1. French companies must pay for 50% of employee travel

Currently French law says that French employers must reimburse employees for 50% of the cost of travel between their residence & place of work.

Apparently since COVID 30% of HR Directors have received requests from employees to move further from their place of work.

A decision in July reinstated the rule that no matter the place of residence, 50% of travel costs must be reimbursed.

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2.US electric vehicle credits only if made in America

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Recent US legislation will change the way tax credits are issued in the US for electric vehicle owners. Currently new EV buyers get up to $7,500 tax rebate from the Government. This scheme has been incredibly successful with some manufacturers exhausting 200,000 credits available.

New legislation aimed at isolating the supply chain away from China stipulates that final assembly must be in North America consisting of most components and minerals not outside America or an FTA country.

America has FTAs with 20 countries including Australia which has 60% of the world’s natural lithium deposits which is the rarest and most important component in electric car batteries.

3.Foreign investment grows in north of England but falls in rest of UK

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An organisation called the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has announced that the North of England has attracted ¾ more FDI in the past 5 years. As always, figures are open to interpretation and although it also said the North is apparently growing faster than London, other sources from 2019 show that six of 16 UK city regions grew in FDI over the past 5 years with Tees Valley doubling, Glasgow up by 50% and inner London growing by 65%.

Office for National Statistics says London’s FDI is more than three times that of the second highest region – the south-east in 2019 together accounting for 55% of the UK’s FDI.

4.India announces positive FDI

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India has attracted $83.6bn FDI in this year from 101 countries. Since opening its economy in 1991 India has grown in FDI and prides itself in being #63 out of all countries in the OED’s ease of doing business report.

Press releases announce that is expects to attract $100bn over 2022-2023 making this year record-breaking in terms of investment attracted.

India remains an exciting but somewhat uncertain place to do business as the Reserve Bank of India which controls FDI and regulation keeps changing the rules. Furthermore, the courts are somewhat renowned for arbitrary decisions on FDI, see our article last week on the Antrix-Davis and the week before that on the 360 decision on round-tripping.

5. Truss and net zero

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Headlines abound about King Charles no longer appearing at COP27 at the apparent instruction of Liz Truss and the recent ‘mini budget’ prioritizing development over a greener future, the new Liz Truss Government is off to an unpopular start with climate change activists and anyone really who believes that climate change is a problem.

The Government has already lifted the ban on fracking which has previously caused severe geological and social issues in the UK – but only in the North where it was allowed as no one was ever game enough to allow it in London or the South, highlighting the socio-economic North-South divide starkly.

Unfortunately, many asset managers and funds who spout publicly about their commitment to climate change initiatives have now backed fracking companies including Odey increasing its position in iGas.

May planning permissions were abolished in Kwasi Karteng’s announcement last Friday in favour of development, effectively scrapping processes designed to protect the environment.

Only time will tell what the scorecard will say on this Government’s green achievements, but some might say it is off to a questionable start.

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