Chinese greenhouse gas emissions may peak by 2025, says study
China’s greenhouse gas emissions will probably peak in 2025, five years earlier than its stated target, according to a study by the London School of Economics that indicates an increasing chance of global warming staying at safe levels. The study led by former World Bank economist Nicholas Stern, suggests that China is acting faster than promised to shift to clean energy. “China’s international commitment to peak carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 should be seen as a conservative upper limit from a government that prefers to under-promise and over-deliver,” the authors wrote in the paper. China’s progress in reducing emissions is crucial to the success of global efforts to rein in climate change, because it produces about a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases. Envoys from more than 190 nations aim to broker the first binding global deal to cut carbon emissions at a United Nations meeting in Paris in December. (Guardian; Bloomberg)
UK and US main barriers to addressing climate change, survey finds
In a new survey taken months before officials meet the most significant climate change talks ever, YouGov found that people the US and UK lag far behind countries including China in wanting those talks to produce a meaningful commitment to address climate change. According to the survey, 17 percent of people in the US and seven percent in the UK but only one percent in China “do not agree to any international agreement that addresses climate change”. In China, 60 percent of people want their representatives to “play a leadership role in setting ambitious targets to address climate change as quickly as possible” compared to 41 percent in the UK. Given the unwillingness of people in the UK and the US to ask for ambitious targets, there are fears the talks in December could be held back. (The Independent)
Corporate Reputation
DirecTV, Fox worked with FIFA middlemen
American media companies, including DirecTV and 21st Century Fox, have had business relationships with the sports-marketing firms at the center of the Fifa corruption scandal. Last month, US authorities charged executives at marketing firms, including Traffic Group and Torneos y Competencias, partly owned by DirectTV and Fox, with paying or facilitating bribes to secure lucrative TV and sponsorship rights. The media companies are not directly accused of any wrongdoing by the Justice Department, and legal experts say they would not be liable under the US foreign-bribery law. But the scandal may make companies “more wary or cognizant of who they are doing business with,” according to John Guppy, founder of Gilt Edge Soccer Marketing. In addition to TV rights, Traffic also acquired sponsorship rights to major events which were then resold to well-known US brands, including Miller Lite, 7UP and Delta. All sponsors claim confidence that their business dealings with Traffic were proper. (Wall Street Journal)
Human Rights
BP criticised over ties with oppressive Azerbaijan government
Campaign group Platform London has attacked BP in a new book, criticising its sponsorship of the 2015 European Games in Baku and its relationship with the Azeri regime, responsible for jailing various journalists and activists. In the book, named All that Glitters – Sport, BP and Repression in Azerbaijan, Platform explores the links between BP – the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan – and President Aliyev, criticised for human rights abuses and lack of freedom of speech. The book argues that BP has had a central role in empowering the Aliyev dynasty and its relationship with the US and the EU, and in shaping the sport event, in order to serve its interests, despite several controversial power abuses, including the arrests of various journalists, academics and activists. BP says on its website that its operations in the region have “stimulated social and economic progress”. (Blue & Green Tomorrow)
Technology & Innovation
Pizza Hut and RBS slash water use with green urinals
A growing number of companies, including Rolls Royce, the BBC, Boots and Carillion have started using a small device that fits onto urinals and drastically reduces the number of flushes needed each day. The device, called Ureco, was developed by UK-based HSG. Research by HSG released last week suggests that Pizza Hut and RBS have saved around 300 million litres of water this year already by using it. The Ureco requires just four flushes per day compared to most urinal cisterns that are closer to 96 times per day. Pizza Hut has installed the Ureco in 200 of its venues and is now on track to save 74.4 million litres and £100,000 per year, said HSG. RBS’ Dundas House headquarters in Edinburgh, fitted the devices earlier this year, and has reduced water use in the gents’ toilets from 2,575,440 litres of water per year to about 65,700 litres, saving more than £3,000 in water bills. (Business Green)
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