Breakfast with Ryan Huang, Emaad Akhtar and Audrey Siek

In a climate-critical world, there is a new mandate for companies to adopt ESG principles. This is so in Singapore where SGX has mandated climate reporting for certain industries and also launched a digital disclosure portal for SGX-listed companies to report ESG data. Not only that, brands are equally keen to launch sustainability initiatives and communicate on sustainability given the rising consumer interest in this area.  Lina Marican, Regional Managing Director, Mutant Communications shares more. 

Pan Jingyi, Economics Associate Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence unpacks how China and other economies will benefit from the latest easing of restrictions in China, as well as the latest Singapore PMI reading showing that a sharp fall in private sector confidence despite solid November growth.

In today's Breakfast Brief, we unpack the latest in China around the easing of Covid-19 measures and how they are impacting markets. 

From how US' ‘Made in America’ policies are alienating their allies to highlights from French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the country.  John Donaldson, Associate Professor of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University shares more. 

Undertaking large-scale farming is near to impossible in a country like Singapore with a land area of just 724.2 square kilometres. Sustenir Group is one of Asia’s premier high-nutrition, indoor vertical farming leaders which focuses on growing 100 percent clean superfoods for supercities to improve consumer health. Headquartered in Singapore, and currently operating in Hong Kong and Malaysia, Sustenir is embarking on a global mission to nourish people and the planet, one leaf at a time. Jack Moy, Chief Executive Officer, Sustenir Group shares more. 

The movie industry today originated in the early 19th century through a series of technological developments. And right there in Singapore Asia’s leading entertainment network KC Global Media has recently announced its first script development of a sci-fi live-action series, titled Jonesy. The series will be produced in collaboration with local production company Monochromatic Pictures, with support from the Infocomm Media Development Authority. Jeevan Nathan, Creative Producer and Showrunner, Monochromatic Pictures shares more. 

Adam Wong, Editor-in-Chief, Fifthperson discusses how investors can gain exposure to the greenback, as well as the risks involved with the various instruments and products.

In today's Breakfast Brief, we talk about the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Worldwide Cost of Living report where New York and Singapore have emerged as the joint-most expensive cities to live in as the cost of living in 172 of the world’s major cities rocketed an average 8.1% over the past year.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced that it is getting a 25.1 percent stake in Air India following the national carrier’s merger with Vistara.So SIA essentially gets a 19.4 percent stake in Air India for giving up its 49 percent stake in Vistara, and gets another 5.7 percent in the Indian airline for an additional investment of $360 million. Hence the total stakeholding of 25.1 percent. Ven Sreenivasan, Associate Editor, The Straits Times shares more. 

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe. They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises. Weeks after 159 people died in a crowd crush in Seoul’s clubbing district on Halloween, South Korea is preparing for year-end festivities. In this episode, she chats with ST's South Korea correspondent Chang May Choon. Highlights (click/tap above): 1:13 Seoul will be different this time, after the Itaewon tragedy 4:35 Ppali, ppali (fast) & skinship: understanding Korean crowd culture 9:55 Is behaviour changing in the ‘subway from hell’? 17:05 Has the Itaewon tragedy yielded some lessons? Read Chang May Choon’s article here: https://str.sg/wC5Q Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani Edited by: Fa’izah Sani and Eden Soh Follow Letter From The Bureau Podcast every first Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo Read Chang May Choon’s articles: https://str.sg/wCJU Read ST's Letters From The Bureau: https://str.sg/3xRd Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wuJa The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia: https://str.sg/wuZ2 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wuZB Invisible Asia: https://str.sg/wuZn --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This!: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsider