Food & Beverages
Cargill donates €55,800 to the Barcelona Food Bank
Cargill, an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services, has donated €55,800 to the Barcelona Food bank. The donation will be used to support a project aimed at increasing the capacity of the food bank to accept, store and transport fresh and frozen food products. Cargill has also mobilized its employees to volunteer and support the food banks in their local communities including those in Seville, Villaverde, Reus, Sant Cugat, Ruby, Barcelona and Martorell.
Innocent ‘most admired’ brand for sustainable packaging
Smoothie maker Innocent has been voted the best brand for its environmental approach to packaging according to a new survey released last week. The survey, put together by packaging trade show specialist easyFairs, questioned 289 packaging professionals asking them to name a brand that they really admired for its green packaging approach. In response 10% said Innocent, followed by Marks & Spencer (7%) and Kenco (5%).
Several British bankers have been arrested as part of an investigation into alleged tax-related criminal offences, the country’s customs and revenue service said on Sunday, including some from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The arrests come as Britain’s top banks are under attack from politicians over paying large salaries and bonuses while the rest of the country suffers in the UK’s faltering economy, and for not lending enough to businesses. The department did not identify the bankers or the companies they worked for.
Reuters http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/uk-british-banks-probe-idUKTRE81B09K20120212
Public sector bonuses under review
The Government has launched a review of public sector bonuses amid anger over payouts at bodies such as Royal Bank of Scotland. Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude have written to all government departments asking them to examine their reward structures. The process is intended to ensure that in future only “genuine excellence” is recognised, after it emerged that up to a quarter of officials automatically qualified for payments.
The move comes as the Government prepares to authorise payouts expected to be worth more than £500 million for bankers at RBS.
Olympic sponsor row fuelled by new Bhopal controversy
Olympic sponsors Dow Chemical Company secretly traded through a web of intermediaries to avoid a legal ban on selling products in India after the Bhopal gas disaster. Legal documents show that Dow continued to permit the unlawful practice started by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), after it bought the “tainted” company in February 2001. The multi-million dollar sales, made possible by a web of independent intermediary companies, breached a 1992 ruling by an Indian court, which prohibited the sale of UCC products without court approval.
The Independent p2 http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/olympic-sponsorship-row-fuelled-by-bhopal-revelations-6804793.html
Environment
Airlines demand peace talks in conflict over emissions
Airlines have called for help from the United Nations to resolve an “intolerable” dispute between Europe, the United States and China over penalties for aircraft emissions. Warning of the risk of a trade war over the contentious European Union emissions trading scheme for aviation, the International Air Transport Association has demanded urgent talks. The association wants talks to be convened by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency that usually deals with technical matters surrounding industry standards.
The Times* p37 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/transport/article3317726.ece
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