ExxonMobil, Chevron investors vote for more action on climate change

Yahoo – AFP, John BIERS, May 26, 2021

Shareholders of ExxonMobil will decide whether to replace up to four board
members with supporters of renewable energy investment

Shareholders at ExxonMobil elected Wednesday at least two board members who pledged more aggressive action on climate change, while Chevron investors directed the oil giant to deepen emission cuts. 

The dual meetings involving the two biggest US oil giants showed clear evidence of how addressing climate change has moved from the environmental world into the investor mainstream. 

At ExxonMobil, two board nominees from activist group Engine No. 1 won enough votes to secure board seats. Shareholders also backed a proposal requiring a report on the oil giant's lobbying activities on climate change. 

At Chevron, a majority of investors backed an activist proposal calling on the company to reduce "scope 3" emissions associated with company operations. 

Earlier Wednesday, a Dutch court ordered oil giant Shell to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by a net of 45 percent by the end of 2030 following a challenge launched by environmental group Friends of the Earth. 

Engine No. 1's Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala secured enough votes to join ExxonMobil's board, along with Chief Executive Darren Woods and several other incumbent directors who were reelected, said ExxonMobil corporate secretary Stephen Littleton. 

Littleton said the vote was too close to call on whether the other two Engine No. 1 candidates would join the board instead of incumbent directors and that a final outcome may not be known "for some period of time." 

After the results were announced, Woods congratulated the Engine No. 1 candidates and pledged to work with them to meet shareholder expectations. The company had launched a lobbying offensive to re-elect its incumbent board, arguing it was taking meaningful action to address climate change. 

"We've heard from shareholders about their desire to catalyze further progress at ExxonMobil and we are well prepared to deliver," Woods said after the vote. 

'Change is coming' 

ExxonMobil had announced a series of steps on climate change since Engine No. 1 launched its campaign in late 2020, making Wednesday's election contest unpredictable. 

Engine No. 1's Charlie Penner expressed uncertainty about the vote during remarks at the outset of the meeting. 

"No matter what the outcome of this vote, change is coming," said Penner, who noted ExxonMobil's promises made since the insurgent campaign launched late last year that it "cannot easily walk away from." 

The oil company in January established a new "low carbon solutions" business to commercialize carbon capture technology; announced two new board members in March; and earlier this week pledged to appoint two more board members in the next 12 months, one with energy industry experience and one with climate experience. 

ExxonMobil has battled annual meeting fights on climate change for decades, usually prevailing on shareholder resolutions. 

But oil majors are under intensifying pressure to develop more aggressive policies on climate change and embrace renewable energy. 

European rivals such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total have undertaken renewable investments and pledged to attain net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The International Energy Agency earlier this month said all future fossil fuel projects should be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and stand any chance of limiting warming to 1.5C. 

The report goes well beyond existing policies adopted by the United States and other governments. The Biden administration, for example, has endorsed renewable energy investment, but has not supported an immediate phase-out of new fossil fuel investment. 

Both ExxonMobil and Chevron have announced new environmental initiatives in recent months, while insisting on the need for continued investment in oil and gas development. 

Woods called the recent IEA analysis a "helpful" contribution, saying reducing emissions is a "complex problem and a challenging one" that will require new technology and government policies. 

Shares of ExxonMobil rose 0.7 percent to $58.65 in afternoon trading, while Chevron was flat to $103.85.

Related Article:

Shell ordered to slash CO2 emissions more quickly in landmark court case

Shell ordered to cut emissions in landmark Dutch climate case

Yahoo – AFP, Danny KEMP, May 26, 2021 

Environmentalists celebrate after The Hague court announced the landmark ruling

A Dutch court ordered oil giant Shell on Wednesday to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in a landmark victory for climate activists with implications for energy firms worldwide. 

Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 as it is contributing to the "dire" effects of climate change, the district court in The Hague ruled. 

Campaigners hailed the "historic" verdict as the first time that a company had been made to align its policy with the 2015 Paris climate accords. 

