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Unilever budgets N25m for water, sanitation

info — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:28:56 +0000

Unilever Plc says it has set aside N25.2m to sink boreholes and construct toilets to demonstrate its commitment to the water, sanitation and hygiene campaign. The company’s Managing Director, Mr Thomas Boedinger, disclosed this on Tuesday at Okpoga, Benue State, during a WASH campaign organised in conjunction with WaterAid Nigeria, a non-government organisation. The campaign was organised for primary schools in Okpokwu, Ogbadibo and Ado local government areas of Benue State. Represented by Mr Yemi Adeboye, Boedinger said the campaign was “a concrete testimony’’ of Unilever’s concern for the welfare of its customers. He said the partnership with WaterAid have had positive impact on some communities in the three local government areas, as well as in some communities in Langtang, Plateau State and others in Ogun State. Image: wateraid.org. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Nigeria | Company – Ethical Quote link: Unilever | Source: The Punch

Golden State Warriors And Verizon Wireless Team Up To Call A Timeout On Domestic Violence In California

info — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:19:06 +0000

The Golden State Warriors and Verizon Wireless invite fans to go ‘green’ and help curb domestic violence in the community. Fans attending the Warriors home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, March 11 can donate their used wireless phones and accessories to the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® phone recycling program. Drop boxes will be located near the box office and on the concourse. (…) Verizon Wireless and the Golden State Warriors also partnered with the Family Violence Prevention Fund to host a Coaching Boys into Men(SM) seminar. Coaching Boys into Men is a Coaches Leadership Program that partners with athletic coaches to help young male athletes practice respect towards themselves and others. In January, more than 100 Bay Area high school basketball coaches attended the event and learned how to use their platform to help young athletes build healthy relationships and serve as role models of respect and integrity in their schools and communities. Image: endabuse.org. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company – Ethical Quote link: Verizon | Source: Verizon

« Des syndicalistes colombiens ont réussi à faire asseoir Coca-Cola à la table des négociations »

info — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:17:05 +0000

Dans « L’affaire Coca-cola », diffusé lors du festival international du film des droits de l’homme*, le réalisateur canadien d’origine colombienne, Germán Gutiérrez suit pendant trois ans l’action de deux avocats américains qui se battent pour que la responsabilité de la multinationale soit reconnue dans le meurtre de 8 syndicalistes colombiens (Sinaltrainal) travaillant dans une usine d’embouteillage de la marque, à la fin des années 90-début 2000. Rencontre avec Germán Gutiérrez et la productrice Carmen Garcia. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Coca-Cola Co. | Source: Novethic.fr

IBM makes Earth-friendly plastic from plants

info — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:02:59 +0000

IBM researchers on Tuesday said they have discovered a way to make Earth-friendly plastic from plants that could replace petroleum-based products tough on the environment. The breakthrough promises biodegradable plastics made in a way that saves on energy, according to Chandrasekhar “Spike” Narayan, a manager of science and technology at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in Northern California. Almaden and Stanford University researchers said the discovery could herald an era of sustainability for a plastics industry rife with seemingly eternal products notorious for cramming landfills and littering the planet. “This discovery and new approach using organic catalysts could lead to well-defined, biodegradable molecules made from renewable resources in an environmentally responsible way,” IBM said in a release. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – EthicalQuote link: IBM | Source: AFP

Pompton Lakes residents begin suing DuPont over pollution

info — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:59:31 +0000

More than 350 residents of a Pompton Lakes neighborhood beset with groundwater pollution began suing DuPont and another company Thursday seeking financial damages on claims they have lost property values. The complaints also want DuPont to provide medical monitoring of illnesses the residents say they suffered because of the contamination, and they demand that DuPont clean up the groundwater contamination under their homes. About 50 of the complaints were filed on behalf of individual residents Thursday in state Superior Court in Passaic County by Weitz and Luxenberg, a New York law firm representing the residents. Besides DuPont, the complaints name as a defendant Royle Systems Group, an Oakland, N.J., company that acquired a portion of DuPont’s Pompton Lakes property in 1976, said Robin Greenwald, head of the law firm’s environmental and toxic torts unit. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company – EthicalQuote link: DuPont | Source: The Record

