Indonesia plans to phase out child labour in 7 years
As the world marks World Day Against Child Labour 2015, Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry says it plans to phase out all forms of child labour in seven years. The ministry says there are more than 1.7 million child labourers in the country, with a quarter working under hazardous conditions. The country’s labour laws prohibit those below 15 years of age from working full time, but enforcement has been difficult. The Manpower Ministry plans to eradicate child labour by 2022, and this year it aims to pull out 16,000 children from their workplace. They will be enrolled in schools, given school supplies, a uniform and a US$23 monthly stipend for a year. 1,600 volunteers will be tasked to help these children undergo a two-month transition period before they start school. The Manpower Ministry has also drafted a road map, which involves five other state ministries. The plan includes policy adjustments, social safety nets as well as education and empowerment programmes for low-income families. (Channel News Asia)
Energy
UK electric car sales accelerate; London announces sharing scheme
A record 9,000 new ultra low emission vehicles were registered in the UK in the first quarter of 2015, representing a 366 percent year-on-year surge. The government said the increase was driven by more vehicles being eligible for grants, which subsidise up to 35 percent of the cost of a plug-in car and 20 percent of the cost of a plug-in van. The government is investing £500 million over the next five years in making low emission vehicles more accessible to families and businesses across the country. Meanwhile, a £100 million electric car scheme was announced for London on Wednesday, which will see French firm Bolloré, behind Paris’ Autolib scheme – which is used by 220,000 drivers – take charge of a city-wide electric car sharing service. A recent Greenpeacereport found that corporate fleet managers across Europe could cut millions of tonnes of CO2 and save £20 billion a year by taking advantage of green technologies. (Edie; Evening Standard)
EY blasts ‘absurd’ UK renewables policy
The UK Government’s plan to tackle climate change whilst also reducing subsidy support for solar and onshore wind, is ‘somewhat absurd’, according to global consultancy Ernst & Young. The firm’s latest Renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) warns that the Conservative’s election victory could prove a ‘double edged sword’ for the renewables industry. A recent report from the UK’s Onshore Wind Cost Reduction Taskforce projects onshore wind energy prices falling below gas by 2020. Likewise, a recent Solar Trade Associationreport predicts that UK solar could match gas by 2018. However, these projections both rely on stable policy support – something which the new Government has shown no sign of offering. Instead, new Energy Secretary Amber Rudd recently confirmed that plans to stop subsidies for onshore wind farms, were ‘top of her agenda’. The outgoing coalition Government also ended the Renewables Obligation scheme for large-scale solar farms in April. (Edie)
Governance
Amazon’s e-books business investigated by European antitrust regulators
European regulators have said that they are beginning an antitrust investigation into whether Amazon used its dominant position in the region’s e-books market to favour its own products over rivals. The announcement casts Amazon in a very different role from three years ago, when it prodded the US Justice Department to file an antitrust suit against Apple and five leading publishers for conspiracy to fix e-book prices. That suit resulted in settlements from the publishers and a verdict against Apple, which it is appealing. Now the European Commission is evaluating the legality of clauses that Amazon used with European publishers, which required them to inform the e-commerce giant when they offered more favourable terms for books to other digital retailers. Since Amazon is by far the most powerful e-book retailer, such clauses might prevent an innovator from breaking through. (NY Times)
Climate sceptic researcher investigated over funding from fossil fuel firms
A Harvard-Smithsonian researcher known as a climate sceptic is under multiple ethics investigations arising from his hidden financial relationships with fossil fuel companies. A handful of academic journals have asked Willie Soon about his failure to disclose more than US$1.2 million in energy industry funding when submitting articles for publication, the Climate Investigations Center said. The spate of investigations into Soon follows revelations in February that the researcher was almost entirely funded by the energy industry. Over the years, Soon received more than US$1.2 million from the Southern Company, a coal-heavy utility, Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute lobby group, and the Koch family of oil billionaires as well as anonymous donors. (The Guardian)
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