• Australia leads the Asia
  Pacific region in creating an enabling environment supportive of longevity and
  healthy ageing with an overall score of 75.2 out of a possible 100, ranking
  second globally behind the US
• South Korea (4th) and Japan (8th)
  perform well with scores above the global average of 59.4
• South Korea leads the G20 in
  areas of ‘accessible economic opportunity’ and ‘inclusive social structures and
  institutions’
• Countries with the oldest
  populations are broadly better positioned to address the needs of older people
  across the globe
• High-income countries are more
  prepared, but middle-income countries are making progress
• Poverty levels among older
  populations is a concern. The poverty rate for people aged above 66 in South
  Korea and Australia is over 10 percentage points higher than for total
  populations

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 22 July 2020 – More
people are living into old age than ever before. In 2018 The World Health
Organization predicted that by 2020 there would be more people aged over 60
years than there are children under 5 years. This prediction is on track to be
correct,and numbers in the older cohort continue to rise. This has
created challenges in providing health and social services for burgeoning older
populations and governments across the globe have been slow to react.
Priorities are now shifting from solely addressing the health of older people,
to how societies can maximise this opportunity and provide effective, inclusive
environments in which to age.

This report from The Economist Intelligence Unit describes
findings from the “Scaling Healthy ageing, Inclusive
environments and Financial security Today” (SHIFT) Index“, a benchmarking analysis around ageing
societies. The SHIFT Index benchmarks
against a set of national-level leading practices in creating an enabling
environment supportive of longevity and healthy ageing for societies in the 19
countries comprising the Group of Twenty (G20). The SHIFT Index captures the multifactorial variables that impact
ageing across three domains: adaptive health and social care systems;
accessible economic opportunity; and inclusive social structures and
institutions.

The research found that no G20 country is
fully prepared to support healthy, financially secure, socially-connected older
people. The US, Australia, Canada and South Korea ranked highest in our index
with scores in the 70s out of 100 (see table below). Broadly, those countries
with a higher proportion of people aged over 50 — including the three highest ranking countries plus South Korea,
Germany, France and Japan — are implementing more
leading practices to enable inclusive environments. Wealthy countries may find
it easier to respond, but wealth is not a prerequisite for providing supportive
environments. The best scoring health systems tend to be high-income countries,
but upper-middle income Brazil, and lower-middle income Indonesia are also
making strides to improve health systems.

As a whole, the G20 countries perform best
in providing adaptive healthcare systems and worst in providing inclusive
social structures and institutions, indicating that countries still have work
to do to shift the focus towards building more welcoming societies for older
adults as they age. Countries also have room to improve in providing more
accessible economic opportunities to older workers.

Despite clear progress made, governments
have more work to do to make sure their health systems are adaptive to the
needs of older adults as they age, while also fostering inclusion and ensuring
individual economic security. A key
barrier to addressing this is lack of robust age-disaggregated data collection
by governments in areas such as dedicated health professionals, the extent of
isolation and loneliness as well as mental health.

The SHIFT
Index reveals several priority areas that may form the basis of policy
responses to develop more accessible and inclusive societies for older people:

1. Collect better data: Countries
   should collect and publish detailed, age-disaggregated health and economic data
   annually so policymakers can develop evidence-based programs and policies.

2. Address poverty among older
   people: Some older adults choose to work longer, others must. Governments can
   ensure the financial health and security of older adults by creating more
   inclusive work environments. This starts with removing barriers to working
   longer that exist in some markets.

3. Prevent a care crisis among the
   elderly: The provision of care for older adults–both formal and informal–and
   the accessibility of, or access to, long-term care is ill-defined and is an
   area for further research. 

4. Enable older people’s voices to
   be heard: The views and needs of older people are not routinely collected and
   they are not represented well in policy consultation.

5. Address age-related
   discrimination: Few countries categorise age-discrimination as a crime outside
   of employment practices. Fighting discrimination as well as physical, emotional
   and financial abuse of older adults, will encourage greater social cohesion
   across generations. 

6. Support training and upskilling
   of older people: Supporting older people with the skills and help needed to
   navigate increasingly complex and digitised health and social care systems
   should be an area of focus.

Jesse Quigley Jones, managing editor at The
Economist Intelligence Unit and editor of the report, said, “The challenges
that ageing populations present for economies and health systems have long-been
understood, yet provision of inclusive, supportive environments for older
people has not been a high-profile policy priority. Although wealth has emerged
as a theme in the Index as a contributing factor towards healthy ageing
indicators, it is not necessarily a prerequisite for providing supportive
environments. Lower-income nations can take low-cost measures that improve
ageing societies, such as enacting inclusive work environment policies and
fostering inclusive and enabling social environments.

With older people particularly vulnerable
to the health and societal impact of the covid-19 pandemic, it is more
important than ever for older people to lead healthy, independent lives for as
long as possible and avoid the need for institutional care. While our data were
collected pre-pandemic, the priorities identified in the report are now thrown
into sharper light and may serve as a wakeup call for governments across the
globe for providing adaptable, accessible and inclusive environments in which
populations can age.”

For
the whitepaper, infographic and index workbook, please visit
ageingshift.economist.com

About the research

Shifting demographics: a global study on
inclusive ageing is a report by The Economist
Intelligence Unit, supported by Amgen. It considers policy efforts to address
active and inclusive ageing in 19 countries based on a first-of-its-kind index
that benchmarks each country’s performance across accessible and affordable
healthcare, social connectivity among older adults, and finance security
practices and policies.

The “Scaling Healthy ageing, Inclusive
environments and Financial security Today” (SHIFT) Index and the related
research programme whose findings form the basis for this report were informed
by extensive research and guided by an international panel of experts from
across academia, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
international financial institutions.

The following 19 countries (comprising
the G20 and excluding the EU) are included in this analysis: Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy,
Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK
and the US. These were selected to broadly represent the world: covering
roughly 65% of the population and 75% of global GDP.

About The Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist
Intelligence Unit is the world leader in global business intelligence. It is
the business-to-business arm of The Economist Group, which publishes The
Economist newspaper. The Economist Intelligence Unit helps executives make
better decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on
worldwide market trends and business strategies.

More information
can be found at www.eiu.com or www.twitter.com/theeiu

About Amgen

Amgen is committed
to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses,
by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human
therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics
to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human
biology.

Amgen focuses on
areas of high unmet medical need, and leverages its expertise to strive for
solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people’s lives.
A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the world’s
leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients
around the world, and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway
potential.

For more
information, visit www.amgen.com or www.twitter.com/amgen.

Lemi enables users to purchase coupons and generate immediate upfront cash flow for businesses around the world

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 21 July 2020 – Lemi, an exploration-driven social sharing platform based in Hong Kong, today announced it has launched a digital coupon service that supports businesses as they recover from losses incurred during the pandemic. Lemi’s coupon service helps businesses generate an additional revenue stream and broaden their customer base.

Users may select from a vast array of businesses — located anywhere in the world — on the Lemi app, then choose a coupon from the available selection to buy for later use. These coupons require a credit card to purchase and can be bought for the user themselves or sent as a gift to a friend on Lemi. 

Upon confirmation, partner businesses can have the money remitted to their bank accounts, while users receive the coupon as store credit to be spent at a time of their choosing. This helps businesses boost their immediate cash flow instead of only receiving funds when the customer activates the coupon. For non-partner businesses, Lemi will contact them to discuss whether they wish to accept the transaction. The user will be notified within a week if the purchase is successful or be refunded if not.  

Partner businesses of Lemi can leverage this service to offer different types of coupons to users. The coupons are fully customisable according to the business’s needs, such as discounts for off-peak hours or cash value vouchers. A digital trail is generated when a transaction is made in order to prevent fraud and ensure authenticity. The solution also features an encrypted chat function for businesses to interact safely with their customers, as well as data analytics that analyses non-personal data to build a profile of target customers for each enterprise.

