World’s ‘most admired’ companies are also sustainability stars
Apple, Google and Berkshire Hathaway are the world’s most highly regarded companies, according to a new ranking by Fortune. Amazon, Starbucks, Disney, Southwest Airlines, American Express, General Electric (GE) and Coca-Cola complete the top ten. The 2015 list rates companies on nine “key attributes of reputation”, including social responsibility, based on surveys of executives, directors and analysts. Seven of the top ten companies overall were ranked first for social responsibility in their industries, and the majority have a history of forward-thinking behaviour. Apple, for example, was ranked the “greenest gadget company” by a report released late last year by Greenpeace. Google was ranked top in a separate CSR reputation ranking released by the Reputation Institute. Meanwhile, Starbucks has also been active in advancing corporate sustainability, last year signing on to support the US Environmental ProtectionAgency’s Clean Power Plan and partnering with Arizona State University to offer employees free college tuition. (Sustainable Brands)
Labour Rights
Report: Widespread exploitation in UK textile industry
New research by the University of Leicester suggests widespread exploitation and employment law violations in the UK textile industry. The researchers behind the damning new report, commissioned by the Ethical Trading Initiative, found that 75-90% of the 11,700 workers in the industry in 2010 were being paid £3 per hour. This is less than half of the legal minimum wage of £6.50, and far below the UK living wage of £7.85 per hour. According to the report, the workers are predominantly women and largely from Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrant communities or from eastern Europe. The report estimates that workers are being collectively denied roughly £1 million in wages each week, and forced to complement their wages with welfare benefits. On top of that it details widespread workplace practices including: inadequate health and safety standards, bullying, threats, arbitrary humiliation, denial of toilet breaks, theft of maternity pay and the absence of employment contracts. (The Guardian)
Energy
Google bets big on solar rooftops in $300m SolarCity deal
Google has accelerated its push into the renewables sector by supporting the installation of solar panels on homes across the US. Leading rooftop solar developer SolarCity has teamed up with Google to create a $750 million fund for investment in residential solar projects. Google has committed $300 million to the fund, making it the company’s largest renewable energy investment to date. The fund works by financing the installation of solar arrays at no upfront cost for households in 14 US states and the District of Columbia. The household then either pays a monthly charge to lease the panels or pays for the power that is generated and typically realises significant savings compared to grid power. The fund is the latest in a string of high profile clean energy investments from leading IT firms. So far in 2015, Google, Apple and Facebook have announced ambitious new renewable energy and green data centre programs. (Green Biz)
Bank of England turns focus to stranded carbon assets
The Bank of England has included environmental threats such as climate change in its latest research agenda, marking the growing concern over the potential for stranded high carbon assets. The bank’s general discussion paper notes that the transformation of our energy system presents “transition” risk for central banks to consider, including the potential for carbon-intensive assets becoming “stranded”. Analysts led by the Carbon Tracker Institute (CTI) have warned that huge swathes of fossil fuel assets will be left “unburnable” if the world takes action to keep global warming below 2°C. Oil companies have largely rejected this analysis, but CTI has also published analysis suggesting many high-cost oil, gas, and coal projects are not viable economically unless oil prices revert to more than $100 a barrel. (BusinessGreen)
Technology & Innovation
World’s first lagoon power plants unveiled in UK
Plans to generate electricity from the world’s first series of tidal lagoons have been unveiled in the UK. The six lagoons – four in Wales and one each in Somerset and Cumbria – will capture incoming and outgoing tides behind giant sea walls, and use the weight of the water to power turbines. A £1 billion Swansea scheme, said to be able to produce energy for 155,000 homes, is already in the planning system. Whilst the cost of generating power from the Swansea project will be very high, the firm behind the plan says subsequent lagoons will be able to produce electricity much more cheaply. The company says the series of six lagoons could generate 8% of the UK’s electricity for an investment of £30bn. The cost would be funded by electricity bill-payers under the existing government scheme to promote home-grown, low-carbon energy. (BBC News)
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