The independent US financial firm ING US, formerly part of the Dutch financial group ING, has ignored a request from a group of US institutional investors to sell its holdings in companies that “contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity” in Sudan. Dr Stephen Davis, co-founder of the International Corporate Governance Network, said that there is a “fragility to the system of investor accountability” which needs to be addressed. This follows the US advocacy group Investors Against Genocide’s long-running campaign to get ING US, as well as other investment firms, to avoid or divest their shares of oil companies that do significant business in Sudan, which include PetroChina, the China Petroleum &Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the India based Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, and the Malaysian firm Petronas. Although the majority of US companies are legally barred from business operations in Sudan, US investors are permitted to own shares of foreign companies that operate in Sudan. (Guardian Sustainable Business)
Supply Chain
90 percent of Indonesian palm oil producers still not certified sustainable
The executive director of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm OilCommission (ISPO), Rosediana Suharto, has said that ten Indonesia oil palm companies, including Wilmar, Best Agro and Astra, have obtained the mandatory ISPO certificates, making a total of 20 Indonesian palm companies certified producers. Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer with an annual output of over 26 million tonnes of crude palm oil. Reportedly, only 120 companies have applied for the certification, despite the fact that approximately 1,200 palm oil companies are subject to the mandatory certification. The ISPO plans to ensure that all Indonesian palm oil companies are registered by the end of 2014, and to have all the companies certified by 2020. The government-backed ISPO certification programme was launched in late 2009 after multinational consumer product companies suspended crude palm oil purchases from several major Indonesian suppliers for alleged deforestation practices. (Eco Business)
Employees
Hovis employees to strike over zero hours agency staff
Amid the continuing controversy in the UK over zero hours employment contracts, 75 percent of balloted workers at a Hovis bakery have voted to strike for three weeks over the introduction of agency staff on zero hours contracts. The UK Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), whose members make up 230 of the 357 employees at the Hovis bakery, said that agency workers had been brought in following the redundancy of nearly 30 workers in April 2013 and cuts to pay and hours for permanent staff. The BFAWU said that it is concerned that Premier Foods, the parent company of Hovis and the UK’s largest food producer, will use workers on zero hour contracts to help take on work following the closure of Hovis bakeries in Birmingham and London and the redundancy of 900 permanent staff. (The Guardian)
Environment
Fukushima warning: danger level at nuclear plant jumps to “serious”
Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) has increased concerns over the leakage of contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. The NRA said that the latest leak of radioactive water ranks as a level 3 “serious incident”, according to an eight point scale used by the International Atomic Energy Agency for radiation releases. This comes two days after the leak was ranked as a level 1 “anomaly” incident. Tepco admitted that it has yet to identify the cause of the leak. The incident is separate from additional contaminated water leaks of up to 300 tonnes a day into the Pacific, which was recently reported by Tepco. This latest development has led to suggestions that the Japanese Government should hand control over the plant to an international group of experts backed by state funds. A professor at Waseda University said that Japan “cannot leave Tepco to manage this kind of incident on its own” as “they are essentially bankrupt.” (The Guardian; Financial Times*)
Consumers
UK lenders face £1.3 billion consumer compensation bill
UK banks and credit card issuers are facing an estimated £1.3 billion bill to compensate consumers who have been mis-sold protection policies for identity theft and credit card fraud. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that banks and credit card firms “must share the responsibility for putting things right”. Barclays, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and the card insurer CCP Group have signed up to the compensation scheme. While CCP sold some policies directly to customers, banks and credit card companies introduced millions of customers to CPP. Reportedly an estimated seven million customers were given misleading and unclear information about the risks of identity theft and fraud. One bank insider said that “this was a product that no one needed to buy”, because “it was always totally unnecessary because any losses from identity theft are borne by the bank not the individual.” (Financial Times*; The Guardian)
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