2024-07-22 20:30

NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Global business travel spending in 2023 recovered to pre-pandemic levels in North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa as companies resumed in-person gatherings and conferences, according to report released Monday by an industry association. However, the Global Business Travel Association's annual report also said business travel spending adjusted for inflation remains below 2019 levels and a full global recovery faces increased headwinds from geopolitical conflicts and a slower travel rebound in major markets like China. Global business travel spending as a whole in 2023 increased 30% to $1.34 trillion from the previous year, but it was still about 7% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the report. "We are now expecting to see continued solid spend growth in business travel, but at a more normal, moderate level as the world economies return to a more traditional cycle," said Suzanne Neufang, the association's chief executive officer. The association predicts that spending will reach $1.48 trillion by the end of 2024, surpassing the pre-pandemic record of $1.43 trillion. When adjusted for inflation, global business travel spending was 22% lower in 2023 compared to 2019 levels. The Asia-Pacific region was the fastest-growing region in 2023 led by a rise in spending in South Korea and India, which increased 27% and 22% respectively year-over-year. However, the region still lagged a full recovery as business travel spending in China increased 9% year-over-year, but still trails behind pre-pandemic levels. Spending recovered to pre-pandemic levels in North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Despite surpassing the pre-pandemic record of $346.8 billion, the growth in spending in North America decelerated to 25% year-over-year down from 73% the year prior. Similarly, in Western Europe business travel spending increased 33% in 2023 compared to 109% in 2022 when spending surged as governments loosened travel restrictions. The region's spending was 6% below pre-pandemic levels. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/business-travel-spending-recovers-all-regions-asia-europe-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 20:19

SAO PAULO, July 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian meatpacker JBS (JBSS3.SA) , opens new tab is supplying animal waste from its operations abroad for the production of renewable aviation fuels and is studying a similar initiative in Brazil through the Friboi brand, the company said on Monday. According to JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, in two years 1.2 million metric tons of beef tallow and pork lard from its units in the United States, Canada and Australia have already been directed to the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other renewable fuels. In Brazil, Friboi began studies to test the feasibility of supplying animal waste for local production of SAF, which is seen as an important solution for commercial aviation to reduce its carbon emissions. "By reusing animal waste, we contribute to the environment and help this critical sector in its decarbonization process," JBS's global chief sustainability officer, Jason Weller, said in a statement. The initiative, he added, reinforces the company's commitment to responsible waste management and circular economy. JBS is also studying the feasibility of producing renewable fuel for ships as an alternative to bunker oil through Biopower, its company focused on manufacturing biodiesel. Biopower has three Brazil plants for the production of biofuel from organic waste from cattle processing. JBS is controlled by J&F, a holding company owned by Brazilian billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. It has been seeking to expand its initiatives in sustainable energy. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazils-jbs-supplies-animal-waste-production-sustainable-aviation-fuel-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 20:11

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has sent a letter to CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) , opens new tab CEO George Kurtz asking him to testify on last week's global tech outage. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT CrowdStrike's glitchy update to its security software crashed computers powered by Microsoft's (MSFT.O) , opens new tab Windows operating system on Friday, disrupting internet services across the globe and affecting a broad swath of industries including airlines, banking and healthcare. Microsoft said on Saturday about 8.5 million Windows devices were affected. Services across industries gradually came back online later on Friday but companies were dealing with backlogs, delays, canceled flights and other issues, raising questions on how to avoid such a situation in the future and whether such critical software should remain in the hands of a few companies. KEY QUOTES "While we appreciate CrowdStrike's response and coordination with stakeholders, we cannot ignore the magnitude of this incident, which some have claimed is the largest IT outage in history," the congressional panel wrote in its letter to Kurtz dated Monday. The letter was reported first by the Washington Post. "CrowdStrike is actively in contact with relevant Congressional Committees. Briefings and other engagement timelines may be disclosed at members' discretion," a company spokesperson said. WHAT'S NEXT The letter urges the CEO to schedule a hearing with a subcommittee of the panel - the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection - by Wednesday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/us-house-panel-calls-crowdstrike-ceo-testify-outage-washington-post-reports-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 19:50

