States and businesses prepare lawsuits against Obama’s climate policy
As many as 25 states will join some of the US’s most influential business groups in legal action to block President Obama’s climate change regulations when they are formally published on the 23rd, trying to stop his signature environmental policy. In August, the president announced in a White House ceremony that the Environmental Protection Agency rules had been completed, but they had not yet been published in the government’s Federal Register. Within hours of the rules’ official publication, a legal battle will begin, between the states against the federal government. It is widely expected to end up before the Supreme Court. While the legal brawls could drag on for years, many states and companies, including those that are suing the administration, have also started drafting plans to comply with the rules. That strategy reflects the uncertainty of the ultimate legal outcome – and also means that many states could be well on the way to implementing the climate plan by the time the case reaches the Supreme Court. (NY Times)
Employees
Monsoon Accessorize tops UK minimum wage list of shame
The retailer Monsoon Accessorize has topped the UK government’s latest ‘name-and-shame’ list of companies who failed to pay the national minimum wage (NMW). The 115 companies on the list neglected to pay more than £389,000 to workers between them, the government said. Monsoon – the largest firm on the list – is in the number one slot by some distance, for failing to pay £104,508 to 1,438 workers. The firm said it had taken action to address the shortfall in wages. The NMW rose to £6.70 an hour on 1 October for workers aged 21 and over. The top five defaulters were Monsoon Accessorize, Tyne & Wear Riding for the Disabled Association, Project Security, Carl Keith Salons and Cornwall Glass & Glazing. Monsoon Accessorize’s wages dipped below the minimum because it had a policy of offering staff discounted fashions to wear at work. The cost was taken off their wages, taking them below the legal threshold. The company says the issue came to light when the tax authorities reviewed its payroll system, and basic wages have now been raised to prevent any repeat. (BBC)
Corporate Reputation
Drug compounder will offer cheap version of controversial Turing drug
A maker of compounded drugs will begin selling $1 doses of Daraprim, whose price was recently increased to $750 per pill by Turing Pharmaceuticals. San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceutical also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed, Chief Executive Mark Baum said. News that Turing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and other drugmakers have bought rights to old, cheap medicines that are the only treatment for serious diseases and then hiked prices severalfold has angered patients. It’s triggered government investigations, heavy media scrutiny and a slump in biotech stock prices. At the eye of the storm is former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, head of Turing Pharmaceuticals, scorned last month for increasing by more than 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, a 62-year old drug with no competition. Shkreli, under fire from all sides, said late last month that he would lower the price of Daraprim, but hasn’t so far. (Associated Press)
Technology & Innovation
GreenWave ocean farming model scoops $100,000 sustainability prize
A commercial fisherman who admitted to once pillaging the oceans has won the 2015 Fuller Challenge, one of the most important prizes in sustainability. Bren Smith, executive director of nonprofit GreenWave, took home $100,000 for his 3D ocean farming model, designed to address overfishing, mitigate climate change, restore marine ecosystems and provide jobs for fishermen. Announced today by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, the prize is reserved for designers, scientists and students developing whole systems solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems. This year, however, the winner doesn’t come from an environmental or scientific background. Smith, based in New Haven, Connecticut, has developed a vertical ocean farming system that only grows restorative crops, such as seaweed and shellfish, to produce food, fertilizer, animal feed, cosmetics and biofuel. GreenWave has created an open source model that anyone in the world is free to replicate, and is working to train a new generation of farmers whose production model will have a restorative environmental impact. (Guardian)
Responsible Investment
US financial sector gets green light to include ESG factors in investment decisions
The US Department of Labor has announced the retraction of a 2008 bulletin that was seen as a barrier to investors, including financial advisors and pension plans, including ESG factors as part of their broader fiduciary duty to produce profits. The decision to retract the cautionary bulletin confirms that ESG factors are now widely considered to be material to the bottom line, and provides a major boost to the direction of private capital at scale toward global social and environmental challenges. Among the financial institutions supporting the Labor Department’s announcement was Morgan Stanley, whose Institute for Sustainable Investing published research earlier this year showing that 71 percent of individual investors are interested in sustainable investing. A follow-up report that analysed over 10,000 open-end funds concluded that investing in sustainability does not result in any decrease in profits. (3BL Media)
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