MonaBike will be opening new stations in the coming days in previously underrepresented areas of the Principality, giving better coverage and making the environmentally-friendly alternative to cars all the more appealing.
MonaBike arrived on the scene in July 2019 as a joint venture between the government of Monaco and the Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco (CAM) as a way to encourage residents and visitors to use more green modes of transport to get around town.
Over the next few days, they will be adding more bikes and stations, making the system even more convenient.
There are currently 2,100 subscribers who made 342,000 trips in 2020, deeming MonaBike a bonafide success, with quadruple the number of users over the first year. With an average of more than seven trips per bike per day, MonaBike is at the same level as the self-service bicycle systems of large cities.
The popularity of the self-service electric bicycles has been due in part to the regular upgrades to keep them relevant and user-friendly, including the introduction of a smartphone app that allows users to identify the closest bike station and the number of bikes available. MonaBike has also been integrated into the Citymapper app, a digital service that displays transport options with live timing.
Meanwhile, the number of stations where the bikes are available has doubled, and now there will be several additional stations in an effort to service more parts of the Principality.
The price is right as well, with annual subscriptions going for just €72, dropping to €48 if the user is already subscribed to the bus network or a public car park. Occasional customers pay just €18 per month, €6 per week, €2 per day or €1 per trip.
New stations will be gradually installed at the Heliport, in the Ténao tunnel in Saint Roman, Boulevard d’Italie, Boulevard de Belgique near the entrance to the Princess Antoinette Park, avenue de Grande Bretagne, rue des Lauriers and boulevard du Jardin Exotique in front of the École des Révoires.
The latest upgrades will bring the number of stations to 43 with 390 MonaBikes in circulation.
Photo by the Government Communication Department
Nice bans holiday rentals, boosts controls at airport
Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi has banned seasonal rentals in February and called for greater PCR test controls at the airport in an effort to stem the tide of the Covid pandemic in the hard-hit city.
Mayor Estrosi’s is now inviting the Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes to join him and temporarily ban seasonal rentals to discourage visitors from entering the area during the February half-term break.
“Analysis of the wastewater from Nice shows the active circulation since January of the English variant of Covid-19,” said Estrosi via Twitter. “Our health security agency is working with Professor Marquette on sequencing PCR tests to reveal the presence of variants in our territory.
I am now issuing an order prohibiting seasonal rentals in Nice from 6th to 20th February, which corresponds to the first period of the winter vacation and which can be extended. I call on the prefect to take a decision on a larger area.”
The Alpes-Maritimes has been brutally affected by the pandemic, with an incidence rate of 450 cases per 100,000 residents as of 4th February. This is well above the national average in France of 366. The region has also seen a positivity rate of 8% for Covid.
In addition to the rental ban, the mayor would also like to increase controls on travellers arriving in Nice.
“I asked the prefect to step up checks at the airport and in train stations, on the origins of foreign countries particularly affected, and in particular to properly control false negative PCR certificates,” Estrosi said in his video speech. “I first have to protect the people of Nice, it is my responsibility.”
To combat the virus on other fronts, Estrosi’s minister of education announced mass screenings in schools following reports of several cases.
The mayor confirmed that “the city has set up teams to be able to carry out antigen tests on staff and teachers,” adding “for the children, I agreed with the minister of health, because we do not want to traumatise them with nasopharyngeal tests while we are lucky to have a process developed by Professors Marquette and Hoffman at CHU, with saliva tests.”
He has also asked for more vaccine doses to help with the situation because supply is not enough to meet demand. Councillor Anthony Borré says, however, that appointments have yet to be affected.
“Vaccination continues in Nice with the opening of the Nikaia centre. Even though the vaccine supply is insufficient, no appointment has been cancelled. A big thank you to the staff involved,” Borré said on Twitter.
