Santander under fire for financing controversial Indonesian logging company
Greenpeace has launched a new front in its campaign against Indonesian logging company Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) by targeting one of its major financiers Santander. In a blog posted yesterday, Greenpeace signalled that Santander, one of the world’s largest banks, was fair game in its effort to push APRIL to stop destroying rainforests and peatlands. “The greatest threat to Indonesia’s rainforests is a pulp and paper company named APRIL” the activist group said, noting that the bank brokered a $600 million loan to APRIL in 2012. As part of the campaign, Greenpeace protesters gathered at a Santander branch on Kensington High Street in London, handing out leaflets to customers and passers-by. APRIL’s continued logging comes in sharp contrast to its chief competitor, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which established a zero deforestation policy in 2013 after long-running campaigns by Greenpeace and other NGOs. (Mongabay)
Corporate Reputation
British gold mining firm agrees settlement over deaths of Tanzanian villagers
A British gold mining firm whose hired police officers were involved in an incident that saw Tanzanian villagers killed and injured has settled claims brought against it in the London high court. Twelve villagers, including relatives of people who died in incidents near the North Mara mine, sued African Barrick Gold, now renamed Acacia Mining, in Britain’s High Court in 2013. They had claimed the company’s subsidiary, North Mara Gold Mine Ltd, had failed to prevent the use of excessive force by police and security which had led to six deaths and other injuries in 2008. Tanzanian and international human rights groups welcomed the financial settlements. However, they said that multinational companies working in Africa were often able to silence local dissent and mostly only acted on human rights abuses when cases against them were taken to rich countries like Britain. (The Guardian)
Technology and Innovation
Driverless car review launched by UK government
The UK government wants to become a world leader in driverless technology; however changes to the Highway Code and the MOT test will be necessary to accommodate driverless cars on the roads of the UK, a Department of Transport report has revealed. The government is providing £19m to launch four driverless car schemes in four UK locations. Some of the trials being funded include a fully autonomous shuttle in Greenwich and a BAESystems-developed Wildcat vehicle, which will be tested in Bristol. Self-drive pods that will be tested in Milton Keynes and Coventry were also unveiled for the first time. “Driverless vehicle technology has the potential to be a real game-changer on the UK’s roads, altering the face of motoring in the most fundamental of ways and delivering major benefits for road safety, social inclusion, emissions and congestion,” said transport minister Claire Perry. (BBC News)
Collaboration
GE launches platform to explore tools, trends in water reuse, energy efficiency
GE Water & Process Technologies recently launched ‘UsedtoUseful’, a new platform that explores the impact of water reuse on industrial and municipal sectors. The site shares industry insight and discusses interesting concepts surrounding the impact of water reuse on industrial and municipal sectors. The new platform “allows [GE] to be non-commercially focused and allows us to provide expertise and some information to our customers about the industry,” GE Water & Process Technologies Global Communications Leader, Patricia Garofolo, said in the site’s launch video. Water risks are at the forefront of the sustainability conversation, topping the World Economic Forum’s list of biggest societal risks in its 2015 Global Risks report. IBASF, Cisco, H&M, Diageo, Merck and Unilever are among the companies that have committed to evaluating how water, or lack thereof, impacts growth strategies. (Sustainable Brands)
Supply Chain
German entrepreneurs launch ethical and sustainable condom company
A group of German entrepreneurs has started what it calls the world’s first ethical and sustainable condom company. Einhorn launched its crowd-fund appeal at the beginning of February. Within 48 hours it had reached its minimum target of €50,000.The Company argues that consumers should be able to buy a condom that does not come from a rubber plantation that has chopped down native jungles or paid its workers less than the living wage to produce it. Currently the rubber from condoms is not traced back to the plantation it is sourced from. Waldemar Zeiler, co-founder of Einhorn, confesses he and his co-entrepreneurs knew very little about condoms but says “We got sick of complaining about ugly, unsustainable, non-environmentally conscious exploited products, so we decided to make a better one ourselves and make it really sexy, cool. Right now, we’re 10% sustainable. Our goal is to have an 80-90% sustainable product in five years.” (The Guardian)
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