WASTE

M&S to remove ‘best before’ labels from 300 fruit & veg

UK supermarket Marks & Spencer is planning to remove “best before” labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste. The change, to be rolled out this week, will rely on customers using their judgement to determine whether goods are still fine to eat. The measure will affect 85% of the supermarket’s fresh produce offering. The decision is the latest step in the decline of “best before” dates, an innovation originally designed to help consumers, but which has instead been blamed for creating mountains of waste from perfectly edible food. “Best before” labels differ from “use by” dates, with the former often merely a measure of aesthetics, while the latter tends to indicate a safety risk if ignored. (The Guardian)

EMPLOYEES

Court of Appeal overturns Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ ruling

UK supermarket chain Tesco will be allowed to remove a historical pay incentive and dismiss distribution entre workers who do not agree to new terms of employment, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling reverses a previous High Court judgement that prevented the retailer from dismissing a number of staff at its distribution centres and seeking to re-engage them on less favourable contracts. The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said workers were told to give up their entitlement to retained pay. The Court of Appeal judgement argued there was nothing in the contract wording that “could prevent the employer from giving notice to terminate the contract in the usual way”. Usdaw said it would take its case against Tesco to the Supreme Court. (Personnel Today)

COLLABORATION

Aviation sector supports new net-zero transition strategy

The world’s largest airlines, airports and suppliers have backed a new report outlining a transition strategy for the aviation sector, to accelerate progress towards net-zero emissions by 2050. The report, delivered by the Mission Possible Partnership and the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition calls for a “doubling of historical fuel efficiency gains of aircraft”. It also calls for the market entry of novel propulsion aircraft such as hydrogen or electric by the mid-2030s. The report additionally expects that 10-15% of the final jet fuel demand needs to come from sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) by 2030 to scale the technology, adding that current SAF project pipelines require a ramp-up by a factor of 5-6. The report has received backing from companies including Airbus, American Airlines, easyJet and Shell. (edie)

HUMAN RIGHTS

Brazilian court recognises Paris Agreement as human rights treaty

Brazil’s Supreme Court has become the first in the world to recognise the Paris Agreement as a human rights treaty. The declaration was made as part of the court’s first climate change ruling, which ordered the Brazilian government to fully reactivate its national climate fund. The ruling states “treaties on environmental law are a type of human rights treaty and, for that reason, enjoy supranational status. There is therefore no legally valid option to simply omit to combat climate change”. The judgement was the culmination of a lawsuit filed two years prior against the Brazilian federal government by four political parties. They pointed out that the climate fund set up in 2009 as part of Brazil’s national climate policy plan was inoperative in 2019. (ClimateChange News)

CORPORATE REPUTATION

One in five cases of ESG risks linked to greenwashing

One in every five cases of corporate risk incidents linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues stems from greenwashing and misleading communications, research has found. ESG data science firm RepRisk analysed ESG risk incidents, ranging from a potential violation by a company or specific project of global standards and frameworks. RepRisk found that, over a two-year period, one in every five of these risks was linked to greenwash. Lobbying and offsetting were identified as two of the major contributors to cases of greenwashing. The company also found that greenwash is linked to one in every three risk incidents in the food and beverage sector. RepRisk advises businesses to work to spot miscommunication risks early on to avoid potential conflict and reputational issues. (edie)

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