World Cities Summit: Singapore welcomes 20,000 delegates to talk sustainability
Today concludes this year’s annual World Cities Summit which has been held in Singapore. Running alongside two more events – Singapore International Water Week and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore – the events have welcomed guests including leaders from government, business, academia and international organisations. All three events are focusing on integrated urban sustainability solutions – with delegates representing hundreds of cities. The largest exhibition on integrated sustainable solutions has also been taking place, with more than 900 exhibiting companies. The unique setting of Singapore as an independent city-state amplifies urban development and its unique challenges. The city has been praised for its sustainable urban development in the past. A report published earlier this year by energy giant Shell and the Centre for Liveable Cities endorsed Singapore as a place developing cities should replicate. (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Governance
Finland to crack down on tax evasion, corruption and abuse
Finland has taken new steps to fight against tax evasion on the international level. Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s Minister for International Development and Minister responsible for state ownership steering, has announced that companies with the State’s majority shareholding will be obliged to report on their taxes country by country. “I sincerely hope that state-owned companies would be pioneers in tax reporting and that the Government’s policy-setting would promote this goal,” Haavisto said. The requirements will be accompanied by a new online service that anyone can use to report suspicions of abuse, including corruption, bribery, use of child labour and environmental problems, similar to systems already in place in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. “Now anyone who suspects abuse involving development cooperation has the opportunity to press the red button, so to speak,” said Haavisto. The online service intensifies intervening in cases of abuse and hopes to improve risk management in development cooperation. (FinnBay)
After bribery scandal, high-level departures at Walmart
A list of executives from the uppermost reaches of Walmart’s management who held critical positions are under investigation over corruption scandals which engulfed the company’s international division. Thomas A. Mars, former chief administrative officer in the United States; José Luis Rodríguezmacedo Rivera, former general counsel at the Mexican division; and H. Lee Scott Jr., former Walmart’s chief executive, are the first to leave the company. While the investigations are still pending, Walmart has substantively changed its compliance structure and personnel. In the last two years, the company has revamped its global compliance program by increasing its compliance staff by more than 30 percent, to 2,000 people. Other changes the company has made — including mandating that any potential foreign corruption violations be reported to corporate headquarters and the board — may make it more difficult for senior executives to plead ignorance in the future. (NYTimes)
Environment
Conservationists split over ‘biodiversity offsetting’ plans
Conservationists around the world are split over whether to let developers destroy green space in return for paying cash to restore equivalent space elsewhere. Britain and 38 other countries have, or are in the process of setting in place, policies which will allow “biodiversity offsetting”, a market system of conservation used in the US and Australia which aims to ensure that there is no net loss of nature from any development. But giant oil and mining companies, as well as conservationists and governments at the first global conference on offsetting, heard that evidence from projects where offsets have been used is conflicting and that while they can be made to work there is no guarantee of success and many examples of failures. Jonathan Baillie, conservation director at the Zoological Society of London, said: “Biodiversity offsetting is controversial. It polarises the conservation community. [We must accept] there is going to be development and changes as world population increases from 7 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050. It may be appropriate to do offsets but that should be as a last resort.” (The Guardian)
Employment
Singapore: Five construction companies charged for breaching employment laws
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) of Singapore has charged five companies in the construction sector for a series of employment-related offences, including late salary payments and workers exceeding lawful overtime hours. In a statement, the MOM said JK Integrated, Ng Brothers Scaffolding, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering, Shanghai Tunnel Engineering (Singapore), and Straits Construction (Singapore) were charged in the State Courts for failing to comply with the Employment Act. Each firm faces between 26 and 47 charges each. Under the Employment Act, working more than 72 hours of overtime a month is prohibited, except in certain circumstances. MOM added that it will “step up engagement with the construction sector to highlight these legal obligations and common employment malpractices. We strongly urge errant companies to review and rectify illegal and unreasonable clauses in their employment contracts. We will take action against companies that flout or disregard our employment laws.” (Channel NewsAsia)
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