Rising temperatures and ocean levels increase business risks
The US sustainable leadership NGO Ceres has said that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment report which was released last week, confirms that climate change is affecting business strategies and companies’ financial success. According to IPCC report, the rate of global sea level rise is predicted to increase owing to warmer ocean temperatures and melting glaciers and ice sheets, which will in turn affect business supply chains. VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest purchasers of cotton, whose brands include Lee, Wrangler and The North Face, said that the IPCC report confirms the business risks associated with climate change; much of the world’s cotton comes from areas such as China, Pakistan and India, which are expected to be impacted most by water scarcity and extreme weather. (Environmental Leader)
EU must "redouble efforts" on water efficiency or risk undermining economy
According to a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), Europe needs to redouble its efforts on water efficiency and price water to reflect its true cost. A key barrier to improving water efficiency is flat fee water charges, which do not encourage efficient consumer behaviour. The study, 'Assessment of cost recovery through water pricing', which focused on water pricing in eight European countries, states that water should be priced at a level which both encourages efficient use and properly reflects its cost, including all costs of purifying and transporting water, and the environmental resource costs of water use, such as pollution and the depletion of resources. The Executive Director of the EEA, Hans Bruyninckx, said that "charging water users for the volume of water they actually use, at a price reflecting the true cost, sends an important signal – freshwater is a limited and precious resource.” (Edie)
Employees
Exxon extends benefits to same sex spouses of US employees
Exxon Mobil Corporation has announced that it will extend benefits to same sex spouses of US employees after the US Supreme Court altered the definition of marriage in June 2013. The US advocacy group Freedom to Work, said that while “we commend Exxon for joining the majority of the Fortune 500 business leaders that already treat gay and lesbian married couples equally under employee benefit plans,” Exxon should not have waited for federal definitions to change before altering its practices. Tico Almeida, the President of Freedom to Work, said that the next step for Exxon is to amend its employee handbook to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Resolutions to make that change have been defeated by shareholders’ votes at 16 consecutive annual meetings. The US equality group, the Human Rights Campaign, said that “one has to wonder, what good are benefits for your same sex spouse if you risk being fired for disclosing your sexual orientation in order to access them?” (Bloomberg)
Pregnant workers still in fear for their careers
According to a survey conducted among members of the UK parenting online forum Netmums and maternitycover.com, a UK specialist recruitment consultancy, almost three quarters of mothers who participated feel that taking maternity leave has put their jobs at risk and has left them vulnerable to ambitious colleagues or redundancy. One in three working women said that they felt that they had been overlooked for a promotion because they were of child-bearing age. The survey also found that one woman in two would not necessarily reveal their pregnancy if offered a promotion or a new job, fearing that it would jeopardise their chances. Three quarters of working mothers said that attitudes towards them had changed after they had started a family. Paul Jenkins, the Managing Director of maternitycover.com, said that “women face countless unspoken taboos when it comes to having children and maintaining a career.” (The Times*)
Corporate Reputation
Coke accused of using green group to fight recycling scheme
An environmental group, Keep Australia Beautiful, is lobbying the Australian Government to oppose a bottle and can recycling scheme, while being funded by Coca-Cola, which has reportedly provided $1.24 million to the organisation over the last three years. The Chief Executive of Keep Australia Beautiful, Peter McLean, has confirmed that he and a representative from Coca-Cola have visited 10 members of the Australian Parliament in the past six months to discuss recycling alternatives to a national cash-for-cans scheme. However Mr McLean said that his organisation is “definitely not” a mouthpiece for Coca-Cola and that although “a lot of people say Coke has a lot of influence on Keep Australia Beautiful, we also have a lot of influence on Coke.” However Jeff Angel, the Chief Executive of the Total Environment Centre, an Australian environmental campaigning organisation, said that “so long as Keep Australia Beautiful is being funded by the beverage industry, it cannot be regarded as an independent voice on the best way to tackle bottle and can litter.” (Eco Business)
Policy
E.ON chief: European energy is getting dirtier
Johannes Teyssen, the Chief Executive of the German utilities company E.ON has said that the US advantage in the energy market is so large that that even it Europe put aside its environmental concerns and decided to pursue natural gas fracking, it would take at least five years to develop an industry large enough to compete with the US and that it is “a dream” for European politicians to suggest otherwise. Mr Teyssen said that European politicians should focus on repairing an EU energy policy that was becoming dysfunctional as “the CO2 content is increasing in spite of the renewables. It is unaffordable, and it’s losing its security.” Mr Teyssen said that he blamed EU renewable energy subsidies for distorting the energy market. E.ON and other European utilities are lobbying the EU to ease state aid rules so that governments can shift subsidies to gas fired plants that have been displaced by renewables. (Financial Times*)
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