Category Archives: Business

Australia’s big emitters could cut CO2 by 90% by 2050 without offsets, report finds

Posted on by

Report finds that supply chains for major industries, including iron and steel, could cut annual CO2 to 17m tonnes by mid-century

Some of Australia’s largest heavy industrial companies have backed a report that says they could cut direct greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains by more than 90% by 2050, and not have to rely heavily on carbon offsets.

The report, by the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI), prepared over three years by Climateworks Centre and the CSIRO, found the industrial transition would cost the equivalent of $21bn a year over three decades if Australia were to play its part in trying to limit global heating to 1.5C.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Loss of nearly 15,000 UK retail jobs a ‘brutal start to 2023’, report says

Posted on by

Majority of job losses are at large retailers such as Tesco and Asda, according to Centre for Retail Research

Nearly 15,000 British retail jobs have already been cut since January in a “brutal start to the year” for the high street.

A total of 14,874 retail job losses have been announced by companies so far, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).

Continue reading...

Shell and Vitol accused of prolonging Ukraine war with sanctions ‘loophole’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Ukrainian economic adviser urges energy firms to heed deadline to halt trade of ‘Russian-origin oil products’

The oil company Shell and energy trader Vitol have been accused of prolonging the war in Ukraine by exploiting a “loophole” in the EU sanctions regime to bring products derived from Russian oil into Europe through Turkey.

Oleg Ustenko, the economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the energy companies to commit to a deadline to halt the trade of a “Russian-origin oil products” to reduce Vladimir Putin’s war coffers, the Guardian can reveal.

Continue reading...

Brussels tries to form united front against Putin’s oligarchs

Posted on by

The west has made it hard for Russia’s millionaires to retain assets – but not impossible. Now the EU wants to try harder

It has been a long year since Liz Truss launched a rolling programme of sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs. Speaking three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary, as she was then, signalled an end to the UK government’s no-questions-asked approach.

“We are targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we’ll be targeting their properties, we’ll be targeting other possessions that they have,” she told Sky TV. “There will be nowhere to hide.”

Continue reading...

Children returning from school trips delayed for six hours amid Calais strikes

Posted on by

Home Office rejects suggestions strikes by Border Force staff in Calais, Dunkirk, Dover and Coquelles impacting wait times

Children and teachers returning to the UK from half-term school trips have endured delays of more than six hours at Calais, amid strike action by Border Force staff.

P&O Ferries told customers that long wait times were “due to the queues at border control who are also on strike”, though the government rejected suggestions that industrial action was having an impact on wait times.

Continue reading...

Woolworths expands self-checkout AI that critics say treats ‘every customer as a suspect’

Posted on by

Supermarket says cameras used to detect accidental wrong scans while experts say the technology is ‘punitive’ and call for reforms to protect privacy

Woolworths has expanded the use of technology that films customers scanning items at self-checkouts to 110 stores in three states, as critics say the functionality could make people feel they are under constant surveillance.

For the past year, Woolworths has trialled new self-checkouts with cameras installed overhead to observe customers scanning items. The company said artificial intelligence is used to detect when items are not scanned correctly, with footage of the scan recorded and played back to the customer instructing them to re-scan.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Over 100 children illegally employed by US slaughterhouse cleaning firm

Posted on by

Labor department investigation finds Packers Sanitation Services Inc employed children between ages of 13 and 17 in eight states

More than 100 children have been discovered to be illegally employed by a slaughterhouse cleaning firm across the country, federal authorities said.

The Department of Labor announced that a federal investigation found Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc (PSSI) employed at least 102 children, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, to work overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states.

Continue reading...

India accuses BBC of tax evasion amid Modi documentary row

Posted on by

Country’s finance ministry claims broadcaster has not fully declared its income and profits

India’s finance ministry has accused the BBC of tax evasion, saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country.

Indian tax authorities ended three days of searches of the British broadcaster’s Delhi and Mumbai offices on Thursday night. Opposition political parties and other media organisations have criticised the searches as an attempt to intimidate the media.

Continue reading...

NatWest accused of ‘unjust’ profiteering after CEO paid £5.2m

Posted on by

Alison Rose becomes group’s second-highest-paid boss as bank reports largest profits since 2007

NatWest has been accused of “unjust” profiteering as it handed its boss Alison Rose a £5.2m pay package and upped its bonus pool for bankers, after the bailed out lender made its biggest profit since 2007 on the back of higher mortgage costs for customers.

The bank – which is still 44% owned by the taxpayer – revealed on Friday that Rose’s pay had soared by 46% from £3.6m a year earlier, partly because of the higher value of shares doled out as part of her long-term incentive plan.

Continue reading...

TransPennine Express cancellations almost three times higher than reported

Posted on by

Office of Rail and Road figures expose how train companies use legal loophole to under-report cancellations

One of the north of England’s main railway companies has a cancellation rate almost three times higher than officially recorded, figures show.

A government body that collates information about train reliability released the stats on Friday after it wrote to train companies over concerns that they were taking advantage of a legal loophole to vastly under-report cancellations.

