Responsible Business Intelligence in the Face of Political Instability and Regulatory Uncertainty

Anticipating the Headwinds and the Tailwinds: Navigating Geopolitical and Regulatory Shifts

This year has demonstrated how deeply geopolitics can disrupt key regulatory frameworks that businesses were working hard to adopt -- from U.S.-China tensions affecting biotech innovation to the U.S. government shutdown threatening disruptions to international trade and national security regulations. Our PolecatX sentiment graph highlights just how the impact of geopolitics on corporate operations continues to fluctuate.

PolecatX sentiment graph for "Impact of Geopolitics on Corporate Operations"

The Geopolitical Landscape and Its Corporate Impact

According to our PolecatX platform, news coverage around national security, political instability, and sanctions and embargoes have been dominated by negative sentiment. Meanwhile, news coverage around diplomacy, energy and resources, and trade tariffs is mixed, with positive and negative sentiment almost matching each other.

PolecatX AI radar for "Impact of Geopolitics on Corporate Operations." Blue represents positive engagement and coverage, orange represents negative engagement and coverage, while green is where they overlap.

Each of these themes carries its own implications for corporate responsibility and governance. In particular,

• National security concerns have brought heightened regulatory security, particularly in technology, finance, and supply chain sectors

• Political instability continues to erode predictability, making it increasingly challenging for companies to plan and operate efficiently and effectively.

The recent news that the IMO’s Net Zero Framework adoption has been pushed back another year - which follows the ultimate stalemate of the Global Plastics Treaty in August are examples of how political and economic headwinds are disrupting progress made on key regulatory frameworks backed by the UN and its specialised agencies. Last week the IMO’s Net Zero Framework was actively obstructed by the United States, due to concerns about economic impacts, while others, like island nations, see it as crucial for climate action. This political deadlock prevents adoption of the framework, including measures such as a global fuel standard and a carbon pricing system to cut the sector's greenhouse gas emissions.

Blue is overall sentiment for IMO Net Zero Framework and Yellow is Global Plastics Treaty, from January 2025 and onwards.

Reading the Room: Understanding Changing Sentiment with PolecatX

Within our PolecatX platform, our sentiment graph reveals a significant spike in optimism around the IMO Net Zero Framework as over 100 countries and industry were preparing to gather in London to complete the final process to commit the global shipping industry to its Net Zero Framework, initially agreed upon in April. Overall sentiment, however, sharply declined following the U.S. and Saudi Arabia’s undermining of the framework. When compared with sentiment regarding the Global Plastics Treaty, PolecatX’s sentiment graph reflects  the talks ending in stalemate, but more encouragingly the chart also reflects how efforts to reduce plastic pollution and microplastics have continued regardless and sentiment from industry and stakeholders is still lobbying for the regulation. Support includes Australian states banning plastic fish soy sauce bottles to combat pollution and the Government of Canada investing in solutions to combat plastic pollution and supporting a circular economy. 

Tracking Regulation and Headwinds: Using PolecatX to Scenario Plan Industry Lobby and Support

In a world of increasing geopolitical and regulatory instability and uncertainty, PolecatX enables and empowers organisations to anticipate risk and stay ahead of the curve. Beyond analysing sentiment, PolecatX automatically identifies corporate controversies emerging from the commentary, enabling quick assessment across volumes of articles. Each detected controversy can be traced back to high quality media sources, offering users a quick and transparent view of public data sentiment and news coverage as it forms and evolves.

Corporate controversies associated with the IMO net zero framework

Companies and organisations can create customisable “Executive News Briefing” (ENB), which can be updated as frequently as on the hour. With these capabilities, engaged stakeholders can wake up each morning with the most pressing and high-impact news sent straight to their inbox.

Responsible Business Intelligence in the Face of Regulatory Changes 

With echo chambers all around us, though, it’s hard to not only hear the signal through the noise, but to also understand what signals you should be listening to and from who. As our CEO, James Lawn says, “Responsible Business Intelligence is about brining together data for society and the planet, as well as business, together." We know how essential it is to balance social capital along with economic capital, which is why you never have to doubt our AI. 

At Polecat, we’re here to help you understand your company, the world, and how it all fits together.