“We have always had a passion for supporting small businesses, which make up the heart and soul of local travel. The global pandemic has had a significant impact on them, and many are at risk of shutting down their operations and disappearing forever. We are stepping up to support their recovery by providing a secure digital coupon platform for them, which opens up options to generate revenue from local and geographically-distant customers,” said Cheryl Ng, Founder of Lemi.

To help reduce the burden of cost, Lemi does not charge for setup and only earns revenue on a commission basis. All profits earned by Lemi will be reinvested into purchasing more coupons, revenue that will be distributed towards small businesses. 

About Lemi

Founded in Hong Kong in 2015, Lemi is an exploration-driven social sharing platform with a mission to amplify the authentic local stories curated by its community. Guided by positivity, Lemi features genuine recommendations from locals and travellers, inspiring users to see the world from a different perspective. 

Lemi has organically created a strong community of users present in 741 cities over 96 countries, who share self-created travel content that reaches 141 countries — over 40 percent of which is shared by locals. Promoting the values of unity in diversity and the acceptance of differences, Lemi’s vision is to help build a world where ‘different’ is always associated with ‘good’.  

For more information, please visit: lemi.travel 

SINGAPORE
– Media OutReach – July 21, 2020 –
Senoko Energy, one of Singapore’s
largest and most established energy companies, today launched a pilot project to
introduce peer-to-peer (P2P) trading of renewable energy in collaboration with Singapore’s
foremost energy innovation company, ELECTRIFY, and ENGIE Factory, the venture
arm of French multinational electric utility company, ENGIE.

Sponsored by ENGIE Factory, the initiative will
enable Singapore households and businesses to register for ELECTRIFY’s P2P
trading platform through Senoko Energy’s new service offering, SolarShare. Upon
registration, producers and consumers will be able to trade locally-produced
solar energy with a like-minded community. Registered users will also benefit
from the dynamic pricing of their green electricity rates due to the ability to
determine the buying and selling price through the trading platform.

The option to participate in the pilot project will
be made available to new and existing Senoko Energy customers, limited
initially to a closed community of 100 participants. The aim is to test the
potential for commercialisation of this new energy offering, with the ultimate
goal of rolling it out to all households and businesses in Singapore.

James Chong, Head of Commercial Division of Senoko
Energy, said: “The concept of P2P energy trading is highly innovative and
smart, and its adoption around the globe is still in its early stages. We are
very excited to collaborate with ELECTRIFY and ENGIE Factory, because we
believe this will be the future of our energy industry, driven by a community
of like-minded individuals and companies.”

He added: “Our decision to invest in SolarShare is
driven by two key factors — our commitment to meet Singapore’s renewable energy
demand and to empower Singaporeans with greater choice in their electricity
consumption. A ‘prosumer’ culture will strengthen the energy security of
Singapore as producers can contribute excess energy to the energy grid, while
consumers can choose where their electricity comes from at their preferred
price.”

How it works

ELECTRIFY’s platform will use real-time data at
30-minute intervals to enable comparisons between the amount of energy
supplied, the market demand and the prices offered. Both residential and commercial
users will be able to log onto the energy trading platform to view the
available solar producers and choose whom to buy from based on their energy
usage. 

The energy demand during non-daylight hours will
continue to be met by Senoko Energy to ensure there is no disruption in the
physical supply of electricity. Customers who choose to purchase green energy
from the P2P platform will receive a consolidated bill from Senoko Energy at
the end of the month, making it a seamless experience.

Martin Lim, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
of ELECTRIFY, said: “Our P2P energy trading platform is one of the very few in
the world that will allow for trading across a national electricity grid. With
this technology, Singaporeans will get access to a reliable, secure and
transparent platform to buy and sell renewable energy.”

