AM Edition: Top 10 Economic Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for July 8, 2026 – Full Text

Source: French to English Tester   Published on: 2026-07-07

Source: The Conversation – France in French (3)– By Claire Mollier, Assistant Professor in Behavioral and Experimental Economics, University Paris Nanterre

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“‘You have not reached your step goal for today’ is a message that sounds familiar to you? Every day, millions of people receive this type of notification.

TheApple App Storeand theapplications on Androidaccounting respectively for nearly 35,000 and 36,000applicationsin 2024 health, the latter all seek to stand out.

Some, for example Strava or Runtastic, encourage social comparison through challenges or posts that allow sharing activities with the community. Others reward physical activity, like Carrot Rewards, possibly with financial incentives, like WeWard which pays you for walking.

A free app that pays you to motivate you to walk

Indeed, WeWard is a free application that allows you to earn a certain number of points each time you reach a step goal accomplished during the day (1,500, 3,000, 6,500, 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 steps). These points can then be converted into amounts of money and earn you up to about 4 euros per month.

This feature was created at the launch of the application, at the end of 2019, in the context of the transportation strike. It aimed to encourage and reward people who chose, or were led, to travel on foot.

From the point of view of health economics, this monetary incentive makes perfect sense sincestudies show that it can encourage the practice of physical activity. Furthermore, within the framework of walking (a free activity), the results should only be multiplied since this practice requires no maintenance costs (unlike a gym, for example).

To remind its users to validate their steps and thus collect their points, WeWard sends reminders every day. But do these messages truly encourage you to walk more?

Study the walking behaviors of app users

Why observe walking behaviors? Because walking is one of the forms ofphysical activitythe most accessible. It requires neither special equipment (thus no cost) nor a specific place or time and can therefore be integrated (more or less easily) into one’s routine.

For health economists, walking represents an interesting lever since encouraging individuals to walk more could allowto make significant public health savings. That is why, in aarticle published recently, we are interested in this practice through an experiment.

However, one of the difficulties sometimes lies in measuring these behaviors. Based on questionnaires, do individuals report their activity reliably? Do they themselves know how many steps they take each day?

Thanks to a collaboration with the step-tracking app WeWard, we were able to observe the real walking behaviors of the people who use it. We thus tested the effect of different reminders, sent directly to their phones by the app.

The reminders were designed to highlight different mechanisms that can be found in the application:

• Comparison with others:

“Today, the WeWarders have walked an average of X steps. And you?”

• Comparison with oneself:

“Last week, you walked an average of X steps. How many did you take today?”

• Monetary aspect:

“You have already validated your steps over the past few days, do it again to earn more points.”

We collected data on the walking behaviors of more than 20,000 individuals in France and studied whether their habits changed after the introduction of these new messages. Our study also sought to understand whether personalized messages, sent over a longer period, are more effective than messages sent over a shorter period.

Clicks, but no more walking

The first result of the study is clear: the new reminders do indeed manage to capture the users’ attention. Messages based on comparison with others encourage opening the application more. This effect is even more pronounced when the reminders are sent over three weeks rather than just one.

This observation is all the more interesting as our experiment took place during the year-end holidays, a period during which engagement with applications tends to naturally decline. The notifications thus helped to slow down the decrease in activity on the application. However, this increase in attention did not result in more walking.

The various indicators studied (daily activity, weekly average, or behaviors of the most active individuals on the application) tell the same story: notifications increase the use of the application without leading to more physical activity.

When capturing attention becomes a misleading indicator

One of the main lessons from our study is that attention paid to an application does not necessarily reflect a concrete change in behavior. In the field of digital technology, the success of an intervention is often measured through usage statistics: frequency of opening the application, time spent on the platform, or number of interactions. However, these indicators can provide a partial, even misleading, picture of their real effect on health.

Indeed, consulting an application is a relatively simple action. Permanently changing one’s daily habits is much less so. Walking more involves finding time, changing certain routines, and facing very concrete constraints, such as fatigue, professional obligations, or even weather conditions. In this context, a simple notification probably has limited impact.