Dubbed "the People versus Shell", the case was backed by seven environmental groups and more than 17,000 Dutch citizens. 

Judge Larisa Alwin said in the verdict that Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell has an "enormous CO2 emission for which it is responsible".

 Shell "is contributing to the dire consequences of climate change for the population" and must implement the decision "at once". 

Shell said it "fully expects to appeal today's disappointing court decision". 

"Urgent action is needed on climate change which is why we have accelerated our efforts to become a net-zero emissions energy company by 2050, in step with society," a Shell spokesman said in a statement. 

With energy firms around the world facing growing pressure over climate change, Shell set new targets in February to reduce its net carbon footprint compared to a 2016 baseline by 20 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2050. 

Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030, the Dutch court ruled

'Historical day' 

Dozens of campaigners hugged, clapped and shouted "climate justice" outside the court as the verdict was announced, an AFP reporter said. 

In a show of solidarity, a group of around 50 Dutch cyclists had also cycled from the north of the Netherlands to mark the judgment. 

"This is a historical day," said Donald Pols, director of the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, which originally brought the case. 

"It's the first time in history that the judge has decided that a large polluter, Royal Dutch Shell, should stop causing dangerous climate change," Pols told AFP outside the court. 

"This will have an enormous impact, not only on Shell itself, but on major polluters throughout the Netherlands and globally." 

The 2015 Paris accords committed all nations to cut carbon emissions to limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and encouraged them to go down to 1.5 degrees. 

Greenpeace Netherlands interim chief Andy Palmen said it was a "historic victory for the climate and everyone facing the consequences of the climate crisis." 

"Shell cannot continue to violate human rights and put profit over people and the planet... We can hold multinational corporations worldwide accountable for the climate crisis," he said in a statement. 

The case is one of a series around the world in which citizens and campaigners frustrated with inaction on climate change have hauled governments and big polluters before the courts. 

The judge acknowledged that Shell had 'already tightened up its goals' but said 
its climate policy was not 'concrete'

'Full of reservations' 

Dozens of climate marchers handed in the lawsuit to Shell's headquarters in the Netherlands in The Hague in April 2019 in what organisers said was the first case of its kind. 

Shell had argued that it is making serious efforts to cut gas emissions, but that there is no legal basis for the case and that governments are responsible for meeting Paris targets. 

It said it was investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy such as electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, renewables and biofuels. 

The judge acknowledged that Shell had "already tightened up its goals" but said its climate policy was "not concrete and is full of reservations." 

Shell's emissions were "greater than those of many countries" and the resulting climate change effects pose "serious risks to human rights, such as the right to life and an undisturbed family life," the judge said. 

She ordered Shell to make the emissions cut based on its 2019 levels. 

Campaigners have repeated the success of a case brought by the green group Urgenda in which the Dutch Supreme Court in 2019 ordered the state to slash emissions by at least 25 percent of 1990 levels by the end of 2020. 

The Netherlands, particularly vulnerable to climate change as a third of the country is below sea level, has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 49 percent by 2030. 

It is sixth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita in the EU, according to the bloc's figures.

 Related Article:

Appeal court upholds Urgenda ruling – government must cut CO2 by 25%

Dutch government to appeal court ruling on emissions cuts

Dutch government ordered to cut carbon emissions in landmark ruling

Urgenda supporters celebrate at the Hague after court ruling requiring Dutch 

government to slash emissions. Photograph: Chantal Bekker/Urgenda

“A Plea to Scientists” – (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon.com, October 11, 2020 

This live channelling was streamed live for the Lemurian Starseed Gathering 

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added or condensed. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message which was streamed live for. 

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. 

Questions have always been asked, “When you channel, is the entity being channelled [Kryon] aware enough to know where you are? Does Spirit know what’s going on, or does channelling represent some kind of a disconnect, like somehow you bring in the entity from the other side of the veil and it is in a kind of a bubble of sacred reality and doesn’t know what you are experiencing?” 

