Moves from Dow, BP, Wal-Mart and all the latest from other brands in corporate responsibility and sustainability this month

Dow under pressure

US chemicals giant Dow found itself back in the firing line as the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster passed on 3 December. Thousands of people in the Indian city died when methyl isocyanate leaked from a pesticide plant, then owned by Union Carbide.

Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001, inheriting liability for the site and disaster reparations. Members of the European parliament now say they will push for a resolution saying that the factory and a large area around it remain highly polluted, causing ongoing health problems and birth defects. The MEPs say Dow should comprehensively assess the site, and disclose fully information it holds about the disaster, as a first step towards an eventual clean-up.

Meanwhile, Dow and oil and gas firm Denbury signed a deal in mid-November to capture carbon dioxide from a Dow plant in Louisiana. The CO2 will be pumped via a “green pipeline” to a depleted Texas oilfield, where it will be injected under high pressure to push out the remaining hydrocarbons.

Water disclosure project

The UK-based Carbon Disclosure Project has launched a water-risk programme – CDP Water Disclosure – that will help institutional investors better assess the risks from water scarcity. The scheme will provide a system for businesses to report on their use of water and their exposure to changing patterns of water availability. CDP believes there is a lack of high-quality business information on this issue.

Green growth? Maybe

A survey sponsored by Siemens has found that Germany is the world’s green technology leader, but could be overtaken in the next decade by the US and China. The survey collated responses from 270 researchers and sustainability experts from business, government and academia. Respondents were split over whether economies could in the foreseeable future achieve non-environmentally-damaging growth, with 51% saying yes, and 47% saying no.

Fined for failure

BP has been hit by the largest fine in the history of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for ongoing problems relating to a 2005 explosion at the firm’s Texas City refinery, which killed 15 people. Levying the $87m charge, OSHA said BP had still not put right some of the failings that led to the disaster. BP has already paid out more than $3bn in previous fines, civil lawsuit settlements and repairs to the site, and said it disagreed with the latest penalty.

No toxic shocks

Anyone worried by industrial pollution in their neighbourhood can now go online and search the European pollutant release and transfer register – a database covering more than 24,000 industrial plants throughout Europe. The database, managed by the European Environment Agency, tracks emissions into air, soil or water of 91 substances from chemical plants, metalworks, power generation and other activities. However, the register lags by some distance a similar system in the US, the Toxics Release Inventory, which has information on 650 hazardous substances.

Don’t keep on trucking

Wal-Mart trucks in the US drove 87m fewer miles last year – a cut of about 11% – while transporting 161,000 more cases of merchandise. This was achieved through better route planning and by packing more onto trucks. Publishing its third-quarter results in mid-November, with reported net sales of $99bn, Wal-Mart says the logistical improvements reduced its diesel requirement by 15m gallons. Wal-Mart has long-term sustainability goals of switching to 100% renewable energy, and generating zero waste.

Bribery bill published

The UK’s justice secretary, Jack Straw, finally published a bribery and anti-corruption bill in November. The legislation featured in the Queen’s speech opening the final session of parliament this side of a general election. See Greenwasher, p10, for more.

Green god

Belief in global warming could be equated to a religious conviction, and so should not be used by employers as a device to get rid of troublesome employees, an employment appeal tribunal in London said in early November.

The judgment was obtained by Tim Nicholson, formerly head of sustainability at Grainger, the UK’s largest residential landlord. Nicholson says he had been blocked by the company when he tried to put in place a carbon management plan, and was ultimately fired for being too green. Grainger says he was made redundant for operational reasons. The decision means Nicholson can take Grainger to tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Palmed off

Palm oil purchasers have been slow to buy certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which includes WWF and Oxfam alongside producers and traders. Palm oil is used by the commercial food industry, and Europe imports 4.7m tonnes of it annually.

CSPO has been available since late 2008 and accounts for 2.75% of world production, but in the year to the end of October, only about 20% of available CSPO was sold at a premium price. In the UK market, Asda, Cadbury and Unilever do buy CSPO, but Associated British Foods, Tesco and Waitrose do not.

Biodiversity can pay its way

The United Nations should establish an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the European commission says. Like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the biodiversity panel would provide scientific evidence for, and help develop, ecosystem protection policies. According to a commission-sponsored report the value of benefits accrued through maintaining ecosystems can outweigh by up to 100 times the income from short-term exploitation. However, while the benefits earned from ecosystems are largely public, for example cleaner air and water, the cost of the opportunity lost through their non-exploitation will mainly be borne by the private sector, meaning vested interests must be convinced to change their ways.

Fishy business

The Atlantic bluefin tuna looks likely to remain threatened after the body responsible for its conservation, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, decided in November to allow 13,500 tonnes of the species to be fished in 2010. This is down from 22,000 tonnes currently, but campaigners slated the decision, saying that only total closure of the fishery can rescue the bluefin. The battle will recommence in March at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, where an attempt will be made to list the bluefin, thus establishing a total ban on trade.



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