Our results thus remind us that there is a significant difference between attracting users’ attention and truly changing their behaviors. Digital platforms often succeed very well in capturing our attention; this does not necessarily mean that they produce lasting effects on our lifestyles.

A potential especially among inactive people

Not all users react the same way to notifications. Among people who walked the least before the experiment, we observe a slight increase in the number of steps over time. No single type of notification seems to explain this evolution by itself, but this result suggests that health applications could be particularly useful for audiences who are most distant from physical activity.

The simple act of tracking one’s steps daily, visualizing progress, or receiving regular reminders can help make certain behaviors more concrete and visible. From a public health perspective, these populations represent a central issue: they are also the ones for whom an increase,even modest, physical activity could produce the most significant benefits.

On the importance of measuring what really matters

Our study highlights a significant challenge for digital platforms and public policies: measuring what truly matters. Strong engagement should not automatically be interpreted as success. An application may seem highly effective based on its internal statistics while producing little concrete change in the daily lives of users.

Our results do not call into question the value of health applications. They rather suggest that digital tools are probably more effective when integrated into broader systems: being supported by one’s social circle, setting goals, or gradually building habits over time.

Moreover, increasing one’s physical activity depends not only on motivation but also on daily constraints or social factors, such as gender. Indeed, our results are consistent with existing studies:women seem less active than men.

Applications can help make certain behaviors more visible and encourage awareness. However, lasting change in habits requires more than just a notification.

The authors do not work for, do not advise, do not own shares in, do not receive funds from an organization that could benefit from this article, and have declared no affiliation other than their research institution.

–ref. Do health apps really make us move more… or just click more? Example with an app to count your steps –https://theconversation.com/do-health-apps-really-make-us-move-more-or-just-click-more-an-example-with-an-app-to-count-your-steps-286605

Source: European Parliament

 
 
 
 

On Tuesday, Micheál Martin set out Ireland’s priorities: to enhance EU competitiveness, values, and security, under the banner of “strength with unity”.

Welcoming Ireland’s Taoiseach, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said, “We are entering a critical six months for our continent. With the Irish Presidency’s leadership and focus on competitiveness, security and values, we are pulling in the same direction. The coming months are an opportunity to act together on some transformative files and deliver the progress people demand of us. The European Parliament will be a trusted partner.”

On competitiveness, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Presidency will work to eliminate barriers, tackle unnecessary regulatory burdens, and boost internal market trade. On external trade, the Irish Presidency will seek to build an EU-US trade and investment relationship that benefits both, and work for a close and constructive partnership with the UK. The Presidency will continue to deepen the EU’s trade relationships with partners such as India, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. The Irish Presidency will work with MEPs, Martin said, to conclude the European grids package, as part of their focus on enhancing Europe’s security of supply and the development of sustainable, affordable, and secure energy systems.

Ireland will aim to complete accession negotiations with Montenegro, to make substantial progress with Moldova and Ukraine, and to advance the countries of the Western Balkans along their EU accession trajectories as far as they are ready to go. The Irish Presidency will, the Taoiseach said, continue to support EU efforts toward stability in Lebanon, Syria, and the wider Gulf region, as well as reaffirming the EU’s long-standing commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Describing the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West bank as dire, Mr Martin said Europe must do more.

On security, he said the Presidency would continue its unwavering support for Ukraine, and that political, financial, military and humanitarian support for the country must be coupled with ever-increasing pressure on Russia, including tighter and stronger sanctions. The Irish Presidency will support deep collaboration to build European resilience, particularly in the face of sophisticated hybrid threats, and to advance maritime and cyber security.

The Taoiseach said he believed agreement in the Council on the EU’s next long-term budget can be achieved by the end of 2026, and that the Irish Presidency will set out its thinking on this in a new negotiating box in the autumn.

In their responses, MEPs welcomed the Irish Presidency’s focus on competitiveness, security and European resilience, expressing support for priorities aimed at strengthening the EU’s economy and strategic autonomy. Competitiveness featured prominently throughout the debate, with speakers calling for higher productivity, lower regulatory burdens, affordable energy and progress on the single market, while enlargement was identified as a key geopolitical priority.