The vaccination situation is made all the worse for the vast number of over-75’s still waiting to get appointments. The Alpes-Maritimes has a large elderly population, 12.5% versus 9% nationally, and the lack of available jabs has become an issue of embarrassment for local authorities.
The National Council of Monaco is appealing to civic-minded young people to apply to become Junior National Councillors, allowing them the chance to take part in the legislative actions that affect the whole community.
Young politicians, deal-makers and those looking to make changes for the better are being asked to apply to the National Council to become part of their new Junior National Council programme.
The young people selected as Junior National Councillors, who will come from grades cinquième to seconde and must be enrolled at a local school, will be invited to join in at the Grand Chambre where their input will go toward making changes in the current government legislation, including drafting resolutions and even possibly originating new bills.
For those interested in applying and who meet the conditions, go to the National Council website at https://www.conseil-national.mc/ where the application is available, and complete it before 21st February.
Monaco Boost is set to open its doors in April, but first it needs some businesses to house. So, the call has been put out for Monegasque entrepreneurs to take advantage of the Principality’s new business incubator, reserved exclusively for nationals.
Monaco Boost was launched in early January 2021 by the Prince’s Government, in consultation with the National Council, to accelerate the creation and development of new businesses created by entrepreneurs of Monegasque nationality.
Funded by the State, the incubator is located in the Fontvieille district and covers an area over 1,200 square metres and includes offices, shared workspaces, meeting rooms, a cafeteria and an outdoor terrace.
The aim is to provide not only a company address and work space at significantly reduced costs, but a site where companies can accelerate their growth and develop their contacts, eventually contributing to the Monaco economy.
“With Monaco Boost, and following a vote in the spring of 2020 by the National Council of a bill … to introduce the free domicile of an activity in a residential apartment, Monegasque entrepreneurs now have all the assets to start and develop their business,” said the National Council on its social media networks.
The call for applications is open until 26th February and the first entrepreneurs are expected to move in by April 2021. Monaco Boost can house a total of 108 businesses.
The Allocation Committee will be chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy and will be comprised of representatives from the National Council, the State Property Authority, the Business Development Agency and the SAM Monaco Boost.
For start-ups who are not Monegasque nationals, the Principality’s first incubator, Monaco Tech, is due to put out its call for applicants by the end of March/early April.
Photo by Michael Alesi for the Government Communication Department
Prince Albert II and Monaco’s representative for the Vendée Globe sailing race, Boris Herrmann, have united for the first Ocean Decade high-profile event, A Brave New Ocean.
“It’s such an incredibly important but fragile relationship that we have with nature,” Prince Albert II declared during the first online event to kick off the UN’s Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development on Wednesday.
They are simple yet powerful words from a man who has dedicated much of his adult life to the preservation of the environment, with a special emphasis on oceans. This is not surprising given Monaco’s maritime locale and traditional close ties to the sea, but the Prince’s interest runs deeper than that.
“Half the air we breathe comes from the ocean. We harbour so many different species, the vast majority of the species in the biosphere are in the ocean. For all these reasons, and we know this for a fact, to keep the ocean’s ecosystems in a healthy way, life on Earth will be healthier. Planetary health is essential to human health,” he told a global audience.
A Brave New Ocean brought together world leaders, scientists, UN agency heads and personalities who are engaged in ocean action.
Amongst them was skipper of the Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco Boris Herrmann, who just completed the around the world solo race the Vendée Globe. He spoke from the seaside, with his infant child strapped to his chest, stressing the importance of research and preservation.
“We collected ocean data on the boat for the fully-automated laboratory that pumps water from the keel 24/7 through a system that measures all sorts of things – salinity, the Ph, water temperature – and I believe it is … the first time that an entire trek around the world has been tracked in this nature, especially around Antarctica. There’s no shipping so there’s no data.”
He added on a more personal note: “Something for the Ocean Decade to go forward is to show the public how important the ocean is for us. We don’t want to tell our kids at the end of the decade that there won’t be any coral for them to see.”
