While in recent years, the peaceful approach to progress associated with Islam has not been given a high-profile, because of the activities of extremists, the truth is that there is much to be learned from the Noble Prophet Mohammed about the value of incremental negotiation.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will start work in early 2022, based in Frankfurt, Germany, and Montréal, Canada, the IFRS Foundation Trustees have announced at the COP26 climate change meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. The trustees added that the new body would by next June (2022) incorporate the work of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), which itself includes the Integrated Reporting Framework and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).…

Britain’s open register of beneficial ownership was groundbreaking worldwide but its effectiveness as a bulwark against money laundering is being debated, even as both the European Union (EU) and the US move ahead at varying pace to replicate the system. The question of whether BO registers should be open or closed is one that is being discussed in countries around the world.…

Growth in demand for and production of renewable diesel is set to disrupt the global liquid fuels sector, with major increases in refining capacity being developed now. Renewable diesel has major potential as a transitional alternative energy source, because, unlike standard biofuels, in its highest quality form, it is chemically identical to fossil fuel diesel. …

Sub-Saharan Africa has natural resources that aids the development of renewable energy, it has lots of sun, plentiful wind, and much potentially sustainable biomass. With the development of small-scale affordable renewable energy technologies, such systems have been promoted by major aid agencies keen to prevent deforestation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, that – even where they are plentiful, have not usually led to widespread economic development.

The Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a revision of the island’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Law, partly to help paint and coatings manufacturers maintain access to the European Union (EU) market. The reform will take account of the EU’s planned Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which may levy duties on products the EU deems have been made with excess carbon emissions.…

The increasing decriminalisation and legalisation of cannabis as a recreational and medicinal substance has encouraged the liberalisation of hemp as a fibre crop, whose use in some jurisdictions had been restricted because of laws against the plant’s chemically-active ingredients.

This is starting to change, most notably in the USA, which used to have severe anti-marijuana laws, but which now has 18 states that have legalised recreational cannabis use.…

Somalia universities are developing innovative ways to attract and retain women in their higher education sector either as students, administrators or as part of the teaching staff. In this way, higher education institutions in this country that is still recovering from civil strife and armed unrest, are seeking to undermine the lack of positive policies and ongoing discrimination preventing women undertaking higher learning and gaining academic jobs in Somalia.…

With its complex supply and distribution chain, the international knitwear sector fosters innovation, with commercial partners cross-fertilising technical and design ideas that span digitisation and mechanical smarts, as well as consumer-focused creativity.

One key area of innovation in the past year has been warp knitting – for instance by leading northern Italian warp seamless knitwear manufacturer Cifra (1), which last December (2020) launched an innovative and sustainable garment concept for women, spanning beachwear, athleisure bodywear and lingerie.…

A key political question emerging from the Coronavirus pandemic has been how the disease might readjust relations between this world’s two largest powers – the United States and China. The two countries have had two very different experiences of Covid-19, which reflect their contrasting social and political systems.…