Spotlight

This week’s Monday Briefing reaches you at a time in which global cooperation is being symbolically and substantively reinforced following a couple of years in which it was seemingly being undermined. We are right in between two of the most awaited and critical events of the year when it comes to defining the future of our planet. Yesterday, the G20 Heads of States or Government meeting, which involved some of the world’s most prominent and recognizable leaders, ended Italy’s 2021 Presidency of the G20 and at least in theory established the bases for a future of cooperation on themes such as climate change and vaccinations. You can find a detailed overview of the event starting from this page.

Simultaneously, while the Group of 20 was gathered in Rome, the UN COP26 Climate Summit, which is scheduled to feature representatives of about 120 countries between today and Friday, was being opened in Glasgow, Scotland. To better understand what the summit entails and why it is so important to pay attention to it, you can go here. It is increasingly becoming evident that the international framework for combating carbon emissions that foster climate change will be at the base of our future as a global community for the next few decades, and that it is bound to have a visible impact on geopolitics.

News sources worldwide seem to be aware of this and are therefore dedicating a lot of space and time to the COP26 Summit and to carbon emissions. The Financial Times, for instance, created a searchable dashboard that features 193 countries’ historical emissions that allows the reader to have a visual overview of carbon emissions worldwide. The Economist has dedicated this week’s cover story to the Summit, somewhat controversially claiming that the COP26 Summit will be useless in reaching any goal. No matter what, it will be worth following news that emerge from Glasgow, as they are bound to convey something about our future.

Around the World

Sudan’s military seized power, casting democratic transition into chaos. Sudan’s top generals seized power last Monday, arresting the prime minister, imposing a state of emergency and opening fire on protesters, in tumultuous scenes that threatened to derail the transition to democracy that had just emerged from years of autocratic rule. Civilian and military leaders were supposed to share power after a popular uprising in 2019 had overthrown a decades-long dictatorship, but as of Monday, the main civilian leader, the Prime Minister, is detained and the power is concentrated in the hands of the military.

World faces disastrous 2.7C temperature rise on current climate plans, UN warns. According to a report that was released on Tuesday by the United Nations, countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the COP26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez called the report a “wake-up call”.

France detains British boat amid fishing license row. On Thursday, France’s sea minister has announced that a British trawler has been detained for fishing without a license in French waters, an announcement that followed the retaliatory measures against Britain for failing to honour its commitment for fishing rights that had been set forth by the French Minister of European Affairs on Wednesday. The dispute between France and England over fishing rights is just an instance of the post-Brexit tensions that are bound to keep arising.

Poland fined €1m a day over controversial judicial system changes. Poland has been fined €1m (£845,000) a day by the European court of justice for ignoring a ruling that it must suspend its controversial judicial system changes. The inflammatory move, which runs contrary to recent words of caution from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was immediately denounced in Warsaw as “blackmail”. The development comes in the wake of a long-running battle between Brussels and Poland over changes that are said by critics to undermine the independence of the country’s judiciary.

Iran re-joins nuclear negotiations. Iran will rejoin international talks on limiting its nuclear programme, an Iranian official said. The negotiations had stopped after the presidential election in June was won by an ultra-conservative, Ebrahim Raisi. It is still not clear whether the U.S., not trusted by the new Iranian administration, will participate in the talks.

The U.S. sees China’s hypersonic missile test as a sort of “Sputnik moment”. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the first U.S. official to publicly confirm China’s hypersonic missile tests, which caught the U.S. by surprise. Mr. Milley said news of the test were “very close” to a “Sputnik moment”.

Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would change its corporate name to Meta, referring to the company’s plans to build a “metaverse”. The rebranding follows a series of negative stories about Facebook after former employee Frances Haugen released evidence of wrongdoings.

China digs more coal to address power shortages, putting climate goals at risk. Desperate to provide enough electricity to its people and businesses (and heat in the winter), China has significantly increased its coal extraction activities. This is estimated to increase the world’s CO2 emissions by a full percentage point and may have a huge cost in terms of global warming.

Lagarde pushes back on eurozone rate rise bets. Christine Lagarde, the ECB president, said the ECB will not raise its rates soon and dismissed concerns of high inflation saying the current situation is just temporary. The Federal Reserve and Bank of England instead recently signalled they would raise interest rates.

US and EU agree deal to ease tariffs on steel and aluminium. The U.S. and EU agreed to ease tariffs on billions of dollars of steel and aluminium products. Mr. Dombrovskis, EU trade commissioners, said the block has “agreed with the U.S. to pause our steel and aluminium trade dispute and launch co-operation on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium”. The tariffs had been imposed in 2018 by the Trump administration.

G20 pledge climate action but make few commitments. G20 leaders agreed to undertake “meaningful and effective actions” to limit global warming but stopped short of making detailed commitments. U.S. President Joe Biden said China and Russia, two large polluters, “basically didn’t show up” on climate matters.

