International Development
African Union endorses Nigerian for World Bank presidency
The African Union (AU) has given a resounding support to the candidacy of Nigerian Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for president of the World Bank. In a statement, the AU said the impeccable credentials of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, a development professional who spent more than two decades at the World Bank before becoming the finance minister of Nigeria, make her the best candidate for the position.
Africa News http://www.africanews.com/site/AU_endorses_Nigerian_for_World_Bank_presidency/list_messages/41431
Human Rights
Children’s rights are finally getting the attention they deserve
Children’s rights are finally getting the attention they deserve on the corporate responsibility agenda. An annual survey of key emerging business and human rights issues in 2012 included child rights for the first time. This recognition of children as an important contingent in the broader human rights and business discussion has been a long time coming. In creating the mandate of UN special representative to the secretary general (SRSG) on business and human rights in 2005, governments called on the SRSG to “pay particular attention to children”.
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/childrens-rights-business-wrongs-un-framework?intcmp=122
Environment
Shell offers funding support for breakthrough low-carbon energy technologies
Deep geothermal power, zero carbon homes, renewable energy kites, and potentially even satellite solar arrays; not the portfolio of the latest clean-tech venture firm or a list of projects being pursued by a government research agency, but rather a series of initiatives currently being backed or considered for backing by oil giant Shell. Over the past few years the European oil major has quietly funnelled around $20 million a year to support highly innovative advanced research projects and initiatives with the potential to deliver deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Business Green http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2164831/shell-s-renegades-hunt-green-game-changers
Corporate Reputation
Second lawsuit adds to Chevron’s Brazil woes
Chevron’s oil leak off the coast of Rio de Janeiro last November was less than a thousandth of the size of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, but it could still cripple the company’s Brazilian business and prompt wider regulatory changes. Brazil’s largest oil workers’ union became the latest group to mount an attack on Chevron and its drilling contractor Transocean, filing a civil lawsuit that called for their expulsion from the country’s lucrative oilfields.
The Financial Times*p18 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22f84182-798d-11e1-b87e-00144feab49a.html#axzz1qs0miQr4
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