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Monday announced 25 projects pitched by 30 different state, local and tribal governments that applied for $4.3 billion in grants created by the president's signature climate law. The grants, which will be distributed to winners by early autumn, will support deployment of clean energy technology across sectors ranging from housing to agriculture. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has reviewed nearly 300 applications that requested over $30 billion. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT The administration has said the selected projects when combined would reduce greenhouse gas pollution by as much as 150 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 2030, or roughly 2 percentage points. The U.S. has pledged to slash its CO2e emissions by 50%-52% by that year. CONTEXT With the 2024 election looming and campaigning ramping up, the EPA and other federal agencies are scrambling to distribute grants earmarked by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers have eyed repeals of several IRA grant and loan programs. KEY QUOTE “These grants will help state and local governments improve the air quality and health of their communities, while accelerating America’s progress toward our climate goals," said John Podesta, senior advisor to President Joe Biden for International Climate Policy. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-announces-43-billion-climate-grants-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 19:49

July 22 (Reuters) - The global insurance and reinsurance industry is likely to avoid any major financial impact from the outage sparked by CrowdStrike's glitchy security software update that disrupted internet services worldwide last week, Fitch Ratings said. Preliminary estimates suggest that insured losses could be in the range of mid-to-high single-digit billion dollars and most claims would be within the purview of primary insurers, the ratings agency wrote in a report on Monday. The findings could allay investor concerns over claims and litigation stemming from the disruption. Insurers most exposed to such losses tend to transfer some of their liability to reinsurers. CrowdStrike's (CRWD.O) , opens new tab update crashed computers powered by Microsoft's Windows operating system, restricting several industries such as airlines, banking and healthcare. "Although standard cyber insurance covers cloud downtime due to security failure, operational failure or system failure of the insured's own operations, it typically does not cover downtime due to non-malicious cyber events at a third-party network service provider," said Loretta Worters, a spokesperson at the Insurance Information Institute. Fitch, however, said accounting for cyber risk continues to be difficult for the insurance industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/insurers-see-limited-hit-crowdstrike-disruption-fitch-says-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 19:40

BUDAPEST, July 22 (Reuters) - Hungary and Slovakia have asked the European Commission to mediate a consultation procedure with Ukraine, Hungary's foreign minister said on Monday, after Kyiv placed Russian group Lukoil on a sanctions list, stopping its supplies to the two countries. Slovakia and Hungary have increased pressure on Kyiv after they said last week they had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab via Ukraine. Hungary receives 2 million metric tons of oil from the Russian group annually, around a third of its total oil imports, Peter Szijjarto said. "I spoke with the Ukrainian foreign minister yesterday. He said they allow every oil transfer through, but it's not true," Szijjarto told reporters while in Brussels. The two countries have initiated a consultation with the European Commission, he said, adding the Commission had three days to respond. If the consultation procedure did not yield results, Hungary and Slovakia would take the issue to an international court of their choosing instead, he said. A spokesperson for the European Commission said it had received the request from Hungary and Slovakia and was studying it. The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though the head of Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz acknowledged a lack of oil from Lukoil. "The volumes of the transited oil in July are the same as in the previous periods. There are no Lukoil volumes but volumes are the same," Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said. Lukoil's supplies via the Druzhba pipeline's southern spur account for some 50% of its flows and MOL's refineries in Slovakia and Hungary totally depend on shipments from Lukoil. In an attempt to sell oil not sent to Hungary and Slovakia, Lukoil has added some 140,000 metric tonnes of crude oil to its original lifting plan for the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk for July, market sources said. OTHER SUPPLIERS The second largest supplier via the route is Tatneft (TATN.MM) , opens new tab, which also delivers oil to MOL, while Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) , opens new tab, Russneft (RNFT.MM) , opens new tab and some other small independent producers provide the rest. As an alternative, Hungary may import oil from Croatia's Omisalj sea port via the Adria pipeline, while Slovakia is only able to get oil via Hungary. Since April, oil imports via Omisalj were around 500,000 metric tons each month, including the grades Basrah, Azeri BTC and CPC Blend. Russia continues to supply natural gas and oil to landlocked Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine despite the war in the country and EU sanctions on Russian crude. The countries have exemptions from oil sanctions to give them more time to transition to alternative sources of supply. Both Slovakia and Hungary also supply energy to Ukraine. Szijjarto said Hungary provided 42% of Ukrainian electricity imports last month. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said over the weekend that his country helped to supply diesel to Ukraine, in comments in which he criticised the sanctions and said Slovakia would not be held hostage to Ukraine-Russia relations. On Monday, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar reiterated some of Fico's comments, saying that the sanctions had a bigger impact on the Slovakia and the EU than on Russia. Ukraine's ban does not affect other Russian oil exporters whose oil was allowed to transit through Ukraine. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary-slovakia-ask-european-commission-mediate-with-ukraine-over-lukoil-2024-07-22/