Social Investments
Empowering women: IKEA joins efforts with UNDP
With a focus on empowering women, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has partnered with IKEA Foundation in a project that aims to help build the self-reliance and financial skills of over 50,000 women in 500 villages in three districts of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populated but least developed state. The partnership programme, to which IKEA has pledged €30 million, aims to promote this target group’s financial literacy, thereby “strengthening their technical, institutional, managerial and financial skills so that they are able to play a larger role in the social and economic development in the villages.”
Technorati http://technorati.com/business/article/empowering-women-ikea-joins-efforts-with/#ixzz1tbiof9cZ
Sustainable Business
Green rating of British bus firms leaves Google and Apple behind
British bus companies have a better ethical record than new-tech giants Apple and Google, according to a global-sustainability league table published today. FirstGroup, the UK’s biggest bus operator, was named the second best in the world for social, environmental and governance, while the Go-Ahead Group was the 10th best globally. The German sportswear manufacturer Puma – rated the global leader – British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and the electronics maker Philips came out well in the report, by the responsible investment research service Eiris.
The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-rating-of-british-bus-firms-leaves-google-and-apple-behind-7689153.html?origin=internalSearch
Consumers
M&S launches clothes recycling boxes
Marks and Spencer ramped up efforts to encourage shoppers to recycle clothes last Thursday with the introduction of boxes where people can discard unwanted items in hundreds of its stores. The idea – which it calls “shwopping” – aims to persuade customers to recycle one item of clothing for every new one they buy, rather than throwing them away as rubbish. UK shoppers are enthusiastic consumers of fashion but over 450,000 tonnes of textiles ended up in landfill last year, according to figures from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Financial Times* http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/853d3472-8fba-11e1-beaa-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tW0f9zQn
Sustainable Brands http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/ms-urges-customers-shwop-unwanted-clothing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=businessweekly&utm_campaign=april30
Environment
Ambitious solar program in India driving prices to impressive lows
India’s ambitious national solar programme has catalysed rapid growth in the solar market, driving prices for solar energy to impressive lows and demonstrating how government policy can stimulate clean energy markets, according to a report released last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). The report, Laying the Foundation for a Bright Future, is the first independent, external analysis that has been done on the strengths and hurdles faced by India’s solar efforts.
NRDC http://www.nrdc.org/media/2012/120425.asp
Energy cost is top worry for chemical groups
High energy costs have emerged as the top concern of British chemical and pharmaceutical companies, according to the sector’s main trade association. In its latest quarterly survey of business confidence, the Chemical Industries Association said energy costs were easily the biggest problem its members faced, ahead of the regulatory climate and employers’ additional social costs. Green policies such as the introduction of a carbon price floor – designed to encourage low-carbon forms of electricity generation, including nuclear power – have also hit the industry.
Financial Times* p4 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/790fa052-92c8-11e1-b6e2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tW0f9zQn
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