The dire outlook for Argentina’s renowned higher education system under President Javier Milei, a right-wing populist, was highlighted on April 22 – Earth Day – by Argentine plant ecologist Pedro Jaureguiberry, who was announced as a finalist in the prestigious Frontiers Planet Prize.

​“The current budget for universities in 2024 is insufficient, adding to the fact that in recent years we have only received 20% of the budget we asked for conducting research at our lab,” Jaureguiberry,  an assistant researcher with the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology at the National University of Córdoba (UNC), told Climate Home.

The 44-year-old scientist, who has spent his entire academic career in Argentina, was shortlisted for the award as one of 23 national champions drawn from science research teams across six continents, in recognition of a study he led on the drivers of human-caused biodiversity loss.

Dr Jaureguiberry conducting fieldwork in central western Argentina. (Photo: Diego Gurvich)

Of the finalists, three international winners will be announced in June in Switzerland, receiving prize money of $1.1 million each for their role in groundbreaking scientific research.

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With annual inflation running close to 300%, this year’s freeze on Argentina’s government budget for universities and scientific research amounts to a spending cut in real terms of around 80%, according to the University of Buenos Aires, which this month declared itself in an “economic emergency”.

On Tuesday, university teaching staff and students, backed by trade unions, will march in Buenos Aires and other cities “in defence of public education”, which they say faces a grave threat from the budget squeeze.

Met office hit by layoffs

Argentine meteorologist Carolina Vera, former vice-chair of a key working group responsible for the latest assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that in four decades of teaching and research she had never seen “such a level of dismantling through the reduction of research grants and programs with such disdain for knowledge”.

“This is very serious for atmospheric and ocean sciences, key to issues such as climate change, placing a whole new generation of meteorologists and climatologists in danger,” she told Climate Home from Trevelin, in the southern province of Chubut.

There has been widespread condemnation of 86 layoffs affecting administrative and other contractors at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), while Vera added that she is concerned about the situation at the National Meteorological Service, where 73 technicians have been let go. That, she warned, would affect the functionality of early warning and disaster prevention systems.

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Climatic and meteorological challenges are increasing in Argentina, from heavy rains due to the El Niño weather phenomenon – which has caused an ongoing dengue epidemic – to extreme heat and wildfires.

A significant drought is forecast for the southern hemisphere summer of 2024-2025, from November to February, as El Niño gives way to an expected La Niña, with the National Meteorological Service having a key role to play in predicting conditions and disseminating information about them ahead of time.

Vera added that the budget restrictions on CONICET would also limit its research capabilities, particularly relating to climate change. “​We hope that this will be reversed soon,” she added.

Greenlight for extractive industries

Milei has branded climate change a “socialist lie” since 2021 and has also questioned public education for “brainwashing people” with Marxist ideology.

Sergio Federovisky, deputy minister of environment during the previous presidency of Alberto Fernández, said Milei is not only disdainful of scientific views on global warming but also on broader environmental protection. For example, Milei – a former university professor and television pundit – said during his presidential campaign that “a company can pollute a river all it wants”.

“Climate denialism is not a scientific position, but rather an argument used to release all types of extractive actions that could be hindered by an environmental policy on the use of natural resources and the concentration of wealth,” Federovisky told Climate Home from Buenos Aires.

Meeting between Argentine President Javier Milei and Elon Musk in Texas, United States, at the Tesla factory on April 12 2024, forging a partnership through which the government is betting on attracting investment to Argentina. (Photo: Prensa Casa Rosada via / Latin America News Agency / Reuters)

In an economic review published on February 1, which unlocked $4.7 billion to support the new government’s policies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed its support for investment to increase the exploitation of oil and gas reserves and metals mining in Argentina, in order to boost exports and government revenues.

World Bank head Ajay Banga told journalists before last week’s Spring Meetings that the Argentine economy is going through a “whole economic realignment”. The bank “is supportive of the direction of that economy” and looks forward “to working closely with their leadership to help them as they go forward”, he added.

Yet he also noted that the bank’s latest review of economic prospects for the region highlighted challenges, including the impacts of Argentina’s correction, with regional GDP projected to expand by 1.6 percent in 2024, one of the lowest rates in the world and insufficient to drive prosperity.

