Irish company emits more CO2 than Luxembourg
by David Masters
A single company in Ireland is responsible for more CO2 emissions than the whole nation of Luxembourg. Construction firm CRH is the most valuable company listed in Ireland, worth an estimated €9 billion. With external factors such as partner businesses, transport, and electricity supply included, CRH emits almost one third of Ireland's total carbon footprint, with total CO2 emissions of 20.5 million tonnes. This is almost double Luxembourg's CO2 emissions of 11.27 million ...
Small green businesses offered big prizes
by David Masters
Small businesses are being offered the chance to win up to £40,000 by pitching ideas to combat climate change. The Shell Springboard programme, now in its fourth year, offers awards of between £20,000 and £40,000 to UK businesses with great ideas to save the planet. To be in with a chance of winning, ideas must be innovative, commercially viable, and result in greenhouse gas emissions being reduced. James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK, ...
Armagh directors disqualified
by Grant Draper
The acting directors of Armagh, Thomas and Bernadette Curran, have been disqualified, due to their current recycling business facing liquidation, exceeding £1 million in debt. The sentence, according to the UK’s Department of Enterprise, for Thomas, 62, and Bernadette, 61, will span across six years, although a reduced sentence may be incurred, due to the couple taking part in a disqualification undertaking to the Department of Enterprise. Both Thomas and Bernadette Curran ...
Staples to host Teacher Appreciation Day
by Grant Draper
Staples is doing it’s bit to support teachers, by hosting a Teacher Appreciation Day, which will be held at it’s retail stores across the US. Teachers, according to Quality Education Data, Inc, spend around $475 per annum on equipment used in the classroom. Budgets continue to get tighter and teachers are finding themselves spending more and more of their own cash on materials used within the classroom, to make sure their ...
Survey discovers workplace environmental apathy
by David Masters
A recent survey has found that eco-apathy is as rampant in Irish workplaces as it is in the UK. Each employee in Ireland was found to throw away 8 pages of paper every day, meaning that a total of 3.8 million pages are printed unnecessarily in Ireland every day, leading to a paper mountain of waste. 51% of employees said their company has no green policy designed to reduce the business's environmental ...
Optimistic future for green collar workers
by David Masters
Recruiters for environmental jobs say that the 'green collar' employment market is thriving despite the current global credit crisis. Rising oil and gas prices mean that renewable energy is becoming an increasingly viable and attractive option for big businesses, who have increasingly started to appoint climate change advisers and other environmental workers to help them make the switch. According to UK-based environment recruitment agency, Acre Resources, the number of climate change specific ...
Fairtrade Foundation expansion
by Grant Draper
A Managing Director has been appointed for the Fairtrade Foundation, as part of its five year plan for change. The position, which was taken by David Lowbridge, a managing director at both Country Casuals in 1987 and Austin Reed Group plc, will make the staff count eight, in the ever expanding structure of the organisation. With David now appointed, the Deputy Director will now have enough free time to concentrate on the ...
EPA Scientists claim White House interference
by Alan Harten
A Union of Concerned Scientists, UCS, survey of Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, scientists, has discovered that around sixty percent of the scientific workforce felt that they were experiencing interference of a political nature with regard to what they considered to be scientific matters, while working for the EPA since 2003. Several hundred of the EPA’s government employed scientists said that they had been pressurized by management to alter their findings. ...
Study reveals potential link between radiation exposure and heart disease
by Rachel Thomas
A potential link has been made between a high exposure to radiation and heart disease. This link was the result of a 60 year plus study of 64,818 nuclear industry workers. The result was surprising as there is at present no biological mechanism that can explain why radiation exposure could cause heart disease. The research team behind the study did, however, point out that there could be other correlations between the ...
The ‘Great Green Leap Day’: a day off to combat climate change
by David Masters
The National Trust has told all of its volunteers and workers to have a day off on 29th February, and to use the day to do something to help the environment. Most businesses use the extra day of the leap year to get a free day's work out of their employees. The National Trust, however, wants its workforce of over 50,000 to spend the day thinking about their environmental footprint ...
People on the move – January 2008
by Grant Draper
New year, new career, plenty of people are looking for change for 2008. Henderson global investors have appointed a new head of socially responsible investment research, Seb Beloe. Beloe, was previously the vice president of research and advocacy at consultants, think-tank sustainability. Vodaphone has appointed a new corporate responsibility director, Chris burgess. Burgess is now the successor to Charlotte Grezzo, who took the opportunity of a senior role at the investment bank, ...