The UN has an ambitious agenda for protecting and preserving the seas for their Ocean Decade. They are asking nations to help them meet the lofty goals of reducing or removing pollutants to create healthy and resilient oceans as well as supporting sustainability in fishing whilst protecting livelihoods.
“To reestablish the link between man and nature is vital for our survival,” Prince Albert, who was one of the first to back the concept of Ocean Decade, concluded in his message. “If we leave all the different ecosystems alone, they will rebound at a rapid rate.”
To watch the virtual A Brave New Ocean event, click here.
Photo compilation of Prince Albert and Boris Herrmann during the virtual A Brave New Ocean event by Monaco Life
"If Covid was a systemic wave, climate is a systemic tsunami"
Monaco Life talks to Damian Payiatakis, Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at Barclays Private Bank, about intergenerational wealth transfer: trust, shifting perspectives on sustainable investment, and the impact of Covid-19.
Monaco Life: How do the generations differ when it comes to sustainable investment?
Damian Payiatakis: Our research shows that in the last few years, the younger generation has had a significant influence in raising visibility and aligning the family across generations to invest more sustainably.
There is a clear difference historically in how older generations have seen and approached their investments, having tended to separate generating wealth from using it to do good in the world.
But what we’re all recognising is that our investments have an impact on the world and, moreover, the world has an impact on our investments. Given the different events they’ve seen, younger generations have more intuitively recognised that connection compared to older generations.
That being said, the Covid pandemic has shifted everybody’s visibility and thoughts about sustainable investing. Initially, there was a question as to whether Covid would dampen the momentum of this movement. That hasn’t happened; instead, it’s accelerated the growth.
We’ve seen previously sceptical clients, high net worth (HNW) families, who are now acknowledging the performance and flows of sustainable investing during this period of volatility. In some cases, they’ve missed out and are asking for guidance and opportunities to get involved now.
Many investors have been trying to pilot their family and their portfolios through it all and they’re having more discussions about what the future means; and we’re focusing on inter-generational wealth transfer more frequently than in the past. What exactly is sustainable investing?
Sustainable investing is investing intentionally to both protect and grow your assets and make a positive contribution to our world. Let me explain what that means a bit further.
It is intentional, because investors are actively thinking about what they want their wealth to achieve. This also means measuring and reporting on the impact the investments generate.
It has dual aims – financial and personal. First, we find including environmental, social, and governance factors helps to generate better financial returns by identifying associated investment risks as well as new opportunities for investment. Secondly, for many of our wealthy families who feel a responsibility to make the world a better place, investing to solve urgent social and environmental challenges can be tremendously satisfying and help bring the family together. When did you start noticing a shift towards sustainable investment in intergenerational wealth transfers?
I led the launch of our impact investing proposition within Barclays about five or six years ago. For a private bank, we started to be involved early; and even 12 to 24 months ago, awareness levels were much lower than today. Although we still have what we call a latent demand – people are interested in sustainable investment but not yet active in their portfolios. However, more of my conversations have shifted from “Should I invest sustainably?” to “How do I invest sustainably?”, which indicates an important shift in the market momentum. Photo source: Pixabay So how do you invest sustainably?
There are three stages where we tend to help clients navigate this field. The first one is education, so we spend time helping them to understand the rapidly evolving industry. We usually have to dispel some of the myths, for example around performance, and show how they can invest across their entire portfolio albeit in different ways.
For example, across all our discretionary portfolios we invest responsibly because we think it makes sense to assess all companies for environmental, social, and governance risks. Then we have a sustainable discretionary strategy which targets only companies whose products are providing solutions to UN Sustainable Development Goals. Either of these options could be appropriate for a client, though they take different approaches to sustainability.
Which is why the second stage is articulation. Just like understanding a risk tolerance, we’re helping families express the intentions around how they want their capital to be deployed, often assisting in the conversation to take place between generations. Of course, we also review the family’s specific interests in different sectors, which often relate to the family business.
