News Explainer: The Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka
Interest Rate Hikes vs. Inflation Rate, by Country
3 Insights From the FED’s Latest Economic Snapshot
Visualizing the Coming Shift in Global Economic Power (2006-2036p)
Explainer: What Drives Gasoline Prices?
33 Problems With Media in One Chart
The Top Downloaded Apps in 2022
Synthetic Biology: The $3.6 Trillion Science Changing Life as We Know It
How Do Big Tech Giants Make Their Billions?
How Much Radiation is Emitted by Popular Smartphones?
Household Income Distribution in the U.S. Visualized as 100 Homes
Interest Rate Hikes vs. Inflation Rate, by Country
Mapping the Migration of the World’s Millionaires
Mapped: Personal Finance Education Requirements, by State
Charted: U.S. Consumer Debt Approaches $16 Trillion
Explainer: What to Know About Monkeypox
Visualizing How COVID-19 Antiviral Pills and Vaccines Work at the Cellular Level
Mapped: The Most Common Illicit Drugs in the World
Visualizing The Most Widespread Blood Types in Every Country
Pandemic Recovery: Have North American Downtowns Bounced Back?
Who’s Still Buying Fossil Fuels From Russia?
Mapped: Which Ports are Receiving the Most Russian Fossil Fuel Shipments?
Explainer: What Drives Gasoline Prices?
What Are the Five Major Types of Renewable Energy?
Animation: The World’s Biggest Wind Turbines
Iconic Infographic Map Compares the World’s Mountains and Rivers
Mapped: A Decade of Population Growth and Decline in U.S. Counties
Mapped: The State of Global Democracy in 2022
Mapped: Solar and Wind Power by Country
Mapped: Gas Prices in America at All-Time Highs
Mapped: The 10 Largest Gold Mines in the World, by Production
The 50 Minerals Critical to U.S. Security
Visualizing China’s Dominance in Clean Energy Metals
The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2012-2021)
Visualizing the Abundance of Elements in the Earth’s Crust
What Are the Five Major Types of Renewable Energy?
Animation: The World’s Biggest Wind Turbines
Synthetic Biology: The $3.6 Trillion Science Changing Life as We Know It
How Far Are We From Phasing Out Coal?
Visualizing All Electric Car Models Available in the U.S.
The following content is sponsored by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.
Inflation in Canada is climbing, and it has impacted the raw materials manufacturers use to produce goods. In fact, raw material prices have climbed 37% year-over-year on average.
More than half of manufacturers say this is one of their top challenges. In this graphic from Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), we show which materials have seen the biggest price spikes over the last year.
The table below shows the rate of inflation in Canada for select raw materials from May 2021 to May 2022.
Crude energy materials led the rise, with the price of coal nearly doubling over the last year. Oil and natural gas prices also rose amid war-related supply constraints and higher demand as people got back to pre-pandemic activities. This has far-reaching consequences for manufacturers given that oil and gas is widely used for transportation and heat, and is an input in thousands of products.
Wheat inflation in Canada reached 73.4%. The cost increase was partly due to a drought in Western Canada that reduced Canadian wheat production by nearly 40% from 2020 to 2021. Internationally, the Russia-Ukraine conflict also threatened wheat supply as the two countries normally account for almost a third of global wheat exports. Wheat inflation has affected food and fuel manufacturers the most, as it is used for livestock feed, biofuels, and a wide range of human food.
Simultaneously, the price of lumber increased by 42.1% because of an increased demand for housing, and flooding in British Columbia that reduced supply. This affects manufacturers who produce things like timber and plywood, and ultimately influences the cost of housing.
Raw material inflation drives up manufacturers’ cost of doing business. Unfortunately, it isn’t the only price pressure they face. Ocean shipping costs are more than five times higher compared to when the pandemic began. Truck transportation costs rose by 15% from March 2021 to March 2022, based on the latest available data.
On top of this, manufacturers have to contend with supply chain disruptions, global uncertainty, and labor shortages. What can manufacturers do? A majority of manufacturers have been raising prices to pass on some of the additional costs to consumers.
Over the longer term, manufacturers say they plan to build stronger relationships with customers and suppliers, source critical raw materials from two suppliers, and bring their supplier base and production closer to home.
Looking ahead, most manufacturers say they expect supply chain issues to be resolved some time in 2023—though they were last asked this question before the war in Ukraine began. The Bank of Canada also expects inflation in Canada to ease in the second half of 2023. In the meantime, manufacturers will be forced to adapt to rising costs.
Learn more about how CME helps manufacturers grow at home and abroad through programs, services, and advocacy.
Sorry to interrupt your reading, but we have a favor to ask. At Visual Capitalist we believe in a world where data can be understood by everyone. That’s why we want to build the VC App - the first app of its kind combining verifiable and transparent data with beautiful, memorable visuals. All available for free.
As a small, independent media company we don’t have the expertise in-house or the funds to build an app like this. So we’re asking our community to help us raise funds on Kickstarter.
If you believe in data-driven storytelling, join the movement and back us on Kickstarter!
News Explainer: The Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka
Interest Rate Hikes vs. Inflation Rate, by Country
3 Insights From the FED’s Latest Economic Snapshot
Poll: Inflation is the Top Financial Concern for Americans
30 Years of Gun Manufacturing in America
Visualizing China’s $18 Trillion Economy in One Chart
ESG controversies can damage a company’s value, but ESG data may be able to help manage this risk. What are other reasons for using ESG data?
