PLAN A REPORT LAUNCHES NEW 2020 ECO AND ETHICAL PLAN FOR M&S

Marks & Spencer (M&S) today publishes its 2014 Plan A Report which launches a new, agile and stronger sustainable business plan which extends Plan A across M&S’ international business over the next six years.

Called Plan A 2020, the 100 commitment plan retains and strengthens M&S’ 2015 eco and ethical commitments and includes new commitments that tackle both today’s and tomorrow’s sustainable retail challenges. 

The plan builds on the first seven years of Plan A by extending successful commitments and scaling them across M&S operations worldwide. It further aligns the sustainability plan to M&S’ business plan to be a leading international, multi-channel retailer and includes innovative commitments that are firsts in retail and sustainable business.

Plan A 2020 highlights: 
• M&S operations worldwide, not just the UK, now carbon neutral1;
• Launch of a Global Community Programme to increase the scale of the social, environmental and economic benefits of supply chain Plan A projects;
• Make Your Mark extended to help 5,000 young unemployed people by 2016 and Marks & Start employability programme launched in international markets2;
• Sustainable learning stores to be launched overseas and UK stores to be adapted for future climate change challenges;
• Energy efficiency target increased from 35% to 50% per sq ft by 20203;
• UK stores to raise £1 million every year for local charities and plan to raise £20 million for health and well being charities by 2020.   

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UK's oil, coal and gas 'gone in five years'

In just over five years Britain will have run out of oil, coal and gas, researchers have warned.

A report by the Global Sustainability Institute said shortages would increase dependency on Norway, Qatar and Russia.

There should be a "Europe-wide drive" towards wind, tidal, solar and other sources of renewable power, the institute's Prof Victor Anderson said.

The government says complete energy independence is unnecessary, says BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin.

The report says Russia has more than 50 years of oil, more than 100 years of gas and more than 500 years of coal left, on current consumption.

'Decisive action'

 

By contrast, Britain has just 5.2 years of oil, 4.5 years of coal and three years of its own gas remaining.

France fares even worse, according to the report, with less than year to go before it runs out of all three fossil fuels.

Coal, oil and gas resources in Europe are running down and we need alternatives”

Prof Victor Anderson Global Sustainibility Institute Dr Aled Jones, director of the institute, which is based at Anglia Ruskin University, said "heavily indebted" countries were becoming increasingly vulnerable to rising energy prices.

"The EU is becoming ever more reliant on our resource-rich neighbours such as Russia and Norway, and this trend will only continue unless decisive action is taken," he added.

The report painted a varied picture across Europe, with Bulgaria having 34 years of coal left.
Germany, it was claimed, has 250 years of coal remaining but less than a year of oil.

Professor Anderson said: "Coal, oil and gas resources in Europe are running down and we need alternatives.

"The UK urgently needs to be part of a Europe-wide drive to expand renewable energy sources such as wave, wind, tidal, and solar power."

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Companies increasingly counting internal cost of carbon

Almost 30 public-traded US companies are using an ‘internal carbon price' in their business planning, according to a new report by CDP.

The organisation formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project finds companies spanning all sectors of the economy, including energy, utilities, airlines, technology and the financial industry are using the measurement. All of the companies bar BP and Royal Dutch Shell are listed in the S&P 500.

Internal carbon pricing is a method of recognising the external cost of companies' operations on the environment and society, as well as incorporating the effects of climate change into risk assessment and long-term business planning.
Moreover, most companies in the survey told CDP they were accounting for their impacts now because they expect an eventual regulatory approach to prevent climate change.

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Hilton Worldwide extends Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia

Carbon Expert – Business Sustainability Carbon Consultancy

Hilton Worldwide announced the extension of its Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia with the inclusion of Conrad Bali and Hilton Bandung in Indonesia. They join 11 existing properties in Southeast Asia already offsetting carbon emissions from events and meetings. Since its introduction on 1 October, 2012, the Hilton Worldwide Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia has successfully offset more than 4,500 tonnes of carbon emissions. The amount of carbon offset is equivalent to taking over 470 economy class flights around the world.

At no additional cost to customers, the program measures carbon generated by events and meetings and offsets these through the purchase of carbon credits. The credits are used to fund projects in Borneo and Cambodia that have strong community and environmental benefits beyond carbon. From 1 April, 2013, 13 Hilton Worldwide properties in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are part of the program.

“Hilton Worldwide is committed to leading the hospitality industry in sustainable practices,” said William Costley, vice president, operations – Southeast Asia, Hilton Worldwide. “The exceptional results from the first six months of the Hilton Worldwide Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia demonstrate the meaningful contribution an organisation can make to the environment and communities it operates in.”

Hilton Worldwide is the first and only major multi-brand hospitality company to make sustainability measurement and corrective action a brand standard at each of its over 3,900 hotels globally.

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Carbon Neutral ?

“Carbon neutral means that – through a transparent process of calculating missions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero”
DECC definition of carbon neutrality

To view more in depth expert Carbon Offsetting  analysis visit our website. http://www.carbon-expert.com

Europe's climate chief vows to fight on to save emissions trading scheme

Carbon Expert - Business Sustainability Carbon Consultancy

Connie Hedegaard's attempts to introduce longer-term reforms will face fierce opposition from a powerful business lobby

Europe's climate chief vowed on Wednesday to fight on to save the EU's flagship environmental policy, the emissions trading system (ETS), after a serious blow on Tuesday when MEPs rejected reforms aimed at repairing the ailing system.

MEPs voted 334 against to 315 in favour of "backloading" the market – a proposal aimed to reverse the plummeting price of carbon that has resulted from a surplus of permits in the ETS market – leading the price of carbon to fall by almost half to under €3 on Tuesday.


Connie Hedegaard, EU commissioner for climate action, said: "We are preparing structural [longer-term reforms]. We will have new meetings for stakeholders, in parallel with an impact assessment. We are preparing an initiative." The proposals include measures to restrict rights to carbon permits under the system, and to allow for reviews of the number of permits companies receive for free.


Phil Hogan, the Irish environment minister who holds responsibility for the portfolio under the Irish presidency, said: "We are not prepared to allow this issue to die. We have a working party, and we will see what we have to do to put [this issue] up to people in a democratic process."

These attempts will face fierce opposition, however, from a powerful business lobby that has opposed the penalties on carbon dioxide emissions that Europe has sought to impose, in order to tackle climate change.

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Carbon Neutral ?
"Carbon neutral means that – through a transparent process of calculating missions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero"
DECC definition of carbon neutrality
To view more in depth expert Carbon Offsetting  analysis visit our website. www.carbon-expert.com

How polluters are trying to neuter carbon market ahead of key vote

Sandbag' Rob Elsworth warns a vote against backloading carbon allowances will undermine the EU's entire climate change strategy

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International cap-and-trade markets expanding – but still contentious

Nascent carbon emissions-trading exchanges in several countries are increasingly looking at options to interlink with one another, which advocates say would offer investors long-term stability, increase revenues for the development of renewable energy and strengthen corporate support for climate policy.

Yet critics warn that so-called cap-and-trade systems are inefficient and create incentives for polluting industries to continue with business as usual. They also warn that the new systems in the United States are dependent on mechanisms that adversely impact on poor and indigenous communities in developing countries.

"I've been incredibly struck at the recent groundswell of interest by countries – including China and Korea – looking to develop carbon markets," Harinder Sidhu, an Australian civil servant, said Wednesday at a panel discussion here.

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