“Our collaboration with Senoko Energy and ENGIE
Factory is ground-breaking in the way it transforms the dynamics between energy
suppliers and consumers. We’re thrilled by this shared commitment to strengthen
Singapore’s position as an energy leader with new and sustainable innovations.
I expect this demonstration to pave the way for other power grids to develop
more inclusive business models to benefit the world.”

Quentin Vaquette, Managing Director of ENGIE
Factory, said: “At ENGIE Factory, we are committed to accelerating the
transition to zero-carbon. Currently, there are just over 1,200 private
residential properties in Singapore that have solar rooftop installations, with
the potential for as many as 65,000 installations.[1]
Through this pilot P2P project, we hope to encourage more Singaporeans to adopt
renewables and help lower our nation’s carbon footprint.”

Interested parties can register their interest via www.solarshare.sg starting from 21 July 2020.

About Senoko Energy Pte Ltd

Senoko Energy Pte Ltd provides energy for
life to generations of Singaporeans, delivering safe, innovative, and efficient
energy supply to customers since 1977. Integral to Singapore’s development, it
is a pioneer in power generation and energy solutions, serving Singapore’s
energy needs with proven reliable performance.

As one of the largest power generation
companies by installed capacity in Singapore, Senoko Energy has a licensed
capacity of 2,807 megawatts (MW), providing about one-fifth of the nation’s
electricity needs. The company launched its retail brand in 2018, offering
retail products and services for Singapore households and small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in the Open
Electricity Market.

Senoko Energy aims to be an energy
provider with a positive impact on the environment by advancing sustainability in
its operations as well as in its various CSR programmes. It was the first power
generation company in Singapore to import clean natural gas for power
generation in 1992, and first to launch a combined cycle plant in 1996. Senoko
Energy has achieved a 42 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint since 2000.

Senoko Energy is the winner of the
inaugural Singapore Energy Award in 2013 and is ISO certified in business
continuity, business processes, environmental and work safety, and quality,
amongst others. In 2019, the company was also awarded the SkillsFuture Employer
award.

Senoko Energy has subsidiaries providing
retail of electricity and related services, fuel storage tank leasing and
terminal services, and gas operations services. It is owned by a consortium
comprising Marubeni Corporation, ENGIE, The Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc.,
Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc. and Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Visit www.senokoenergy.com for more information.

About
ELECTRIFY

ELECTRIFY
is a Singapore-based energy innovation company established in March 2017 to
address the need for transparency and security against the backdrop of
increasingly liberalised electricity markets around the world. ELECTRIFY has
developed a utility-grid wide peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading platform that will
potentially drive the adoption of renewable energy. 

ELECTRIFY
launched Electrify.SG in July 2017, Singapore’s first retail electricity
marketplace. This marketplace was built to help electricity consumers select
the most suitable energy plan for their needs. The cloud-based platform has
transacted over 60GWh of electricity since its launch and helped over 500
commercial and industrial companies in Singapore save a combined S$1.5 million.

ELECTRIFY’s
longer-term vision is to drive a sustainable energy future built around energy-innovation
technologies, such as IoT, AI and blockchain. Using real-time data, it has
developed a contracting platform which facilitates P2P energy trading across an
existing city-wide grid. Individual producers of energy, such as owners of
solar panels, will be empowered to sell excess power to other consumers across the
power grid. In February 2019, ELECTRIFY completed a successful alpha test with
12 consumers and three producers.

Following a strategic investment from TEPCO Frontier Partners, a
subsidiary of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), ELECTRIFY entered a Memorandum
of Understanding with TEPCO to explore the deployment of its technology for the
Japanese market.

ELECTRIFY is poised to play a significant role in the Asia-Pacific
energy landscape for years to come with upcoming projects in the region.

For
more information, visit www.electrify.asia/

About
ENGIE Factory Asia-Pacific

ENGIE Group is a global energy and
services group that focuses on three core activities: low-carbon power
generation (mainly based on natural gas and renewable energy), global networks
of energy infrastructure and customer solutions (focused on smart cities).
ENGIE Factory Asia-Pacific is the venture arm of the ENGIE Group in Asia.