This entire question comes from misinformation and a perception of how God [Creative Source] sees you. The beautiful, magnificent truth is this: Known by God you are, in a way that you can’t truly imagine. Known by God means that all the things you are going through are felt and known. And the beauty of this is that it’s not just the difficulties, dear ones. Spirit is not here just to help you through difficulties. Spirit is here to celebrate all life experiences with you, and I want you to know that! When it’s time to laugh, do you realize just how healing and comforting that is? Don’t you feel the smiling creative energy of mother/father God with you when you laugh? When you are celebrating something specifically wonderful for you or for others, and you’re in that space where you’re relaxing and having a wonderful time … we are there. 

Spirit is right next to you, 24/7. Spirit loves you and, in those times when you’re needing help, that’s when the outstretched hand of Spirit will be there. If you choose to take it, that’s the free will that we speak of all the time. There are so many who have been trained out of this reality! They would believe they have to figuratively climb stairs or go to a certain place or say certain words or behave in a certain way so the Creator will pay attention or listen to them or grant a wish. That idea is completely and totally man-made, dear ones. It comes from your own hierarchical structure of how you might speak to your own royalty or Human leadership … as in how many officials you’d have to go through in order to talk to the boss. That’s not the way it is with Spirit. There is no hierarchy, only love. That Creative Source, which created the Universe and the heavens and all that you see, knows your name – knows your name. 

CHANGES ARE COMING 

Something is happening on this planet that will change the way you think. We have said this before. We have told you there will be the opening of enhanced knowledge, and part of that opening would be the revelation of the validity of multidimensional energies being part of everyday science. You might even call it The Multidimensional Effect. I want to discuss this very thing, and more. 

Humanity thinks a certain way, and often, it does so for protection. It’s an unconscious perception of being protected from false things and relates to social survival. It comes from a long-term consistency of things being a certain way on the planet and, therefore, accurate and correct. So far so good. 

There are many hidden biases, however, even among those who say they are unbiased, and it happens because of actual, unconscious training that a Human receives from birth. It happens because those you respect and love taught you certain things and showed you how things work in your culture. This would include what you learn from your family while growing up, then school, your church, and what you learn from peer relationships. 

However, over time and revelation, if you find proof that some of those things are very different from what you learned, there is often a confusion of logic and even dysfunction. Whereas many now see the reality of a revealed truth, they do not wish to participate in it. Instead, they want to stay with what they were told, even if it has proven to be false or incomplete. To do otherwise would almost be a betrayal of those who did their best to teach them this truth. So, there are many hidden biases in many areas, especially that of science. 

THE BALANCED PHYSICIST 

I’d like to introduce you to the balanced physicist. Those who come out of high physics know right from the beginning that there is so much more to reality than what the planet knows. There is much that is not revealed yet. There is an acknowledgment that science doesn’t yet know everything, and they see profound experiments that have results that they don’t fully understand. From the beginning, even in the teaching of physics, they see classic examples of things that don’t work the way they should in 3D. The double-slot experiment of light is a good example. This is a very simple and old experiment showing that light can be in two places at once. It also asks a question about particles vs. waves and the mystery of when the change from one to another occurs. 

This is something students of physics learn in their first courses. It opens a door in their teaching that comes from their teachers: “We don’t know everything, so whatever we teach you is only what we believe we know today.” A good, balanced physicist will always acknowledge that there is a great deal that humanity doesn’t yet know. These scientists are very interested in the things they observe but cannot explain. So, in that, there is full acknowledgment that there is much to learn about how things work. 

Now, most of you will say that this is a very good thing, especially for a high science like physics. However, even with this great attitude toward the unknown, there is a bias: “Don’t mess with the current laws of physics.” In other words, these laws of physics are golden. They work and have been proven time and time again. Among such scenarios are the laws of Newton and Kepler. These gravitational rules from these sources have worked for decades in some of the most highly developed science on the planet, such as space exploration. Those formulas have allowed humanity to leave this planet with probes, land on other planets, and even land on asteroids! That is the absolute validation of Newton and Kepler, and that the formulas are proven, in stone, and they never change … and they work. 

