The current take-make-waste extractive industrial model has had far-reaching negative implications for the global climate, scarce natural resources, and biodiversity. Revised economic models could help transform consumption and make it more sustainable. In a circular economy, production and consumption encompass sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling materials and products as long as possible, extending product life cycles and keeping materials within the economy wherever possible.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound implications for the availability and affordability of insurance coverage across various lines of business and the adequacy of retirement savings. At the same time, insurance and retirement savings markets continue to be affected by catastrophe risks, digitalization, employers’ responsibility and involvement, and risk management for long-term care and health insurance amid the region’s aging populations.

Greater high-speed rail development in Asia will require policymakers and industry partners to navigate complex planning, design, construction, operational, and maintenance issues, as well as increasingly challenging domestic socioeconomic and political conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This webinar featured Greg Marsden of the University of Leeds Institute of Transport Studies who presented findings from a longitudinal study of COVID-19 era travel behavior and policy in the United Kingdom. He described pandemic-driven macro-travel trends and behaviors in ten areas of England and Scotland. He also discussed the implications of shifting work patterns for the economics of public transport and public policy.