This edition captures the emergence of "permacrisis" thinking, where traditional frameworks meet unprecedented systemic challenges. Guillaume Bregeras argues we must abandon 20th century volatility models for permanent transformation, while the investment landscape shows fundamental shifts in approach and governance.
MIT research shows ChatGPT users demonstrate the lowest brain engagement across neural regions, while Generation Z transforms cybersecurity from technical compliance into values-driven challenges encompassing sustainability and justice. Creative Commons launches CC signals to govern AI training data as companies grapple with changing policies around AI access.
European finance shows mixed signals. Continuation funds surge to €5.3 billion despite quality concerns, while Aunnie Patton Power advocates for permanent capital vehicles aligning investment timelines with business needs. Yet French corporations retreat from ESG discourse under US pressure, dedicating mere minutes to climate discussions during shareholder meetings.
Climate realities intensify: projections show global food capacity falling 120 calories per person per degree of warming, while banks finance $869 billion in fossil fuel projects. The disconnect between scientific necessity and capital allocation grows starker.
The featured graph from Rabone et al. (2023) reveals how 90% of species identified in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone since 2000 are new to science—discovered through systematic inventory driven by mining interest rather than conservation.
We hope this curation will drive your own reflections and actions. Please feel free to share it with those who might be interested.
Let’s dive in! 💫
Insights
Guillaume Bregeras 🇫🇷 introduces the concept of "Permacrisis", moving beyond cyclical disruptions to chronic instability where crises bleed into each other without resolution. He argues that European investors must abandon 20th century volatility models and shift from managing volatility to navigating systemic transformation, highlighting how funds like Sweden's AP7 and 2050's science-based approach are building resilience-focused portfolios for permanent change rather than waiting for normalisation. | 2050 - FINANCE - Systemic Risk
Aunnie Patton Power 🇬🇧 advocates for permanent capital vehicles over traditional closed-end funds, revealing that hundreds of fund managers worldwide would trade their time-limited structures for longer-term capital. She argues that permanent vehicles enable deeper impact and stronger returns by aligning capital with company timelines rather than artificial fund constraints, particularly in emerging markets, while blending structures like redeemable equity create continuums of returns beyond binary IPO outcomes. | LinkedIn - FINANCE - Investment
Emily Lai 🇬🇧 reports that Europe's continuation fund surge faces growing scrutiny over asset quality, with €5.3 billion raised across 11 funds this year, already 68% of 2024's record level. While Lincoln International's Jonathan Graham warns against GPs using continuation vehicles solely to raise capital rather than having clear growth rationales, Goodwin's Ravi Chopra sees them as effective exit tools regardless of asset quality. | Pitchbook - FINANCE - Private Equity
Mark Gongloff 🇺🇸 argues that banks are "financing their own nightmare" by delivering $869.4 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2024, up $162.5 billion from 2023, while climate damage costs the US alone $1 trillion annually. Despite needing a 4-to-1 ratio of clean to fossil financing to meet Paris targets, banks achieved only 0.89-to-1 in 2023, essentially funding the planetary heating that threatens their own mortgage and insurance businesses. | Bloomberg - FINANCE - Climate Risk
Nina Godart 🇫🇷 reveals that climate and social topics are becoming taboo in French corporations, with shareholders dedicating only 7 minutes on average to climate issues during 2-hour general meetings, same as 2024. Following a letter from the US embassy demanding compliance with anti-diversity policies, French companies are toning down ESG communication despite new CSRD sustainability reporting requirements, though most maintain their practices remain unchanged. | Le Monde - FINANCE - ESG
Ben Geman 🇺🇸 reports on a major Nature study revealing that climate adaptation cannot outrun global warming's impact on crop production, with every 1°C rise reducing global food capacity by 120 calories per person daily. The research, covering 12,600 regions and six staple crops, projects significant losses by 2100 despite adaptation efforts: -12% for corn, -13.5% for wheat, and -22.4% for soybeans under moderate emissions scenarios. | Axios - ENVIRONMENT - Agriculture
William Dixon 🇬🇧 argues that Generation Z will redefine cybersecurity by bringing values-driven priorities including sustainability, inclusivity, and transparency to digital security. As the first true digital natives overtaking Baby Boomers in the workforce, Gen Z's expectations for environmental accountability and borderless collaboration are transforming cybersecurity from a technical compliance issue into a systemic challenge woven into climate resilience and social justice. | World Economic Forum - TECH - Cybersecurity
Sarah Perez 🇺🇸 reports that Creative Commons launches CC signals, a new framework allowing dataset holders to specify how their content can be used for AI training. The project aims to balance internet openness with AI data demands, offering legal and technical solutions between data controllers and AI trainers, while companies like X, Reddit, and Cloudflare grapple with changing policies around AI access to their content. | TechCrunch - TECH - AI
Abayomi Olusunle 🇬🇧 argues that neurodivergent minds could be the key to more ethical AI governance, yet current frameworks exclude the cognitive diversity needed to build truly inclusive systems. He demonstrates how neurodivergent individuals excel at spotting biases and ethical blind spots that others miss, while teams with neurodivergent members are 30% more productive in innovation roles, calling for co-design approaches and independent audits to prevent AI from perpetuating exclusion. | World Economic Forum - TECH - AI
Andrew R. Chow 🇺🇸 reports on an MIT study revealing that ChatGPT may erode critical thinking skills, with users showing the lowest brain engagement across 32 neural regions and "consistently underperforming at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels." Research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna released findings early without peer review, warning against AI implementation in education: "Developing brains are at the highest risk." | Time - TECH - AI
Graph of the week
This edition's graph from Rabone et al. (2023) reveals the remarkable rate of species discovery in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where systematic inventory began due to economic mining interest. Since 2000, 90% of identified species have been new to science, with over 6,000 species discovered between 1980-2022, the vast majority still unnamed. This highlights how little we know about deep-sea biodiversity even as we prepare to exploit these ecosystems commercially.
