By the end of this year, the Dutch political community will need to cough up a National Climate Agreement backed by a as broad as possible political coalition. The ambition is there, and the signs are favorable, but still a lot of checking and fine tuning needs to be done before this is a reality. In this article, I attempt to disentangle the complexity of the various aspects of the energy transition process before us and also try to map out what should and should not be done to obtain the broad popular support required to make this necessary conversion, work.

PostedSeptember 23, 2018

AuthorMark Goudsmit

CategoriesNetherlands, Climate change, Politics

TagsEnergy transition, Paris Climate Agreement, Netherlands, National Climat Agreement

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What to do, if time and again, an organization looks away whilst playing a facilitating role in actions that profoundly affects the lives of young people. No, this is not about Facebook, but about the Catholic Church. It is time that the organization which knowingly and for decades looked away from abuse by its priests and protected those perpetrators, obstructed justice and withheld justice to the victims is being held accountable for its actions and omissions in this matter. This article investigates whether legal options are available.

PostedSeptember 4, 2018

AuthorMark Goudsmit

CategoriesHuman rights, Politics, USA, Religion, Governance

TagsCatholic Church, Prieste, Grand Jury, Pennsylvania, FBI, Pope, Vatican, Child abuse, abuse

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On 2 February, the United Kingdom completed its negotiations with the EU on the revision of their treaty obligations. This did not provide the outcome Cameron had hoped for. It would appear that anti-EU movements in the UK in particular can turn this to good account. There is a real risk that the agreement is grist to the mill for anti-Europe parties in continental Europe as well. In this article I will discuss the history and circumstances of British participation in the EU, its desire to revise the terms of membership, the agreement of February 2 and the implications it may have for both Cameron, the UK and the EU itself (Google translation of an article written in Dutch on February 4, with some minor amendments).

PostedFebruary 17, 2016

AuthorMark Goudsmit

CategoriesEnglish language blogs

TagsBrexit, Cameron, EU, UK

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20 years of Corporate Governance and increasing regulation in Netherlands and elsewhere did not bring about the much desired and anticipated focus on longer-term value creation for all stakeholders associated with the company. Essentially the focus is still short-term but with the added disadvantage of increased regulation, rising compliance cost and a check-the-box mentality. We need to address inadequacies in the system from within, rather than creating frameworks around the system. Rewarding longer-term shareholder engagement might be one solution, thus creating the right mindset to move things forward.

Energy transition: Success hinges on managing complexity and avoiding political division

Would the Catholic Church qualify as a criminal organization?

British EU 'deal' is not just toxic for Cameron alone

Moving the dial on longer-term value creation, an alternative perspective