Search Results for: Climate change

Legislators in the European Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers have voted to insist labels on wine bottles sold in the EU must display the product’s calorie content in kcal (kilocalories – 1,000 calories). The Council text says the purpose of the change is “to provide a higher level of information to consumers”.…

Traditionally a society of meat lovers, Russians are now developing a taste for vegetable and cereal-based products that reflect the taste and texture of meat – food manufacturers are eager to cater to this trend.

International companies have been entering this segment in Russia, while ambitious local startups are rapidly expanding their production capacities.…

The Peruvian clothing industry is criticising government aid programmes that are supposed to help companies withstand the Covid-19 pandemic, saying they have done little for apparel and textile manufacturers.

Carlos Penny, president of the textile committee at the Peruvian Exports Association (ADEX – Asociación de Exportadores), is especially unhappy how the Reactivate Peru (Reactiva Peru) and a national Business Support Fund have failed the country’s important clothing and textile sector.…

IN Australia, the process of bringing the nation’s AML/CFT laws and regulations up to international standards has stalled, senior AML/CFT specialists have told MLB. And a widening banking scandal currently highlights the need for reform, they say, with Australian financial institutions struggling to detect and report money laundering and other criminal transactions.…

THE NORWEGIAN government has announced plans to ban ships from using or carrying heavy fuel oil (HFO) around the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, over concerns a spill could devastate the region’s fragile environment. Norway’s minister for the climate and environment Sveinung Rotevatn added that a disaster could damage the remote island group’s growing tourism industry.…

THE CANADIAN automobile sector has called on the country’s provinces to better coordinate efforts to increase demand for electric vehicles. This follows the Québec government announcing a ban on local sales of new combustion-driven cars, SUVs and pick-ups from 2035.

While the ban would not apply to most commercial vehicles and used-auto sales, and hybrid sales and use might still be allowed, Brian Kingston, the new president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (CVMA), fears this policy might not achieve its goal: to promote EV sales: “You need a plan, not a ban,” he told wardsauto.…

Dairy industry leaders have criticised European Parliament proposals to publish the names of those using the European Union’s (EU) storage aid scheme for powdered milk and butter as the EU reforms its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The European Commission protects producers when dairy prices crash through CAP fixed price purchases of limited quantities of butter and skimmed milk powder (SMP), which can be stored longer than milk.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated revenues at many Irish small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) but it could also prove a crucial period in the embrace of digital technology by firms. Irish SMEs are facing a collective annual revenue shortfall (where income fell below expenditure) of between EUR10.3 and EUR11.7 billion in 2020 due to the virus, according to research by the Central Bank of Ireland.…

AUSTRALIA has chosen an unorthodox path in transitioning to a low carbon economy. Its centre-right government has advised the country’s clean energy agencies to decrease investment in renewables such as solar and wind and instead increase investment in hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, microgrids and energy efficiency.…

The Covid-19 pandemic is set to drive a near threefold surge in the antiviral coatings market as researchers and developers say they now realise how little they know about effective materials combatting such threats.

The search for more universal antiviral materials “should be continued with even higher intensity”, said Professors Ken Ostrikov and Ziqi Sun from Queensland University of Technology, in Australia, in their September (2020) report, ‘Future antiviral surfaces: Lessons from COVID-19 pandemic’, featured in the publication ‘Sustainable Materials and Technologies’.…