[posted by Laura Fano Morrissey on TheJournal.ie, March 11, 2017] Fear of an incinerator in the city of Dublin is not irrational – and we need to demand better controls and monitoring before it begins to burn. Life goes on as normal in Sandymount, Dublin, where the sea front bustles with life, people jogging, children running around on the beach when the tide is out. Such a beautiful spectacle of nature, one you would hardly find in...

[posted by Damian Carrington and Jelmer Mommers on The Guardian, February 28, 2017] Public information film unseen for years shows Shell had clear grasp of global warming 26 years ago but has not acted accordingly since, say critics. The oil giant Shell issued a stark warning of the catastrophic risks of climate change more than a quarter of century ago in a prescient 1991 film that has been rediscovered. However, since then the...

[posted on Amnesty International, November 28, 2016] Palm Oil: Global brands profiting from child and forced labor. Unilever, Nestlé, Proctor & Gamble among nine household names contributing to labor abuse. The world’s most popular food and household companies are selling food, cosmetics and other everyday staples containing palm oil tainted by shocking human rights abuses in Indonesia, with children as young as eight working in...

[posted on Union of Concerned Scientists] Found in everything from shampoo to donuts, palm oil is now the most common vegetable oil in the world—and also one of the world’s leading deforestation drivers. Palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the oil palm tree, Elaeis guineensis, which thrives in humid climates. The large majority of palm oil production occurs in just two countries, Malaysia and Indonesia, where huge swaths of...

[posted by Nina Lakhani on The Guardian, February 28, 2017] The Honduran environmental activist’s killing a year ago bears the hallmarks of a ‘well-planned operation designed by military intelligence’ says legal source. Leaked court documents raise concerns that the murder of the Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres was an extrajudicial killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the country’s US–trained special...

[posted on ECCJ – European Coalition for Corporate Justice, February 21, 2017] The French Parliament adopted a much-awaited law establishing a duty of vigilance obligation for parent and subcontracting companies. The law marks a historic step towards improving corporate respect for human rights and the environment. ECCJ joins the French corporate accountability platform, Forum Citoyen pour la RSE in calling on European...