The EU’s next long-term budget was also raised by several speakers, with MEPs debating how to balance investment in defence and competitiveness with continued support for cohesion policy, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and social priorities.

There were references to migration and climate issues too, while a number of speakers brought up housing, support for Ukraine, the rule of law, and online safety for children.

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Source: deVere Group

July 7 2026 – Andy Burnham, who is expected to become UK Prime Minister later this month, will be forced to scrap the triple lock on pensions and this should be a wake-up call for Britain's retirement savers, warns the CEO of one of the world's largest independent financial advisory organisations.

The warning from Nigel Green of deVere Group comes as the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest long-term assessment concludes that Britain faces difficult choices over public spending, with an ageing population, rising healthcare costs and mounting debt placing increasing strain on the public finances.

The fiscal watchdog estimates that retaining the triple lock will cost around £15.5 billion more by the end of the decade than linking the state pension to earnings alone, while state pension spending could rise from around 5% of GDP today to close to 9% by the 2070s if current policy is maintained.

Nigel Green says the political commitment to protect the triple lock is unlikely to survive those fiscal realities indefinitely.

He says: "The triple lock has become politically untouchable, but economics has a habit of catching up with politics.

"I don't believe the question is whether it eventually changes. The question is when.

"The pressure won't disappear because governments wish it away. Britain is getting older, healthcare spending is climbing, defence demands are increasing and debt interest remains elevated.

"Every Prime Minister and Chancellor will be looking for room to manoeuvre, and the state pension will inevitably be part of that conversation."

The triple lock guarantees that the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest: inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5%. Introduced in 2011, it has substantially lifted pension incomes and helped reduce pensioner poverty.

At the same time, it has become one of the fastest-growing long-term commitments on the government's balance sheet.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that demographic change alone will place sustained pressure on public finances over coming decades, with pensions and healthcare accounting for much of the increase in age-related spending.

Nigel Green believes those structural forces will become increasingly difficult for any government to ignore.

"Andy Burnham may honour the commitment during this Parliament. I think he'll come under enormous pressure to rethink it in the next. Fiscal arithmetic doesn't negotiate. If the government wants to preserve spending elsewhere without imposing ever-higher taxes, every major spending commitment comes under scrutiny."

He continues: "History shows that no policy guarantee lasts forever. Governments adapt to changing economic conditions.

"Retirement planning built on the expectation that politicians will always preserve today's promises is taking a risk that many people don't fully appreciate."

The deVere CEO argues that the debate extends well beyond politics.

He says: "This is really about financial resilience. Millions of people understandably see the state pension as a dependable foundation for retirement. It should remain an important part of retirement income, but it should never be the whole plan.

"If the triple lock is eventually diluted, replaced or redesigned, many retirees could discover that the income they expected simply doesn't materialise. Waiting until that happens is the worst possible strategy."

Private retirement provision is already under pressure. Automatic enrolment has increased workplace pension participation dramatically over the past decade, yet many households remain on course for retirement incomes well below their expectations, particularly if they rely heavily on minimum pension contributions.

The OBR has also highlighted inadequate private pension saving as a growing long-term fiscal risk alongside the rising cost of the state pension itself.

Nigel Green says: "This should be a wake-up call. People need to think beyond the state pension and beyond political promises.

"Building diversified retirement wealth through long-term investing has never been more important.

"The uncomfortable reality is that retirement security increasingly rests with individuals rather than governments.

"Public finances are under pressure across the developed world. Britain is not unique in this regard.

"People who act early have options. They have time for compound growth to work in their favour, they can diversify globally, and they can adjust their plans as circumstances evolve."

He concludes: "The triple lock has provided valuable protection for pensioners. But prudent financial planning has never been about assuming today's policies will still exist tomorrow.

"It's always been about preparing for change before change is forced upon you."

deVere Group is one of the world's largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients. It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)

8 July 2026 – The Monetary Policy Committee today reached consensus to increase the OCR by 25 basis points to 2.50 percent.

Following the partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, global oil prices have fallen markedly. Other petrochemical prices have also moved lower. As a result, near-term inflation pressures have eased.

