2022 was a seismic year for news, shaped by events such as the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the war in Ukraine, the COP27 summit and the challenging economic climate. This year promises to be just as significant, and PA Mediapoint has published Your Guide to 2023, providing a rich set of insights about the news that will define this year.
Here, PRWeek looks at three of the subjects included in the guide and why they are topics you should keep an eye on in 2023.
Environment remains at the fore
Sustainability, net-zero and climate change are now key issues for businesses, investors and policymakers globally. The new UN climate report published this month advised there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to lower greenhouse gas emissions and secure a safe and liveable future for the global population.
The global ESG regulatory framework is fast evolving and companies will need to ensure they’re set up to comply with legal and financial requirements across multiple territories and how it impacts their supply chains.
Greenwashing remains a hot topic in 2023 with regulators in the UK and the EU planning to introduce legislation requiring businesses to prove environmental claims they make about their products and services.
“The pressure to end greenwashing has never been higher, and we’ve now got the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the EU both taking steps to ensure eco-friendly claims are backed by evidence.”
- Alan Marshall, managing director, PA Business Information Services
This year has already seen the chair of Natural England, Tony Juniper, saying he worries about companies greenwashing “endlessly” and urging them to move beyond a focus on communications to “transforming the core business”. German investment giant Deutsche Bank recently announced a step towards that and will now be advised by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) on sustainability issues.
There will be more set piece events this year too with Cop28 and a UN-convened Climate Ambition Summit. Emily Beament, environment correspondent at PA Media, says: “With the climate crisis beginning to bite and high public awareness, Cop28 in Dubai in late 2023 is likely to be a significant event, with pressure on countries to avoid dangerous global warming.”
Take a wider view of ESG
While environmental issues are crucial, for organisations to be seen as a ‘good citizen’, they need to not only be aware of but formulate their strategy around a wide range of Environmental, Social and Governance topics including equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, gender and ethnicity pay gaps and corporate governance.
In addition to the 2023 guide, PA Mediapoint now has a dedicated content channel for all things ESG to examine these key issues. Recent coverage has included this month’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week, which shone a light on why hiring neurodivergent people can benefit your business. “Put simply, if you always look to recruit the same type of person – the person who thinks and does the same as you – you could be limiting your organisation’s productivity, creativity, and understanding of your customer base,” Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum, told PA.
And Mental Health First Aid England found that a third (33%) of managers feel ‘out of their depth’ supporting their team with mental health concerns. That figure rises to 45% when managers are aged under 25. “Teams are at their most effective and creative when everybody feels psychologically safe and is seen, heard and valued,” said Simon Blake, chief executive of MHFA England and companion of the Chartered Management Institute. “Empowering managers so people are able to bring their whole self to work is better for wellbeing and better for business.”
Both of these fall under the ‘S’ for social in ESG and are key things companies can be looking at in their workplaces to improve employee wellbeing and retention – and help a company demonstrate and communicate their focus on putting people above profits.
Technology shift
2023 promises to be the year when AI technology well and truly arrives. ChatGPT ushered in a new peak of interest in generative AI and the early months of the year have seen further milestones, including the initial rollout of Google’s rival AI called Bard.
Unlike its rival, which was developed by OpenAI, the Google bot has access to the internet and has a “Google It” button which accesses search. It also quotes its sources and directs users to a relevant webpage if it has made extensive use of it when answering a question.
Facebook owner Meta appears to be following suit with the recent announcement that its top investment priority is now artificial intelligence.
But ChatGPT has certainly set the bar for interest – in January, it racked up 100 million active users, a figure it took TikTok nine months to achieve. The challenge for OpenAI will now be how it monetises such a popular service. Businesses are understandably intrigued, but in 2023 they’ll need to establish whether ChatGPT can offer meaningful value while weighing up concerns around bias, the spread of misinformation and copyright law. Will the buzz last, or is ChatGPT destined to be a flash in the pan?
Several other key news topics for 2023 are put under the microscope by PA Mediapoint’s experts in ‘Your Guide to 2023’. They include ‘Business’ and how sectors are coping with a litany of obstacles and challenges; ‘Transport’ and the challenges of electrification; and ‘Sport’, which looks ahead to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in the summer.
PA Mediapoint, sister company to PA Media, is proud to offer services centered around editorial expertise. In Your Guide to 2023 you can gain insights from PA Media's specialist reporters on the challenges posed by more than 10 news agenda items for the year ahead.
Download Your Guide to 2023 today.
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