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A lack of renewable energy industry cybersecurity standards has seen green power producers “fly under the radar of regulation” when developing their systems and technologies, a senior US cyber-security consultant, and other industry experts, are warning. Peter Lund, CTO of Industrial Defender, a cybersecurity solutions provider for major utility and energy companies based in Massachusetts, USA, said these failings need addressing to avoid catastrophic outages, increased consumer costs or even crippled economies, as renewable energy becomes ever more important in power generation mixes.…

The Russian clothing retail and manufacturing industry is suffering because of sanctions imposed because of its government’s invasion of Ukraine, but the sector’s close links to Asia and Turkey are likely to reduce the impact.

With the war continuing, Russian bombers today (March 17) bombed a theatre in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol, Svetlana Melnichenko, president of the Saint Petersburg-based Chamber of Textile and Fashion, noted that Russians were not in the mood to buy new clothes: “It’s spring.…

CRIMINALS are using the war in Ukraine for criminal gain, exploiting financial vulnerability and an overstretched national police to profit from human misery. While the smoke has yet to clear, Ukrainian officials are already beginning to report increases in smuggling, scams, and fraud. …

Steadily falling costs of digital textile printing in India and the country’s central government’s success in developing the specialised skills needed to operate these technologies are paving the way for modern inkjet printers to replace conventional printing techniques in this key Asian textile manufacturing centre.…

While Germany is not the main place where rolls of fabrics are pulled through large format ink-jet printing machines in direct digital fabric printing processes, it does have a considerable eco-system of enterprises that finish garments and home textiles with screen printing.…

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has taken a stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stressing that alongside the human cost (596 civilians have been killed, said the UN by March 14), the military action threatens sustainable development. “A shared belief in our common humanity” is needed to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and commit to UN sustainable development goals, said GRI CEO Eelco van der Enden: “Without a return to peace, the sustainability implications for Ukraine, the wider region and around the world, could be far-reaching.”…

Malaysia’s paint companies are expecting an increase in sales through 2022 11.5% construction sector growth projected by the finance ministry, in part fuelled by major government infrastructure projects. These include the Kuala Lumpur-region Light Rail Transit Line 3 and Mass Rail Transit Line 3; the Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System, and the Pan Borneo highway, lining Sabah and Sarawak with Brunei and Indonesia’s Kalimantan region, the ministry said in its Economic Outlook 2022 report.…

A new Chinese standard aimed at controlling excessive packaging that comes into force September 2023 will be painful for the cosmetics sector in the short-term but promote sustainability in the long run, say analysts.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation’s China GB 23350-2021 ‘Requirements of Restricting Excessive Package–Foods and Cosmetics’, announced September 2021, (http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-09/03/content_5635105.htm)…

The Tunisian food sector is showing how an industry can leverage traditional halal practices in the domestic market to generate certification that enables its products to be exported to Muslim-majority markets worldwide.

“When we say a food product is halal and it is not haram (religiously forbidden), that does not just mean the absence of alcohol and pork, but also, and most importantly, it is halal because it does not harm the health of its consumers,” said Nawel Jebali, senior technician for the halal sector at Tunisian standards organisation, INNORPI (Institut National de la Normalisation et de la Propriété Industrielle), which issues renewable three-year halal certificates in the country.…

FATF has agreed reforms to its Recommendation 24 on beneficial ownership, insisting that governments ensure UBO data is henceforth held by a public authority or central beneficial ownership registry. The changes agreed by FATF’s plenary last week also insist that competent authorities can rapidly and efficiently access UBO information.…