Data collection for agricultural supply chains set for streamlined upgrade
A host of big brand food producers including Mondelez, PepsiCo and Marks & Spencer will have their agricultural supply chain data collection and management streamlined through a new platform partnership between Sedex and the Sustainable Agricultural Initiative (SAI). Supply chain NGO Sedex has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SAI Platform – considered the global food value chain initiative for sustainable agriculture – to improve the availability of supply chain data in a way that removes duplicate data collections and introduces new learning resources. The two organisations will collaborate to develop the platform and enhance the services that they can provide to members such as Danone and Mars. “Both organisations were set up by their members in order to support collaboration, reduce duplication of supply chain data and encourage responsible business practices,” said Jonathan Ivelaw-Chapman, Sedex’s CEO. (edie)
Policy
UK launches international social investment strategy
The UK government has developed a cross governmental strategy to position the UK as a global centre for the social economy. The strategy aims to attract social investment to the UK and encourage foreign social enterprises to set up in the country. In addition, it seeks to support increased exports and franchising by UK social enterprises and intermediaries in foreign markets, and to bring back learning from successful social sector innovations and practices overseas. “Through social investment we are revolutionising the way that public services are delivered, aligning the interests of local authorities, social investors and charities while at the same time helping the most disadvantaged in society. Let’s continue to drive the sector forwards and build a stronger, more compassionate society,” said Rob Wilson, Minister for civil society. (Guardian)
Europe’s major cities call for diesel emissions crackdown
The Mayors of 20 European cities including Madrid, Paris and Copenhagen – but excluding London – have called for more stringent regulations to be put in place across the continent to tackle the deadly levels of air pollution caused by diesel vehicles. In a letter published in French newspaper Le Monde, the Mayors warn that new governance of EU car emissions – which will effectively see limits on emissions relaxed by 2019 – is giving the automotive industry the ‘green light’ to overstep limits and endanger public health. “We believe that this decision is unfair and wrong. It is unacceptable to introduce emissions thresholds, only to allow them to be violated,” the letter says. The group of Mayors, which also includes signatories from Oslo, Amsterdam and Brussels, warn that failing to address these issues could lead to an increase on the 430,000 Europeans that die each year because of air pollution. (edie)
Energy
Report: Doubling renewables by 2030 could save $4.2 trillion per year
Doubling the share of renewables in the global energy mix to 36 percent by 2030 could save the world economy up to $4.2 trillion a year according to a new research by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable sources, such as wind and solar, accounted for around 18 percent of global energy consumption in 2014. Under existing national policies, the share of renewables is forecast to reach 21 percent by 2030. The report said the cost of doubling the renewable share by 2030 would be $290 billion a year, but the annual net savings from reducing pollution and emissions on human health and agriculture would be between $1.2 trillion and $4.2 trillion. “Achieving a doubling is not only feasible, it is cheaper than not doing so,” said Adnan Amin, IRENA’s director general. “It would create more jobs, save millions of lives from reduced air pollution and set us on a pathway to limit global temperature rise to two degrees as agreed in Paris”. (Reuters)
Alevo to convert Delaware oil generator site into first energy storage array
Nearly 18 months after announcing a promise to revolutionise the fledgling energy storage market through the production of new long-life batteries, US-based Alevo Group has announced its first commercial deployment ay the site of a retired oil-fired generator in Delaware. The move is the first confirmed deployment since the company’s inauguration in late 2014, when it revealed it had raised $1 billion of capital over 10 years to deliver its 2MW battery units. “The GridBank deployment in Lewes is the first in a series of major commercial deployments the company has scheduled for 2016, and follows an operational agreement Alevo struck with Customized Energy Solutions (CES), one of the world’s premier providers of energy market operations services, to provide 200MW of grid storage to the North American wholesale energy market,” said the company in a statement. (Business Green)
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