Reckless greenwashing has tarnished faith in the private sector’s role in social issues July 26, 2022 AFTER the past month anyone might be forgiven for struggling to remember what last year’s biggest priorities were. While political attention has been whisked away from the stark problems we face, those problems have not helpfully agreed to go on standby. If anything, they have intensified – and nowhere is this more evident than the [...]
Letters: Grocers, get ahead of the game July 26, 2022 [Re: Jubilee weekend boom fails to lift June’s retail sector, July 22] Given the difficult winter ahead, it is unsurprising the latest ONS retail data showed that many are choosing to spend less. However, the rise in food sales tells a slightly different tale. Driven by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, it speaks to the ability [...]
Truss and Sunak have gone astray as they fight for Thatcher’s legacy July 25, 2022 Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will be glad the hottest day of the heatwave is over, because for the Conservative party it will be a long summer of heavy slog. As the final two candidates battle it out to claim the leadership they will criss-cross the UK for hustings in front of party members before [...]
As Westminster decides on its plan for growth, the City is ready to flex its potential July 25, 2022 The initial Conservative leadership debates were scattergun, trying to cover a broad range of social issues. But now we have two candidates, it has boiled down to one single issue: the economy. As we’re plagued with rising inflation and strikes disrupting our day-to-day lives, our future plan for growth is urgent, for the private sector, [...]
Energy efficiency can combat Putin’s political pull over gas July 25, 2022 In the past few weeks, Vladimir Putin has significantly reduced gas supplies to European countries, cementing the fact that Europe should begin preparations for a complete cut off from Russian gas. In response, European countries are taking emergency measures, such as firing up old coal-fired power stations. While some leaders might try to justify these [...]
Letters: Data-first green plans July 25, 2022 [RE: ESG faces reckoning after being ‘hijacked’ by marketeers, EY sustainability chief warns] ESG faces reputational risk, following several cases of marketers making unsubstantiated claims. But most organisations truly want to do good. The problem isn’t just deceptive markets, it’s companies lacking the data tools. It’s not hijacking, it’s inability. Take third-party ESG ratings. One [...]
Our public services are losing money to haphazard ‘social value’ procurement July 22, 2022 Public procurement is a third of all government spending, a tenth of the entire economy, yet it is a topic that attracts almost no media attention. Discussions of procurement are rare and typically only get attention when something goes wrong, like the controversy around PPE contracts during the pandemic. Think of it this way, for [...]
Green levies are a form of defence spending to ease Russia’s hold on our energy market July 22, 2022 SINCE Boris Johnson announced he would resign, the Conservative party split itself into different camps for their leader. Now we have the final two: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. After an ideologically-light leader, the party has tried to reshape itself over its policy on tax cuts and the cost of living. On the one hand, [...]
A post-industrial Britain has stark lessons for net zero July 22, 2022 LAST week our cities were hotter than they have ever been, and many people suffered. On average they were 3-4 degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside. Had more people commuted into workplaces, it would have been worse. But why are London and cities across the UK so hot? There are three connected explanations. First, they [...]
Letters: Food threats are heating up July 22, 2022 [Re: Innovation can save our food system from climate threats, 21 July] Extreme heat, droughts and floods were all mentioned in an IPCC report earlier this year as threats to food production. This week’s heatwave is yet another reminder. With the challenges posed by climate change only intensifying, we face a very real issue of [...]