Whole Foods to rate its produce and flowers for environmental impact
Whole Foods Market has implemented a ratings program for fruits, vegetables and flowers aimed at giving consumers more information about pesticide and water use, the treatment of farm workers and waste management, as well as other issues surrounding the food they eat. The upscale grocery chain will rate the produce of suppliers electing to participate in the programme, Responsibly Grown, as “good”, “better”, or “best”, to identify responsible agricultural practices. Matt Rogers, who handles standards and sourcing at Whole Foods, said: “This is the latest example of our commitment to transparency and sustainable agriculture”. He hopes the scoring system will encourage farmers to address the impact of their activities on human health and the environment. About half the produce sold in 390 of Whole Foods’ 399 stores will carry Responsibly Grown labels. Tom Beddard, an organic farmer who is participating in the programme, added: “I think this is going to put pressure on other food retailers to do something in this regard”. (New York Times)
Employees
Apple and Facebook to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs
Apple and Facebook are offering to freeze eggs for female employees in an effort to attract more women on to their staff. A typical round of egg freezing costs about $10,000, with additional storage fees of around $500 each year. The idea behind “fertility preservation” is that by removing and fertilising their eggs in their 20s, women will have a better chance of becoming pregnant in their 30s and 40s. The latest moves by Apple and Facebook, are part of a growing trend to offer more employee perks at Silicon Valley companies, enabling them to recruit new staff. “Apple cares deeply about our employees and their families, and we are always looking at new ways our health programmes can meet their needs”, said a company spokesman. The perk to female employees could be seen as an attempt to rectify the gender imbalance within each company. Apple said in its diversity report this year that its workforce was 70 percent male, while Facebook reported its workforce was 69 percent male. (Guardian)
Corporate Reputation
CDP reveal the companies doing the most to combat climate change
A new global index, based on companies that exhibit leadership through action to mitigate climate change, has outperformed The Bloomberg World Index by 9.6 percent over the past four years – according to a CDP study. The report, ‘The A List: The CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014’, challenges the myth that fighting climate change is bad for business. Information provided by nearly 2,000 listed companies has been independently assessed against CDP’s widely-respected scoring methodology and ranked accordingly. CDP rewards 187 ‘A Grade’ businesses from around the world, including BMW AG, Centrica, Samsung Electronics and Unilever, who demonstrate a superior approach to climate change mitigation. These companies are seeing impressive internal rates of return on their investments to reduce emissions and 99 percent of leaders see opportunities, such as consumer behaviour change, arising from their climate change strategy. Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, said: “The businesses that have made it onto our first ever global list of climate performance leaders are to be congratulated for their progress; they debunk economic arguments against reducing emissions”. (CDP)
Colombian farmers sue BP in British court
More than 100 Colombian small farmers are taking on oil giant BP in the UK high court in one of the largest cases in environmental legal history. The farmers say the British company Equion Energia, formerly BP Exploration Colombia (BPXC), was negligent in the construction of the Ocensa oil pipeline in the mid-1990s. The farmers claim the pipeline caused serious damage to their land, crops and animals. If the claim is successful, it could open the way for similar claims by other communities in developing countries who have been adversely affected by oil pipelines. The farmers’ lawyers say they did not fully understand the contracts signed with BPXC and did not receive full and fair compensation for environmental damage. However, the oil company claims it took “significant steps” to engage and compensate the local communities. “BP believes that these measures were effective and that the construction of the pipeline was carried out to a high standard”, a spokesman added. (Guardian)
Responsible Investment
India’s BSE in talks for climate change exchange-traded fund
India’s BSE Ltd is in talks for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to take advantage of the rising global demand for green investment options. Global asset managers had $13.6 trillion in environmental, social and governance investing strategies at the end of 2013, but only a fraction reached emerging markets such as India which are widely seen as less strict about environment protection. BSE’s Chief Executive, Ashishkumar Chauhan, said: “Investors who look to invest with a longer-term horizon tend to be a little more into nudging companies into sustainable activities”. “This is not only a do-good kind of activity, but also a commercially prudent framework for investors to look at”, he added. Hugh Young, Managing Director of Aberdeen Asset Management—which runs the world’s largest India-focused fund at about $5.2 billion—backed up Chauhan’s statement: a company’s climate change strategy “does play a part in our investment decisions”, he said. (Reuters)
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