Continue reading...

Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan goes missing

Posted on by

Disappearance of China Renaissance chair raises fears of fresh crackdown on China’s finance industry

A billionaire Chinese dealmaker has gone missing, plunging one of the country’s top investment banks into turmoil.

Bao Fan, the founder and executive director of China Renaissance, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played an important role in the emergence of a string of large domestic internet startups.

Continue reading...

RMT announces further national rail strikes

Posted on by

Strikes to begin on 16 March after union rejects offers from train operators and Network Rail

The RMT union has announced further national strikes and wider action on the railways after rejecting offers from both train operators and Network Rail last week.

The union’s 40,000 members across Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike on 16 March. Train staff will walk out for three further days, on 18 and 30 March and 1 April.

Continue reading...

Profits of British Gas owner Centrica triple to ‘obscene’ £3.3bn

Posted on by

Figure angers campaigners calling for tougher windfall taxes and follows prepayment meter scandal

The profits of the scandal-hit owner of British Gas have more than tripled to a record £3.3bn, boosted by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as many households in Britain struggle with the cost of living.

Centrica’s “monster” profits immediately angered campaigners who are calling for tougher windfall taxes, lower bills and better treatment of vulnerable customers against the backdrop of the prepayment meter scandal.

Continue reading...

Collapse in new home listings in Sydney and Melbourne hits real estate company profits

Posted on by

Domain chief Jason Pellegrino says decline is worse than during Covid lockdowns and banking royal commission

A collapse in the number of new homes on the market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, is outpacing even the shaky listing rates recorded during pandemic lockdowns, weighing on the profits of real estate companies.

The chief executive of property portal company Domain Group, Jason Pellegrino, said on Thursday that the scale of listings declines during the last three months of 2022 also eclipsed pullbacks recorded during the banking royal commission, which scrutinised lending practices in public hearings in 2018.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

China’s provinces spent almost £43bn on Covid measures in 2022

Posted on by

Third of provinces yet to publish data as country looks to revive economy after zero-Covid policy ends

Chinese provinces spent more than £42.8bn on tackling Covid-19 in 2022, according to data released by local governments, with the figure expected to rise as the huge cost of the pandemic hits the world’s second-largest economy.

Although national statistics are not yet available, at least 20 of China’s 31 provinces have published figures on how much money they spent on measures to control the pandemic.

Continue reading...

British Gas owner expected to reveal record profits of £3bn

Posted on by

Britain’s largest energy supplier only recently ended its much-criticised forced installation of prepayment meters

The owner of British Gas is poised to reveal record annual profits of more than £3bn just weeks after suspending the forced installation of prepayment meters due to concerns over its treatment of vulnerable customers.

Analysts expect Centrica, which owns Britain’s largest energy supplier, to post underlying profits of £3.3bn in 2022 on Thursday, up from £948m in 2021.

Continue reading...

Lufthansa IT failure leaves thousands of passengers stranded

Posted on by

Outage causes flight delays and cancellations after cables damaged during construction work

Thousands of passengers worldwide have been stranded after an IT fault at Germany’s flagship carrier Lufthansa caused flight delays and disruption at airlines across the group.

The company said the problem was caused by damage to several of Deutsche Telekom’s glass-fibre cables during construction work in Frankfurt. Repairs would take until Wednesday afternoon, Lufthansa said.

Continue reading...

Glencore shareholders to receive almost £6bn after record profits

Posted on by

Mining and commodities firm’s pre-tax profit climbed 60% to £28.2bn last year, up £10.6bn on 2021

Glencore will give almost £6bn to shareholders after the mining and commodities company reported record pre-tax profits of more than £28bn in 2022, boosted by rocketing oil and coal prices.

The Switzerland-based group, whose market capitalisation makes it one of the largest FTSE 100 companies, announced a payout of £5.9bn ($7.1bn) to shareholders, including dividends and a new £1.2bn share buyback programme.

Continue reading...

Ikea Foundation sends shelters to Syria and Turkey as firms offer earthquake aid

Posted on by

First relief housing units arrive in Hatay province, Amazon sends food and blankets and Allianz donates €6m

The Ikea Foundation has sent 5,000 flatpack shelters to southern Turkey and northern Syria to house people left homeless by the earthquake last week, as companies around the world pledge help.

The Swedish homeware multinational’s philanthropy arm said on Tuesday it had donated €10m (£8.8m) to the NGO Better Shelter, with which it developed the robust, award-winning 17.5 sq metre shelters that fit in two boxes and can be assembled without tools.

Continue reading...

Ford to cut nearly 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 1,300 in UK

Posted on by

US carmaker blames losses on rising costs and need to switch to electric vehicle production

The British car industry faces the prospect of further steep job cuts without urgent government support for electric vehicle investment, a union leader has warned, after Ford revealed 1,300 UK redundancies in its internal combustion operations.

The US carmaker said it planned to eliminate 3,800 product development and administration jobs across Europe, citing rising costs and the need to speed up its switch from petrol and diesel engines to electric vehicles.

Continue reading...