World Biz
G20 pledges to work together to tax ultra-rich
G20 nations have agreed to work together to make the super-rich pay their taxes, but stopped short of a more substantial deal, according to a declaration adopted Friday after a meeting of finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.
The thorny topic of tackling tax-dodging billionaires dominated the two-day meeting in the Brazilian city, which will host the next G20 summit in November.
The initiative is a key priority for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who heads this year’s grouping, which includes the world’s major economies, the European Union and the African Union.
Lula was hoping for a minimum tax on the moneyed elite, but the final statement represents a compromise on a topic that divided member states.
“With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed,” said the statement.
“Wealth and income inequalities are undermining economic growth and social cohesion and aggravating social vulnerabilities.”
Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said that “from a moral point of view it is important that the twenty richest nations consider that we have a problem, which is to have progressive taxation on the poor and not on the rich.”
The United States and Germany dismissed the need for a global deal on taxing billionaires, an initiative which is backed by France, Spain, South Africa, Colombia and the African Union.
– ‘Time to go further’ –
International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva hailed the G20’s position on “tax fairness.”
“The shared vision of G20 Ministers on progressive taxation is timely and welcome, as the need to rebuild fiscal buffers while also attending to social and development needs involves difficult decisions in many countries,” she said in a statement.
French economist Gabriel Zucman, who authored a report on taxing the rich, welcomed the fact that “for the first time in history, there is now a consensus among G20 countries that the way we tax the super-rich must be fixed.”
“Now it is time to go further,” said Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on Friday, urging heads of state to coordinate minimum standards by November.
“The climate crisis is expected to cost trillions of dollars every year and it is outrageous to expect that the regular taxpayer should pay for it, while the super-rich evade taxes,” said Camila Jardim of Greenpeace Brazil.
On the sidelines of the thorny tax discussions, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Brazilian Economy Minister Haddad announced on Friday the signing of a partnership on climate protection.
Founded in 1999, the organization was originally focused on global economic issues but has increasingly taken on other pressing challenges — even though member states do not always agree on what should be on the agenda.
Divisions within the G20, of which Russia is also a member, have made drafting a joint communique at the outcome of meetings a challenge.
Three texts were published by Brazilian authorities: a joint final communique, a document on “international cooperation in tax matters” and a separate communique from Brazil on geopolitical crises.
The final communique makes no mention of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but simply refers to “wars and the escalation of conflicts” as risk factors for the global economy.
If you care about the environment, think twice about using AI.
Generative artificial intelligence uses 30 times more energy than a traditional search engine, warns researcher Sasha Luccioni, on a mission to raise awareness about the environmental impact of the hot new technology.
Recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the world of AI by the American magazine Time in 2024, the Canadian computer scientist of Russian origin has sought for several years to quantify the emissions of programs like ChatGPT or Midjourney.
“I find it particularly disappointing that generative AI is used to search the Internet,” laments the researcher, who spoke with AFP on the sidelines of the ALL IN artificial intelligence conference, in Montreal.
The language models on which the programs are based require enormous computing capacities to train on billions of data points, necessitating powerful servers.
Then there’s the energy used to respond to each individual user’s requests.
Instead of simply extracting information, “like a search engine would do to find the capital of a country, for example,” AI programs “generate new information,” making the whole thing “much more energy-intensive,” she explains.
According to the International Energy Agency, the combined AI and the cryptocurrency sectors consumed nearly 460 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022 — two percent of total global production.
– Energy efficiency –
A leading researcher on the impact of AI on climate, Luccioni participated in 2020 in the creation of a tool for developers to quantify the carbon footprint of running a piece of code. “CodeCarbon” has since been downloaded more than a million times.
Head of the climate strategy of startup Hugging Face, a platform for sharing open-access AI models, she is now working on creating a certification system for algorithms.
Similar to the program from the US Environmental Protection Agency that awards scores based on the energy consumption of electronic devices and appliances, it would make it possible to know an AI product’s energy consumption in order to encourage users and developers to “make better decisions.”
“We don’t take into account water or rare materials,” she acknowledges, “but at least we know that for a specific task, we can measure energy efficiency and say that this model has an A+, and that model has a D,” she says.
– Transparency –
In order to develop her tool, Luccioni is experimenting with it on generative AI models that are accessible to everyone, or open source, but she would also like to do it on commercial models from Google or ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, which have been reluctant to agree.
Although Microsoft and Google have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by the end of the decade, the US tech giants saw their greenhouse gas emissions soar in 2023 because of AI: up 48 percent for Google compared to 2019 and 29 percent for Microsoft compared to 2020.
