Report: Supermarkets send millions of tonnes of food for landfill whilst families go hungry
More than four million tonnes of food is being wasted by supermarkets and farmers every year because of customers’ demanding standards, a report into hunger in Britain has revealed. The report, from the All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger reveals that just 0.1 per cent of all “surplus” food fit for human consumption is donated to food banks and other schemes to help the poor. Large volumes of edible fruit, vegetables, bread, meat and milk is sent to landfill, or burnt for energy at taxpayers’ expense, because it fails to meet the “cosmetic” demands of consumers. In a highly political intervention, the Archbishop of Canterbury endorsed a demand for the government to support a new network for “Feeding Britain”. The report finds there are now around 1,500 food banks providing emergency meals to the UK’s poor, and blames telephone companies, energy giants, water firms and government premium rate phone lines for “ripping off” poor customers and leaving them unable to afford food. (Telegraph)
Human Rights
Ecuador indigenous leader found dead days before planned Lima protest
José Isidro Tendetza Antún, an indigenous leader who opposed a major mining project in Ecuador, has been found dead days before he planned to take his campaign to climate talks in Lima. Tendetza had been a prominent critic of Mirador, an open-cast pit that has been approved in an area of important biodiversity that is also home to the Shuar, Ecuador’s second-biggest indigenous group. The project is operated by Ecuacorriente – originally a Canadian-owned firm that was brought by a Chinese conglomerate, CCRC-Tongguan Investment. Domingo Ankuash, a Shuar leader, said there were signs Tendetza had been tortured. “In Ecuador, multinational companies are invited by the government and get full state security from the police and the army,” said Ankuash. The killing highlights the violence and harassment facing environmental activists in Ecuador, following the confiscation last week of a bus carrying climate campaigners who planned to denounce President Rafael Correa at the UN conference. (Guardian)
Corporate Reputation
Coca-Cola given 90 days to pay Busia claimants in Kenya
Equator Bottlers, Coca-Cola’s Kisumu franchise, has three months to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with 64 residents of Funyula in Busia County who have claimed to have fallen ill after drinking contaminated soda. The victims are demanding payment of up to $5,500 each, which could see Coca-Cola spend at least $350,000 to settle the case. Equator Bottlers said part of the efforts made towards settling the matter was a corporate social responsibility project covering 31 schools. “In an effort to amicably resolve this dispute, the company launched an extensive corporate social responsibility project in Funyula where the victims reside. The CSR project was agreed following wide consultations with the residents and local leadership of Funyula,” Equator’s lawyer said in court documents. (Business Daily Africa)
Social Investment
China seeking social capital for projects to clean up environment
China is seeking social investment for environmental protection projects as a shortage of government funds impedes pollution control. In a recent guideline, the central government said it will further ease market access to key industries, promoting environmental protection by offering new forms of investment. Wu Xiaoqing, deputy head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said it is estimated that over 6 trillion yuan should be invested in treating air, water and soil pollution. However, investments by the central and local governments lag far behind the actual needs. To fill the investment gap, the Ministry of Finance is actively promoting Public-Private-Partnerships for infrastructure and public service. The financing model is paying off in parts of the country. The government of Harbin jointly established an environmental investment company with CECEP L&T Environmental Technology Co. With a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan, the company will attract social investment by providing mortgage loans and franchise agreements. (Eco-Business)
Climate Change
Abbott government accused of trying to set up climate change talks for failure
The Abbott government has been accused of setting impossible requirements for Australia’s participation in any global climate change agreement clinched in Paris next year by insisting it must include legally binding emissions targets. Experts say the Paris agreement could require countries to enshrine their new post-2020 greenhouse emission reduction targets in domestic law but that any attempt to include those targets in the legally binding international treaty itself would drive away the world’s two biggest emitters – the US and China – and ensure that the process failed. The foreign minister, Julie Bishop has said a Paris agreement must include binding targets. If it did not it would “amount to nothing more than aspirations”, she said. “It seems like they are trying to set impossible conditions so that they can portray a successful Paris agreement as a failure,” said Frank Jotzo, associate professor at the Australian National University’s Crawford School. (Guardian)
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