Copenhagen

Countries, organisations and individuals are preparing for the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December.  Hopes are high that real results will be reached but in that context it was interesting to see the list from the EU Commission of industries that because of competition restrictions should be pardoned from paying for carbon emissions the next five years. The list include industries such as coal mines and vineyards. Do we detect a pattern? The publication of the list is even more surprising given that  EU will be asking other major CO2 emitting countries such as the USA and China to get their act together at the upcoming conference. Although the EU seems to be prepared to drop the list if a proper international agreement can be reached in Copenhagen. Call me a cynic but I don’t think we will make real progress until the major Governments in the World find their parliaments two inches deep in water. And it is difficult because we don’t know how any of the changes that we want to make will affect the economy.  This is the most frequent explanation for not doing enough – we can’t afford it. I shall refrain from making the obvious rhetoric reply.

The MBA class is doing well.  We are in week eight of teaching. Next week is the last week of classes before our Integrative Project. After that it is time for revision and exams before we take the Christmas break. Next semester we move on to the Strategy courses and electives. We will welcome five exchange students from Essec Business School, Fisher College of Business and Schulich School of Business.