Tesco to tackle food waste with “revolutionary” packaging trial
Tesco has this week announced it will become the latest retailer to deploy a new packaging technology that promises to cut levels of food waste. The supermarket giant said it will work with UK-based firm It’s Fresh Ltd to trial a patented strip containing a mixture of high-tech minerals and clay that absorbs ethylene, a hormone that causes fruit to ripen and turn mouldy. The trial marks the second major deal for It’s Fresh in recent weeks, after Marks & Spencer announced a similar trial to deploy the technology in strawberry punnets.
Google jumps to 1st place in Cool IT Climate rankings
Google has secured the top spot in Greenpeace’s Cool IT Leaderboard, with 53 points, up from 47 points and 4th place in the rankings’ last edition. The leaderboard compares global IT companies on their efforts to fight climate change, with scores evaluating them in three categories: IT Climate Solutions, IT Energy Impact and Political Advocacy. Greenpeace says that since it first published the rankings in May 2009, it has seen companies steadily increase the number and strength of their products and services for managing energy. It says Cisco, IBM, Ericsson and Fujitsu are all good examples of this.
Promote women or fail the U.K. economy, Cameron tells companies
Companies that don’t promote women to senior positions are failing the U.K. economy, Prime Minister David Cameron said. Putting women on boards and encouraging them as entrepreneurs is “about quality, not just equality,” Cameron said in a statement before a meeting of the Northern Future Forum today. “Women now make up nearly half the workforce across Europe, but they are still not sufficiently represented at the senior boardroom level,” Cameron said. “If we fail to unlock the potential of women in the labour market, we’re not only failing those individuals, we’re failing our whole economy.”
Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-09/promote-women-or-fail-the-u-k-economy-cameron-tells-companies.html
Ethics
London 2012 sustainability watchdog urges IOC to appoint ‘ethics champion’
The London 2012 sustainability watchdog embroiled in a row over the sponsorship of the Olympic Stadium by Dow Chemical, is to push the International Olympic Committee to appoint an “ethics champion” for future Games. The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has been bruised by criticism over Dow’s sponsorship of the wrap that will surround the Olympic stadium, particularly since commissioner Meredith Alexander last month resigned in protest. Campaigners believe that Dow has ongoing liabilities relating to the 1984 Bhopal disaster that resulted in the deaths of 20,000 people.
Protests planned for Apple stores against labour conditions
Protesters plan to descend on Apple stores around the world today to protest labour conditions in the company’s manufacturing facilities in China. The issue has become a thorny one for Apple after the factories that make its products experienced explosions in 2011 and worker suicides in 2010. A recent report in Apple has said it is working to bring factory conditions in line with company standards and has put about 1 million workers through education programs on working hours, wages and labour rights.
Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/apple-store-protests-planned-for-thursday/2012/02/08/gIQAEmE3zQ_story.html
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