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The IMF’s support for Milei’s neoliberal economic policies has been strongly criticised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which said on Friday that fiscal austerity “is not the answer when people’s lives and their democratic rights are at stake”.

“The IMF is celebrating the budget surplus in Argentina, but it’s indefensible to ignore the human cost of this economic shock therapy,” the ITUC’s General Secretary Luc Triangle said in a statement.

“Pensions have been slashed, thousands of public sector workers fired, public services are on the verge of collapse, unemployment is growing and food poverty spreading.”

Last week the government attempted to head off Tuesday’s protest by announcing a last-minute budget increase for maintenance costs for universities. But that was rejected by a national council of rectors and has not deterred the movement against the austerity measures, with large numbers set to come out onto the streets as planned.

(Reporting by Julián Reingold; editing by Megan Rowling)

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PIc: Jim Trodel/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

London has launched an investigation into how climate change will impact its economy, which is at risk from flooding, heat waves and other international pressures.

The London Assembly which is conducting the investigation, will produce a report by October, examining the resilience of the UK’s capital – dominated by finance, but also home to theatres, universities and shops – to climate change.

Five climate experts kicked off the investigation on Tuesday. They told the London Assembly’s economic committee, chaired by the Green Party’s Jenny Jones, that London faces disruption from flooding, heat waves and disrupted supply chains as temperatures increase.

The report is likely to come as a test to London mayor Boris Johnson, who has previously expressed doubt over the science of global warming, writing in January that he has an “open mind” about the possibility the world could instead be heading towards a “mini ice age”.

Finance

For London’s financial sector, the threat is one to be taken seriously.

Climate change is the “biggest impact emerging risk we look at,” said Nick Beecroft, a climate specialist at insurance company Lloyd’s of London. He added that, for the financial services, it was “probably the most pressing test of our claim to be innovators.”

“What we’re looking at is a global systemic issue. London is a critical node in that system through which is risk is transmitted and amplified.”

In 2011, financial and insurance services in London contributed £125.4 billion in added value to the UK’s economy, 45.8% of the total across the UK.

This makes London the second largest financial centre in the world after New York. Globally, the UN’s science panel warns that sea level rise as a result of climate change could wipe out US$ 13trillion worth of assets.

Another risk to London’s financial services is the possibility that fossil fuel assets are currently overvalued, the panel said. Around one third of current reserves must stay in the ground is the world is going to stay within safe limits of warning.

Small and medium-sized enterprises will suffer the most, said Chris Rapley, chair of the London Climate Change Partnership, as they are less equipped to deal with future threats.

These companies “represent about 90% of the business in London” most at risk from climate change, he said.

Cosmopolitan

London, which sits along the banks of the Thames, is vulnerable to flooding. This winter, the Thames Barrier closed a record 50 times, making it the busiest period in its history. Figures provided by the Greater London Authority show that up to 680,000 properties are at risk.

The city’s infrastructure will have to be planned to cope with the rising risks of climate change, agreed the panel – including Crossrail, a £14.8 billion project to update the city’s railways.

But the biggest challenge for the London economy will come from abroad, said Daniel Dowling, a climate change consultant with PwC, as big businesses find their supply chains disrupted by changing weather patterns abroad.

“If London is going to stay ahead of the pack, it needs to map these climate dependencies abroad,” he said. For instance, a recent study by Asda suggested that 95% of their fresh produce would be affected by climate change.

The impact of climate change overseas could also affect travel and cultural links, said Sam Fankhauser, co-director of the Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics. “It’s clearly important to London because it’s such a cosmopolitan place,” he said.

Selling

But there are also opportunities for London, said Juliette Daniels, from the London Climate Change Partnership. London’s green economy is worth around £25 billion, which the city could export abroad.

“Rotterdam and New York are putting a lot of effort and governmental support behind selling those services,” she said. “London is a leader in adaptation, but it should be doing more to promote that.”

These services could include consultancy and engineering expertise for city infrastructure and business, but also between sectors like music and theatre.

