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Good morning.
PwC U.S. Chairman Tim Ryan is putting out a blog post this morning to explain why the firm has taken the unusual step of making its data on diversity public. Ryan noted that the recent Edelman Trust Barometer shows one result of the COVID crisis is that business is now more trusted than government, media or NGOs. A few excerpts from Ryan’s note:
“Today’s trust dynamics create an opportunity—and a responsibility in many cases—for business leaders to take tough stands on issues that affect society…
“While many in the business community have been focusing on DEI for several years, the data suggest there’s still plenty of room to improve. In fact, I’d suggest that with trust in business running high, there has never been a better time to be transparent about our data as a way of holding ourselves accountable for the progress we seek to make…
“There’s no substitute for clear, widely shared information in that endeavor. Uncomfortable though transparency may be at first, I’m convinced that vulnerability is a necessity if we want to lead effectively on diversity—and as the business community has the greatest share of trust we’ve had in recent memory, now is the time.”
I couldn’t have said it better. That’s the reason Fortune has partnered with Refinitiv to encourage companies to make their diversity data available to investors, customers and the public. You can learn more about that effort, and join the movement, here.
Separately, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson has died, after a battle with cancer. Sorenson was the first person to lead Marriott who wasn’t a member of the family, but he led the company as if it were his family. The Twitter message he posted last year after the company’s business was pummeled by the pandemic will be studied for years to come as a model for communicating during a crisis. Watch it here in his memory.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Climate Pledge
IBM and 19 other companies have signed up to Amazon/Jeff Bezos's Climate Pledge, taking the total number of signatories to 53. IBM is going for "net zero" greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with a 65% reduction (compared to 2010's emissions) targeted for 2025. The company says it will use 90% renewable electricity by 2030, with carbon capture or other technologies making up for the rest. CNBC
State aid
In the EU's first major rulings about state aid provided to shore up companies during the pandemic, the General Court ruled that France and Sweden's aid for carriers such as Air France-KLM and SAS was legal. Ryanair, Europe's largest airline, was the one that complained—now it will appeal to the EU's highest court. Fortune
Vaccine production
President Biden said his invocation of federal law—probably the Defense Production Act, though he referred to the "National Defense Act"—got Moderna and Pfizer to sell more doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to the U.S. faster than planned. Fortune
Epic battle
Fortnite maker Epic Games has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the EU, over its allegedly monopolistic restrictions on in-app payments. The suit follows similar complaints in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and it will no doubt feed into the European Commission's existing investigation into Apple's platform dominance. Wall Street Journal
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Total warning
Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné claimed "there is a bubble" in the renewable energy sector, with "crazy valuations" being down to scarcity of assets. The French oil and gas company was one of several that just paid hefty prices for leases to U.K. offshore wind projects. Financial Times
Ant block
Xi Jinping didn't block the Ant Group IPO just because it added risk to the financial system; he may also have been trying to stop rivals benefiting from the flotation. Turns out the decision followed a central-government investigation that probed the complexity of the company's ownership, and "a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players" would have made billions. WSJl
Cannabis productivity
New research shows that, when states legalize recreational marijuana, workers' compensation claims fall. It looks like pain may be the key: legalization boosts use, and prescription fills for chronic pain medications—something weed is quite good at subbing in for—decline. In other words, cannabis could allow some adults to work more productively because they're not in pain. Fortune
Bitcoin skepticism
A poll of senior finance executives this month by Gartner shows 84% do not plan to ever hold bitcoin as a corporate asset—Tesla’s purchases notwithstanding. The reason: bitcoin’s volatility poses a financial risk. Bloomberg
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.