Although energy prices have decreased, the effects of the shock will linger for some time and the outlook for medium-term inflation pressures remains uncertain. The stance of monetary policy is calibrated to bring inflation back to target without causing unnecessary economic instability.

Global growth has been resilient to the effects of tariffs and conflict in the Middle East, largely because of strong AI-related investment and spending on defence and economic security. Headline inflation in New Zealand's trading partners has increased but is expected to ease to close to 2 percent in 2027. Markets expect global policy rates to increase above pre-conflict levels, as central banks may need to respond to persistent energy-driven inflation pressures.

New Zealand's economic recovery was underway before the Middle East conflict, but lost momentum in the June quarter as the oil shock weighed on economic activity. Growth is expected to resume in the September quarter as these effects fade and confidence improves. Over the medium term, inflation returning to the 2 percent target mid-point will lift household purchasing power and help support a sustained recovery in growth and employment.

The outlook for medium-term inflation pressures depends on the extent to which recent cost increases feed through into higher prices. Spare capacity in the economy is expected to limit firms' ability to pass on higher costs, meaning many businesses may need to absorb them in margins. However, some firms may look to rebuild margins as demand recovers. If sustained, a lower exchange rate could also add to medium-term inflation pressures.

With inflation still above target and economic activity expected to strengthen, some further reduction in monetary stimulus is likely to be required to return inflation to the 2 percent target mid-point. Future OCR decisions will depend on how incoming data, price-setting behaviour, and the strength of economic activity affect medium-term inflation pressures.

Read the full statement and Record of meeting: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=9eb7b7605a&e=f3c68946f8

Source: Animal Wellness Action

Four years after kangaroo-skin soccer shoes lingered on the margins of the world's biggest soccer tournament, the material has effectively disappeared from elite play following a global campaign that persuaded every major athletic shoe brand to abandon the wildlife trade.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lionel Messi of Argentina, Kylian Mbappé of France, Erling Haaland of Norway, Harry Kane of England and all other elite athletes on the pitch are donning football boots made from fabrics other than kangaroo skins, according to the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action. It appears that just one player—Junnosuke Suzuki of Japan—had any plans to wear skins made from kangaroos, signaling a remarkable cultural and marketplace shift in the core equipment for hundreds of millions of people in 190 countries who play the game.

Since launching the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign in 2020, the organizations have secured commitments from every major athletic shoe manufacturer in the world to end the use of kangaroo skins. In 2025-26 alone, Adidas, ASICS, and Umbro joined Nike, Puma, New Balance, and Sokito in abandoning kangaroo parts, while Mizuno announced its intention to stop (though its pace of action is maddeningly slow). These companies, until very recently had dozens of models of kangaroo-skin shoes sold to hundreds of millions of players in more than 190 nations, driving the commercial killing of two million kangaroos across their native range in Australia.

“With their footwear choices, the world’s elite players are signaling to hundreds of millions of soccer enthusiasts that kangaroo-skin soccer shoes are as archaic as film cameras, fax machines, and phone books,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy.

Of the 1,248 players on the official tournament rosters, just one player from Japan indicated he may use a shoe model made with kangaroo skin. Japan was eliminated in a prior round, meaning that the late rounds are free of kangaroo-based shoes. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, kangaroo-skin soccer cleats were already in steep decline, accounting for only a tiny fraction of goals scored during the tournament. At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they have effectively vanished.

For the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action, the disappearance of kangaroo leather from soccer's grandest stage marks the culmination of a six-year international campaign to persuade athletic shoe manufacturers to stop sourcing the skins of wild kangaroos for soccer cleats. The shift represents one of the most consequential corporate animal-welfare victories in the history of professional sports.

A pivotal moment came in 2025 when Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle traveled to Nuremberg to address Adidas shareholders and leadership at the company's annual meeting. The response by Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden caused spontaneous applause when he told Pacelle the company had stopped sourcing kangaroos for shoes and was exiting production. ASICS came next followed by Mizuno pledging to stop and then Umbro, completing a cascade of corporate commitments that transformed the industry.