ENGIE Factory’s mission is to accelerate
the transition to a zero-carbon society by partnering with startups and
aspiring founders who share the same drive to deliver real impact. We build,
scale and invest in startups and individual founders who believe they can solve
these global challenges. How we do this is in three different approaches.

In the first approach, we commit to
innovative ventures right from the beginning. We identify great founders and
entrepreneurial teams to co-create new business models and start impactful
companies.

In the second approach, we partner with
high growth startups to expand solutions to global customers. We are always on
the lookout for startup solutions that can open new business opportunities or
solve pain points that we have identified in our ENGIE businesses.

Last but not least, our third approach is
to invest in startups from the sectors of sustainability and smart cities. We
invest through our Engie New Ventures €180 million fund and take minority
stakes in technology startups that complement existing activities and resources
to spur internal innovation within Engie Group.

Visit www.apac.engiefactory.com for more information.

• 18% of businesses report a hiring freeze compared to
  30% in April
• Three fourths of Singapore companies have refrained
  from layoffs

SINGAPORE
– Media OutReach – 21 July
2020 – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading
global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement
and health solutions, has released the results of a new pulse survey that
explores how companies in Singapore are planning for changes in the rewards and
talent landscape in a COVID-19 world.

Aon
conducted the survey, “Setting
the Stage for the Future of Rewards and Work,” from June 9 to June 15,
2020. This follows a previous study that was conducted from April
28 to May 1, 2020.

“Our latest survey results
show a stabilization in businesses in Singapore. While layoffs are slightly on
the rise, more businesses are moving to cautious hiring practices while
adjustments to rewards have averted widespread downsizing efforts,” says Alexander
Krasavin, partner, Radford, and regional commercial head, APAC & MEA at Aon.
“We hear from clients that they are looking beyond the immediate economic
impact of COVID-19 and planning for longer-term structural changes to
operations and workforce strategies. They are seeing opportunity within a very
difficult situation.”

Employees
in high-risk environments may lose their “hazard pay”

As businesses in
Singapore deal with the economic impact of the pandemic, many are changing
their rewards programmes, most often by postponing salary increases. Between
Aon’s May and June pulse surveys, businesses delaying salary increases for all employees
grew from 24% to 29%.

As more businesses
reopen, they are also pulling back on special “hazard pay.” Survey participants
that reported paying hazard pay to employees in a higher risk environment in
May was 12%. By the June pulse survey, only 9% of participants said they have stopped
providing this allowance.

Most companies report “zero downsizing efforts”

As companies take
steps to contain costs through modifications to rewards, most participants
continue to report “zero downsizing efforts.” Approximately three-fourths of
Singapore businesses surveyed said they have refrained from layoffs for now. However,
the percentage of participants that confirmed layoffs rose slightly to 15% in
the June survey from 13% in May and only 4% in April.  

In addition, more
Singapore businesses are moving toward cautious hiring from a complete hiring
freeze. The percentage of surveyed businesses that reported a hiring freeze
fell almost by half, from 30% in April to 18% in June. Those in a cautious
hiring state rose from 46% to 60% during the same period.

Singapore companies view current situation as
opportunity, not obstacle

When asked how the
experience of responding to COVID-19 might change future workforce strategies,
56% of companies in Singapore expect their digital transformation agendas to
accelerate and 89% are planning for different working models, such as an increase
in permanently remote employees and more flexible working hours. In fact, 75%
of participants said that they are offering flexible working hours to employees
with young children − an increase from 67% in April and May.

About the Survey

This is the fourth edition of Aon’s COVID-19 pulse
surveys. A total of 1,940 companies around the world
responded, with 417 respondents from Singapore. Survey results are available here and are complimentary for all participants.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global
professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and
health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results
for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that
reduce volatility and improve performance.

Follow
Aon on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

Stay up to date by visiting the Aon Newsroom and hear from Aon’s expert advisors
in The One Brief. Sign up for News Alerts here.