THE CHALLENGE 

Here comes a scientist with news: “I’ve got evidence of a new law that would be very different from what Newton said.” What do you think would be the reaction from science? Would it be? “Wow, tell me more!” No. Instead, what they might do … and what they did, is to slam the door hard, and say “What we know, works well, so don’t bother us with anything else.” 

This is the exact scenario that happened in the 1970s with Astronomer Vera Rubin. Her discovery was called “a problem” because her ten-year galactic measurement findings did not follow the known laws of gravity as described by Newton and Kepler. So, rather than enhance those established laws, scientists said there obviously had to be more gravity that affected them. So, they invented “Dark Matter” to make things fit. The thought that perhaps they should alter those sacred laws did not occur to them. Later, Rubin objected and didn’t accept dark matter at all. She believed she had discovered a new theory of “gravitational attraction at large distances.” 

So, in one area, they are saying, “Tell me more because we don’t have the answers,” and in another area, they are saying, “Don’t touch what we have learned.” This is classic and is common. What you’re taught in school, physicist, doctor, is then what you cognize for life as “The way of it” and nothing can change it. 

ADVICE TO SCIENTISTS 

My advice to any man or woman of science is this: The laws that you’ve learned, the things that you know, consider them as the primer science of your reality. When certain other things are revealed that seem to change these ideas, understand that they do not negate what you’ve learned. Rather, they enhance it and make the laws bigger and more complete. New findings will make current understandings more profound and more elegant than they were. 

In Rubin’s case, what if the laws of Newton and Kepler were just the basic ones? What if they are simply the default? What if these basic laws change with dimensional awareness? What if, as you study the Universe, you find out there is something you can do that can actually alter these laws? Would you then object as you do now? Physicist, would you alter mass if you could, thereby changing the laws around it that you learned? Most of you would say, “Of course we wouldn’t object. It’s science. BUT.. you can’t alter mass.” Really? Who told you that? What is mass itself was simply a default, and was alterable? 

There are discoveries to be made that will take what is known now from Newton and Kepler and bring it to the next step using multidimensional energies. This would result in keeping what you’ve learned, but then enhancing it to relate to a larger reality than you knew existed. You might think this would be very exciting to science, but the unconscious biases keep an entire planet of physicists from straying away from what they learned. That is what we speak of in these moments with you now. 

WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT COMPLETE 

Thirty-one years ago, when I started channelling through the man in the chair before you, I presented something that has been my mantra to you ever since: You live in an energy that you feel is real, but it is not. It is a fraction of what is actually there. 

“Reality” for me is defined as: The state of things that actually exist in a complete form. That includes all the dimensions that exist, including attributes of those dimensions that you don’t see or know about yet. It includes all the unseen but sensed attributes of everything around you. It includes all the dimensions that make up the whole of all matter, everywhere. 

Your world is in color, but you currently are seeing it in black and white. 

I gave you a statement some time ago that received a lot of “pushback” [criticism] from many people. I said, “The rocks are alive. Elementals live within them, in Gaia itself, in the grid system, too. Everything has an actual consciousness that knows you, and you call it Mother Nature. The rocks are alive.” 

Many were disappointed in this statement, since I didn’t follow their reality. “Well, now you’ve gone too far, Kryon. The rocks are not alive. Obviously, we’ve tested them and there’s nothing there.” 

Do you see the bias? Of course they are not alive if you test them with a technology that can only reveal 4D attributes. That’s all you have; that’s all you know. Can you test multiple shades of color with a black and white test kit? Actually, you do all the time! Then you proudly announce the results of your black and white tests and you say, “No, it cannot be this or that because of current scientific evidence.” 