"Just a few years ago, the world's biggest athletic brands were helping to drive demand for the commercial slaughter of wild kangaroos,” added Pacelle. “Sourcing products from slain native wildlife for the biggest sport in the world was a prescription for mass killing of iconic kangaroos.”

The campaign succeeded through a combination of corporate engagement, filmmaking, shareholder and consumer education, investigative work, and legislative action.

"The companies selling these shoes marketed innovation, performance, and style. We wanted people to see what that innovation was built on: a cruel and inhumane night slaughter of millions of kangaroos and their young,” said Jennifer Skiff, campaign leader and director of international programs for the Center for a Humane Economy. “We were up against an industry that was telling lawmakers and global corporations that the kangaroo kill was ethical and humane. There's nothing humane about shooting a mother in the dark, bludgeoning the joey in her pouch, and leaving the one at her foot to starve or be taken by a predator.”

The organizations said the absence of kangaroo-skin cleats from the 2026 World Cup should be viewed not as an isolated sports-industry trend, but as a milestone in a larger global movement toward a more humane economy—one that rewards technological innovation while reducing dependence on the exploitation of animals.

ABOUT

Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) whose mission is to help animals by promoting laws and regulations at federal, state, and local levels that forbid cruelty to all animals. The group also works to enforce existing anti-cruelty and wildlife protection laws. Animal Wellness Action believes helping animals helps us all. X: @AWAction_News

The Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help animals by helping forge a more humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both. The Center believes helping animals helps us all. X: @TheHumaneCenter

Source: Cotality – Analysis / Commentary by Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson.

Today’s decision to raise the official cash rate by 0.25% to 2.50% wasn’t universally expected, but seems to reflect the Committee’s view that increases back to a more neutral level (perhaps 3%) were inevitable at some point so they may as well start now – even though fuel prices have eased and second-round inflation risks have probably receded too.

As opposed to the 3-3 split on the Committee last time around, this was a unanimous rise. The associated commentary with the decision also noted that further OCR increases will probably be necessary, but the timing is uncertain right now, depending on how the incoming data evolves and obviously whether the US-Iran peace deal proves to be lasting.

We had been leaning towards a hold today, on the basis that there doesn’t seem to be immediate pressure to curb inflation and delayed rate rises might just give the economy more time to get going again. But an OCR rise was never going to be a total shock either, given the RBNZ had been signalling increases even before the Iran conflict broke out.

For the housing market, it’s really just (subdued) business as usual. On one hand, the US-Iran peace deal has already seen lower fuel prices and a boost to consumer confidence, as well as falls in mortgage rates (although these may not run any further).

A continued economic recovery in the coming months, even if/when the OCR rises again, would tend to bolster sales volumes and property values too.

But a fresh boom seems very unlikely. Indeed, listings remain elevated, giving buyers the balance of power on pricing. The election – and potential tax changes – appears to be dampening investors’ moods too.

Meanwhile, a mindset shift also seems to be underway, with a lot of questions being asked about long-run capital growth prospects in a world where new housing supply looks to have taken a permanent step higher.

Source: European Parliament

• Registration and funding as a European political party are tied to conditions established to protect democracy and the EU budget 

• The independent Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations is responsible for assessing compliance 

Reacting to the competent authority’s letter setting out doubts about ESN’s compliance with EU values, MEPs voted in favour of starting the verification procedure.

On Tuesday, Parliament decided by 414 votes to 224 and 18 abstentions to request the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) to verify whether the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) political party complies with the registration and funding conditions laid down in the Regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and foundations.

The procedure was triggered after the APPF — the independent EU authority responsible for registering, controlling, and sanctioning European political organisations — informed Parliament, the Council and the Commission of facts casting doubt on ESN’s compliance with EU values, as it is required to do. The three institutions have two months to decide whether to lodge a verification request. Parliament’s vote is a procedural step and does not constitute a position on the substance.

The independent authority will now verify ESN’s compliance with core EU values, such as democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights (a prerequisite for registration as a European political party) in line with the procedure set out in Article 13 of the regulation. Democratic scrutiny is key in this process: decisions to deregister a political party can only enter into force in the absence of an objection by the Parliament or the Council.

