PLANS FOR MAJOR WIND FARM OFF YORKSHIRE COAST
An offshore wind farm will give green energy a major boost if plans submitted by E.ON are given the go ahead. If built, the 300MW Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm will be one of the largest in the UK and will provide enough clean, green electricity to power up to 195, 000 homes.
E.ON, the gas and electricity company, submitted the planning application in April for the £700m development to be located 8km off the East Yorkshire coast, as part of their drive to invest in alternative low-carbon energy sources. E.ON is committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its emissions across Europe by 50% by 2030. This builds on the existing achievement of reducing carbon intensity by 20% since 1990.
INDUSTRY SECTORS THAT NEED TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE RISK
A report titled Climate Changes your Business released on the 9th April, has identified aviation, healthcare, tourism, transport, oil and gas, and the financial services as sectors which score highly on the danger facing them from climate change, while scoring low on their preparedness for dealing with these risks. The report by KPMG also found that the scope and potential impact of these risks appeared to be under-estimated across all sectors. The findings are based on fifty authoritative published studies addressing the business risks and economic impacts of climate change at sector level. Scores given to sectors for their preparedness were based on data from the Carbon Disclosure Project.
NIKE WORKS TO GREEN ITS SUPPLY CHAIN IN ASIA
Nike has partnered with four of its footwear contract manufacturers in China and Vietnam to understand how to reduce or optimize energy use.
Nike hopes to find out how much energy each factory uses, when in the factory most of that energy is expended and where reductions can be made. Investigations revealed that individual factories are vastly different from one another regarding energy and that single factories can contain
up to 6,000 sewing machines and 10,000 light bulbs. While Nike acknowledges that it had aimed to set climate-reduction goals for footwear
contract manufacturing by January 2008, and is behind schedule, the company emphasises the value of understanding energy use in contract factories to facilitate a reduction in carbon footprint.
TESCO LAUNCHES TRIAL OF CARBON SCORES ON GOODS
Tesco has launched a trial of carbon labelling on its own-brand products. The Carbon Reduction Label developed by the Carbon Trust appeared on 20 Tesco products in four different categories: laundry detergent, orange juice, potatoes and light bulbs on Tuesday 29th April.
Building on the experience of the Carbon Trust, Tesco hopes the labels will help customers begin to make informed choices based on the carbon footprint of products and understand how they can best reduce their own carbon footprint. Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust said that “the collective challenge for businesses is to get meaningful information to customers at the right time and place so they can begin to make informed low carbon choices.” The label tells customers the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases produced during the life of each product, including use and disposal. On many products the new label will include hints and tips which will help customers understand the actions they can
take to help tackle climate change (for example, washing clothes at a lower temperature). A number of other Carbon Trust partners are expected to adopt the label shortly.
VODAFONE TO HALVE ITS C02 EMISSIONS BY 2020
Telecommunications company Vodafone have announced plans to slash CO2 emissions by 50% by 2020, against its 2006/7 baseline of 1.23 million tonnes. They hope to achieve this through improved energy efficiency and by increased use of renewable energy. Vodafone, who have been working on climate change issues for a number of years now, also plan on helping customers reduce their own carbon footprint by developing
products and services which will enable them to limit their carbon emissions. In 2006/7 Vodafone reduced the amount of carbon dioxide emitted relative to network traffic by 29% and improved the energy efficiency of new network equipment by 25%.
OFFSETTING TRANSPORT OF BANANAS AND PINEAPPLES
Major fruit and vegetable marketers Dole Food Company Inc have announced plans to offset the carbon emissions involved in transporting their bananas and pineapples within Costa Rica. The move is part of the company’s bid to achieve a carbon neutral footprint from the growing, harvesting, packaging and distribution of the company’s bananas and pineapples in Costa Rica. By purchasing carbon offsets from the Costa Rican Government’s program equal to the emissions generated by inland transportation, Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A, Dole’s operating division in Costa Rica, hopes to neutralise its inland emissions.
Last August Dole signed an agreement with the Government of Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy and the National Strategy for Climate Change to achieve a carbon neutral supply chain for bananas and pineapples. Costa Rica hopes to become carbon neutral by 2021.
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