Search Results for: Climate change

Playing the blame game with worldwide known fashion brands has become a key strategy at Brazil’s labour and employment ministry, stopping the country’s textile and clothing sector from exploiting vulnerable workers, government inspectors have told WTiN.

They say that the high impact and publicity raids on manufacturing plants over the last five years are finally leading to businesses becoming more responsible over the hiring of workers to toil in poor conditions for little pay.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) executive, the European Commission could fine automakers up to EUR30,000 per vehicle if found cheating on emissions or other tests under reformed type approval rules proposed on Wednesday (January 27). The proposals to revamp the EU’s type approval system aim to prevent a repeat of the Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ scandal that have revealed major holes in EU regulatory oversight on vehicle performance, which is largely based on national government agencies among the EU’s 28 member states.…

European Union (EU) lawmakers could veto a new real driving emissions (RDE) test, using on-vehicle portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) devices rather than laboratories to measure tailpipe output, in a February 2 vote. To be taken by the European Parliament – the EU’s democratic assembly – the vote likely will be knife-edge close since three political groups – including the largest centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) – oppose the proposed veto but not the five others.…

THE WEAKENING of the Chinese currency the Yuan Renminbi – or RMB – last summer and autumn perturbed big-deal investors but it has also meant busy times for the money changers of Hong Kong. USD324 billion was moved out of China in 2014 according to Swiss bank UBS (which calculated official and unofficial currency outflows) but this figure soared in 2015 with a government-engineered devaluation of the Chinese currency which caught investors off guard.…

Smart paints and coatings are vital to the European Union’s (EU) plans for research and innovation spending between 2014 and 2020, which is being managed by EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. This is the largest EU research programme to date, and is ambitious proposals by any measure: the total budget has been set at around EUR80 billion.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating whether Spanish government support for Spain-based ICL Iberia Súria & Sallent (formerly Iberpotash) have breached European Union (EU) ‘state aid’ rules. These are designed to prevent EU governments from unfairly helping local companies within the EU’s 28 country border-free market.…

If the 2013 and 2014 were all about the rise of South Korean personal care product brands in China, then 2015 was the year that regional currency wars and weaker economic sentiment at home dictated how Chinese consumers spent on cosmetics and toiletries.…

THE OIL and gas industry is preparing itself for regulatory challenges following the agreement on limiting climate change struck in Paris on December 12. In comments following the deal, industry organisations stressed the key role the oil and gas industry will continue to play as a key energy and product ingredient source, even as the world moves towards a lower carbon economy.…

The rise of hipsters and the appeal of the bearded lumberjack look, dubbed ‘lumbersexual’, in recent years has led to a rapid growth in beard and moustache care products sector worldwide. Specialty products such as beard oil and conditioners, as well as tools such as beard brushes, have become necessities for many men with facial hair.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has given its political support for strong action by the European Commission in the coming year to propose and implement concrete actions to create an ambitious Energy Union. Its goal is to freely trading power between the European Union’s (EU) 28 member states.…