Search Results for: Climate change

An anticipated surge in supply and demand for renewable diesel, fuel that is chemically identical to its fossil fuel predecessor, is likely to cause major disruption to the American vegetable oil market and industry, notably soy.

With the US government and certain states regarding renewable diesel as a swift way to further reduce carbon emissions and meet Paris agreement climate change targets, the prospects for major additional purchases of soybeans within the American domestic market are very real.…

European and US interest in carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) is continuing to surge as governments make ever more ambitious climate change commitments.

In tandem with improvements in technology mean capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted from industrial processes, power generation or directly from the air, and either storing or using it, CCS/CCUS is no longer viewed as a marginal solution with limited applications. …

South Africa’s dairy sector has been dealing with a triple whammy of low economic growth, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a spate of unrest in July in parts of the country that caused major damage to retail outlets and the spoilage and wastage of up to 1 million litres of milk.…

Brazil’s larger companies operating digital textile printing services have experienced a sharp recovery since social distancing restrictions imposed by Covid-19 waned, with many companies now investing in new equipment to move forward. But the country’s troubled politics – with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro earlier this month (September) saying he would refuse to recognise decisions made by the country’s Supreme Court – are limiting how much commercial risk textile firms are prepared to make.…

A fraud case now underway at San Jose, California, has seen prosecutors allege senior business executives were duped by a young wunderkind in medical technology – Elizabeth Holmes. But lessons can be learned here – straightforward due diligence may have saved victims a lot of money – Keith Nuthall reports.…

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has published a blueprint for how upcoming international sustainability reporting standards can be implemented within national and regional jurisdictions. IFAC foresees a different approach for a first block of rules – on investor-focused sustainability information – than for policy-focused sustainability reporting (a second projected block).…

Last July (2020), Infracapital, the infrastructure team at UK-based investment managers M&G plc, invested EUR 110 million (USD130 million) in EnergyNest, a small Norwegian company that has developed a novel thermal battery technology. Its ThermalBattery (a trademark) batteries, consisting of a concrete-like storage material made from abundant, recyclable and non-hazardous geomaterials, store excess industrial heat until needed, enabling the transfer of industrial waste heat into electricity and renewable power in industrial heat processes.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has tightened rules on whether packs of paints and coatings integrating titanium dioxide (TiO2) can carry European Union (EU) eco labels. The EU executive has ruled that from October 1, (2021) manufacturers can no longer use the whitener in EU Ecolabel paint and varnish products, when TiO2 concentrations exceed 0.010% by weight.…

The Swiss Federal Council’s (Switzerland’s cabinet) May 26 unilateral decision to end seven years of negotiations on a new agreement to govern future relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU), citing sovereignty concerns (1), closes the door on attempts to ensure the country has a formal link with EU AML/CFT legislation.…

AS COVID-19 batters the world into its second year of the most destructive global pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1919, its impact on AML/CFT is becoming clearer. FATF released an updated assessment in December (2020) (1) highlighting an increase in certain predicate offences caused by the disease itself and the increased online activity it has generated: phishing scams, business compromise fraud; internet child sex exploitation; corruption and fraud related to medical supply contracts; and property thefts of vacant homes and offices.…