The Chancellor, George Osborne, is under mounting pressure to cut Britain’s reliance on gas, after a coalition of the world’s biggest investment fund managers made an unprecedented call on governments around the world, including the UK , the US, India and China, to commit to low carbon energy. The alliance of 200 investment institutions includes Scottish Widows, Aviva and HSBC and controls $21trillion (£13trn) of assets worldwide. The alliance’s call represents by far the biggest political intervention staged by financial investors over climate change. “Investors are rightly concerned about the short and long-term economic risks of climate change and understand that ambitious climate and clean energy policies are urgently needed to avoid catastrophic impact,” said Chris Davis, a member of the alliance, who advises institutions controlling $11trillion (£6.9 trn) on climate change issues. In a letter to the governments, ahead of the international climate negotiations in Doha next week, the alliance urges the world’s largest economies to engage in “a new dialogue on climate change policy”. In particular, it calls for “clear, consistent and predictable policies that encourage low carbon investment”. (Independent)
Chocolate giant’s $400m sustainability push
The world's largest chocolate company, Mondelez International, has announced plans to invest $400m over the next 10 years to help suppliers enhance productivity and improve sustainability. Called ‘Cocoa Life’, the programme is modelled on subsidiary Cadbury's successful ‘Cocoa Partnership’ initiatives in Ghana, India and the Dominican Republic. Cadbury’s $70m scheme, launched in 2008, has already helped thousands of farmers boost productivity while reducing environmental impacts and accelerating development efforts. Following its subsidiary, Mondelez International has said it will increase investment in similar programmes to $400m by 2022. The company said the programme would help boost the livelihoods and living conditions of 200,000 cocoa farmers globally, while also accelerating the adoption of sustainability practices to reduce biodiversity loss and soil erosion and enhance water efficiency and yields. The programme will target six countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, India and Dominican Republic. (Business Green)
EU carbon offsetting surges
Carbon offsetting by companies in the EU grew by 85 percent last year, according to new research. The companies policed by the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) submitted a total of 254m credits to offset 13 percent of their carbon emissions. However, according to the research carried out by environmental campaign group Sandbag, the vast majority of these offset credits were due to be banned from the scheme in 2013. The EU’s ETS has been "overwhelmed" with spare European allowances since 2009 when emissions plummeted below the level of the cap, and this has led to very low carbon prices, the research claims. In 2011, emissions were still 9 percent below the cap while a further 13 percent of emissions were unnecessarily offset, releasing more spare allowances into an already saturated market. Last week, the European Commission published a report containing six potential options to fix the "broken" trading scheme. These include proposals to further restrict access to international offsets and to increase the overall ambition of the scheme. (Edie)
Cornish villagers offered wind farm bonus
People living near a Cornish wind farm are to be given the change to save up to £150 a year on power bills in a sign of the green energy industry pushing back against growing hostility to onshore turbines. In a novel approach for the UK, Good Energy, the renewable power supplier, will offer a 20 percent discount on bills to anyone living within 2km of its wind farm in north Cornwall from next year. This could bring savings of about £100 a year on an average bill. A further £50 will be paid to each household every year the turbines generate more electricity than expected. “We felt communities need to be recognised for their contribution in combating climate change and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy. (Financial Times*)
Employees
Walmart fights Thanksgiving union threat
The world’s biggest retailer by sales, Walmart, has filed a complaint against the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union to try to stop planned strikes and protests at its stores during the crucial Thanksgiving shopping week. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has the power to issue an injunction against the union, said it was striving to reach a decision as soon as possible. The UFCW is affiliated with groups including OUR Walmart – a coalition of Walmart workers – that have organised store protests and rallies over pay and conditions. The union said the group expected protests in at least 1,000 Walmart stores later this week, coinciding with ‘Black Friday’ the biggest shopping day of the year. Walmart downplayed the predictions saying, “we don’t think what the unions are planning will have any impact on our business at all.” In its appeal to the NLRB last week, Walmart said the UFCW had picketed stores and intimidated customers and staff to pressure employees to recognise the union as their representative. Walmart has no unionised employees. (Financial Times*)
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