Royal Bank of Scotland has launched a new £200m Carbon Reduction Fund to help UK businesses reduce energy costs. The new fund will finance a range of sustainable energy projects for businesses, from retro-fitting buildings with more energy efficient heating and lighting to on-site wind power and ground source heat pumps. The Carbon Reduction Fund is aimed at businesses with a turnover of over £25m and is part of RBS's efforts to support energy efficiency. RBS itself has undertaken a number of energy efficiency measures and was ranked in the top 10% of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index earlier this year. (Edie)
US and UK agree safer banks plan
Banking authorities in the UK and US, namely the Bank of England and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, have outlined their plans for limiting the damage done when banks get into trouble. Under the plans, one regulator would be responsible for overseeing the insolvency of a big international bank instead of national bodies dealing with its subsidiaries in each country. Shareholders would lose their money and people who had lent the bank money would end up owning it. It is hoped it would stop governments having to step in to support banks. BBC business editor Robert Peston highlighted the potential danger of increased bank costs and therefore increased customer charges, if the proposals were successful. (BBC, Financial Times*, Bloomberg)
Environment
Government could buy up to £750m of green energy
The UK Government has announced a pilot scheme which will see it commit to purchasing up to two percent of its energy direct from green sources, with the launch of a major collective purchasing scheme. This will make the public sector one of the largest users of clean energy in the UK. Ministers said that if successful the Government could ramp up its use of clean energy to cover half of the power purchased through the Government Procurement Service (GPS), currently worth up to £750m a year and accounting for 75 percent of the energy for the UK's public sector. The pilot contracts will initially focus on non-intermittent clean energy sources, such as biomass and energy-from-waste, but the scheme has the potential to cover a wider range of renewable energy technologies. (Business Green)
Corporate Reputation
Walmart blocked safety push in Bangladesh, says report
Documents found at the Tazreen apparel factory in Bangladesh, where 112 workers died in a fire in late November, indicate that three American garment companies were using the factory during the past year to supply goods to Walmart and its Sam’s Club subsidiary. There is also evidence that, in a meeting held in Bangladesh in 2011 to discuss factory safety in the garment industry the official representing Walmart played the lead role in blocking efforts to have global retailers pay more for apparel to help factories improve electrical and fire safety. The meeting brought together global retailers, Bangladeshi factory owners, government officials and NGOs after several apparel factory fires in Bangladesh had killed dozens of workers the previous winter. According to the minutes of the meeting, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Walmart director of ethical sourcing, noted that the proposed improvements would be “in most cases” a “very extensive and costly modification.” “It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments,” the minutes said. (New York Times)
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