The Brief / Energy Dark side
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6.8% India
Russia 4.7% Japan 3%
8.7%
13.4% United States
EU27+UK
30.3%
Pricing emissions A low-carbon trade area between the US and Europe would play out for the world’s benefit, opines Bloomberg columnist Andreas Kluth
T Going black
The countries that recorded the largest increase in carbon emissions in 2019 8%
4.2%
Indonesia
3.4% 3.4%
Australia
every possible activity and compare them. That will be primarily led by software service providers and ad agencies, and most marketers will be forced to spend more on such services. Therefore, one trend that will take shape in 2021 is increased IT spending by marketing. B2B companies will find it extremely challenging to build relationships over digital media, because there are many more impersonal touch points. Big data applications are already in use in B2C. Data in the internet space is humongous, worrying all types of marketers. This will be more refined and offerings may get more sophisticated in 2021, resulting in different business models in this area. Most critical will be the analysis of compatibility and effective use of such software applications. With so many new things happening online and offline, companies will find that integrated marketing efforts will be more important than ever. You cannot have an online campaign different from your other campaign. You must coordinate your web, mobile, print, TV and other media efforts in a seamless manner in 2021. Otherwise the content and message will get diluted and eventually harm your efforts.
A N A LY S I S
Iran
WITH ONLINE MEDIA BECOMING IMPORTANT, MARKETING EXECUTIVES WILL PROBABLY DRIVE MORE SALES THAN SALES STAFF
SOURCE: EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTER
China
and at a price, for B2B marketers. Syndication of online content will be a normal thing in 2021. This will probably be an after-effect of B2C success in lead generation using content. With online media becoming important, marketing executives will probably drive more sales than sales staff. Will sales as a function get merged with marketing in the current year? Leads get generated directly by online efforts – qualifying them and directing the right leads to appropriate departments may move to marketing in the coming two years. The measurement of digital media has still not evolved and does not yet give the desired results. Most enterprises use TRP methods to measure effectiveness of advertising, which is more appropriate for television. In 2021, new measures will emerge to accurately measure the effectiveness of this media. ROI will be paramount in every marketer’s dictionary. In short, it will become imperative to measure
China
Top carbon emitting countries in 2019
SOURCE: EUROPEAN COMMISSION JRC
here’s a great way the US and the European Union could together address two huge challenges in one policy sweep. It’s to create a transatlantic “carbon club.” The geopolitical promise of this idea is to resurrect the notion of the “West” at a time when the US and Europe are drifting apart but still hoping to rejuvenate their alliance. The even bigger goal is to win the struggle against global warming, which both US President Joe Biden and the EU cite as their priority. The only way to slow climate change is to dramatically reduce our planetwide emissions of greenhouse gases. And the best approach to that is to put a price on carbon that’s both high and rising. This signal will make producers and consumers adopt behaviours and technologies to pollute less. Within a given jurisdiction, we already know how to set such a carbon price. You can tax emissions directly. Or you can limit their overall amount by law, then issue carbon allowances which firms can buy and sell in an open market, at a price that constantly changes. This way emissions will be cut fastest wherever it’s easiest and cheapest to do so. Of these cap-and-trade systems, the EU, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein jointly have the world’s largest. Still, it only covers sectors – from power generators to steelmakers and airlines – that account for 40 per cent of European emissions, so the system must be expanded. Even then, it still faces a bigger problem. February 2021
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