Italian News

Il Senato accantona il DDL Zan. Con 154 favorevoli, 131 contrari e 2 astenuti, è passata quella che in questi giorni era stata definita “tagliola” dalla stampa. il Senato ha votato a favore di una richiesta presentata da Lega e Fratelli d’Italia che attraverso un procedimento parlamentare noto come “non passaggio all’esame degli articoli” ha accantonato il voto sulla legge. Second il PD e gli altri promotori de decreto, tale azione ha contribuito al definitivo affossamento del DDL Zan.

A Milano in diecimila all’Arco della Pace contro lo stop del Ddl Zan. Diecimila manifestanti sono scesi in piazza per protestare contro il blocco del ddl Zan. L’enorme gruppo di manifestanti, ha esplicitato il suo dissenso a suon di “vergogna, vergogna!”. L’incontro è stato organizzato dai Sentinelli di Milano, insieme all’Arcigay e al Coordinamento Arcobaleno.

«Segre al Quirinale», migliaia di firme. La senatrice: «Grazie della stima ma non sono disponibile». «Ringrazio moltissimo chi ha promosso la petizione e tutti quelli che l’hanno firmata. Li ringrazio per la loro stima, che li porta a pensare a me per un compito simile, ma non sono disponibile» dice Liliana Segre, interpellata dal Corriere della Sera. Tra I firmatari, spiccano anche I nomi di noti senatori tra cui Marco Travaglio e Furio Colombo.

Bocconi News

• Tra i Leoni and Culturit will hold an event on November 4th on blockchain, NFTs and digital art. Check it out here!
• Everyone back on campus! Following the October break, Bocconi has finally given permission to all students to attend lectures on campus, making the division between odd and even students fall after almost one and a half year: a new beginning for our university and for all the students, who can now enjoy the campus experience at its fullest!
• After the exams, it is also time for the student associations to go back to their activities: Campus Life sent out a memo with all the upcoming events organized by the students. Check it out and find your favourite one to attend!
• Jazz Mi, the Jazz festival held in Milan from 21 to 31 October, has also touched the Bocconi campus: while on the 28^th GUD has hosted the Maguey Plant, on the 30^th the new Sarfatti Park in the SDA Campus was the venue of three concerts. From 11 to 5 p.m. three bands, Orbits Sextet, Blue Swing Pages and Baraccone Express filled the new campus with their amazing music.

Long Read

At a time in which big corporations worldwide put a lot of effort into taking an at least symbolic progressive stand on themes such as racism, inclusion and environmental sustainability, the long read that we decide to suggest to you this week reflects precisely on the impact of such gestures. Written by Carl Rhodes and published by The Guardian, the piece argues that progressive gestures done by big corporations are not only useless to the cause they are in theory contributing to, but they are dangerous for it. If a company takes a stand only because it is good for business to do so, he argues, the purpose of the cause the company is taking a stand for is often defeated. You can find the full piece here.

In Case You Missed It

Eman Maan wrote about the dangers of “surveillance capitalism”, which relies on gathering sensitive information about Internet users which is then used for targeting advertisements or sold to third parties.

Sergiu Lazar put a spotlight on the tough working conditions in the investment banking industry, making one question one’s willingness to accept them.

Mathilde Dansereau focused on what the comeback of tourism after the pandemic would mean for the environment and talked about ways of travelling with low ecological impact.

Liepa Seskeviciute wrote about the consequences of Taliban’s increasing dominance over Afghanistan for the freedom of speech and of the press in the country.

L’associazione studentesca Keiron ha pubblicato un articolo sul diritto al silenzio in cui ha menzionato un caso in cui la Corte di Giustizia Europa ha preso la posizione a favore dell’applicazione di tale diritto.

Gabriele Bernard ha intervistato ex-alunna di Bocconi l’On. Barbara Pollastrini, già Ministra per i diritti e le Pari Opportunità del secondo governo Prodi e attualmente deputata alla Camera.

Marina Di Cagno and Michele Forti asked Bocconi students how they felt about being back on campus and changing their place for learning once again.

Marco Visentin talked about how we can synthesize the new methods of teaching that became mainstream during the pandemic and the traditional, pre-Covid ways of teaching.

Olimpia Vitali, come prima della sua classe, ha scritto sulle sue emozioni di una neolaureata e ha condiviso il suo discorso di commiato con noi.

Federica Di Chiara ha comunicato la riapertura del teatro dal Verme e ha condiviso i punti salienti della sua conversazione con Martina, una studentessa bocconiana che ha fatto uno stage presso il Teatro.

Cecilia Gadina interviewed Valentina Bosetti, a professor of climate change economics at Bocconi and a senior scientist at the European Institute on Economics and the Environment.

Bojan Zeric wrote about how decision-making processes changed during the pandemic and how living under a state of emergency would affect our perceptions of democracy.

Cansu Süt interviewed Maui Brennan, a Bocconi student who is currently an intern at the ECB.