Although a political group under the same name exists in Parliament (i.e. MEPs who sit and vote together in the chamber), the parliamentary group is legally and functionally distinct from the ESN political party, which is subject to separate EU rules. Under Article 10(4) of the Treaty on European Union, European political parties are key instruments for forming European political awareness and expressing the will of Union citizens.

This is the first time this procedure has been initiated. The revised EU regulation on European political parties and foundations, which Parliament approved in October 2025, tightened up the rules on transparency, foreign interference, and the protection of European values.

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• Deal on new rules for European political parties and foundations (17.6.2025) 

Source: European Union 2   Published on: 2026-07-07

From neighbours tending community food forests, to residents caring for green roofs and redesigning social housing, LIFE-funded projects are illustrating how Europe’s green transition can start at ground level.

Against the lively backdrop of the Festival of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) in Brussels, six projects demonstrated how LIFE funding is helping to deliver the NEB vision of places that are not only sustainable, but also more attractive, inclusive and resilient.

While the New European Bauhaus is rethinking how Europeans live, build and connect with their surroundings, the LIFE programme is helping communities turn those ambitions into reality.

The session ‘Building the NEB from the LIFE programme: 6 successful stories’ took the audience on a journey across Europe, discovering local projects that are delivering the NEB principles. Held on the Festival’s circularity day, the session showcased how circular solutions, nature-based approaches and community participation are already transforming neighbourhoods.

A highlight of the Festival was the visit of Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, to the LIFE projects corner. Meeting representatives from the six initiatives, the Commissioner learned how LIFE funding has helped these communities advance sustainability, circularity and climate resilience in practice.

Communities shaping greener neighbourhoods

Many of the projects shared a common message: successful green transitions begin with people.

LIFEBauhausing Europe is working with five municipalities in Spain, Hungary, Latvia and Croatia to place residents at the centre of urban renewal. Local working groups have redesigned public spaces, created urban gardens and food forests, and transformed neglected buildings into vibrant local hubs. In Budapest, the historic Bethlen Theatre has been given a new lease of life as a community space, while in Blanca, Spain, a former warehouse now serves as a youth and cultural centre.

“No green transition can be achieved in our city unless people reconnect with the places where they live and with each other,” said Maria Huertas, project coordinator of EuroVértice.

In Catalonia, Spain, BIG4LIFE is showing how nature-based solutions can make cities healthier and more resilient. Green roofs and walls on nine buildings in Barcelona and Lleida are helping to save water and energy, support biodiversity, cool urban areas and improve health and wellbeing. Seniors, students and building users are actively involved in maintaining and monitoring the sites, helping ensure long-term impact. The project’s innovative irrigation methods can reduce water use by up to 80%.

“It was an honour to talk with Commissioner Roswall about how nature-based solutions can help cities adapt to more frequent and intense heatwaves. Investment in green infrastructure is investment in public health, biodiversity and more liveable cities,” said Gabriel Pérez, University of Lleida. “In October, BIG4LIFE will host a Green Infrastructure Congress in Barcelona and Lleida to showcase its innovative solutions for greening cities,” said Laura Herrera, also from University of Lleida. 

SeedNEB is also improving urban biodiversity and people’s wellbeing by helping three municipalities – Lorquí, Spain, Potenza, Italy and Dunaújváros, Hungary – tackle pollution and rising temperatures through nature-based solutions. Green roofs, living façades and biodiversity measures are being introduced in public buildings and spaces, while biodiversity offices and local grant schemes are encouraging citizens and businesses to take action themselves. 

Reimagining housing through circular and bio-based solutions

Other projects demonstrated how residents, professionals and local industry can work together to transform Europe’s housing stock.

TEPLO-Panelka is developing a circular bio-based renovation model for Soviet-era apartment buildings in Ukraine, where around 90% of the housing stock is energy inefficient. Using prefabricated façade systems made from recycled materials, the project is working closely with residents and local industry to deliver renovations that meet both technical and community needs.

Be-WoodEN brings together eight partners from Italy, Belgium, Poland and Slovenia to strengthen skills and supply chains for timber construction. Through professional training and co-design challenges in social housing neighbourhoods, architects, engineers and local communities are exploring how wood-based solutions can create warmer, more sustainable shared spaces.

