Get women on board or face quotas, UK Government warns
The Business Secretary has called on British industrial giants with all-male boards to increase their efforts to promote gender diversity, warning that they may face EU quotas if they do not follow this advice. Vince Cable has written to the heads of seven FTSE 100 companies with all-male boards, demanding to know what steps they are taking to appoint female directors. In the letter to bosses at Antofagasta, Croda, Glencore International, Kazakhmys, Melrose, Vedanta Resources and Xstrata, Mr Cable said that he did “not believe that EU legislation would help us achieve greater boardroom diversity” but that “it will be harder for us to make that case without progress here in the UK.” (Times*, BBC)
Environment
B&Q and Wickes to ban pesticides linked to bee decline
Two of the UK's largest hardware retailers, B&Q and Wickes, are to stop stocking pesticides that have been linked to the decline in bee populations across the UK. The move represents a major victory for Friends of the Earth's "Bee Cause" campaign, which yesterday delivered a petition with over 64,000 signatures to Downing Street that calls on the UK Government to develop a new ‘National Bee Action Plan’. Bee populations have been in decline for several years raising fears about the huge potential impact of bee deaths on pollination cycles and food production. (Business Green)
Supply Chain
Tesco drops supplier over horsemeat in burgers
Meat in Tesco burgers which was found to contain horse DNA did not come from a list of "approved suppliers", the supermarket has said. An internal investigation by Tesco found that meat used by Silvercrest originated from outside the UK and Ireland, contrary to the supermarket chain's policy. The retailer has dropped Silvercrest, part of the ABP Food Group, as a supplier, saying that the "breach of trust [was] simply too great". Tesco has said it will introduce a DNA testing system on meat products to "ensure the quality" of its goods. (BBC, Reuters)
Corporate Reputation
RBS could face criminal charges for rate-fixing
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is facing criminal charges in the US over allegations its traders tried to fix Libor interest rates. RBS is currently in lengthy settlement talks with US watchdogs. It has emerged that the issue of the bank accepting a criminal charge is what is holding up a deal. RBS is likely to pay around £500m in fines, but sources said the scale of wrongdoing at the bank was more similar to that at Barclays, which paid £290m last year, than to that at Swiss bank UBS, which paid £900m in fines earlier this year. Pleading guilty to a criminal charge could expose RBS to potentially huge civil claims in the American courts. (Independent, Huffington Post)
Shell in Nigeria: Court rules firm 'partially to blame'
A Dutch court has ruled that a subsidiary of Shell is partially responsible for oil pollution in Nigeria's Niger Delta region. The court dismissed four out of five allegations against the company but ordered it to pay compensation to one Nigerian farmer. The landmark case against the Anglo-Dutch firm was brought by four Nigerian farmers and Friends of the Earth. The judge said Shell Nigeria should have done more to prevent sabotage. The case is linked to spills that poisoned fish ponds and farmland in Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom state. (BBC, Reuters)
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