In 2009, West End theatre contributed around £2 billion to the economy, and there are initiatives underway to help make the sector more sustainable, such as the consultancy Julie’s Bicycle – “an extraordinary story and something others are interested in,” said Rapley.

The report will make recommendations to London mayor, Boris Johnson, on how to climate-proof the city, to which he is obliged to respond.

The post How will London’s economy cope with climate change? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: Kim Seng/Flickr

By Gerard Wynn

Global infrastructure spending will double over the next 10 years as developing countries lay the foundations for power plants, cities and roads for the rest of the century, according to a report by the financial services firm PwC.

The report findings echoed, but did not explicitly refer to, the notion of carbon lock-in, where countries are building transport systems, power plants and cities which will set the level of future carbon emissions.

The report did not investigate what level of carbon emissions may result from an expected doubling in infrastructure spending.

Such spending was growing on the wings of global recovery from the financial crisis.

PwC identified three main megatrends driving further investment over the next 10 years: the rising power of emerging economies, population growth and urbanisation.

“These paradigm shifts will leave a lasting, fundamental imprint on infrastructure development for decades to come,” said the report, “Capital project and infrastructure spending: Outlook to 2025”.

Developed countries would see their share of spend fall from nearly one half now to one third in 2025.

The report projected an urbanisation explosion in countries including India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Ghana, and Nigeria, as well as China.

“India, for example, will add another 500 million to its urban population over the next four decades, spurring additional infrastructure spending in such major sectors as energy and telecommunications.”

Low carbon investment will continue, driven both by an expected rising cost of fossil fuels, which would boost the competitiveness of renewable energy, and climate damage, which may motivate regulation including carbon pricing.

Growing climate-related disasters would also drive infrastructure investment, directly, for example in flood defence.

Capital

Infrastructure spending refers to the physical equipment which makes the world tick, including power plants, roads, schools and telecoms.

Such spending grew last year to $4.2 trillion, up a third from a low point in 2009, and was forecast to grow to more than $9 trillion per year by 2025.

The report analysed 49 countries accounting for 90% of global economic output.

“Our global analysis shows that spending for capital projects and infrastructure has begun rebounding from the financial crisis of the past few years,” PwC said.

“Spending is expected to accelerate significantly over the next decade, with fast-growing emerging economies far outpacing developed nations.”

“Emerging markets, unburdened by austerity or ailing banks, will see accelerated growth in infrastructure spending, especially China and other countries in Asia.”

Spending in Western Europe will only reach pre-crisis levels around 2018.

The post New cities will set energy supply and use for decades – PwC appeared first on Climate Home News.

Source: Flickr/Randy Connolly

By Sophie Yeo

The planet could face irreversible and potentially catastrophic levels of global warming in just over 20 years unless the world commits to a much higher rate of decarbonisation.

A new report from leading consultancy PwC says that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions countries can release is likely to be blown by 2034.

This bank of carbon – around 270GtC even according to conservative estimates – will have been emptied if the global economy continues at its current decarbonisation rate of just 0.7% per year.

PwC have calculated that even doubling the current rate of decarbonisation to 1.4% per year will set the world on course to hit a 4C increase in global temperatures by 2100.

A World Bank report released in June described the extreme heat waves, sea level rise and severe droughts and floods that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable nations in a 4C world. It noted that some of the worst consequences could be avoided if temperatures were limited to under 2C.

Carbon budget

The UN-backed IPCC report, which brings together the most recent findings of climate science, found that in total the world can emit a total of 800GtC if there is to be even a 66% chance of remaining below the 2C mark. By 2011, 531GtC of this had already been emitted.

“The IPCC has included it as quite a central part of its report this year, and that is why we focused on it,” Jonathan Grant, director of PwC sustainability and climate change told RTCC.

He adds that it could play an important part in the UN talks on climate change between now and 2015, when governments will try to achieve a legally binding deal on emissions reductions.

“I think in theory we should move towards negotiations about which country gets which share of the carbon budget.

“I think the only way to say whether or not we’re on track for two degrees is if we convert these pledges into actual carbon budget numbers, but there are huge political challenges to trying to carve up the carbon budget in that way.”

Decarbonisation

The deadline of 2034 as the year at which the world could exceed its carbon budget means that businesses will have to factor it into any decisions on major infrastructure and capital investments. “Climate risks are now business risks,” the report warns.

