HEALTH & NUTRITION

Investors push food & drink companies, govts over 'nutrition crisis'

Investors managing $12.4 trillion in assets have called for governments and companies to accelerate the shift to promoting healthier food and drink to help fix what they described as a "global nutrition crisis". The investors, including PIMCO and UBS Asset Management, urged policymakers to use fiscal and regulatory measures to help support healthy packaged food and do more to meet the nutrition targets laid out by the World Health Organisation. Food and drink companies, meanwhile, were called on to commit to three actions, including reporting annually on the percentage of their sales generated by healthy products and their share of the overall product mix. (Reuters)

BIODIVERSITY

CDP to Collaborate with GRI on Updated Biodiversity Reporting Standard

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has announced that climate research provider and environmental disclosure platform CDP will participate in the process to update the GRI Biodiversity Standard. The organizations also stated that CDP will use the updated standard, once published, to inform its own disclosure system. According to GRI, at least 2,000 organizations use the initiative’s current Biodiversity Standard. With the revised standard, the GRI aims to reach more organizations in order to enable them to address their role in biodiversity, and to help meet stakeholder expectations for transparency. Additionally, GRI announced that it has accepted an invitation to join the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) Forum and become a TNFD Knowledge Hub partner. (ESG Today)

CLIMATE CHANGE 

Epson outlines €770m investment plan to accelerate sustainability action

Multinational electronics firm Epson has pledged to set 1.5C-aligned climate targets and source 100% renewable energy for operations by 2023, as part of an updated sustainability strategy backed with €770m of investment. At present, the company’s short-term emissions reduction target is to deliver a 19% reduction in Scope 1 (direct) and 2 (power-related) emissions and a 44% reduction in Scope 3 (indirect) emissions by 2025. To tackle Scope 3 emissions from the use of products, it has developed a range of “heat-free” printers that can reduce energy consumption by up to 83%, as well as printers without ink cartridges and textile printing technologies which can reduce emissions by up to 30%. As well as acting on climate, the business has pledged to contribute to all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goals on ending poverty, eradicating world hunger and ensuring peace were added to the firm’s plans this year. (Edie)

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

UK Government injects £116m into green technology innovation

The UK Government has opened a new funding pot for innovators developing direct air capture (DAC) technologies and other greenhouse gas removal systems. The government announced over £116m of new funding is to be split between three streams designed to help businesses develop new green technologies. The largest share of the funding - £64m - has been funnelled into the Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal programme, which provides funding for projects developing carbon capture and emissions removal technologies. The government hopes that the new funding will help the technologies attract further private investment, as interest in direct air capture and other forms of negative emissions technologies continues to grow. (Business Green)

SUSTAINABLE INVESTING

Switzerland, UBS & Credit Suisse Launch SDG-Focused Impact Investing Initiative

Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), UBS Optimus Foundation, Credit Suisse Foundation, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), have announced the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Finance Initiative, intending to mobilise up to one billion Swiss francs in private capital to advance measurable impact in developing countries. The initiative has three objectives, including supporting innovative financial solutions for new impact investing tools, scaling impact investing solutions by mobilizing more private capital and strengthening underlying portfolio companies, and contributing to improved framework conditions for impact investing in Switzerland and promoting impact management practices. (ESG Today)

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