Topshop boss attacked for refusal to sign Bangladesh safety deal
UK retailer Arcadia Group and its CEO Sir Philip Green have been criticised for shunning an initiative aimed at improving safety standards at Bangladeshi clothing manufacturers in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in April. The company’s brands, which include Topshop, BHS and Miss Selfridge, are notable absentees from a list of supporters of the ‘Bangladesh Safety Accord’, which is backed by 80 high street retailers including Marks & Spencer, H&M, Inditex and Primark. The scheme has seen retailers agree to a range of measures including inspections of suppliers to identify “grave hazards and the need for urgent repairs”, as well as committing to hiring chief safety inspectors. Murray Worthy, of the anti-poverty campaign group War on Want, said that Arcadia’s “failure to act” left “thousands of workers’ lives at risk”. (Guardian)
Environment
Indonesia prepares cloud seeding as haze returns to Malaysia
Indonesia has prepared planes to artificially induce rain as neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia raised concern that Sumatran forest fires have begun engulfing parts of Southeast Asia with haze. In June, forest fires blamed on illegal logging led to Singapore’s worst smog in 16 years, and Indonesia dispatched thousands of soldiers for water-bombing and cloud-seeding operations. Cloud seeding is a technique which aims to encourage rain to fall by “seeding” clouds with chemicals, but its effectiveness is disputed. The returning haze will test Indonesia’s resolve to combat illegal forest blazes after the nation rejected a request last week from Malaysia to make maps of plantation concessions available to the public. (BusinessWeek; Eco-Business)
Chinese coal mine drains groundwater, says Greenpeace
A project operated by China’s largest coal miner, Shenhua Group, has reduced groundwater levels in a region of Inner Mongolia and discharged high levels of toxic wastewater, environmental campaign group Greenpeace has said. The report, the first by Greenpeace to publicly challenge one of China’s state-owned companies, comes as the country’s new leadership increases its focus on pollution amid growing protests over environmental degradation. China recently cancelled plans to build a $6 billion uranium processing plant after hundreds of protestors took to the streets. Other petrochemical projects have also been cancelled after mass demonstrations. (Reuters)
Consumers
British public swing in favour of GM food
More British people support rather than oppose the growing of genetically modified crops and more of them are prepared to buy and eat GM foods than not, according to a new poll by ComRes. As the UK Government launches a drive to persuade people to eat more GM foods, the poll suggests that public fears about the food may be easing. Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, called last month for the UK to lead a farming revolution in Europe, arguing that GM crops would cut fertiliser and chemical use while feeding the world’s poorest countries. However, Peter Melchett, policy director at the organic food charity the Soil Association, said that the results were “completely out of line” with other recent polls. (Independent)
Building supplies companies sign up to water efficiency labelling
Do-it-yourself stores, builders’ merchants and manufacturers are to introduce a voluntary labelling scheme in the UK to help consumers identify the water efficiency of their products. The new labelling will begin to appear on products such as taps, showers, toilets and baths in the summer of 2014. Companies that have so far committed to using the labels – which will be presented much like EU energy efficiency labels found on white goods such as fridges and freezers – include Argos, B&Q, Homebase and Southern Water. The UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which has encouraged the companies to adopt water labelling, said the move “represents a significant step forward for the industry”. (Corporate Register)
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