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Corporate transparency on emissions falls short: report

Most global corporations are not adapting quickly enough to protect the environment or their businesses from climate change and upcoming regulations says a report by environmental disclosure non-profit CDP. It found most companies are failing to disclose their carbon footprints and environmental impacts, which slows progress toward a net-zero economy and exposes them to climate risks.

The report shows that less than half of around 18,500 companies did not disclose emissions related to their supply chains, despite imminent efforts to mandate such disclosures.

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1 year ago

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by Lienna Pedersen

PARIS, FRANCE — Global corporations are not adapting fast enough to safeguard the environment or their own businesses from global warming and looming climate regulations, according to a report released Wednesday.

Most companies are failing to provide a full picture of their carbon footprints and environmental impacts, slowing progress toward a net zero economy and exposing themselves to climate risk.

Less than half of around 18,500 companies providing data did not disclose emissions related to their supply chains, despite impending efforts to mandate such disclosures, according to the report from environmental disclosure non-profit CDP.

“From 2024, European companies –- and global companies with significant revenues in the European Union -– will need to disclose their supply chain impacts and their Scope 3 emissions,” the executive director of CDP Europe, Maxfield Weiss, told AFP.

“It’s clear that many companies are not prepared.”

Business-related carbon emissions are divided into three categories.

Scope 1 refers to emissions directly under the company’s control; Scope 2 covers energy use; and Scope 3 applies the indirect emissions relating upstream to a company’s supply chain, and downstream to the life cycle of their products.

The climate and environmental impacts flowing from upstream supply chains are more than 11 times larger than corporate direct emissions, according to the report.

More stringent regulatory frameworks are also taking shape in the United States and through the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which sets standards for climate-related financial disclosure.

Less than one per cent of the companies covered by the report require their suppliers to set strong emission reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

A company’s environmental impact goes beyond climate, the report emphasised, noting that forests, water and biodiversity “all desperately need our attention”.

So far, that attention is lacking: nearly 70 per cent of companies canvassed failed to assess the impact of their value chain on biodiversity, despite fast-approaching mandatory regulations.

“If a company wants to be in business in the future, they need to start embedding nature into the way they buy, and collaborating with suppliers to drive action in the supply chain,” said Sonya Bhonsie, CDP’s global head of value chains.

The trend toward transparency — even if too slow — is on the rise: data supplied by companies has increased more than 200 per cent since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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1 year ago

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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