SustainabilityForum.com - Your source for the latest Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility News, Discussion and Opinion.

Leisure marine industry commits to action on sustainability

floriankaefer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:45:32 +0000

The UK leisure marine industry came together this week to commit to putting sustainability at the heart of what it does.

The Green Blue, a joint initiative of national boating body the RYA and the British Marine Federation (BMF) to encourage a sustainable recreational boating community, held an event on Monday (November 4) to get marine businesses and sailing clubs to use sustainability to drive performance and cut costs.

EU Poised to Give Heavy Industry Free Carbon Permits

Chris Milton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:21:23 +0000

European industries including metals, building materials, textiles and ceramics will benefit from free carbon permits, starting in 2013, under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme.

Operators in those industries complained that not having free pollution permits would make them uncompetitive with their counterparts in India, North Africa and Russia.

Read the full story at Environmental Leader:

Leadership Evolution in Sustainability and the importance of Copenhagen

FabianPattberg — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:27:22 +0000

This is an interesting article I have read yesterday that I wanted to share. It is about the role of the role of the US Government and American business need to lead on Sustainability topics globally. It particularly addresses the importance of the upcoming Copenhagen conference.

This is the beginning of the article:

Climate friendly policies pay off, report shows

floriankaefer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:57:46 +0000

Climate-friendly policies not only reduce greenhouse emissions and bring environmental benefits; they also boost and diversify the economy, a recent report scoring some 100 climate policies from G20 countries reveals.

The report carried out by Ecofys and Germanwatch for WWF and E3G evaluates climate policies of countries accounting for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, identifying best and worst examples and lessons learned.

The Palm Oil Empire Strikes Back

Chris Milton — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:08:14 +0000

A report released by World Growth International in late September claimed that environmentalists are waging a “morally indefensible” campaign against palm oil.

The report accurately highlighted the high productivity of oil palm — the world's highest-yielding commercial oilseed — and noted that the crop has created jobs and driven rural development in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Top food firm switches to sustainable palm oil

FabianPattberg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:16:28 +0000

A leading food manufacturer says it will switch to a "sustainable" source of palm oil for its most famous brands, such as McVitie's, Jaffa Cakes and Penguin.

United Biscuits said that by mid-2010 it hopes that two-thirds of its palm oil will come from sources certified as sustainable. It hopes that 100 per cent of its oil will come from sustainable sources by the end of 2011.

World's largest carbon capture project on its way

floriankaefer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Chevron Australia awarded a $400 million contract last month to General Electric (GE) for the world’s largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project off the West Australia coast’s Gorgon natural gas field.

Chevron estimates the CCS project will sequester four times more carbon than any other project. The project is a joint operation with the Australian subsidiaries of ExxonMobil and Shell, and is estimated to cost about AUD$43 billion for first phase of development.

Car-free cities: an idea with legs

Chris Milton — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:19:23 +0000

A quarter of households in Britain – more in the larger cities, and a majority in some inner cities – live without a car. Imagine how quality of life would improve for cyclists and everyone else if traffic were removed from areas where people could practically choose to live without cars.

Does this sound unrealistic, utopian? Did you know many European cities are already doing it?

Make Peace Not Carbon

FabianPattberg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:06:31 +0000

The need to act to tackle Climate Change seems to have arrived at some places where I did not expect it:

A group of serving and retired military officers from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US have released a statement calling on all governments to "work for an ambitious and equitable international agreement" at the global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

EU Banks & Insurers Duck Regulatory Responsibilities

Chris Milton — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:51:11 +0000

European banks and insurers don’t always tell investors as much about their financial instruments and special purpose vehicles as accounting rules require, a panel of European Union regulators said.