Imagine: A scientist from the 1950s comes to your town today, testing the area for TV broadcast transmissions. He will proudly announce: “There are no transmissions for TV in your area, and only a few for radio. The air is clear of almost all transmissions.” Meanwhile, he missed all the cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, drone, satellite, and GPS location signals, etc. He also didn’t know that, in your culture, TV no longer is transmitted the same way as before. Are you getting the picture? (no pun intended) 

Your reality check is biased, and you’re testing color with a black and white kit and you don’t even know it. You cannot see what you haven’t discovered yet. So when it starts to happen, what do you do? This is the crux of the new debates in science. 

THE TEST OF YOUR BIAS IS HERE 

Your mainstream science is going to know soon that there are things beyond what they expected. Here is an example of how biased humanity is: As recently as two hundred years ago, things that would show themselves as being multidimensional were labeled as witchcraft. So, back then, you found a reality that didn’t line up with your beliefs, and you made it evil. That is still with you, by the way. I won’t say much more about that, but it is part of what is coming: The more that enhanced, divine energy starts to show itself; the more fear will be developed by those who have no idea what the love of God looks like. The masters of old did amazing things. But if anyone today does any of those things, it is branded as evil and is discounted as real science. Dear ones, get ready to actually see proof of your own magnificence. What a world you live in! 

THE CHEMISTRY REVELATION 

Years ago, doctors and researchers started to look at DNA differently. You know, physics and biology haven’t really been something that your planet studies together. They are seen as separate disciplines. In colleges, today, you see the buildings where you study the protocols, and they are separate. The earth sciences are separated from physics, separated from biology, etc. 

However, there is change occurring: Even in some of the descriptions of what people study, we get a hint as to what their protocols have become: There is starting to be an alliance between physics and medicine. Have you heard of a quantum biologist? That is now a field of study ... and that’s the big one. Biology has a multidimensional component. Years ago, over thirty years ago, that was shown. 

Light is seen as being multidimensional, and that is why it can be in two places at once. Some experiments with light and DNA begin to reveal that the DNA molecule reacts to light differently from other matter. Some have postulated that anything that is overtly multidimensional (such as light) will then be attracted to anything else multidimensional ... enter the Quantum Biology study. Dear ones, DNA has a multidimensional component! 

How many medical experts today, and those who would teach it, would give you this information? How many professors and doctors would say, “Tell me more, because this is what we have been waiting for.”? Medicine, to this day, defaults to black and white. As complicated and pristine you may think your biology is, it’s simply the default. 

LOOK! Allopathic medicine is born: “Push here with this chemistry and something reacts! So, in order to cure disease, let’s invent a chemical that pushes body chemistry the way we want.” Unfortunately, the “push” is often not isolated to the disease, and side effects are always an issue. It’s not a good system, but it’s the main one, until now. 

If you start to understand the multidimensionality concept of your biology, you realize that certain energies can also affect disease, Innate and the overall body intelligence. In the last twenty years, new studies also have revealed that consciousness must be considered “energy.” Therefore, consciousness may be a healing modality… a big one. 

How long has homeopathy been with you? Homeopathy, in general, has been dismissed by the American Medical Association as something that “doesn’t work.” [JAMA – October 2009] The report says it can’t work. (Here we go again!) Basically, the report says that tests have shown that a tincture in a homeopathic remedy has too few parts per million to create any chemical reaction. Therefore, your entire medical industry has debunked it. Yet, oddly enough, for hundreds of years, and all through European history, it has worked! How can that be? It works because it carries an energetic signal from the remedy directly to the multidimensional portions of your biology. Your DNA sees it, even your blood. But it has no chemical reaction. The tests are trying to evaluate color with a black and white test. 

The innate process of your body is a multidimensional process that can be muscle-tested and will react with the energy of consciousness. All of these things are starting to be slowly seen and used and proven and tested. But there’s more. 