Grant says: “The results raise real questions about the viability of our vast fossil fuel reserves, and the way we power our economy. The 2 degrees carbon budget is simply not big enough to cope with the unmitigated exploitation of these reserves.”

If the planet is not going to blow its carbon bank, the carbon intensity – the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of GDP produced – will have to reduce by 6% every year up to 2100, the report finds.

This will not be an easy task, considering that no country has so far managed to sustain any high level of reductions, despite a similar alert from PwC in 2008 that the G20 needed to increase its decarbonisation rate by 3.5% per year to avoid dangerous warming. Currently, the rate stands at just 0.7%. The 6% figure now given attempts to compensate for this shortfall.

The report points to the fact that, although the shale gas revolution in the US has significantly reduced the country’s emissions, the consequent reduction in coal price has simply increased emissions elsewhere. The percentage of the UK energy mix derived from coal increased from 30% in 2001 to 39% by 2012, while China has tripled its coal consumption since 2000.

Economic growth

The 6% figure for the rate of necessary decarbonisation based upon the projected growth of the global economy, which is forecast to triple in size between now and 2050 – although some economists have questioned whether such predictions can be counted on, should climate change continue unfettered.

“Our analysis assumes long term moderate economic growth in emerging economies, and slow steady growth in developed economies.

“But, failing to tackle climate change is unlikely to result in such a benign scenario of steady growth,” said Grant.

This means decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions. Both developed and developing countries will have to challenge the notion, entrenched since the industrial revolution, that a nation’s wealth depends on the amount of fossil fuels it can burn.

The report says: “Unless economic growth is decoupled from carbon emissions we would face significant global warming which will have serious and far reaching implications.”

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(Pic: Nicolas Goulet)

By Nilima Choudhury

South Korea, Ethiopia and the UK have joined forces with four other countries to launch an $8.9 million analysis into the economic impacts of climate change.

The project aims to contribute to the global debate about economic policy, and to inform government, business and investment decisions.

It will be published next September just before a high-level UN summit on climate change chaired by Ban Ki Moon opens in New York.

The project will be coordinated by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate (GCEC), a body created by the seven countries involved, which include Colombia, Indonesia, Norway and Sweden.

“Climate impacts are rising and the evidence of warming is increasingly clear, but most economic analysis still does not properly factor in the increasing risks of climate change or the potential benefits of acting on it,” said Commission chair and former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón.

“We need urgently to identify how we can achieve economic growth and job creation while also reducing emissions and tackling climate change.”

The study is expected to build on the UK’s 2006 Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change, a study that for the first time gave policymakers an idea of what the financial costs and benefits of cutting carbon emissions could be.

“At a time when governments throughout the world are struggling to boost growth, increase access to energy, and improve food security, it is essential that the full costs and benefits of climate policies are more clearly understood,” said Lord Stern, vice-chair of the Commission.

“It cannot be a case of either achieving growth or tackling global warming. It must be both”.

New angle

Per Klevnäs, senior project manager and economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute told RTCC that this project was not wholly comparable to the Stern Review because the main topic covered by the project is “green growth”.

“There is a need to connect these insights and issues [to be raised by the report] to the present concerns that people have and to understand how those can be fulfilled under a low carbon path and under what circumstances it’s possible to do that.

“The other thing is that we don’t actually know what will be in the report. We’re setting out to explore this and the answer isn’t a preconceived notion – there is a lot of confusion in this area [which calls for] clear and impartial exploration of these issues.”

Along with SEI, research partners come from six continents and include the Climate Policy Initiative and World Resource Institute.

Klevnäs said: “This can be a highly charged area and it’s important that anyone involved in this is scrupulous.”

Other members of the Commission include Helen Clark, head of the UN Development Programme; Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer of the World Bank; Takehiko Nakao, president of the Asian Development Bank; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; and Nemat Shafik, deputy managing director of the IMF.

This new study comes as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented a final draft of its comprehensive review of climate science to experts in Stockholm.