Then the last stage is execution – deciding how and when to make the changes to their existing portfolio and finding the right, high-quality impact investments. While investors want to avoid poorly run companies, we’re also looking for companies with long-term growth opportunities. What issues arise with inter-generational wealth management?
Our research found that trust is an issue. About a third of the participants worry that the next generation is going to take more risk than the current generation. Having those conversations and articulating what matters to the family both on a legacy and wealth transfer basis is critical, as well as getting younger generations involved in the process.
For example, we had a next gen from a Hong Kong hotelier family who wanted a more active role in the family and wanted her family to engage more around sustainability. But the family’s chief investment officer and the older generations were initially not so open to it. So, we thought about the sustainability issues that would have implications for the family business as well as investment opportunities.
We landed on water usage in hotels, which has both a massive environmental and financial impact. She made the case to invest and implement some new technologies in the hotels, which gave more credibility to her ideas around sustainability. It helped her build trust in her decision-making so that over time she could take on a larger role within the family discussions. What is your experience with intergenerational wealth transfer in Monaco?
It’s the similarities between different types of families that I find interesting in Monaco. Given the nature of the Principality and its history, there are a number of families who have faced the challenges of intergenerational wealth transfer for many generations. They are familiar with the process and often the oldest generation has been through the tensions that naturally arise, so they can be more thoughtful about how they prepare the younger generation to inherit wealth.
Then there are newer first-generation families who have moved to Monaco and are now facing that challenge of succession for the first time. Wealth creators tend to be more risk averse with their capital. I hear many who are worried about the readiness of their children to take on the wealth and take forward their family legacy.
The difference is how we have conversations across the family. With a 5th, 6th, 7th generation family, they are usually thinking much longer term already – centuries in some cases. The idea of sustainability is more embedded into how they think about family and their wealth. In first generation transfers, the family has shorter legacy though it may loom larger given the presence of the first generation.
In both cases, it doesn’t matter which of the ‘next gens’ are inheriting the wealth, their interest in sustainable investment is similar. Where children are inheriting a legacy, they’re also thinking about how to sustain that in a way that is authentic to them and their generation. Prince Albert by Gaetan Luci / Prince’s Palace Do you find that awareness around sustainable investing is more prominent in Monaco, given Prince Albert’s very public environmental mission?
Having a role model like Prince Albert certainly helps to inspire others to take similar actions. Monaco is a small physical space which makes it relatively easier to be conscious of one’s environmental footprint. The size of the community also helps to motivate and focus attention on these issues.
Also, its proximity to the sea makes a difference. I do a bit of sailing, and when you’re on the water, especially offshore racing for days, you can’t help but feel connected to the ocean. With Monaco’s shoreline, and nearly always being in sight of the sea, it’s easy to make a similar connection with the environment.
Prince Albert’s advocacy to mobilise global initiatives and his message of responsibility of wealthy families to make a difference to our planet, our home really, is very visible and encouraging. How has the Covid pandemic impacted sustainable investing?
From an investment perspective, we have seen clients shift their mindsets around investment practices. For example, from our research we found two thirds of families now want to widen risk assessment to incorporate more environmental, social, and governance factors.
From a legacy perspective, it has increased recognition of the fragility of life and the economic position and connectivity that we have. Family conversations have been instigated around wealth transfer and how to ensure the family’s wealth reflects more of its values and the role it wants to play in society.
Finally, it’s demonstrated systemic risks that we face globally. I pose a question to clients that if they had known in December 2019 that Covid was going to happen, would they have invested differently. The answer, of course, is ‘Yes’. Climate change is a larger, and known, systemic risk. If we think Covid was a systemic wave, climate could be considered a systemic tsunami. So, we’re encouraging clients to learn from Covid and position their portfolios to be more sustainable for the risks and opportunities ahead.
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