What if, in that multidimensionality of your DNA, there are patterns of energy that tell a story? This is where multidimensional science departs completely from anything linear. It’s not simply another chemical component of DNA. It’s not simply another part that’s linear. Instead, it’s expansive; it tells stories; it has patterns; it holds secrets and truths. All multidimensionality is this way, in that it is like the surface of the ocean with a gentle wind. It all has patterns based on what is affecting it. This is very hard to explain, since you haven’t seen it yet. It’s like a template. It tells a story and sets a mold, more than just of the cell. It might tell a story of your lineage and of your magnificence or even of your creation! These are the things that will begin to be seen in the New Lemuria [the up-coming energy of Earth], and you’re going to start seeing it in medicine. 

A FINAL WORD 

The medical doctor who you’re about to meet [referring to Dr. John Ryan in the conference] is a practicing physician in a busy hospital in a busy city. He has these very multidimensional revelations we have spoken of. He knows that the DNA carries libraries of stories for every Human Being. If you ask him, “Doctor, what has happened to all your training, which says none of this is true?” He will say: “My training is valid. However, what I have discovered goes beyond it and enhances it. My esoteric discoveries do not void what I’ve learned. They magnify it.” 

These are some of the things I am telling you to look for. 

Men and women of science, may I say this to you? “Be open for things you don’t expect. There is more here than you know. Do not hold on to what you have been taught in the past as the ultimate and absolute truth of everything forever. For what you have been trained for will not be erased or voided or seen to be bad. Instead, all that you know will be seen simply as the elementary building blocks of so much more! Be open to ‘the rest of the story.’ If you are, you’ll find yourself right in the middle of a new and more complete science … and that’s the beauty of the New Lemuria.” 

And so it is. 

KRYON

Related Article:

Vera Rubin, pioneering astronomer, dies at 88

Dutch to phase out subsidies for wood-fired power stations

DutchNews, October 19, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The government is planning to phase out the use of subsidies for power stations which are powered by biomass, or which generate heat for city heating schemes. 

Biomass is predominantly made up of wood chips and vegetable and fruit waste, but has come under fire as a source of fuel because of both high levels of carbon emissions and the over-use of wood, some of which is imported from the US. 

The agreement decision to phase out the use of subsidies was taken at Friday’s cabinet meeting because there are, ministers agree, enough greener alternatives for generating both electricity and heat. This would be on condition the alternatives are both achievable and affordable, economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes has told MPs in a briefing. 

The government will decide when subsidies should be phased out by the end of the year and has asked the environmental assessment agency PBL for its recommendations. 

The PBL had said in January that the use of biomass may be unavoidable if the Netherlands is to meet the EU targets on energy neutrality.  Without using biomass, the Netherlands will have to install wind turbines and solar panels more quickly than it is currently doing, and other difficult choices will have to be made, the PBL said. 

In total, 628 biomass installations in the Netherlands will get some €11.4bn in subsidies over the next few years, the AD reported earlier. 

Vattenfall 

In June, Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall said it had decided to postpone plans to build the Netherlands’ biggest biomass fired power station because of the ongoing discussion about how green biomass actually is. 

The plant was to be built in Diemen on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but both locals and the town council have major doubts about the project. 

The first step in finalising the decision involves the Dutch government giving clarity about its plans and the role of biomass in reaching climate change targets, the company said. 

The government’s advisory body SER has also recommended that subsidies for biomass power be phased out. 

Despite the subsidy decision, the government ‘remains convinced that the use of biomass is necessary in the transition to a climate neutral and circular economy by 2030 and 2050.’

Unilever's makeover: 'Woke-washing' or the real thing

Jakarta Post – AFP, Sara Magniette, The Hague, Netherlands, October 19, 2020

A picture taken on June 5, 2015 shows the logo of Unilever at the
headquarters in Rotterdam. (AFP/John Thys) 

Unilever, the maker of brands ranging from Ben & Jerry's ice cream to Dove soap, is trying to win over customers with a socially responsible makeover, but activists say that some of it is just cosmetic. 

