Sustainable investment specialist RobecoSAM has announced the timeline and invite list for the 2016 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review. Launched in 1999 as the first global sustainability benchmark, the DJSI serve investors who integrate sustainability considerations into their portfolios, and provide an effective engagement platform for companies who want to adopt sustainable best practices. The invited universe for 2016 consists of the world’s largest 3,400 companies from developed and emerging markets. The online questionnaire process will open on 5 April 2016, with a deadline for submissions on 31 May. Results, including the coveted list of industry group leaders, will be announced on 8 September. (RobecoSAM)
Circular Economy
Report: Connected devices could unlock a circular future
A new report by the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation aims to provide a vision for a digitally enhanced, prosperous circular economy. The report finds that the information generated by intelligent devices could help decouple economic growth from resource consumption, and lead to broad social benefits. With up to 50 billion connected devices predicted by 2020, the report illustrates a compelling opportunity for emerging economies to bypass heavy upfront investments and material-intensive solutions. Companies are increasingly asking what role they should play in the emerging digital transformation, and governments are looking for new pockets of economic development without increasing the national resource footprint. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation)
Corporate Reputation
India blocks Zuckerberg’s free net app
India’s telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook‘s ‘Free Basics’ internet service app as part of a ruling in favour of net neutrality. The scheme, an initiative of Facebook’s Internet.org partnership, offered free access to a limited number of websites, such as weather and local news. However, it was opposed by supporters of net neutrality, who argued that data providers should not favour some online services over others. “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” ruled the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. There has been an intense publicity campaign on both sides of the debate, with Facebook taking out front page advertising in national newspapers to defend the scheme. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has maintained that it is “not sustainable to offer the whole internet for free”, said he would work to make Free Basics legal. (BBC)
Ikea stops selling solar panels to UK householders
Ikea has quietly stopped selling solar panels to UK householders after the government signalled a drastic cut in solar subsidies and just two years after a media-friendly national launch. Ikea expanded the solar offering to all its 17 UK stores in 2013-14. But in November last year the company decided not to renew its contract with its technology partner Hanergy Solar, two months after the government announced cuts to subsidies. Ikea did not give a reason for the deal’s end. A spokesperson said the chain would be selling solar panels again later this year, but the details are not yet clear. The company has made a big play of its green credentials, making its stores only sell energy-saving LED bulbs and pledging €1 billion on climate change and renewable energy through its foundation. It has also installed sizeable solar systems on some of its UK stores. (Guardian)
Environment
Report: Human trade is spreading deadly bee virus
The deformed wing virus is decimating bee populations worldwide, and it is spreading because of human trade and the transport of bees, a new study reports. “It is largely a man-made problem,” said Lena Wilfert, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Exeter and an author of the report. The researchers found that the virus, which originated in Asian bee populations, first spread to Eastern and Western Europe, and then moved to North America, Australia and New Zealand. “It was driven by the trade and movement of honeybee colonies,” Dr Wilfert said. According to her study, the virus is spreading largely because of the transport of European honeybees. “We rely on pollinators both for crops and for biodiversity,” Dr Wilfert said. “We need to consider our impact not on just honeybees but so many other pollinators that have no one to take care of them.” (New York Times)
Image source: IKEA Malmö by Håkan Dahlström / CC BY 2.0
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