ExxonMobil lands £2.8 million fine for failing to report CO2
Oil giant ExxonMobil has been slapped with a fine of £2.8 million for failing to report carbon dioxide emissions of 33,000 tonnes from its chemical plant in Fife, Scotland. The fine has only just been revealed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and relates to an incident in 2008 when ExxonMobil failed to account for CO2 from its ethylene plant in Mosmorran. It is thought to be the largest fine for any environmental offence in British history.
Employers urged to sign-up to £1 billion Government contract to employ young people
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has called on businesses to sign up to the government’s £1 billion Youth Contract so they are ready to offer the jobs to young people in April. Clegg announced details of how employers can access cash to help cover the cost of taking on fresh talent through a ‘wage subsidy’. The wage subsidy will pay £2,275 to employers for every 18 – 24 year old unemployed person they employ from the Work Programme and is open to all businesses, voluntary organisations and charities.
CloudApps and Global Action Plan launch employee engagement push
Green software company CloudApps has launched a programme designed to improve employee engagement with companies’ sustainability programmes. The service has been developed along with environmental charity Global Action Plan and will offer an assessment of current levels of employee commitment, benchmarking against best practices, and a tailored action plan designed to help firms improve staff engagement with sustainability issues.
China cranks up green tax in “resource conservation” effort
China has announced increases to resource taxes on six scarce minerals, including iron and tin ore. According to state media reports, the tax hikes took effect from the start of this month and will see the levy on tin ore increase 20-fold to between 12 and 20 yuan per tonne depending on the grade. The tax hikes follow the announcement last autumn of a new national resource tax on a number of fossil fuels and rare metals, including coking coal and natural gas. China is the world’s leading producer of many rare minerals and the tax hikes could have a global impact on resource prices.
KPMG says environmental costs average 40% of corporate earnings
If companies had to pay for the full environmental costs of their production, they would lose 41 cents on average for every US dollar in earnings, according to a new study, Expect the Unexpected: Building Business Value in a Changing World by KPMG. The research finds that the external environmental costs of 11 key industry sectors jumped 50% from $566 to $846 billion in 8 years (2002 to 2010), averaging a doubling of these costs every 14 years. Currently, these costs are rarely shown on financial statements, because companies generally do not have to pay for them directly.
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