Greenpeace investigation exposes agricultural subsidies linked to tax havens and billionaires
A Greenpeace investigation has analysed the Top 100 recipients of the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) “single payment scheme”. The study reveals that individuals or families featured in the Sunday Times’ Rich List own or control 16 businesses among the Top 100 beneficiaries, receiving a total of £10.6 million last year in “single payment scheme” subsidies alone, and £13.4 million in total farm subsidies. Four of the entities which received subsidies were owned through offshore companies based in the “secrecy jurisdictions” of Jersey and Guernsey. One in five of the recipients are from British aristocratic families, including the late Duke of Westminster the Queen and the Guinness family. The revelations will pile pressure on the Environment Secretary, to reform a farming subsidy system which has given only minor weight to environmental protection and the sustaining of food supplies in the rural economy. (Greenpeace)
Corporate Reputation
Renault says new “Zoe” has longest range of any mainstream electric car
Renault has unveiled a new electric car that it claims will overcome psychological barriers among drivers who fear running out of power between charges. The latest ‘Zoe’ model will have the longest range of any mainstream electric vehicle, 250 miles. The car’s battery, has nearly twice the capacity, employs different chemistry and weighs twice as much as the battery in the original Zoe, which had a range of 149 miles. Eric Feunteun, vice-president of Renault’s electric vehicle programme said that although some countries were reducing their subsidies for the greener cars, pressures like the Paris climate agreement meant more governments were still pouring more money into supporting them. However, a report released by the European Environment Agency warned that although a serious roll-out of the cars could significantly help EU efforts to combat air pollution and climate change, it would also put stress on power grids. (Guardian)
Responsible Investment
King’s College London backs divestment plan
King’s College London has become the latest university to pledge to divest from the most carbon intensive companies, vowing to end investments in tar sands and coal projects and increase its stake in clean technologies. The move makes the university the 26th in the UK to divest from fossil fuels. The decision follows a lengthy campaign by students and alumni that included a personal intervention from archbishop Desmond Tutu, a graduate from the university. King’s appointed a socially responsible investment review committee to undertake a year-long review of its investment strategy. The committee recommended a change in its approach to fossil fuels and the university yesterday approved the changes. The university has pledged to direct 15 percent of its £179 million endowment into “renewable energy, related low-carbon technologies such as energy efficiency and companies that exhibit excellent performance on measures of environmental sustainability”. (Business Green)
Shareholders serious about climate risk must ‘walk the talk’ on BP and Shell pay votes
Investors are being urged to use binding votes on remuneration at BP and Shell in 2017 to hold the oil majors to account on their transition for commercial resilience in a lower carbon world. In a new report, ShareAction urges investors not to support executive compensation structures that incentivise the pursuit of high-carbon strategies. Doing so would put shareholder value at risk under low-carbon future scenarios, including the ‘below two degrees’ goal agreed at the Paris climate summit last year. They are the first pay votes to be put to shareholders in BP and Shell since the Paris Agreement on global emissions. If approved, the structures will be applicable until 2020 and will be used to determine executive reward each year at the companies. Concerns about incentive structures at oil and gas companies are being echoed around the world. A report released by Australian finance activist group shows how fossil fuel companies in Australia are linking executive pay explicitly to the expansion of new oil, gas and coal reserves. (Share Action)
Environment
Oslo’s “climate budget” aims to halve carbon emissions in four years
Oslo’s city government issued its first “climate budget” on Wednesday aiming to halve greenhouse gas emission within four years. The budget, setting out annual goals to choke off emissions from cars, homes and businesses in the Norwegian capital, adds to a scheme announced last year to ban private cars from the city centre. The Oslo council agreed earlier this year to halve emissions from Oslo and aims for net zero emissions by 2030. Under Wednesday’s plan, the city will raise tolls for cars to enter the city, cut parking spaces, phase out fossil-fuel heating in homes and offices by 2020, shift the bus fleet to renewable energy and build ever more bicycle lanes. The projected cuts would be unprecedented as no country had cut emissions by more than about five percent a year. (Reuters)
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