The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant has introduced a series of initiatives aimed at making it, in its own words, the world's most sustainable company, while also taking a position on issues such as racism. 

The firm, which releases third quarter results this week, has recently promised to halve its use of plastic by 2025, eliminate the use of fossil fuels in cleaning products by 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2039. 

But the multinational behind Marmite yeast spread, Lipton tea and Knorr soups is "still a big polluter", says Meike Rijksen, campaigner for plastic at Greenpeace Netherlands. 

"We recognize that Unilever is doing more than most companies, but it is by far not enough," she told AFP. 

Unilever remains the fourth biggest producer of plastics polluting the planet, behind Coca-Cola, Nestle and Pepsico, according to a report in 2019 by Break Free from Plastics, a global coalition of NGOs. 

Greenpeace urged the firm to invest in renewable materials across its activities and to eliminate single-use plastics. 

Read also: Unilever to drop fossil fuels from cleaning products by 2030 

'Take action' 

Unilever has argued that "responsible" corporate behavior is good business, since it will attract young, more environmentally-conscious customers. 

"We make sure that our brands take action on the issues that consumers care about," Marlous den Bieman, media relations manager for Unilever Benelux, told AFP. 

Chief executive Alan Jope has himself said that "woke-washing is beginning to infect our industry", warning against companies promising action on social and environmental causes without following through. 

Unilever was one of the first major firms to joint a boycott on advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the US until the end of 2020 due to the "polarized election period" there. 

That same month Unilever said its Indian and Bangladeshi arms would rename their locally marketed "Fair & Lovely" skin-lightening cream in the face of the global "Black Lives Matter" protests. 

Meanwhile the group has also been adding some more "green" to its stable of 400 brands. 

It has recently bought the eco-friendly US detergent maker The Laundress and the Dutch "vegetarian butcher" De Vegetarische Slager. 

"Climate action is mainstreaming, and companies prioritizing it today can gain a competitive advantage," said Steven Tebbe of CDP, a London-based organization which runs a platform for companies and cities to share environmental information. 

Read also: Unilever, rivals mull changes amid globalbacklash against skin-lightening products

 'Broken system' 

"Not only consumers, but also investors and big corporate buyers are increasingly expecting companies to be transparent and take more urgent responsibility for their environmental impacts," Tebbe told AFP. 

Unilever has also announced a zero-deforestation policy and a "responsible" method of choosing suppliers for meat, palm oil and soya, three products notorious for contributing to the problem. 

"Their commitment to environmental disclosure and ambitious emissions target shows that climate action is deeply integrated into their overall strategy," Tebbe said. 

Greenpeace, however, feared that Unilever was effectively "greenwashing" its image. 

"Their whole business model is still based on environmental destruction. In the meantime, they are being praised internationally for their action on sustainability -- that is worrying," said Meike Rijksen. 

As one of the world's biggest producers of food and consumer goods, Unilever had to set a genuine example in bringing about a "fundamental change in the broken system." 

"They can and they should take this responsibility," added Rijksen.

Dutch will press ahead with controversial carbon tax for industry: FD

DutchNews, September 12, 2020 

The Tata Steel plant in IJmuiden. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The cabinet is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a carbon tax on industry, and the measure is included in the 2021 budget which will be presented to MPs on Tuesday, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Saturday. 

Officials had suggested earlier that the tax would be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and the reluctance to saddle industry with an extra tax. 

However, junior tax minister Hans Vijlbrief  told European finance ministers in Berlin on Saturday that the Netherlands would be pressing ahead with the measure and that he hoped other EU countries might make the same move, the FD said. 

This, he said, would prevent Dutch companies moving their more polluting activities to other EU countries to avoid the tax. 

The carbon tax is one of the most sensitive parts of the government’s plans to help realise the Paris climate targets and companies such as Tata Steel, Yara and Dow Chemical have already said the measure will damage their competitiveness. 