In Amsterdam, BIOMATINE is giving new life to around 500 social housing units and historic buildings through bio-based insulation materials such as wood fibre. Alongside the renovation works, a LIFE-supported Bio-based Academy is helping housing associations and contractors build the expertise needed to scale up these solutions.

“With a subsidy like this, you really have the chance to create a breakthrough, to create the space to work in a new way,” said Daan Jongejan, BIOMATINE project manager from the City of Amsterdam. 

Jongejan discussed the application of bio-based materials as a circular strategy for the built environment in Amsterdam with Commissioner Roswall, underlining how the insulation of historic social houses and monuments is contributing to an inclusive, sustainable and beautiful Europe. 

Delivering European ambitions locally

The LIFE funding has enabled the six projects to test innovative approaches that might otherwise have been considered too risky or too innovative for conventional funding. It has helped turn ideas into demonstrators, connected research with practice and built local networks that will continue long after the projects end.

In doing so, LIFE is helping bring New European Bauhaus principles to life in communities across Europe, illustrating how environmental innovation can boost collaboration, social ties and strong local communities.

Together, these projects signpost how LIFE is contributing to EU priorities on energy efficiency, climate adaptation, biodiversity and circularity, supporting objectives set out in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the Renovation Wave Strategy, Nature Restoration Regulation, Biodiversity Strategy and the Circular Economy Action Plan, as well as helping to achieve the goals of the New European Bauhaus.

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Source: Robert Half

Top factors influencing bonuses are company performance (58%), individual performance (49%), and cost/available budget (48%)

53% of employers say bonuses were higher in their last bonus cycle compared to previous years, while 40% say they were around the same amount

Auckland, 8 July 2026 – While bonuses are often viewed by employees as a direct reflection of their individual contribution, Kiwi employers reveal that broader business considerations weigh just as heavily in determining payout amounts, new independent research by specialised recruiter Robert Half reveals.

Bonuses reflect business realities over personal achievement

While individual performance remains central to how Kiwi employers determine bonuses, business results carry more weight than individual effort, based on the research results.

When asked what the top factors are influencing their company's decision making when considering bonus amounts, employers cited:

Company performance (58%)

Individual performance (49%)

Cost/available budget (48%)

Competitor benchmarking (48%)

Employee expectations (47%)

Industry trends (47%).

Uplift in bonuses for some, while others remain unchanged

Despite ongoing economic pressures, bonus payouts appear to be holding firm — and in many cases, increasing.

In the most recent bonus cycle, about half (53%) of employers reported that bonuses were higher than in previous years, while 40% said payouts remained at similar levels. Only 6% indicated bonuses were lower than the year prior, and just 1% said no bonuses were awarded at all.

"In the current economic climate, bonuses are progressively reflecting overall business performance rather than individual achievement alone," says Megan Alexander, Managing Director at Robert Half. "While personal contribution remains an important component, employers are making bonus decisions within the context of broader commercial conditions, signalling a more balanced and financially disciplined approach to reward strategy.

"Variable pay has become an important lever for managing risk. Employers are using bonuses to drive motivation and maintain market competitiveness without permanently increasing fixed remuneration. With most organisations holding bonuses steady, they are taking a considered and disciplined approach to reward calibration."

Who gets what bonus?

Bonus eligibility and structure vary by seniority level, reflecting how employers align rewards with responsibility, tenure, and impact on overall business performance.

While performance bonuses remain the most common incentive across nearly all employee levels, the type and frequency of additional bonuses evolve as professionals progress in their careers.

Independent survey commissioned by Robert Half among 250 hiring managers in New Zealand.

"The difference in bonus structures across seniority levels depicts how incentives are aligned to impact. Executives and senior leaders are typically more closely tied to profit-sharing and performance because their influence sits at the enterprise level. The modern remuneration strategy is strategically engineered to mirror accountability, influence, and business outcomes," concludes Alexander.