Data is key to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) revolution. Access to granular ESG data can help boost transparency for market participants. Unfortunately, 63% of U.S. and European asset managers say a lack of quantitative data inhibits their ESG implementation.
Being clear on the potential application of this data is equally important.
This graphic from ICE, the second in a three part series on the ESG toolkit, explores four primary motivations of ESG data users.
The objective: Having a positive social or environmental impact.
For investors, this can involve screening out companies that conflict with their values and selecting companies that align with their ESG objectives.
As another example, it can involve comparing the social impact of municipal bonds. One way investors can measure social impact is through scores that quantify the potential socioeconomic need of an area, using metrics like poverty and education levels. Here are the social impact scores for three actual municipal bonds issued in Florida.
Issuer #1’s bond is projected to have a community impact that is nearly twice as high/positive as Issuer #3’s bond.
For companies, doing the right thing can include assessing their progress on ESG goals and benchmarking themselves to peers. For example, gender and racial representation is a growing area of focus.
The objective: Managing ESG risks, such as climate and reputational risks.
For investors, this can involve back-testing or analysis around specific risk events before they materialize. Here are the risk profiles of two actual municipal bonds in California. The shown bonds are practically identical in many ways, except their wildlife score.
Managing ESG risk can also involve analyzing a company’s policies and governance for weaknesses. This is important as an ESG controversy can have long-lasting effects on the valuation of a company.
In one study, companies with ESG controversies dropped more than 10% in value relative to the S&P 500. They hadn’t fully recovered a year after the incident.
The objective: Targeting outperformance through ESG analysis.
Selecting companies with strong ESG data can align with long-term growth trends and may help boost performance. For heavy emitting industries, research indicates that European companies with lower emissions trade at much higher valuations. The chart below shows companies’ price-to-book ratio relative to the Stoxx 600* sector median.
*The Stoxx 600 Index represents large, mid and small capitalization companies across 17 countries of the European region: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Energy companies with low emissions trade at a valuation nearly two times higher than energy companies with high emissions.
The objective: Understanding and complying with relevant ESG regulation.
The International Sustainability Standards Board has announced a global reporting proposal aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In addition, a growing number of jurisdictions will require organizational reporting that aligns with the TCFD.
Not only that, a European Union regulation known as Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into effect in 2021. It seeks greater transparency in disclosures from firms marketing investment products. Even firms located outside the EU could be impacted if they serve EU customers. In total, the market cap of these non-EU companies exposed to SFDR amounts to $3.2 trillion.
There will be growing demand for transparent data as ESG investing flourishes. To remain competitive, investors, policymakers, and companies need access to ESG data that meets their unique objectives.
In Part 3 of the ESG Toolkit series sponsored by ICE, we’ll look at key sustainability index types.
In a world that generates 2 billion tonnes of waste every year, waste management has become a global concern. Here are some strategies to help guide zero waste policies.
Many cities have set ambitious zero waste targets in the upcoming decades.
The idea is to have communities where waste generation is avoided, and products are shared, reused, or refurbished.
This graphic, sponsored by Northstar Clean Technologies, shows the main strategies and hierarchy to guide zero waste policies.
In a world that generates approximately 2 billion tons of waste every year, waste management has become a global concern. Thus, countries and cities are increasing efforts to reduce or even eliminate waste when possible.
The Zero Waste International Alliance defines zero waste as “the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”
Becoming a zero waste community, however, is a complex task.
Currently, Sweden recycles 99% of locally-produced waste and is considered the best country in the world when it comes to recycling and reusing waste. However, such results only came after almost 40 years of recycling and reuse policies.
In line with this, here are seven commonly accepted steps you can use to achieve zero waste:
The global population consumes 110 billion tons of materials each year, but only 8.6% is reused or recycled. In a zero waste society, single-use products are avoided and products are designed with sustainable practices and materials.
Consumption must be planned carefully to reduce the unnecessary use of materials. Consumers must choose products that maximize the usable lifespan and opportunities for continuous reuse. Companies must minimize the quantity and toxicity of materials used.
The value of products is maintained by reusing, repairing, or refurbishing for alternative uses.
Products are diverted from waste streams and recirculated into use. Resilient local markets are developed, allowing the highest and best use of materials.
Component materials like cement, metals, or asphalt are recovered from mixed waste and collected for other applications.
In the U.S. alone, around 12 million tons of asphalt shingle tear-off waste and installation scrap are generated from roof installation each year. Currently, more than 90% of this is discarded in landfills. This material can be repurposed to create new products like liquid asphalt, fiber, and aggregate.
Waste is biologically stabilized and sent to responsibly managed landfills.
The production of materials that are not recoverable and can negatively impact the environment must be avoided.
Reducing, recycling, and recovering materials can be a key part of a climate change strategy to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 42% of all greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the production and use of goods, including food, products, and packaging.
Even though 100% zero waste may sound difficult to achieve in the near future, a zero waste approach is essential to reduce our impact on the environment.
Northstar Clean Technologies aims to become the leading recovery and reprocessing company for asphalt shingles in North America.
Mapping the Migration of the World’s Millionaires
Visualizing the Coming Shift in Global Economic Power (2006-2036p)
Ranked: These Are 10 of the World’s Least Affordable Housing Markets
Mapped: A Decade of Population Growth and Decline in U.S. Counties
Who’s Still Buying Fossil Fuels From Russia?
Visualizing Well-Known Airlines by Fleet Composition
Iconic Infographic Map Compares the World’s Mountains and Rivers
Interest Rate Hikes vs. Inflation Rate, by Country