Carbon Trust branches out with international waste management standard
The Carbon Trust has revealed plans for a new waste standard designed to help businesses demonstrate that they are measuring and managing their waste levels in a responsible manner. The proposed waste standard will be modelled on the Carbon Trust's Carbon Standard, launched five years ago, which has seen more than 650 organisations independently verify that they are measuring and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions year-on-year. To obtain the new standard organisations will have to demonstrate they are managing waste effectively and not simply reducing waste levels. There is a direct connection between the Trust’s new efforts to promote effective waste management and its core goal of tackling greenhouse gas emissions, since organic waste accounts for five percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. (BusinessGreen)
World's largest offshore windfarm opens in Thames estuary
The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has opened the ‘London Array’, a massive renewable energy project. The project is owned by Denmark's Dong Energy, Germany's E.On and Masdar, of Abu Dhabi. Its 630MW capacity, enough to power 470,000 homes, will save an estimated 925,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. The news was welcomed by Greenpeace UK's executive director, John Sauven. However, Mr Sauven urged Cameron to accelerate the Government's efforts to tackle climate change: “if offshore wind is to continue to provide jobs and economic growth for the UK and reach price parity with nuclear by the 2020s, David Cameron needs… to give the sector long-term certainty by agreeing to cut carbon completely from our electricity sector,” he said. (The Guardian)
Carrefour signs French food waste pact
Carrefour, the second-largest retail group in the world, has signed the French Ministry of Agriculture's National Pact To Combat Food Waste. The Pact is part of a wider government initiative to cut food waste in France, where a third of all household waste is compostable. Supermarkets will soon to be permitted to leave food and drink items on shelves for longer, and a new food label will be introduced recommending that products should be ‘preferably’ consumed before a certain date. Carrefour will also allow customers to receive discounts on single items as well on multiple purchases, and has begun tests on the best-before-dates of certain products. Carrefour is the leading private donor to food banks in France, delivering the equivalent of 83m meals during 2012 and supplying refrigerated lorries and cold stores to food bank organizations. (Think.Eat.Save; Zero Waste Europe)
Corporate Reputation
China launches drug pricing probe
China’s drug pricing authority has launched a wide-ranging probe into the costs of medicines at 60 domestic and international drugmakers, ratcheting up the pressure for price cuts. The investigation by Beijing’s National Development and Reform Commission, which encompasses the local affiliates of foreign companies such as Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Astellas, Baxter Healthcare and Sandoz comes after a similar NDRC probe resulted in manufacturers of baby milk cutting their prices by up to 20 percent. The action marks an intensification of the process by which maximum prices are set for medicines reimbursed in China. But this probe is wider, deeper and sooner than expected. (Financial Times*)
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