Notes

About the research

The study was developed by Robert Half and was conducted online in October 2025 by an independent research company of 250 finance, accounting, and IT and technology hiring managers. Respondents are drawn from a sample of SMEs as well as large private, publicly-listed, and public sector organisations across New Zealand. This survey is part of the international workplace survey, a questionnaire about job trends, talent management, and trends in the workplace.

About Robert Half

Robert Half is the global, specialised talent solutions provider that helps employers find their next great hire and jobseekers uncover their next opportunity. Robert Half offers both contract and permanent placement services, and is the parent company of Protiviti, a global consulting firm. Robert Half New Zealand has an office in Auckland and the South Island. More information on roberthalf.com/nz.

Source: deVere Group

July 6 2026 – Mega-rotation out of Big Tech is going to be a major theme for investors for the rest of 2026, predicts the CEO of one of the world's largest independent financial advisory organisations.

The prediction from deVere Group's Nigel Green comes as investors accelerate a broad shift away from concentrated positions in mega-cap technology stocks and into financials, industrials, healthcare, energy, infrastructure and value sectors, following softer-than-expected US jobs data and growing evidence that market leadership is widening.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index is enjoying its strongest relative start to a year since 1992, while equal-weight US equities have outperformed their market-cap weighted counterparts in recent months, highlighting a major broadening of participation beyond the largest technology stocks. The shift comes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its second record closing high last week, rising above 52,900 as investors rotated into economically sensitive sectors while reducing exposure to parts of the technology and semiconductor complex.

He says: "We believe investors are witnessing the beginning of one of the most important reallocations of capital since the post-pandemic recovery.

"For years, returns became increasingly concentrated in a handful of mega-cap technology companies. This trade generated exceptional wealth. It also created extraordinary concentration risk.

"Investors are now repositioning aggressively because they recognise that opportunity has expanded far beyond the narrow group of stocks that dominated markets over recent years.

"We expect this mega-rotation to become one of the defining investment themes for the remainder of 2026."

The shift accelerated after the latest US employment report showed the economy added just 57,000 jobs in June, roughly half of consensus expectations, while previous months were revised lower.

Markets responded by sharply reducing expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening, with investors increasingly betting that the Fed will remain on hold as labour market momentum cools. The shift in interest rate expectations has helped fuel renewed interest in sectors that have lagged the AI-led rally and stand to benefit from a more stable monetary environment.

The deVere CEO continues: "The labour market data has reinforced a growing belief that the next phase of this market cycle will look very different from the previous one.

"Investors are increasingly positioning for a world in which interest rates stabilise, economic growth moderates rather than collapses, and market leadership broadens substantially.

"The combination creates enormous opportunities.

"The Federal Reserve remains central to this story. Markets are increasingly concluding that policymakers have room to be patient, and that changes the opportunity set for investors considerably.

"When interest rate expectations stabilise, capital typically broadens out across the market. We believe that process has already begun.

"We remain very bullish on artificial intelligence over the long term. AI will continue to reshape industries, business models and investment portfolios for years to come.

"But investors are asking an increasingly important question: where does the next wave of returns come from?

"Our answer is becoming clearer by the week."

Wall Street strategists have increasingly described the current environment as a major rotation trade, with capital flowing into cyclical and value-oriented sectors after years of extreme technology dominance.

Recent weakness in momentum-driven semiconductor trades has further strengthened expectations that broader market participation could become a defining feature of the second half of the year.

Nigel Green explains: "We believe financials, industrials, healthcare, infrastructure, energy and selected consumer sectors are entering a powerful period of renewed investor demand.

"These sectors possess attractive valuations, strong earnings potential and significant room for capital inflows.

"The opportunity set available to investors today is arguably broader than at any point over the last several years.

"When market leadership expands, bull markets become stronger, deeper and more durable. The process is now underway."

He concludes: "Many investors remain anchored to the winners of the previous phase of the cycle. History teaches us that such an approach rarely delivers the strongest returns.

"The investors who identify major transitions early are typically the ones who benefit most.

"The mega-rotation has powerful economic, monetary and valuation drivers behind it.

"Our view is that this trend has further to run, participation will continue to broaden, and the opportunities emerging across global markets are exceptionally compelling."

deVere Group is one of the world's largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients. It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.