Asian ship graveyards, post climate change asset analysis and a corporate tax dodger exposure app

Last sailing

European shipowners sent a record 365 obsolete vessels in 2012 to south Asian beaches for breaking, up from 210 in 2011, according to figures compiled by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Top scrappers were Greek shipowners, which sent 167 ships, followed by German owners, which sent 48, and British owners, which sent 30 – though 240 of the total bore flags of convenience from countries such as Panama and Liberia. European shipowners are “global dumpers” that “continue to profit by having their ships broken cheaply and dangerously on the beaches of south Asia”, says Patrizia Heidegger of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Workers in Asian shipbreaking yards suffer high accident rates and risk exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos.

Invest if you dare

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, part of Oxford University, has started a new programme to look at assets that might be left worthless by climate change. According to the school, investors such as pension funds should start to be wary of “high-carbon assets and sectors” that could find it increasingly difficult to make a profit in a carbon-constrained world. The programme’s first project will look at supply chains for agricultural commodities. Future studies will look at transportation, power generation and real estate. “Changes in regulation, pricing, technology, society and climate could be a risk to a range of polluting assets,” says Smith School director Prof Gordon Clark.

Horse meat drama  

European meat supply chains are under unprecedented scrutiny after the discovery of horse meat in products labelled as beef – typically in budget ranges. Many supermarkets have withdrawn products, either due to tests finding horse DNA or as precautionary measures. The scandal has raised public awareness of where their food comes from, but whether this will increase demand for more sustainable locally sourced products – rather than consumers shopping based on price – remains to be seen.

Coal hold-up

Plans to build what would be one of Europe’s largest coal-fired power stations suffered a setback in February, when a regional court in Poland revoked its building permit. The court said the public had been insufficiently allowed to participate in the decision-making process around the construction of the Polnoc power plant in Gdansk, and that the administrative procedure to permit the plant should be revised and restarted. The case against the plant has been brought by environmental organisations and local communities, who say the judgment is “good news for all Poles”. The scheme’s backers, Kulczyk Investments, controlled by Jan Kulczyk, Poland’s richest man, said the ruling was only a temporary setback. “We are not changing our plans,” a spokeswoman says.

Polystyrene persecuted

New York City could turn its back on polystyrene foam, used for disposable cups and takeaway food containers, if proposals put forward by the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, come to fruition. In his State of the City address in mid-February, Bloomberg said the packaging material should be phased out because it was “something that we know is environmentally destructive and that may be hazardous to our health, that is costing taxpayers money and that we can easily do without”. A ban on the packaging would be a focus of his last year in office, Bloomberg said. Bloomberg has also forced chain restaurants to display calorie counts and enacted a ban on supersized soft drinks. Rick Sampson, president of the New York State Restaurant Association, says Bloomberg is acting without consultation. “With this mayor, you just always ask yourself: what’s next?” Sampson says.

The wrong call

A scandal involving alleged bribery and money-laundering in Uzbekistan has claimed the scalp of Lars Nyberg, chief executive of Swedish telecoms giant TeliaSonera. Nyberg was cleared of any direct misdemeanours, but stepped down when an audit found that TeliaSonera had not been sufficiently cautious over a $350m deal with Uzbek firm Takilant for a 3G operating licence. Swedish prosecutors alleged that a third-party company used by TeliaSonera might have been involved in bribery. “We did not conduct a sufficiently in-depth analysis into the identity of our local partner in Uzbekistan before we invested in the country, or into how this partner came to own the assets that were later obtained by TeliaSonera,” Nyberg says.

High visibility

Consumers outraged by corporate tax dodging can now check that the brands they buy are not owned by the most prolific avoiders. BizVizz is an iPhone app, created by a Wisconsin company, that allows users to snap a brand logo and be instantly linked to the brand owner’s financial data, including corporate tax payments as a percentage of profits, government subsidies received, and to whom they make political donations. BizVizz says it features 300 companies and more than 900 brands, and has “plans to expand”. The app will also notify users with alerts about “ways in which they can get involved in corporate accountability campaigns, learn about relevant legislation or read a new report”. The app will “make corporate behaviour transparent”, according to BizVizz.

Sporting sustainability

Sporting goods giant Puma has taken on board the lessons of its environmental profit and loss (EP&L) accounting exercise to launch the InCycle collection, an entirely recyclable or biodegradable footwear, clothing and accessories range. The products are manufactured from recycled or organic raw materials, and can be returned to Puma at the end of their useful lives. They are then either turned back into polyester granulate, or are composted. The whole cycle is effectively waste-free, and has been certified compliant with the cradle to cradle basic standard from the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. A product-level EP&L analysis found that InCycle clothing has an environmental impact of about a third less than conventional sportswear.

CSR news  Stephen Gardner  Sustainability news