WASTE

Asda launches new initiatives to cut food waste with suppliers

Supermarket chain Asda is making funding available to suppliers to help them donate surplus products. The supermarket has allocated £1.4 million to a new ‘All Good Food Fund’ which it will operate in partnership with charitable food redistribution network FareShare. The funding will be used to help suppliers of fruit, vegetables, eggs, bread and other products to redistribute products they are not able to sell to their retailer clients including Asda. It will help to cover additional costs associated with redistribution, including transport and staff hours. Once FareShare receives products, they are taken to regional centres ready for redistribution to more than 10,500 UK-based charities and community groups. Recipients are able to specify what kinds of food they need, and can also specify quantities and delivery frequencies. (edie)

CLIMATE CHANGE

Global oil demand could peak by 2025, and fossil fuels by 2030

New research conducted by professional services company McKinsey has found that despite net-zero targets covering more than 90% of current emission levels, the world remains on course to breach the 1.5ºC Paris Agreement threshold. Under modelling scenarios, by 2050 renewables could account for 85% of the global power system. However, even when combined with rapid electric vehicle uptake and low-carbon innovation, forecasts show that the Paris Agreement will not be fulfilled. McKinsey finds that average warming is projected to exceed 1.7ºC by 2050. The report adds that fossil fuel demand is projected to peak before 2030, while global oil demand could peak as soon as 2025. It also expects the share of renewables to double in the next 15 years. Despite this, the report calls for “even more ambitious acceleration”. (edie)

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

Sustainable finance set to fund burning waste in cement kilns

The cement industry, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, could soon be eligible to tap green financing markets to pay for waste to be burned as fuel in its kilns. The Climate Bonds Initiative, a London-headquartered group which mobilises global capital for climate action, is proposing climate financing criteria for the cement industry that uses municipal waste to be burned in cement kilns as an alternative fuel according to a draft Cement Criteria. Industry group the Global Cement and Concrete Association added that using waste as a fuel reduces the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels while ensuring waste treatment is conducted in an “environmentally sound way”. However, scientists and environmentalists argue that burning waste, particularly plastic, can release toxic emissions and replaces one dirty fuel with another. (Eco-Business)

GENDER INEQUALITY

Asthma research disadvantages women by disregarding hormones

A new study has shown that women with asthma are twice as likely to die from an asthma attack compared with men in the UK. Health NGO Asthma + Lung UK found that women are more likely to have the condition, more likely to need hospital treatment for it and more likely to die from an attack. Over the past five years women have accounted for more than two-thirds of asthma deaths in the UK. The charity said the current “one size fits all” approach to asthma treatment is “not working” because it fails to account for the impact that female sex hormones during puberty, periods, pregnancy and menopause can have on asthma. The study asks for greater research to tackle the “stark health inequality” of asthma. (The Guardian)

CORPORATE REPUTATION

E-commerce company criticised for greenwashing promotion

A sales promotion launched by Asian e-commerce company Lazada has faced criticism for labelling disposable, plastic-packaging products as “sustainable” as part of an Earth Day campaign. Its campaign promoted 5,000 products within its new “eco-friendly” section of its website. Sustainability experts have argued that many of the advertised products labelled as “planet-friendly” are disposable and plastic products. The discounted items were largely consumer and fashion goods made, packaged or shipped with reduced, recycled or “better” plastics.  Among the green items were Gillette women’s razors, Oral-B electric toothbrushes, Unilever plant-based liquid detergent, Nike polyester training t-shirts and Casio watches. Lazada said the campaign was “part of Lazada’s ongoing efforts to address plastic waste and help our buyers make informed decisions about sustainable products”. However, sustainability experts argue these are not easily recyclable. (Eco-Business)

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