Migration needs a home in global climate deal: UN experts
At UN climate talks in Bonn, migration experts called for climate-related migration to be more prominent in a new UN agreement to curb global warming. Very few mentions of displacement linked to climate change now exist in a draft deal, set to be agreed by 195 countries at a summit in Paris, experts said. “Climate change negotiations cannot only focus on targets, on billions. They must focus on people and entitle people to have their voices heard and taken into account,” said Marine Franck, a climate change officer with the UN refugee agency. Negotiators came up with a new version of the draft agreement, which includes a proposal from developing nations for a “facility” that would coordinate efforts to deal with people forced from their homes as a result of “loss and damage” caused by extreme weather events and longer-term problems such as droughts and rising seas. Another from a group of developed countries, including the United States, calls on an existing “loss and damage” mechanism to strengthen understanding, coordination and cooperation on displacement and migration – but this would not be included in the binding part of the climate agreement. (Eco-Business)
China to ban ivory trade as pressure mounts on Hong Kong
A senior US government official says that the Chinese commercial ivory trade ban, agreed in September, could be in place within a year, describing it as a “huge” deal. Such a move, conservationists say, would be a major step towards ending the poaching crisis that is devastating Africa’s elephant herds. Wildlife groups say Hong Kong’s legal ivory trade provides cover for a vast illegal trade that is fuelling a poaching crisis. The reluctance of the Hong Kong authorities to clamp down on legal ivory traders has allowed a much larger illegal trade to flourish, conservationists say, and has established the territory as a key transit point in the smuggling of ivory from Africa into China. “Hong Kong has always been the ivory laundry of the world,” said Peter Knights, executive director of WildAid in San Francisco. “The moral imperative has shifted from China and the US, who are in a position to say they are going to close the ivory trade down, to Hong Kong to do the same.” (Washington Post)
Governance
Macy’s to stop selling furniture made with toxic flame retardant chemicals
Macy’s announced that it will no longer sell furniture products that contain toxic flame retardant chemicals. The retailer had reportedly received emails from thousands of customers encouraging them to address the use of these harmful chemicals. The announcement came on the eve of National Mind the Store Action Day. Mind the Store Campaign advocates say the move is a real victory for consumers’ health and the environment. Mike Schade, the Mind the Store campaign director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, said, “We urge the remaining major retailers who have not acted, like Pier 1 Imports, to follow suit and phase out these unnecessary toxic chemicals once and for all.” Macy’s responded to Mind the Store saying, “If we do identify a vendor that is still applying the old flame retardants, we will be requiring them to cease doing so immediately.” (Wiat.com)
Environment
New online tool for hotel makes it easy to calculate carbon footprint
ITP (the International Tourism Partnership) and Greenview have launched the Hotel Footprinting Tool which allows anyone easy access to the carbon and energy footprint of hotels worldwide. Using data from the annual Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Study, Hotel Footprinting is a free online tool which enables users to search the range of carbon footprints for hotels worldwide. It’s now far easier for hotels to compare their own carbon footprint to industry averages in their locality. Businesses seeking to map the footprint of their own hotel stays and meetings can now access more accurate figures for hotels in the area and market segment, rather than using broad industry averages or having to contact individual hotels for information. The footprint report function enables businesses and event organisers to create and download reports for reporting of their scope 3 business travel emissions, or to offset those emissions. Information on the water footprint of hotels will be available from 2017, following the launch of ITP’s Hotel Water Measurement Initiative in September 2016. (Eco-Business)
Employees
Jack Dorsey gives one-third of Twitter stake to employees
Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of both Twitter and Square, announced at a Twitter staff meeting and on the social network that he would donate one-third of his stake in the company — worth close to $200 million — to the employee stock compensation pool “to reinvest directly in our people.” “I’d rather have a smaller part of something big than a bigger part of something small,” he wrote in a tweet. “I’m confident we can make Twitter big!” Although no employee is being given additional stock directly through Dorsey’s action, the move makes extra stock available for grants and could help prop up morale, which took a hit after 8 percent of the workforce lost their jobs last week. Dorsey also disclosed, in Square’s paperwork for an initial public offering last week, that he would donate 40 million shares of that company to the Start Small Foundation. Those shares, in addition to the 15 million shares he has already donated to the foundation will raise money to help artists, musicians and local businesses. (NY Times)
Image Source: Tusk by Hugh_Grant / CC0 Public Domain
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