Sustainable product revenue growing six times faster than alternatives
Revenues from sustainable products or services are growing up to six times faster than ‘normal’ equivalents, according to new research from the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi). The Institute, which provides data-driven information to investors, analysed 12 companies listed in the S&P 100 that sold and tracked ‘sustainable’ products and services, including Dow Chemical, DuPont, GE and Johnson & Johnson. The study found between 2010 and 2013, revenues from these portfolios grew by 91 percent – around six times faster than the rest of the companies’ products. The companies surveyed within the report said that a driving force for their range of sustainable products was “customer demand” for solutions that address global sustainability challenges. “It’s a totally false dichotomy to suggest that sustainability somehow comes at the expense of growing a company,” said IRRCi executive director Jon Lukomnik. (Edie)
Human Rights
Coca-Cola discloses ties with sanctioned jade industry in Myanmar
Coca-Cola has released an updated report under the mandatory US reporting requirements on Responsible Investment in Burma. In the report, Coca-Cola admits that a number of challenges remain regarding its operations in the country, including in relation to labour rights, land rights and gender equality. It also discloses its ties with the controversial jade industry. The director of Coca-Cola Myanmar’s partner, Pinya Beverages Myanmar, is also the director of the Xie Family Company, which is active in the domestic jade business. The jade industry has been plagued by allegations of smuggling, corruption and rights abuses. It is banned from exporting to the US under industry-wide sanctions, but demand from China is worth billions of dollars a year. Campaign group Global Witness, who alerted Coca-Cola to the link, says the finding shows the limitations of private due diligence in Myanmar. (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre; Global Witness)
Corporate Reputation
BP set to pay largest environmental fine in US history for Gulf oil spill
BP has agreed to pay a record environmental fine of $18.7 billion to settle legal actions brought by the US and several states over the fatal 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The US justice department, along with the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida, all sued BP for damages not covered by the company’s earlier settlements with businesses and individuals harmed by the worst offshore spill in US history. The settlement ends all litigation between BP, the states and the US government and allows the company to pay over 18 years. BP’s share price rose on the news. The company will pay $7.1 billion in “natural resource damage assessment”, and the money will be divided among the states and earmarked for environmental cleanup projects related to the spill. Some environmentalists were disappointed with the fine, which has yet to receive court approval. (The Guardian)
Environment
Wisconsin becomes seventh US state to ban microbeads
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has signed a bill into law that bans the manufacturing and sale of personal care products containing tiny plastic beads that are known to pollute waterways. The law makes Wisconsin one of seven states including Illinois and New Jersey to ban the tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic known as microbeads, often used as an exfoliant in soaps and toothpaste. It will ban the manufacture of microbead products at the beginning of 2018 and their sale at the beginning of 2019. Microbeads are so small they often slip through wastewater treatment systems and end up in nearby waterways. Fish mistake microbeads for food and eat them, threatening the ecosystem and human health. The Personal Care Products Council, a trade association representing the cosmetics and personal care products industry, supports bans on microbeads. (Thomson Reuters)
Report: CO2 emissions threaten ocean crisis
A major report warns that marine life will be irreversibly changed unless carbon dioxide emissions are drastically cut. Writing in Science, twenty-two world-leading marine scientists say the oceans are heating, losing oxygen and becoming more acidic because of CO₂. They warn that the 2°C maximum temperature rise for climate change agreed by governments will not prevent dramatic impacts on ocean systems. They say that CO₂ from burning fossil fuels is changing the chemistry of the seas faster than at any time in the last 250 million years. The ocean has absorbed nearly 30 percent of the carbon dioxide we have produced since 1750, making seawater more acidic. Several recent experiments suggest that many organisms can withstand the future warming that CO₂ is expected to bring, or the decrease in acidity, or lower oxygen, but not all at once. (BBC)
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