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nef warns that nations’ dependence on oil could cripple their economies and prices rise (Source: Damian Gadal)

‘Economic peak oil’ could cripple the world’s economies by 2014 according to a UK-based think tank, which recommends governments take urgent action to wean their economies off fossil fuels.

In its latest report the New Economics Foundation (nef) argues that the end of cheap oil, and a new age of sustained high oil prices will bring economies to a standstill, create unemployment and deepen poverty.

The Foundation argues that the threat is as real and imminent as the banking crisis which hit the developed world in 2006.

The traditional definition for peak oil is the point at which production of cheap, conventional oil peaks, plateaus and declines relative to continuing demand.

The report suggests that the case for peak oil is economically driven. Nef defines ‘economic peak oil’ as the point when the cost of supply exceeds the price economies can pay without significantly disrupting economic activity.

In its World Energy Outlook 2012, released yesterday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed fossil fuel subsides increased 30% to $523 billion in 2011, hiding the threat of high oil prices.

The IEA also warned that only one-third of current proven fossil fuel reserves can be burned before the 2°C threshold of global warming is crossed – a warning to countries that they must leave these fuels in the ground.

Nef says the looming threat of ‘economic peak oil’ – which could be reached as early as 2014 or 2015 – offers another reason for countries to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

With limited known new sources of cheap oil and increasing efficiency being a slow progress, nef argues that the only option for limiting oil price impacts is by transitioning to a low carbon economy.

Prepared countries would continue to prosper, but this will need political leadership driving this transition, nef warns.

Read the full nef report.

The post Could ‘economic peak oil’ rival the banking crisis? appeared first on Climate Home News.

South Asia’s emerging economies have the highest financial risk from natural hazards, such as flooding and tropical cyclones, according to risk analysts Maplecroft.

Their Natural Hazards Risk Atlas suggests Bangladesh, the Philippines, Myanmar, India and Vietnam are among 10 countries with the greatest share of their economic activity exposed to such hazards.

They say this is due to high exposure of cities and trading hubs to natural disasters, coupled with their poor capability to recover from events such as flooding and tropical cyclones.

Japan, USA, China, Taiwan and Mexico were identified as having the highest risk in absolute terms, but Maplecroft say these countries have the capacity to recover quickly to natural disasters due to their economic strength, strong governance, building regulations and disaster preparedness.

The warning comes a month after a team of scientists from the UK’s Met Office and the USA’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration became the latest scientists to find climate change to be increasing the chance of extreme weather events.

Report finds some of South Asia's key economies to be most at risk financially from natural disasters (Source: Maplecroft/Asia Natural Hazards Risk - Economic Exposure 2012)

Maplecroft also warned these events could exacerbate social unrest, food security, corruption and ultimately could lead to political risk.

“High exposure to natural hazards in these countries are compounded by a lack of resilience to combat the effects of a disaster should one emerge,” said Helen Hodge, Head of Maps and Indices at Maplecroft.

“Given the exposure of key financial and manufacturing centres, the occurrence of a major event would be likely to have significant impacts on the total economic output of these countries, as well as foreign business.”

Resilience

It could take years for countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines to bounce back from disasters, say the analysts.

The Philippines’ resilience is being tested this week as severe floods affecting the northern island of Luzon, including the capital Manila have affected nearly two million people.

Similar floods in in Thailand wiped out 9% of the country’s GDP, and a year on much of the infrastructure has still not been repaired. In contrast Japan, a year after the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded, the economy has returned to the economic output levels and growth forecasts seen prior to the event.

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As crunch point approaches – both for our economy and our environment – the two issues must be considered together to make lasting, equitable change.

This was the message of Occupy London Stock Exchange this weekend, as Peter Coville from the energy, equity and environment working group met with RTCC in a snowy St Paul’s Churchyard.

Set in front of London's iconic St Paul's Cathedral, the Occupy LSX camp aims to highlight 'corporate greed'.

The movement has been camped out next to St Pauls for five months, and 100 or so tents strong – including a kitchen, a library and a information tent. The occupiers are joined by both those interested to know more about the protest, and more than a few tourists taking photographs.

The camp – one of many that has sprung up in cities across the world – aims to highlight the ‘corporate greed’ which they say continues despite rising unemployment, privatisation and austerity.

