How to avoid falling victim to fraud – Prepare your business against cyber threats before the busy festive period!
• Identify common signs of fraudulent communications
• Spot the latest fraud trends
• Report and recover from an instance of fraud
The session is supported by the City of London’s Small Business Research + Enterprise Centre and brought to you by the Cyber Resilience Centre for London.
It’s coming up to Christmas, which is the peak season for scammers and fraudsters, and the sad reality is that very often businesses are sitting targets.
Each email, phone call and social media message you and your team respond to is another potential opportunity to fall victim to scams that peak in frequency and sophistication at this time of year.
Join this session to learn how to protect yourself, your business and your data with practical, actionable guidance from a cybersecurity expert.
Don’t forget to invite your staff to join too – this affects everyone!
Your members are working hard with the City of London Corporation towards a net-zero emissions City by 2040. Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli asked the following question in Common Council on 19 May 2020:
My Lord Mayor.
May I join in the congratulations to Deputy Chris Hayward upon his appointment from the fine ward of Broad Street to Chairman of Policy & Resources. I trust that I speak for all honourable members when I applaud the Chairman of Policy & Resources, and his predecessors’, continuing work towards a sustainable City. As a reminder, the City’s modern green credentials are long-standing. Common Council passed the first UK clean air directive in 1953. After COP3 in Kyoto in 1997, the Corporation developed the EU Emissions Trading System. In 2002 the Corporation produced the “London Principles” framework for sustainable finance for the Johannesburg Earth Summit. In 2005 the City launched London Accord, a cooperative scheme to share investment research environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports with policy makers, NGOs, and the general public. In 2006, the London Accord group posed the ‘stranded assets’ systemic financial stability question, garnering the support of the Bank of England. In 2007, Lord Mayor Sir David Lewis launched a 780 page report on the investability of climate projects. In 2009, the Corporation took a London Accord idea on policy performance bonds to the World Bank and COP15 in Copenhagen, garnering the support of the French government. Policy performance bonds link a bond’s interest rates to carbon emission targets. Such bonds are analogous to inflation linked bonds. The policy performance bond market, according to Bloomberg, was $11bn in 2020, $110bn in 2021, and projected to be $250bn this year. The big news this March is that the first sovereign policy performance bond of $2bn was issued by the government of Chile. Chile pays more interest on its bond if it fails to meet its 2030 emission and renewable energy targets.
Closer to home, in 2021 the City of London Corporation announced a net zero 2040 target for its combined £3bn investment portfolios, outlining a concrete action plan in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s ‘code red’ warning. The City is alive with green, in tune with our Lord Mayor’s national colours, the Green Finance Institute, Heart of the City SME training, the Livery Climate Action Group, sponsored by my fellow Alderman, Sheriff Alison Gowman, and much more.
My question though. 25 wards constitute the City of London. If we are to achieve our green goals with “action at the local level”, then every ward has to reduce emissions to zero in less than 18 years. Perhaps each ward should have its own ‘net zero 2040’ plan, call it “Get Zero”. Can the Corporation provide each ward with their current emissions and detail how each ward will progress to its net zero 2040 target? How can we make other cities green with envy of our Green Destination City ambitions?
My Lord Mayor.
And a supplementary:
My Lord Mayor.
May I thank the Chairman for his considered response. We all appreciate the complexity of targeting systems. Many would argue that price mechanisms for carbon emissions, as specified at COP 3 a quarter of a century ago, are the important path to follow. After a rocky start in 2005, over the past few years the EU emissions trading system has risen to solid levels forcing firms to cut back on their pollution. Since Brexit, the UK has its own emissions trading system functioning well with the EU’s. Both markets are approaching a price of €100 per tonne of emissions. Last year, China launched a national emissions trading system. By some estimates, 25% of global emissions are within credible cap-and-trade systems. These emissions trading systems are the right market approach for a market city. What is the Corporation doing to help promote the resurging carbon markets, especially as we were their midwife some two decades ago?
My Lord Mayor.
You can watch the exchange at Common Council here from 48:08 to 58:05.
The in-person City-wide Residents’ Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 4 May 2022 in the Great Hall, Guildhall. This event will be held over two sessions, with the daytime slot booked to take place between 12:30 – 14:30 and then again at 18:30 – 20:30. The meeting will offer residents the chance to hear from the Policy Chair, the Assistant Commissioner of the City of London Police and the Acting Deputy Town Clerk from the City of London Corporation. Residents will also have the opportunity to ask questions or raise issues about living in the City of London. For more details, email residents@cityoflondon.gov.uk.
The Heart of the City are delighted to be running the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards on behalf of the City of London Corporation for the second year. These awards celebrate excellence in social impact both within Greater London and nationally, for the Lord Mayor’s Award category. This year marks the Awards 34-year history, and we look forward to celebrating another year of responsible business.
The Heart of the City are actively encouraging both small and large businesses to submit applications to win one of six prestigious awards, so I’d really encourage you enter. The Dragon Awards are free to enter and culminate in an awards ceremony at the Mansion House in September.
You can apply here and also follow the Dragon Awards on Twitter for further updates.
We would like to thank John Scott JP most sincerely for 23 years of excellent and selfless service on behalf of Broad Street Ward and the City of London. John served in numerous capacities on many committees, including Chief Commoner, the highest honour, and as Deputy of our Ward over the past year.
Broad Street has a contested election with five candidates for three positions. The Wardmote is on Wednesday, 23 March, at noon at Furniture Makers’ Hall, where the candidates will have an opportunity to address the electorate. You can cast your vote on Thursday, 24 March, also at Furniture Makers’ Hall. Easiest of course is to use a postal ballot – https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-us/voting-elections/postal-votes
The City Corporation is working with the GLA and Artichoke to present City Lights, a free outdoor light show taking place across locations in the Square Mile. Continue reading →
The Audit and Risk Management Committee is currently advertising for a new External Member of the Committee to replace an imminently retiring External Member. Continue reading →