Shell Oil to be grilled by Amnesty on human rights record

info — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:02:31 +0000

The Niger Delta is one of the world’s 10 most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems and is home to about 31 million people. Its huge oil deposits have been extracted for years by the Nigerian govenment and multinational oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell. It is estimated that oil has generated an estimated $600 billion since the 1960s. However, the majority of the Niger Delta population lives in extreme poverty without clean water or adequate health care [1]. Widespread pollution in the Niger Delta through oil spills, waste dumping, and gas flaring – an illegal and harmful practice of burning natural gas that is released when oil is extracted from the ground – is damaging people’s health, destroying livelihoods and contributing to violent conflict [2]. This roundtable event held in Aberdeen, “the oil capital of Europe”, will be a unique opportunity to hear Shell answering some tough questions over their human rights record in Nigeria, as well as expert debate on the human rights responsibilities of multinational corporations. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – EthicalQuote link: Royal Dutch Shell | Source: Amnesty International UK

Mitsubishi Motors and Linde enter top 20% of Covalence Ethical Ranking

info — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:59:01 +0000

In February 2010 the following changes happened in Covalence Ethical Ranking, as shown in the updated Ethical Snapshots and Live EthicalQuote:

Up: companies entering the top 20% of Covalence Ethical Ranking (Grade A)

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (Automobiles & Parts)

Mitsubishi i-MiEV awarded the ’Environment Special Grand Prize’ (sample of news title coded in February 2010); Mitsubishi Motors Launches RVR New Compact Crossover

The Linde Group (Chemicals)

GNA Clients Waste Management and Linde North America Named Winners of “Project of the Year” Award by U.S. EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program; Linde to Supply Gases to Help Research the Effect of Climate Change on the Ozone Layer; Bosch Solar Energy and Linde Bolster Collaboration to Establish a New ‘Solar Cluster’ in Germany

Down: companies entering the last 20% (Grade E)

PPR SA (Retail)

La Maison de Valérie (groupe PPR): projet de suppression de 110 emplois; NCM summon to Nike, Puma for shoe designs

United Parcel Service Inc. (Industrial Goods & Services)

UPS to pay $53,000 for alleged waste violations

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Travel & Leisure)

Lufthansa pilots vote for strike action; Les pilotes de la Lufthansa votent la grève; Größter Streik in der Geschichte der Lufthansa

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Banks

Zimmer Holdings Inc. Health Care

Yahoo! Inc. Technology

Covalence Ethical Rankings cover 581 large companies within 18 sectors. They combine the EthicalQuote (measure of popularity) and the scores calculated in each criteria group (measure of diversified performance).

Details can be found in the Ethical Snapshots and Live EthicalQuote.

Syngenta launches “weed out hunger in 2010″ program

info — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:07:34 +0000

The fight to weed out hunger across the Corn Belt has officially begun. Weeding out Hunger, a new campaign sponsored by Halex GT corn herbicide and Syngenta Crop Protection, made a stop at the National Farm Machinery Show, held Feb. 10-13 in Louisville, KY, as part of the Weeding out Hunger Road Show. Throughout the spring, the Weeding out Hunger Road Show will make stops at various industry events and retail locations across the country to support local Feeding America food banks through monetary donations and non-perishable food collection. In addition, Syngenta will donate a portion of Halex GT corn herbicide product sales in 2010 to local Feeding America food banks to help weed out hunger one crop row at a time in corn-growing regions across the United States. The Weeding out Hunger Road Show has traveled to various trade shows and industry events across the country including the Wisconsin Crop Management Conference, National No-Tillage Conference, Agribusiness Association of Iowa Conference, Nebraska Agri-Business Exposition and Mid-South Farm and Gin Show. The next stop for Halex GT and Weeding out Hunger will be Commodity Classic, the annual convention and trade show of the U.S. corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum industries. It will be held March 4-6 in Anaheim, CA. Image: farmassist.com. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – EthicalQuote link: Syngenta | Source: AgriMarketing

Ford hybrids, electrics will arrive in Europe starting next year

info — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:30:08 +0000

Ford Motor Co. said today that it will expand its global vehicle electrification program to Europe in 2011, starting with the battery-powered Transit Connect. In all, Ford will offer five electric or hybrid vehicles in Europe across its C, C/D and light commercial vehicle ranges by 2013. Ford announced the initiative today at the Geneva International Motor Show. Besides the Transit Connect Electric, Ford will offer the Focus Electric in 2012, two unnamed gasoline hybrid vehicles and one unnamed plug-in hybrid model. The hybrids will appear in 2013. The vehicles will go on sale in North America six to 12 months before sales in Europe. Image: fordnewsblog.files.wordpress.com. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – EthicalQuote link: Ford | Source: Automotive News

Apple admits using child labour

info — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:27:16 +0000

Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones. At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple. The company did not name the offending factories, or say where they were based, but the majority of its goods are assembled in China. Apple also has factories working for it in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the Czech Republic and the United States. Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. “In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment,” Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: China | Company – EthicalQuote link: Apple | Source: Telegraph.co.uk