Barnes & Noble fires CEO without severance but doesn’t explain why
Barnes & Noble has fired its chief executive, Demos Parneros, for violating the company’s policies but has not specified which policies have been violated. Mr Parneros was not terminated because of “any disagreement with the company regarding its financial reporting, policies or practices or any potential fraud thereto,” Barnes & Noble said in a statement. The company added that he would not receive any severance payment and that he had been removed from the board. Mr. Parneros is the company’s fourth chief executive to depart in five years. He had been in his role for just over a year, having replaced Ronald Boire who had spent less than a year as chief executive before being ousted in August 2016 after board members decided he was “not a good fit for the company.” (New York Times)
Banks leaving it late to secure post-Brexit EU future
Just 20 banks have applied for a license to operate in the EU in time to receive approval before Britain leaves the bloc. The European Central Bank has talked with 50 financial companies exploring options to retain the so-called passport that grants them access to one of the world’s largest economies, said Pentti Hakkarainen, a member of its supervisory board. Most of those hadn’t submitted applications by the end of June 2018, a deadline the watchdog said banks had to meet to be sure that they are processed by the time the UK leaves the EU. Cross-border business existed before passporting, and some lenders may be betting that they will be able to continue as they did before, Hakkarainen said. Since the Brexit vote, other ECB officials have noted that more than 100 banks use their UK license to access the EU market. (Bloomberg)
Human Rights / Policy
Australia proposes “modern slavery” law
Australia has announced that it plans to halt modern slavery by forcing more than 3,000 businesses to report what they are doing to avoid using forced labour in their supply chains. The Modern Slavery Bill will seek to stamp out the sale of any product in Australia that involves non-voluntary labour, said Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Alex Hawke, who introduced the bill, which emulates Britain’s Modern Slavery Act, in parliament. If it passes, the law would force all businesses with revenue AU$100 million ($73.44 million) a year to report what they have done to prevent modern slavery being used in their supply chains. Oxfam Australia has said that whilst the bill signifies a positive step it does not go far enough, with the need for penalties for non-compliance or the provision of false or incorrect information suggested as necessary. (Reuters)
Lawsuits
US state to sue oil companies over climate change impacts
Rhode Island has become the first US state to sue a group of oil companies over their role in causing dangerous climate change. The complaint filed by the state’s Attorney General accuses 21 major oil & gas companies of knowingly contributing to climate change and associated regional “catastrophic consequences”. Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and others are named in the suit as having not only contributed to global warming and as having advanced pseudo-scientific theories to refute the settled science behind climate change. Evidence of unusually severe weather patterns cited includes increases in sea level, the floods of 2010 and Hurricane Sandy. A number of US cities have taken similar action against petroleum companies. However, a judge in California recently threw out one of the lawsuits after deciding that the courtroom was the wrong forum for the discussion. (Climate Action Programme)
Energy
UK heatwave helps solar power reach record weekly highs
Britain’s heatwave has helped break several solar-power generation records, with the renewable energy source briefly eclipsing gas power stations as the UK’s top source of electricity. Solar broke the record for weekly output between 21 and 28 June, producing 533 gigawatt hours of power. In a first, solar output also hit more than 8GW for eight consecutive days. The records are largely symbolic, with gas and nuclear generating much more power over the same period, but the milestones demonstrate how far the technology has come. Duncan Burt, director of system operations at National Grid, said: “During the past 12 months alone, we have seen renewable generation records broken and we expect this trend to continue, as technology advances and we find new ways to accommodate and manage more wind and solar power on our network.” (BusinessGreen)
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