COLLABORATION

UK's biggest restaurants team up to plot pathway to net-zero 

Nando's, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Express are among the first business members of a new hospitality industry coalition that is plotting a pathway to net-zero for the sector. Called the Zero Carbon Forum, the new initiative is receiving support from trade associations UK Hospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has also offered its endorsement. Members of the forum will collectively develop a roadmap to net-zero for the UK’s hospitality sector and publish the tool by September 2021. The deadline is to be confirmed but will be more ambitious than the national 2050 vision. It is hoped that the roadmap will receive sweeping support ahead of COP26 in November 2021, where it could be offered to hospitality players in other nations. (edie) 

EMPLOYEES

US companies warned against mandatory vaccine for staff 

US companies risk a backlash if they insist that staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to the workplace, according to corporate advisers who warn that employers’ desire to mandate vaccination will clash with deep concerns among many employees. A straw poll of the leaders of some of America’s largest companies last week found strong support for vaccine mandates, with 71 per cent of the 150 chief executives at a Yale School of Management summit saying that vaccination should be required at work. But a CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll of more than 9,000 US workers showed more wariness among employees, with 41 per cent saying they oppose requirements that everyone at their workplaces be vaccinated before they can return to work in person, including a quarter who say they “strongly” reject the idea. (Financial Times)* 

SUSTAINBLE TRANSPORT

Australian transport emissions back to pre-pandemic levels, report suggests 

Greenhouse gas emissions from road transport in Australia have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, exposing the country’s lack of policies to decarbonise the sector, new analysis shows. Energy data analysed for the Australia Institute’s regular National Energy Emissions Audit shows the pandemic’s main effect on emissions was in the transport sector as people travelled less and stayed at home. However, while lockdowns saw emissions from road transport plummet in the early part of 2020, they started to rise sharply again towards September to almost reaching parity with previous years. One exception was Victoria, where emissions from transport fell again in line with the state’s second-wave lockdowns as COVID-19 cases peaked in August. (The Guardian) 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Bankers draft net zero rules for financial services sector 

A new framework has been launched to guide UK banks' decarbonisation efforts in the lead up to next year's vital COP26 climate conference, focusing on fossil fuel divestment, climate-responsible advocacy, and net zero targets. Publishing the draft framework this week, the Bankers for Net Zero alliance, which includes Barclays, Triodos and ClearBank among others, dubbed its decarbonisation checklist the "most ambitious set of climate change commitments for bankers to date”. The framework, which is under consultation, stresses that financial institutions must establish net zero climate targets for no later than 2050 and establish a clear date for the end of all fossil fuel and deforestation-linked lending. Firms must also publish and implement a comprehensive climate strategy clearly disclosing the warming scenario that targets have been aligned with and which set out a trajectory for how activities will be decarbonised. (BusinessGreen) 

GOVERNANCE

EasyJet board member steps down over her Wirecard role 

An easyJet board member has resigned following scrutiny over her role at Wirecard, the collapsed German payments company. Anastassia Lauterbach quit on Monday as a non-executive director of the low-cost carrier with immediate effect after less than two years’ service. Her exit came days after influential shareholder advisory group ISS questioned her place on the board, given that she had been a member of the supervisory board of Wirecard, the scandal-hit German company that filed for insolvency in June after revealing a multiyear fraud and a €1.9bn hole in its accounts. “The failures in risk management, oversight, and governance at (Wirecard) are of a category that would stain the record of any director,” ISS said as it advised investors to abstain when voting on her re-election to easyJet’s board at Wednesday’s annual meeting. (Financial Times)* 

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