the environmentalist gives a round up of environment management news from companies including Unilever, British Gas Business and RBS
Unilever chief executive Paul Polman has warned that the failure to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and improve climate resilience threatens businesses, jobs and the economy. Speaking at Imperial College’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Polman said natural disasters were costing the consumer products company $300 million a year.
British Gas Business is teaming up with Canadian supplier of energy intelligence equipment Pulse Energy to help its non-domestic customers save energy and run their operations more efficiently. The UK utility will install the Pulse platform system at 900,000 service points to enable customers to monitor their energy consumption, helping them to better understand how they use energy and how to reduce waste.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plans to appoint a chief sustainability officer this year, with a remit to embed sustainability in the bank’s corporate strategy. RBS also says it is strengthening its policies on environment, social and ethical risk. The new policies will focus on issues that affect all business sectors, such as human rights and climate change.
An industrial park in Thurrock, Essex, has been selected by British Airways as the location for its aviation biofuel plant. The Green Sky London plant will turn household waste into jet fuel and should begin producing the fuel in 2017.
Accenture and Siemens have created Omnetric, a joint venture focused on providing smart-grid solutions. Omnetric will bring together Siemens’ smart grid products with Accenture’s management and technology consulting and managed-services capabilities.
Figures from Nissan indicate that corporate fleet managers are buying more electric vehicles, with UK fleet sales of its Leaf car rising 132% in the past 12 months. Honda, meanwhile, is one of several organisations that have signed a £31 million agreement, coordinated by the Mayor of London’s office, to develop and demonstrate technology and infrastructure that will assist in the deployment of fuel cell electric vehicles.
