Walmart accused of greenwashing
Walmart’s sustainability initiatives have done more to improve the company’s image than to help the environment according to a report, Walmart’s Greenwash, by the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The report calls into question the company’s commitment to renewable energy, it’s increasing greenhouse gas emissions and also criticises the “little progress” the store has made towards its goal of developing the sustainability index for consumer products that it launched in 2009.
Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/08/walmart-accused-of-greenwashing/
Compass Group will eliminate all pork from gestation crate operations by 2017
Compass Group, the world’s largest contract food and support services company, will eliminate all pork that comes from animals bred using gestation crates, enclosures used in intensive pig farming, in its United States supply chain by 2017. Compass Group runs dining operations at more than 10,000 schools, colleges and universities, corporations, hospitals and senior living centres, sports and entertainment venues and cultural institutions across the United States.
EDF to pay out £4.5m in mis-selling case
EDF Energy, one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, has agreed to pay £4.5 million to its most vulnerable customers after the British energy regulator found that it had breached marketing rules. In the first payout of its kind, the money will go to help reduce the bills of consumers at risk of fuel poverty. EDF will refund about £50 to the 70,000 households which receive the Warm Homes Discount and donate £1m to support a Citizen’s Advice public awareness campaign calling on consumers to shop around to reduce their energy bills.
Financial Times* http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b40bf74-69c9-11e1-8996-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ocEsHj00
Environment
Volkswagen’s green commitment: $52 billion
German automaker Volkswagen aims to drop the average emissions from its new vehicles to 120 grams CO2/km by 2015, as part of a “fundamental ecological restructuring”. The company says more than two thirds of its entire €62.4 billion (US$82.1 billion) investment programme for the coming five years will be spent on “more efficient vehicles, powertrains and technologies, as well as environmentally compatible production.”
Business Green http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2012/03/08/volkswagen-commits-us52-billion-green-investments
Social Investment
BSR, Danish Fashion Institute launch project to address sustainability in fashion
The ‘NICE Consumer’ project—a new joint initiative led by BSR and the Danish Fashion Institute—aims to inspire changes in government policies and business practices to help consumers make more sustainable choices in the purchase, use, care for, and disposal of fashion items. The ‘NICE Consumer’ project will develop a vision and framework for sustainable fashion consumption based on research and dialogue with leaders in the fashion industry.
COMMENTS