Rolls-Royce has been accused of involvement in a multibillion-dollar bribery and kickback scheme at Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer, as more foreign companies are dragged into the country’s largest corruption scandal. The British engineering company, which makes gas turbines for Petrobras’ oil platforms, allegedly paid bribes via an agent in exchange for a $100 million contract, according to testimony from a former Petrobras executive. Pedro Barusco, the Petrobras veteran and one of the investigation’s key informants, told police he personally received at least $200,000 from Rolls-Royce — only part of the bribes he alleged were paid to a ring of politicians and other executives at the oil company. The accusations come as Rolls-Royce also faces a Serious Fraud Office investigation in the UK over allegations of bribery and corruption in China and Indonesia. (Financial Times*)
Technology and Innovation
‘Cold economy’ could create 10,000 jobs
Green businesses have developed smarter ways of heating offices, homes and factories in recent years by channelling excess heat created by machinery through district heating networks. A new report from the Carbon Trust suggests a similar approach could be used to improve the efficiency of air conditioning and other forms of cooling. The Carbon Trust predicts global power demand for cooling could grow by the equivalent of three times the current electricity capacity of the UK by 2030. It suggests some of this demand for cooling could be delivered by recycling waste cold from certain industrial processes, such as during the re-gasification of liquefied natural gas at import terminals. The report says this nascent industry, which currently includes just a handful of companies, could employ 10,000 people, but urges the government to carry out a full assessment of its potential. (BusinessGreen)
Climate Change
Party leaders make joint climate commitment
Current UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have signed a joint pledge to tackle climate change, which they say will protect the UK’s national security and economic prosperity. The prime minister, deputy prime minister and leader of the opposition have all clashed over green issues. However, in the statement the leaders promise to work together across party lines to find a legally binding global climate deal at COP21 in Paris this year that will limit temperature rises to below 2oC, and to accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy. They also want to put an end the use of unabated coal for power generation. The statement, brokered by the Green Alliance and other NGOs, was released on Saturday, the same day that the Go Fossil Free movement, which campaigns for investors to dump their fossil fuel stocks, held a global day of action. (BBC News)
Circular Economy
Turning our mountains of food waste into graphene
A new EU project, PlasCarb, is researching a way to fashion food waste into graphene, a form of carbon that is around 100 times stronger than steel by weight. The project uses anaerobic digestion to convert waste into biogas and takes the process one step further by converting the food waste into graphitic carbon (graphene) and renewable hydrogen. According to PlasCarb, 95% of hydrogen currently comes from fossil fuels. Some bioplastics produced from crops such as corn are beginning to be deemed unsustainable. The project assumes that there will not be an endless supply of crops, but there will probably always be a high volume of discarded food. Graphene and hydrogen from surplus food are desirable alternatives, but despite the exciting prospects they offer, there is still a question of scalability. (The Guardian)
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