“There is a whole number of converging crises right now in terms of not only the finance system that we have got and our way of doing business but also in terms of environmental crises, climate change being the biggest and most obvious one,” Coville told RTCC.

“There are a whole range of issues which are really coming to a crunch point and I really don’t think we have a choice – the choice really is either being passive victims of this or getting ahead of the game and trying to sort these problems.”

The Occupy movement is now part of the landscape around St Pauls and while many thought the cold winter would see the group leave, they are defying the odds, battling freezing temperatures and icy conditions to continue their protest.

The ramshackle array of tents belies considerable organisation. A series of working groups have been set up to push policy proposals – with the energy, equity and environment group taking centre stage on Sunday.

Around 100 or so tents deep, the occupiers say they are in it for the long haul

Their event at ‘Tent City University’ saw leading British environmental writer George Monbiot, the Green Party’s Shahrar Ali and Friends of the Earth’s Asad Rehman deliver lectures focussing on sustainability and low-carbon policy making.

With only body heat to keep everyone in the canvas-lined lecture-theatre warm, George Monbiot begins his talk by commenting on the novelty of

speaking in his coat and socks. In this University shoes must be taken off as you enter, keeping the rugs spread over the floor clean – but sadly not dry.

No-one complained. With people spilling out of the tent’s flaps,  a few layers were enough to keep everyone at least mildly comfortable for the two hour event.

While the environmental voice of the movement may not have been instantly recognisable to many, Coville explains that for them, fixing the environment and fixing the economy are ultimately two sides of the same coin.

“Climate Change is being driven by the economy that we have, an economy which is based purely on growth, exploiting nature resources, and people for that matter,” he explained.

“And with a growing world population this is something we have to start looking at straight away.

“We need to have a massive move towards renewables now, we also need to reign back on consumption and looking at the way things are designed for obsolescence and move towards a more sustainable production as well as consumption.”

But with such a massive shift to take place, where does the responsibility lie?

Coville argues it lies with us all. He says it is up to individuals to put pressure on their representatives, but it is up to the institutions to change, and the governments – the lawmakers – to take the lead.

While times are tight, the economic argument against climate action doesn’t stand up at Occupy. As Coville asked, where did the money to bail out the banks come from?

Economist Nicholas Stern has estimated that climate action would costs around 1% of global GDP – that’s £630 billion at the end of 2011. In the US, by March 2009, the Federal Reserve had committed $7.77 trillion to the banks – with similar bailouts taking place in many other countries.

According to the Move Your Money campaign in the UK, taxpayers have given up to $500 billion to the banks in the form of bailouts and guarantee schemes.

Coville, however, says that engaging with government will not be enough, and that for Occupy, the demands will have to go deeper.

“In the short term we have to engage government because the institutions are not going to change rapidly enough to solve the very urgent problems like the climate change issue.

As well as interest from passers-by, the camp has become a stop for tourists and their cameras

“The International Energy Agency has said that we have got five years to solve this problem now to prevent dangerous levels of climate change in a way that is not being done by the UN process so that is something which has got to be done quickly.”

“A little beyond that we need to start looking at systematic change. This is not the ill recipes of the socialist left. This is just a fact that our financial systems are not working anymore and on top of this we are running up against all of these natural limits which are set by the planet which we are going to have to address.”

EU Commissioner for Climate Change Connie Hedegaard echoed these sentiments in an interview with the Guardian today.

Ahead of Rio +20 in June she called for the economic and environmental crisis to be treated as one, and argued our concept of growth needed revisiting.

She said: “We’re trying to make it clear that the climate change crisis is an economic crisis, a social and a job crisis – it should be seen as a whole. If we do not tackle these, we will be in crisis mode for many, many years.

“The 21st century must have a more intelligent growth model, or else it’s really difficult to see how we feed 7 billion people now and 9 billion people [by 2050]”.

The challenge now is for politicians and legislators to translate these sentiments into effective policy.

Contact the author at ts@rtcc.org or @rtcc_tierney.

RTCC VIDEO: Peter Coville spoke to RTCC about how the Occupy Movement links to climate change, mobilising climate finance, and the movement’s overall objectives.

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