Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers. But rather than accept that this will mean farmers in the country will grow less food, the Government expects them to grow more – and to export increasing amounts of high quality niche foods to neighbouring countries. In the west, organic food growing is widely thought to reduce the size of crops because they become more susceptible to pests. But this is being challenged in Bhutan and some regions of Asia, where smallholders are developing new techniques to grow more and are not losing soil quality. (Guardian, AFP)
Corporate Reputation
AB Foods denies Zambian tax avoidance
Associated British Foods denied any "illegal or immoral" activities aimed at avoiding tax after an international charity said the company had moved profits out of Zambia to reduce its tax bill. ActionAid said Zambia Sugar, a unit of AB Foods, had made profits of $123m since 2007 but had paid "virtually no corporate tax" in Zambia. It also said in a report entitled 'Sweet Nothings’ that the company had found legal ways to move $83.7m, or a third of the unit's pre-tax profits, out of Zambia to avoid tax. However, AB Foods said in a statement on its website on Sunday that its Zambian unit "denies emphatically that it is engaged in anything illegal, immoral or in any way designed to reduce the tax rightly payable to the Zambian government." (Financial Times*, Reuters)
Environment
Valentino tops green fashion ranking, but the rest fall behind
Valentino has come top in Greenpeace’s "green ranking" of 15 fashion houses, while six high-end brands came joint bottom for failing to take any credible action on the issues of water pollution and deforestation. Valentino has already committed to eliminating all releases of hazardous chemicals and to ‘Zero Deforestation’ in its products, while Dolce&Gabbana, Chanel, Hermès, Prada, Alberta Ferretti and Trussardi did not disclose information for the survey. Louis Vuitton was one of the brands at the bottom of the rankings list. The ‘Fashion Duel’ ranking, rates Italian and French luxury brands based on a survey of three areas of their global supply chain: leather, pulp and paper and toxic water pollution.(Edie)
EU leaders triple funds for climate action
European leaders have agreed to commit 20 percent of all EU spending to mitigate climate change. Following a two day European Council Summit on the next EU Budget, the EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard tweeted: "This is really a new way of thinking: climate mainstreaming in concrete numbers, not just words. 20% of all EU spending". However, environmental groups are still sceptical over the EU's commitment to climate change, despite the announcement, criticising the lack of detailed measures. (Edie)
Human Rights
HP reduces Chinese underage labour in supply chain
The use of temporary workers, notably workers who are underage or students, has risen in China, causing problems for many global brands. In response, Hewlett Packard (HP) has issued new and tighter guidelines to its suppliers conducting operations in China. The company’s new guidelines for student and temporary workers go far beyond local regulatory requirements in China and anything HP has mandated in the past. HP has required suppliers to follow these new rules immediately. The company will measure compliance through HP’s social and environmental responsibility (SER) audits and gauge progress using a set of key performance indicators (KPIs). (Triple Pundit)
Policy & Research
CEO pay relies on ‘self-serving myth’
The notion that chief executives are part of a globally mobile talent pool that justifies high pay is a “self-serving myth”, according to a report published by the High Pay Centre think-tank. It found that out of 489 chief executives of the world’s largest companies, only four – those at Peugeot Citroën, Bayer, Holcim and International Airlines – were poached while they were chief executive of another company in a foreign country. The report argues that the supposed scarcity of talent, and what is claimed to be the highly competitive market for that talent, is principally responsible for pushing up pay. Yet it says the vast majority recruit from within and only a tiny number of companies look outside their country. (Financial Times*)
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