Standard Chartered joins bank pact to prevent forest destruction
Standard Chartered bank has put palm oil, soy and timber companies on notice that it will soon stop dealing with businesses whose operations drive the widespread destruction of tropical forests. The lender has signed up to an industry agreement that commits it to avoid groups causing permanent deforestation in environmentally sensitive areas by 2020. The Soft Commodities Compact, created by the Banking Environment Initiative and Consumer Goods Forum, commits banking signatories to ensure palm oil, soy and timber clients’ activities are consistent with “zero net deforestation” by 2020. That means if forests are cleared in one spot, an equal area is replanted elsewhere. Standard Chartered joins nine other banks who have signed up to the compact, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Santander and UBS, who together account for approximately 50 per cent of global trade finance. (FT*)
Corporate Reputation
Edelman loses executives and clients over climate change stance
Edelman, the global public relations firm, has lost four executives from its corporate-responsibility practice, along with two influential clients, in part because of the company’s unwillingness to take a strong stand on climate change. The loss of the executives, who worked in Edelman’s Business and Social Purpose practice, could impact client business and dent Edelman’s reputation. Edelman has struggled for the last year to serve its fossil fuel industry clients, including Shell and Chevron, without putting off other clients. We Mean Business, a coalition of more than 100 companies advocating bold action on climate change, terminated a contract with Edelman over the firm’s work for fossil fuel industry clients. Nike declined to use Edelman on a climate-related project, while Unilever, a major client, is reviewing its relationship with the PR firm. (The Guardian)
Report: UK business subsidies and tax breaks total £93 billion as government cuts welfare
UK taxpayers are giving businesses £93 billion a year – a transfer of more than £3,500 from each household. The total emerges from the first comprehensive account of what Britons give away to companies in grants, subsidies and tax breaks, published by the Guardian. Many of the companies receiving the largest public grants over the past few years previously paid little or zero corporation tax. They include some of the best-known names in Britain, such as Amazon, Ford and Nissan. The figures intensify pressure on the government, which is today expected to announce plans to cut £12 billion from the social welfare bill. Yet that sum is less than the £14.5 billion given to companies in direct subsidies and grants alone. In the financial year 2012-13, the government spent £58.2 billion on subsidies and grants, but took just £41.3 billion in corporation tax receipts. (The Guardian)
Policy & Research
Electric ‘robocabs’ would reduce US greenhouse emissions by 94%
Self-driving electric taxis could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from conventional car travel in the US by 94 percent in 2030, according to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These future “robocabs” would be battery-powered and driven without human intervention, picking up and dropping off passengers using automated technologies. Greenhouse gas reductions would be made by running the vehicles from the electricity grid, which by 2030 will use a greater proportion of renewable power. The analysis found that the per-mile emissions of an electric vehicle deployed as a self-driving taxi in 2030 would be 63 to 82 percent lower than a projected 2030 hybrid vehicle driven as a privately owned car, and 90 percent lower than a 2014 gasoline-powered private vehicle. Almost half of the savings is attributable to “right-sizing,” where the size of the taxi is tailored to each trip’s occupancy needs, including single-seater vehicles. (Berkeley Lab; The Guardian)
Study urges ten climate actions to curb warming, lift GDP
More efficient energy use and investments in greener cities are among ten measures that can help the world to slow global warming while also spurring economic growth, an international report has said. Action across the ten areas could achieve between 59 and 96 percent of the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed by 2030 to keep global warming below a UN maximum of 2°C. The 2015 New Climate Economyreport urges the G20 economies to set high global energy efficiency standards in sectors such as lighting, vehicles and buildings, estimating that curbs on energy waste could boost world economic output by up to $18 trillion by 2035. Investments by cities in cleaner public transport, building insulation and better management of waste could cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution and bring savings worth $16.6 trillion by 2050, the report says. (Reuters)
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