Report calls for businesses to move from ‘doing less harm’ to having positive impact
A new report from Forum of the Future, The Climate Group and WWF-UK calls on businesses to take a ‘net positive’ approach – defined as businesses demonstrating positive environmental and societal impacts in key areas of their operations. By moving away from an approach that aims to “do less harm”, it argues that a strong sustainability strategy can benefit a business by giving it a competitive advantage, supply chain security and the space to innovate products and services through moving the organisation into a leadership space. The report includes a number of case studies such as that of Kingfisher, Europe’s largest home improvement retailer, which set a goal of having all of its timber responsibly sourced two decades ago and now helps reforest degraded land, enhance the quality of standing forests and actively advocates for policy changes. Sally Uren, CEO of Forum of the Future, said, “The term ‘net positive’ is not new itself but has never been properly defined… We hope that the principles outlined in this report will help bring clarity and push the agenda forward.” (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Diversity
Women CEOs ‘more likely to be fired’, says study
A study by management consultancy Strategy& of the world’s 2,500 largest public companies has found that women chief executives are significantly more likely to be fired than their male counterparts, partly because some companies feel pressured into making higher-risk appointments. Over the past 10 years, fewer than three in 10 male chief executives were ousted, while almost two in five female bosses had to quit. Per-Ola Karlsson, co-author of the study said one cause for more women being fired was the “benefit of the doubt factor”. Partly because of cultural and political pressures in some countries, companies were often keen to appoint a female candidate to a top role – so much so that they were prepared to make a bolder choice, which stood a higher chance of going wrong. He said the second reason for the higher proportion of women who left abruptly was that the boardroom culture remains overwhelmingly male. “From having spoken with many women in senior places, it is a difficult environment to work in, and not everyone is invariably supportive,” he said. (Financial Times)*
Waste
UK hospitality industry urged to focus on recycling food waste
A new report published by food waste recycler ReFood has found that the UK hospitality sector is set to spend an extra £32 million sending food waste to landfill this year. “Food waste is a valuable resource and one we shouldn’t be leaving to rot in landfill sites,” said ReFood’s commercial director Phillip Simpson. “With annual rises in landfill tax, separating food waste for recycling makes sound and long-term economic, as well as environmental, sense.” According to latest figures, the UK’s 260,000 hospitality and catering outlets produce around four million tonnes of food waste each year. But ReFood believes that, through improved planning, portioning, management, storage and preparation, almost two thirds of that waste could instead be sold and eaten and the firm also estimates that recycling food waste via anaerobic digestion could now be up to 45% cheaper than sending it to landfill. (Edie)
Innovation
EU-backed research project produces first kerosene derived from solar-powered syngas
Plans to start powering aeroplanes on “renewable” kerosene have made a major breakthrough, after researchers in Switzerland produced the first drops of a new fuel that was produced using solar power. The Solar-Jet project, backed by €2.2 million of funding from the European Commission, and partnering with companies including DLR, Shell, Bahaus Luftfaht and Arttic, aims to use concentrated light from the sun to power the production of syngas, which can then be turned into kerosene. The syngas is produced from carbon dioxide and water, meaning that the resulting fuel is potentially carbon neutral. Yesterday, the European Commission revealed that the first “glassful” of solar-powered kerosene had been produced, marking a major breakthrough in the four-year research programme. “This technology means we might one day produce cleaner and plentiful fuel for planes, cars and other forms of transport,” said Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. “This could greatly increase energy security and turn one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming into a useful resource.” (Business Green)
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