Food packaging ‘traffic lights’ system to be rolled out in UK
Traffic light-coded food labels indicating how much fat, salt and sugar an item contains are to appear on most food that is eaten in Britain in a move hailed by health campaigners as ending shoppers’ confusion over what to buy. All the main supermarket chains and some of the biggest producers of snack foods, such as PepsiCo and Nestlé, have agreed to use front-of-pack nutritional labels coloured red, amber or green on their products in an effort to make it easier for consumers to choose healthier options. The traffic-light labels, which many food campaigners and medical organisations have long called for, will be part of a new hybrid nutritional labelling scheme that combines them with guideline daily amounts. (Guardian, BBC)
Corporate Reputation
Deloitte gets one-year New York ban
Deloitte has agreed to a one-year suspension from doing consulting work for financial firms in the state of New York, after regulators criticised its work at Standard Chartered bank on anti-money laundering issues. New York’s financial regulator cited the company’s “misconduct, violations of law, and lack of autonomy”. Deloitte will also pay the state of New York $10m (£6.4m) under the agreement. After investigating Deloitte’s work at Standard Chartered, New York’s Department of Financial Services found that the firm did not demonstrate the necessary autonomy required of consultants performing regulatory work. It also said that Deloitte had violated New York banking law by disclosing confidential information of other clients to Standard Chartered. (BBC, Reuters)
Environment
Singapore demands name and shame of companies who caused fires
Singapore is calling on Indonesia to name the companies behind the illegal forest burning which has caused serious haze pollution this week across the Republic. Ministers in Singapore have asked Indonesia to share the names of errant companies involved in illegal burning, as it is thought that Malaysian and Singapore palm oil companies that had invested in Indonesia may be responsible for starting the fires. Ministers’ joint statement said: “Primary responsibility to take legal and enforcement actions against these companies lies with Indonesia as they have clearly violated Indonesian laws within Indonesian jurisdiction.” The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI), which measures air quality, hit 155 on Monday in Singapore – the highest in 16 years. (Reuters, Eco-Business)
BT customer service taking direct hit from climate change
The effects of climate change are restricting British Telecom (BT) from further improving its customer service, according to the company’s chief sustainability officer Niall Dunne. During the launch of BT’s new carbon reduction strategy, Dunne explained that the company is being directly affected by climate change, and therefore makes tackling the issue particularly crucial. BT has improved its customer service over the years and the reason it had not progressed further was due to the effects of climate change. Dunne said: “All the faults of the networks that we are seeing across the UK are down to weather related issues.” BT’s new carbon programme aims to ensure that for every one tonne of carbon it can reduce in its own operations, its customers will cut three. (Edie)
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