Negotiation

• CHICAGO, April 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hub International Limited (HUB), a leading global insurance brokerage and financial services firm, announced today the appointment of Ellina Shinnick, Chief Marketing Officer, and Clark Wormer, Managing Director of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), to HUB's Executive Management Team.
• As HUB's Chief Marketing Officer, Shinnick leads the strategy for both the HUB and VIU by HUB brands.
• Shinnick also successfully led the design and launch of multiple HUB brand refreshes, including the newest brand – VIU by HUB.
• Wormer joined HUB in 2005 and as Managing Director of M&A is responsible for corporate development.

• The bill is still subject to Senate approval and then needs to be signed into law by the US president, Joe Biden.
• But given the Senate’s previous approval of a similar measure and Biden’s vehemence of the need to support Ukraine, this should be a formality.
• Together with the morale boost for troops, this means that improvements in the situation on the front are likely – even before new US supplies will arrive.

Political will

• It is above all one of political will.
• The months-long delay in the US Congress was primarily an issue of domestic political posturing in a presidential election year.
• While their influence on funding decisions is much more limited, they could certainly create significant problems in Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.

Economic capacity

• There is some confidence that production capacity in the US and Europe, as well as in Ukraine, will significantly increase as of 2025.
• But even in an optimistic scenario of sustained investments in the defence industrial base of the collective west and increasing Russian economic and logistical difficulties to sustain its defence sector, a gamechanging shift in the balance of power is unlikely in the near future.

Russia holds the initiative, for now

• It also enjoys air superiority in light of depleted Ukrainian air defence systems, and has the operational momentum on the battlefield.
• If anything, Russia will now double down on its current offensive pushes.
• Given the continuing rhetoric of victory in Moscow and Kyiv, another forever-war might just have become more sustainable – for now.

Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU's Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

• To make matters worse, the global trade in plastic waste tends to push waste to parts of the world with the least capacity to manage it.
• The global plastics treaty focuses on ending plastic pollution, not eliminating the use of plastics.

Divisive positions

• Negotiators must make rapid and significant progress this week towards a comprehensive treaty.
• There is a broad division between countries, ranging from “low-ambition” countries which have hindered progress to a high-ambition coalition (led by Rwanda and Norway).
• Or will it be a weaker treaty, with voluntary and country-led measures that focus mainly on waste management and pollution prevention (the “downstream” stages)?

Voices in the room

• There is ongoing dialogue regarding which voices are in attendance and influencing governments.
• If industry has such a large presence, there is considerable work to be done to amplify the voices of civil rights groups, NGOs and evidence-based contributions from academics.

Financing implementation

• Without financial support, there is a significant risk that even well-intentioned measures could falter.
• A well-structured financial framework could ensure transparency and accountability through a mixture of private and public finance or novel mechanisms such as plastic pollution fees.

Shifting away from waste management

• There is a strong argument by the petrochemical and fossil fuel industry and some lower-ambition countries that the treaty should focus on waste management, improved collection, recycling and removal technologies.
• But plastic production is so great that solutions to prevent or manage plastic waste and pollution cannot keep up, and will only reduce global plastic pollution by 7% in the long term.

Reuse as a potential early victory

• Not to be confused with recycling or refill, reuse emphasises the repeated use of items in their current form, curtailing the demand for new plastic production for single-use products or packaging.
• Reuse would be relatively agreeable for most countries, especially when compared to divisive measures such as caps on production or outright bans on certain items or materials.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 30,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.
Antaya March receives funding from the Flotilla Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme. Cressida Bowyer receives funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Steve Fletcher receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Flotilla Foundation, the UK Government and the United Nations Environment Programme. He currently serves as the NERC Agenda Setting Fellow for Plastic Pollution.

• As of December 31, 2023, the Company had unrestricted cash of $2,536,509, as compared to $10,958,353 of unrestricted cash as of December 31, 2022.
• The Company’s primary sources of cash flow consisted of interest earned on equipment finance contracts held by its principal business, Centra Funding, LLC (“Centra”).
• Included in this press release are the audited consolidated balance sheets, statements of operations, and statements of cash flows of CV Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary entities as of and for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
• This increase in operating income was offset, however, by a substantial increase in Centra’s cost of funds, reflected in interest on debt.