Activities in the area of Risk Management and Compliance have recently assumed exceptional importance. This is due not only to internal company regulations, but also to the constantly tightening regulations on transactions with related parties, including those from tax havens or from outside the EU, control of final beneficiaries or the obligation to verify the credibility of the counterparty. Not only for the purposes of security of receipt of payment, but also to ensure that VAT is correctly accounted for.
Why is it important to know your counterparty?
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We are entering 2022 by fighting on at least two fronts: the still present pandemic and sanctions disrupting the current global economy. This could not but have had an impact on the international investment market, which is now facing a difficult challenge.
For many years, the world’s most popular emerging markets have been the so-called BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But given that Russia is no longer a market that Westerners can access following the invasion of Ukraine, it might be time for investors to stop lumping all of the emerging markets together.
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As world leaders endorse climate goals like reaching net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions within the next 30 years, companies are pushing to move their projects from research and development to commercial phases. The net-zero objective—balancing emissions produced and emissions removed from the atmosphere—has spurred growth in the business of sustainable energy, which generates fewer emissions than fossil fuels. Some of these possibilities, like satellites that can wirelessly beam down solar energy from orbit, remain experimental, while others, like underwater turbines that harness tidal movements, have progressed from prototypes to commercial demonstrations. What are the newest developments in generating power from the sun, water, air and Earth?
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What are SMRs?
Small nuclear reactors (SMR) are units with a capacity of up to about 300 MW, and countries such as Canada, the United States, Great Britain and France invest in them. The technology has been known for many years, but it is controversial. There are three such units in Russia in the world, models manufactured in the USA and Canada are at the stage of obtaining a license. Micro and small nuclear power plants have already been used in submarines and ships in the past. It is estimated that they can become an alternative to large nuclear power plants. They can be used to create energy complexes, the construction time is short (they are delivered to the site of operation). If they prove to be competitively priced, they can become an additional, emission-free source of electricity.
Synthos Green Energy- a pioneer of nuclear change in Poland
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On 10 December 2021 there entered into force the amendment of the Polish law on energy. The changes introduced by this amendment, which relate to the principles of tariff calculation, aim to avoid the risk of a single cumulative increase in gas prices for households in 2022, while ensuring that gas sellers can cover their costs of purchasing gas for their customers in the long term. As a result, household gas prices may fall at some point, but revenue will be recovered in subsequent years by applying prices that take account of such latent costs. This means that gas prices in these years will be higher than the current cost of buying this fuel, even if wholesale gas prices fall again.
New tariff system
The new mechanism incorporated to the tariff system is a one-of-a-kind solution deriving from the existing state of the national and European gas markets. It assures that gas sellers can carry forward the present rise in raw material purchase prices over the next few years rather than simply factoring them into the tariff as it is now calculated. Until 30 June 2022, gas sellers may submit to the President of the Polish Office for Energy Regulation a gas sales tariff for households calculated only on the basis of a proportion of the justified costs, i.e. a proportion of the gas procurement costs. On the other hand, the seller will be able to cover the part of the costs not included in the current tariff for the next three years, i.e. until the end of 2025, either from the tariffs applicable from the beginning of 2023, or from the prices and charges set on competitive markets.
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