“We are accelerating the climate crisis,” says Luccioni, calling for more transparency from tech companies.
The solution, she says, could come from governments that, for the moment, are “flying blindly,” without knowing what is “in the data sets or how the algorithms are trained.”
“Once we have transparency, we can start legislating.”
– ‘Energy sobriety’ –
It is also necessary to “explain to people what generative AI can and cannot do, and at what cost,” according to Luccioni.
In her latest study, the researcher demonstrated that producing a high-definition image using artificial intelligence consumes as much energy as fully recharging the battery of your cell phone.
At a time when more and more companies want to integrate the technology further into our lives — with conversational bots and connected devices, or in online searches — Luccioni advocates “energy sobriety.”
The idea here is not to oppose AI, she emphasizes, but rather to choose the right tools — and use them judiciously.
In a move aimed at enhancing global communication and cooperation with ASEAN, the Guangxi International Communication Centre was inaugurated on September 6 in Nanning. This initiative is under the leadership of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and is spearheaded by Guangxi Daily in collaboration with Guangxi Radio and Television.
Chen Yijun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, along with other key figures including Liu Weiling, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Daily, and Yu Yunquan, Deputy Director of China Foreign Languages Administration, were present. Delegates from ASEAN nations, as well as leaders from media houses in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Macao, also attended the event.
Guangxi serves as a critical gateway for China’s outreach to ASEAN countries, leveraging its geographic proximity and cultural ties to strengthen mutual exchanges. Over recent years, Guangxi has built a reputation for its active role in fostering media collaborations with ASEAN countries, sharing stories of friendship, and facilitating people-to-people and cultural connections between China and its neighbors.
Liu Weiling highlighted China Daily’s collaboration with Guangxi to establish a comprehensive, diversified cooperation model. This model seeks to highlight Guangxi’s strategic significance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area while also showcasing the region’s role in building a China-ASEAN community of shared destiny and a China-Vietnam strategic community.
Yu Yunquan emphasized that Guangxi’s geographical advantages and cultural richness make it uniquely positioned for international communication. He stressed that Guangxi’s role would be instrumental in deepening international cooperation and enhancing mutual understanding, as the region continues to develop its international communication infrastructure.
Zhang Lei from China News Service spoke about the partnership between his organization and Guangxi to amplify the region’s achievements in economic and social development. The goal is to present Guangxi to the international community through accurate and engaging stories that reflect its progress and ambitions in high-quality development.
Akha Ongmenca, Director of Lao National Television, praised the long-standing partnership between Laos and Guangxi in the media sector. He expressed optimism about continuing this cooperation, focusing on innovation and achieving even greater results in the future.
Xu Bo, President of Guangxi Daily, outlined the efforts to establish a multi-dimensional communication platform through “Hello Guangxi,” which includes a website, client channel, and social media accounts. The aim is to create a unified and effective communication network that promotes Guangxi’s image internationally while telling China’s stories from a localized perspective.
At the event, several strategic agreements were signed, including one between the Publicity Department of Guangxi and China Daily and China News Service. These agreements, alongside new collaborations with foreign media, aim to expand Guangxi’s influence on the global stage.
Among the initiatives announced were plans for the 2024 Chinese and Foreign Media Tour, aimed at promoting the Land and Sea New Corridor in the West, a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This project is seen as critical to the development of China’s southwest region. Additionally, cultural exchange activities like “Meeting Lovely China and Magnificent Guangxi” will further promote mutual learning and cultural ties between China and ASEAN.
The launch of the Guangxi International Communication Centre marks a significant step in promoting China-ASEAN cooperation through media and cultural diplomacy, with a focus on fostering mutual understanding and deepening regional ties.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel, drawing a rebuke from the Israeli foreign minister.
He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Erdogan said at an Islamic schools’ association event near Istanbul.
He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at “forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism,” which he said also threatened Lebanon and Syria.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Erdogan’s remark was “a dangerous lie and incitement,” and that the Turkish leader has been working for years with Iran to undermine the region’s moderate Arab regimes.
Erdogan hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Ankara this week and they discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair their long-frozen ties during what was the first such presidential visit in 12 years.
Ties between them started thawing in 2020 when Turkey began diplomatic efforts to ease tensions with estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan said in July that Turkey would extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations between the two neighbours, who severed ties in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Israel’s military said after Friday’s incident that it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
There was no immediate comment on Friday’s incident fromIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
