Patagonia joins forces with Yerdle to launch Black Friday clothing swap
A year ago today, Patagonia unveiled its Worn Wear program. Instead of slashing prices to draw hordes of consumers into their stores, the company celebrated ‘Black Friday’ in a different way, urging its customers to give away the Patagonia gear they didn’t need. This year, Patagonia is going a step further with the Worn Wear initiative. Today, in eight locations across the US, it is holding Worn Wear Swaps, where customers can swap their used gear for another item off the Worn Wear rack. Those who can’t make it to one of the designated locations have another option: Patagonia has joined forces with the sharing economy app Yerdle to make its Worn Wear program accessible to those in the remotest of mobile locations. Customers who don’t find something they want in exchange for their pre-loved item can swap for ‘Yerdle credits’ which can be used to buy used items from other Yerdle users. (TriplePundit)
Governance
Top investors warn of revolt over new BG Group chief’s pay deal
Helge Lund, the new chief executive of BG Group, may soon become one of Europe’s best remunerated oil bosses thanks to a multimillion-pound pay package. Mr Lund could earn up to £14million a year, 10 times his Statoil salary at BG. However, the proposal has resulted in fierce opposition from shareholders, who are threatening to vote against the deal within the next few days. Four of BG’s top 15 institutional investors, holding at least a quarter of BG’s shares, are either preparing to reject the pay deal, or have been advised to vote against it, and the company is scrambling to try to secure adequate support. One top-10 shareholder said: “This is a very rich, large remuneration package. His basic salary is higher than rivals and peers and arguably not aligned closely enough to potential performance.” A binding vote by BG shareholders on a pay package for Mr. Lund is planned for December 15. (Financial Times*)
Policy
China takes ‘zero tolerance’ approach to regional polluters
China is ramping up its environmental agenda, declaring a “war on pollution” and taking a “zero tolerance” approach to a wide range of environmental violations. The government has promised stronger action against regional governments that protect polluters or hinder inspections, according to a Cabinet document. These authorities have been ordered to take part in a comprehensive inspection program to be completed by the end of 2015. The program’s findings will be released publicly under a policy of enhanced transparency and accountability, and any regional regulations that hinder enforcement of national environmental legislation must be annulled by June 2015. However, enforcement remains one of the government’s main concerns, with the Ministry of Environmental Protection complaining last month that some regions preferred “form over substance” when it came to implementing new guidelines. (Reuters)
Corporate Reputation
UK power companies hit with penalties over vulnerable customers
Two UK power generation companies will pay penalties totalling £39m after failing to meet energy saving targets for low-income households. The industry regulator Ofgem has fined North Yorkshire-based Drax with a £28 million penalty and InterGen with an £11 million pay-out. The penalties were levied for failing to meet targets under the government’s Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), designed to help reduce bills for thousands of customers living in low income areas by helping them with loft and wall insulation and new boilers. Dorothy Thompson, chief Executive of Drax, argued: “We believe the design of the CESP was flawed and significant problems were encountered with scheme delivery, the CESP market and the complex arrangements.” Similar decisions by Ofgem on British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power, and GDF/Suez are still pending and are likely to be announced in the coming weeks. (BBC News)
Innovation
Digital Green use cameras to train rural Indian women in innovative farming
Despite the deployment of 100,000 government and private agricultural experts to teach modern farming techniques to Indian farmers, fewer than six percent of farmers have ever seen one, and women are usually excluded from such training sessions. Digital Green, a non-profit founded by Microsoft researchers, is trying to change this situation. The group distributes pocket cameras and tripods to local women and trains them to storyboard, act in, shoot, edit and screen videos demonstrating farming innovations. Women who are engaged in screening these training videos track issues related to the actual adoption of modern farming techniques, and provide the feedback to directors to create improvised versions later on. Digital Green’s co-founder and CEO, Rikin Gandhi, says that the videos, which feature people from the community and use the local dialect and appearance, help establish the necessary trust with the audiences to make a meaningful impact. (Justmeans; Bloomberg)
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