Search Results for: Germany

BY ALAN OSBORN

FOLLOWING a remarkable expansion of solar energy output in Germany in 2011 the mood of this renewable energy industry in that country is firmly upbeat – in sharp contrast to that in the UK. In spite of a 13% cut in solar subsidies last year (to be followed by a further 24% reduction in 2012) German solar energy output rose 60% to more than 18 billion kilowatt hours.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

DOMESTIC market expansion, new materials development and the transfer of production bases are all priorities under mainland China’s ministry of industry and information technology’s 12th five-year plan (2011 to 2015) for the domestic textile industry, released January 19.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

OVER one million people have signed an online petition calling for change in European Union (EU) legislation that would make journey times shorter for animals being transported to slaughter, and improve the overall welfare of livestock.

The collection of signatures from EU citizens is part of a larger campaign, launched by Germany-based international organisation Animals’ Angels and Danish MEP Dan Jørgensen, calling for 8-hour limits on the transportation time for animals being sent for slaughter.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN EDINBURGH

INVESTORS want to make the United Kingdom the hot spot for new gas storage projects in the European Union (EU). The UK tops the EU’s league table of projects either applied for or with official consent: 11.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of space compared with 4.6bcm of current operational capacity.…

BY MARK ROWE, IN LONDON; ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW

DURING the spring of 2011, the prevailing view throughout eastern Europe’s personal care and toiletries market was that while business was not exactly buoyant, the worst of the recession was over – then came the credit crises and the faltering Euro.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IN an economic climate where industries are trying to cut costs left and right, it only makes sense that the converting industry at large – a key element of many manufacturing sectors – has been raising the bar when it comes to waste handling and recycling.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

MICROBIOLOGISTS discovered microbially-produced surface-active agents as far back as the 1960s but the cosmetics industry largely overlooked the true value of biosurfactants – as they are more handily known – until recently. Japan has been at the forefront of this move, reflecting a desire amongst Japanese consumers in recent years for products that are kind to the environment.…

BY GEORGE STONE

THE MARATHON United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that resulted on December 11 in an agreement to kick-start a fresh round of negotiations to secure a new treaty on global carbon emissions, will spark a host of critical accounting and auditing questions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONSERVATION group WWF has lauded six major British cosmetics retailers for doing all they can to monitor their palm oil-based product sourcing, reducing its environmental impact. Palm oil has long been a concern of environmentalists worried about clearances of natural habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia to make way for palm oil plantations.…

BY ANDREW MCEWEN

A POTENTIAL liberalisation of Chinese luxury good import tariffs could lower the price of high-end cashmere goods in China, bringing them closer to Hong Kong and Europe prices, an international conference has been told.

The move has been spurred by a boom in personal imports by travelling wealthy Chinese.…