Viva! ads

Drowning in a deluge of standards

Business

• The Carbon Trust is offering free workshops to help businesses measure their carbon footprint.
• A new standard has been launched for sustainable events: BS8901. Read more
• Innovest has launched a study called Carbon Beta and Equity Performance, which compares the success of companies with and those without environmental risk management plans. Chicken or egg, anyone?
• IATA has warned the IPCC that any attempt to include airlines in the European emission trading scheme will meet severe opposition.
• Lucy Aitken writes on Greenwash in today's Guardian. Eurostar's transparency gains them her approval, but GE and the major supermarkets don't fare so well. She also provides a great run-down of some of the key green advertisers and how well they each live up to their promises. Read more.
• Try a toilet audit to clean up your environmental conscience, courtesy of The Guardian.
• The new Voluntary Carbon Standard launches today. Read more from the Climate Group.
• OPEC is promoting carbon capture and storage as an emission-reduction mechanism.

Advertising

• Heather Mills isfronting a new campaign by animal rights charity Viva!. The adverts speak out against the emissions created by the meat industry, and promote vegetarianism as a more ethical choice. According to Viva!, livestock are the second biggest cause of greenhouse gases, with a contribution of 18% compared to 13.5% from all the world's different modes of transport combined. But what about beans??? (Sorry, crude I know...)

Politics

• A Green Fiscal Commission has been launched to examine issues of green taxation. Both potential rewards and penalties will fall under the remit of its investigaion.
• The budget for tackling climate change will be cut by 300 million, due to DEFRA shortfalls, it was announced on Friday. Read more.
• A new Green Homes Service is to offer audits to help people go green. Hilary Benn comments, "The Green Homes Service will cut through the confusion by providing a one-stop shop, including a green MOT for your home and a green home makeover." Read more.
• The Independent notes a drop in grants for low carbon homes. Read more.
• Brown will be giving his first major speech on the environment today.
• The Working Group on Climate Change and Development claims that climate change will reverse decades of social progress in Asia. Read more.

Science

• The Independent covers the growing acidity of our seas, as revealed in the latest IPCC report. Read more.

Society

• Great statistic from the Telegraph: half of the world's carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels come from the half billion richest people in the world. That's about 7 per cent of us. So are the rich really the worst climate criminals? Read more