Aviation 

Vijlbrief also told EU ministers that the Netherlands is still planning to bring in a tax on flying in 2021, the paper said.  However, he said, he would look again at the date of January 1, given the impact of coronavirus on the aviation industry. 

‘On the other hand, what is a good moment?’ he said. ‘This is a form of transport which is not taxed in any way whatsoever.’ 

Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark and Bulgaria have already said they supported the Dutch call for an EU tax on flying. 8

World's biggest rooftop greenhouse opens in Montreal

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastien St-Jean, August 26, 2020

Lufa Farms just opened what it says is the world's largest commercial rooftop
greenhouse, seen in this aerial photo in Montreal

Building on a new hanging garden trend, a greenhouse atop a Montreal warehouse growing eggplants and tomatoes to meet demand for locally sourced foods has set a record as the largest in the world.

It's not an obvious choice of location to cultivate organic vegetables -- in the heart of Canada's second-largest city -- but Lufa Farms on Wednesday inaugurates the facility that spans 160,000 square feet (15,000 square meters), or about the size of three football fields.

"The company's mission is to grow food where people live and in a sustainable way," spokesman Thibault Sorret told AFP, as he showed off its first harvest of giant eggplants.

It is the fourth rooftop greenhouse the company has erected in the city. The first, built in 2011 at a cost of more than Can$2 million (US$1.5 million), broke new ground.

Since then, competitors picked up and ran with the novel idea, including American Gotham Greens, which constructed eight greenhouses on roofs in New York, Chicago and Denver, and French Urban Nature, which is planning one in Paris in 2022.

A local Montreal supermarket has also offered since 2017 an assortment of vegetables grown on its roof, which was "greened" in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

Tomatoes are viewed at Lufa Farms, a company that just opened what it says

is the world's largest commercial rooftop greenhouse in Montreal

'Reinventing the food system'

Lebanese-born Mohamed Hage and his wife Lauren Rathmell, an American from neighboring Vermont, founded Lufa Farms in 2009 with the ambition of "reinventing the food system."

At Lufa, about 100 varieties of vegetables and herbs are grown year-round in hydroponic containers lined with coconut coir and fed liquid nutrients, including lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, bok choy, celery and sprouts.

Bumblebees pollinate the plants, while wasps and ladybugs keep aphids in check, without the need for pesticides.

Enough vegetables are harvested each week to feed 20,000 families, with baskets tailored for each at a base price of Can$30.

The company's "online market" also sells goods produced by local partner farms including "bread, pasta, rice, etcetera," Sorret said.

On the ground floor of the new greenhouse, a huge distribution center brings together nearly 2,000 grocery products for offer to "Lufavores," including restaurants.

Shopper Catherine Bonin tells AFP she loves the freshness of the produce but laments that some items are always out of stock. "I can never get peppers," she says.

Lufa Farms spokesman Thibault Sorret shows off vegetables grown at what it 

says is the world's largest commercial rooftop greenhouse in Montreal

Sales doubled during pandemic

"We are now able to feed almost two percent of Montreal with our greenhouses and our partner farms," said Sorret.

"The advantage of being on a roof is that you recover a lot of energy from the bottom of the building," allowing considerable savings in heating, an asset during the harsh Quebec winter, he explains.

"We also put to use spaces that were until now completely unused," he said.

Fully automated, the new greenhouse also has a water system that collects and reuses rainwater, resulting in savings of "up to 90 percent" compared to a traditional farm.

Lufa "more than doubled" its sales during the new coronavirus pandemic, a jump attributable "to contactless delivery from our online site," says Sorret.

Profitable since 2016, the private company now employs 500 people, around 200 more than before the pandemic, according to him.

It is currently working on the electrification of its fleet of delivery trucks and is in the process of exporting its model "to different cities around the world," starting with Canada and the United States, Sorret said.

"What's a little crazy," he recalls, is that none of the founders "had grown a tomato in their life" before opening the business.