Supply Chain
Global framework to harmonise product lifecycle analysis
A standardised approach to product lifecycle thinking for the consumer goods industry has moved a step closer with a pioneering collaboration between the Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF). The alliance aims to develop a single global framework for product lifecycle impacts, to assist the consumer goods industry in its attempts to drive sustainability throughout the supply chain. The framework will enable information on product lifecycle analysis to be disseminated and shared between companies, regulators, consumers, and chief sustainability officers. It could also improve sustainability performance by building in transparency and better understanding of the environmental impacts of individual consumer products and their lifecycles. The alliance has been endorsed by Unilever‘s chief sustainability officer, Gail Klintworth, who said it would act as a key driver to help companies improve the environmental footprints of their products. (Edie)
Environment
Dash for gas could add £600 to bills
According to a new report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) an independent UK Government advisory body, failing to support renewable energy will add hundreds of pounds to future energy bills. Households could find themselves paying £600 extra by 2050 should the UK’s reliance on gas-fired generation continue, it says, while bills for commercial and industrial firms would also be “substantially higher”. The findings support concerns by green groups over government plans to build a swathe of new gas-fired power plants. The report confirms the primary cause of energy bills becoming more expensive since 2004 has been an increase in the gas price and investment in power networks, accounting for 62 percent and 16 percent of the typical household bill rise. By contrast, low carbon policies and support for energy efficiency improvements each account for less than 10 percent of bill increases. (Guardian)
Corporate Reputation
Waitrose halts Shell venture
The British supermarket chain, Waitrose, has announced that it will not go ahead with plans to expand a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell at its petrol stations. The retailer will maintain existing operations but will not extend the joint format into 2013. The announcement comes after strong criticism of the agreement by Greenpeace, which started a protest campaign at the beginning of the month to force Waitrose to cut ties with Shell in opposition to its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. Greenpeace said it had collected 40,000 emails supporting its Waitrose campaign after it visited several stores, created a spoof Christmas advert and brought a life-sized polar bear to a London store. Shell ended its Arctic drilling work for this winter in late October, but said it would revisit the sites as soon as possible in 2013. (Reuters, Greenpeace, Ethical Consumer)
Google “proud” of tax avoidance scheme
Google has nearly doubled the revenues shifted to Bermuda over the past three years, to $9.8bn, according to filings that are likely to fuel the controversy over the company’s tax affairs. The increase in revenues moved to Bermuda, which does not have a corporate income tax, was revealed in accounts recently filed by a Dutch subsidiary. Bloomberg has calculated that Google avoided $2bn of tax last year. Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, told Bloomberg the group paid “lots of taxes”. “We pay them in the legally prescribed ways,” he said. “I am very proud of the structure we set up. We did it based on the incentives that the governments offered us to operate.” (Financial Times*, Independent)
Finance and Banking
Mitsubishi fined for US sanctions breaches
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has agreed to pay an $8.6m fine after admitting to violating US sanctions against transferring funds to accounts held by citizens of Myanmar, Sudan, Iran and Cuba. Japan’s biggest banking group is the latest financial institution to settle with US authorities over alleged breaches of sanctions. HSBC this week paid a record $1.92bn fine for alleged money laundering while Standard Chartered paid $667m to settle charges that it violated US sanctions. MUFG said its violations came to light after it conducted an internal investigation and found 97 cases between 2006 and 2007, totalling $5.9m, in which the bank had transferred dollars from Japan to accounts in a third country held by citizens from the four countries then facing US sanctions. (Financial Times*)
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