CFOs publish practical ways to integrate sustainability into organisations
The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Leadership Network has published four guides to help the finance and accounting community address the practical issues of integrating sustainability into their business processes and decisions. Each guide is supported by case studies from Network members, including the CFOs of Unilever, Sainsbury’s and Burberry. The four guides are: CAPEX, which outlines how businesses can integrate social and environmental issues into capital investment appraisal; Enhancing Investor Engagement, a practical guide for investor relations teams; Managing Future Uncertainty, which introduces finance and risk professionals to the potential business impacts from macro sustainability trends; and Natural and Social Capital Accounting, which introduces finance teams to the concept of embedding natural and social capital issues into reporting and decision-making. (Eco-Business)
Inclusive Business
Uber partnering with UN Women to provide 1 million jobs to women by 2020
Taxi app company Uber is partnering with UN Women with the ambition of creating 1 million opportunities on the Uber platform for women by 2020. The partnership essentially entails reaching out to women in the places in which UN Women and Uber both have presences (Uber is available in 55 countries). “We are going to collaborate with them and we are going to learn from them,” Uber general counsel Salle Yoo said. Uber has a mixed track record when it comes to ensuring the safety of its female drivers. Female drivers in the US have complained of cases where male passengers obtained their phone numbers using the app and harassed them. In India, Uber has ramped up its safety measures with features like a panic button for passengers in response to the alleged rape of a woman in January. However, a feature like this has yet to be made available for drivers or consumers outside of India. (BuzzFeed News)
Responsible Investment
New Ceres report aims to improve investor practices on global water risks
Amid growing concerns about water scarcity and other global sustainability risks, the non-profit group Ceres has released a new report designed to help global investors improve their analysis and decision-making on such issues. The report, based on interviews with dozens of institutional investors and water experts around the world, summarizes existing practices for integrating environment, social and governance (ESG) issues – and water issues, in particular – into mainstream investment strategies, covering investment policies, portfolio management, strategic planning and client relationship building. The report makes clear that water risks are tangible and growing. Droughts across the US Midwest, California, Brazil and China are impacting not only corporate activities, but also entire economies. (Just Means)
Technology & Innovation
Electric cars could cut UK oil imports 40% by 2030, says study
Electric cars could cut the UK’s oil imports by 40% and reduce drivers’ fuel bills by £13 billion if deployed on a large scale, according to a new study from independent consultancy Cambridge Econometrics. An electric vehicle surge would deliver an average £1,000 of fuel savings a year per driver, and spark a 47% drop in carbon emissions by 2030, according to the study. The paper, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, said that air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulates would be all but eliminated by mid-century, with knock-on health benefits from reduced respiratory diseases valued at over £1 billion. However, the clean vehicle boom will require an infrastructure roll-out soon, as the analysis assumes a deployment of over 6 million electric vehicles by 2030 – growing to 23 million by 2050 – powered by ambitious amounts of renewable energy. (The Guardian; The Climate Group)
Giant greenhouse grows tomatoes using solar-powered desalination
A commercial greenhouse that grows tomatoes using desalinated seawater produced by solar-thermal technology will save 700 million litres of freshwater and 14,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. Sundrop Farms, a leader in sustainable horticulture for the arid world which supplies fresh fruit and vegetables to businesses across Australia, has secured £76 million worth of private funding for the 20-hectare greenhouse in Port Augusta, South Australia. Set for completion in 2016, the greenhouse will use desalinated seawater to grow crops. The solar-thermal desalination process – which Sundrop Farms says is scalable – will use computer-controlled mirrors to focus sunlight onto a tower where the energy is used to convert water to steam. The steam is then not only used to provide desalinated water, but to generate electricity and provide the greenhouse heating. (Edie)
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