Caroline Lucas Opens Door to New Green Party Leaders

In September 2012, Caroline Lucas MP will reach the end of her second term as national Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and has announced today that she will not be seeking re-election for another two-year term, in order to broaden opportunities for the range of talent in the Party and to raise the profiles of others aspiring to election.

Nothing Neutral Here: Large-scale biomass subsidies in the UK and the role of the EU ETS

Earlier this month Brazilian pulp and paper giant Suzano Papel e Celulose gained approval for the world’s most advanced trial of genetically modified (GM) trees to meet the global demands of biomass energy expansion

Arms Trade Treaty long overdue, as new research shows billions spent on illicit weapons deals by states under embargo

More than $2.2bn worth of arms and ammunition have been imported since 2000 to countries operating under arms embargoes, according to new figures released today by international humanitarian agency Oxfam.

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft choose dirty energy to power growing cloud

The current explosion in cloud computing offered by major IT companies is driving significant new demand for dirty energy like coal and nuclear power, according to a new report from Greenpeace International. The report, "How Clean is Your Cloud?" shows a growing split within the tech industry between companies that are taking steps to power their clouds with clean energy, like Google, Yahoo and Facebook, and companies like Apple, Amazon and Microsoft who lag behind by choosing to build their growing fleets of data centres to be powered by coal and nuclear energy.

Urgent appeal for Baba Jan, prisoner of climate change

Last year, after devastating floods swept the Atta Abad Lakes region of Pakistan, police opened fire on a demonstration of people demanding compensation. Two people were killed. Baba Jan. a federal committee member of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), was among the first to raise the issue of Atta Abad Lake flood victims, writes Ian Angus, editor of Climate and Capitalism

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Soil Association Organic Food Awards 2012

The Soil Association Organic Food Awards, now in their 24th year, are the most prestigious and widely respected in the organic sector. Please give a hand to promote the best quality organic food and drink by nominating your favourite product.

Paraben-Free Cosmetic Formulations Gaining Popularity

New alternative preservation systems for cosmetic products are gaining popularity. In its new Technical Insights report, Organic Monitor finds the move to new alternative preservative systems is driven by high consumer demand for natural & organic cosmetics as well as the growing trend of formulators avoiding parabens.

New Soil Association report on Manufactured Nitrogen- Just Say N20

Over the last fifty years much of our farming has become dependent on manufactured nitrogen fertiliser for fertility. However, too much nitrogen harms the environment and the economy, according to the 2011 European Nitrogen Assessment, which reported a study by 200 scientists investigating the unprecedented changes humans have made to the global nitrogen cycle over the last century.

African Land Grab surrounded in mystery

A new report, Dealing with Disclosure, today reveals how opening up the process around large-scale land deals in developing countries would benefit local communities, governments and business, and provides direction on how this can be achieved.

Food Authenticity Encouraging Sustainable Supply Chains

Food authentication techniques are gaining popularity, partly because of growing concerns about fraud involving organic and sustainable foods. Organic Monitor finds this development is encouraging sustainability by providing greater traceability across the supply chain.

Asda, Morrisons and Iceland named as ‘worst offenders’ for undermining children’s healthy eating

The Children’s Food Campaign today launched a report naming Asda, Morrisons and Iceland as the “worst offenders” for undermining parents’ efforts to feed their children healthily, by displaying junk food on four out of five checkouts in their stores. The Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose were also criticised for making families have to queue past displays of unhealthy snacks to reach the tills

US Organic foods industry creates more than 500,000 jobs

Producing U.S. foods organically creates thousands more jobs than if that food were produced using conventional agricultural methods, according to a new economic study released today here at the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA’s) Policy Conference. The report, "2010 Impacts of the U.S. Organic Foods Industry on the U.S. Economy," which shows the organic food industry generated more than five hundred thousand American jobs in 2010, builds on data released by OTA earlier in the week revealing the overall U.S. organic market in 2011 surpassed $31 billion for the first time.

UK’s Natural and Organic Awards 2012 Winners Announced

BBC star Kate Humble hailed the “incredible passion” of the natural products industry as she announced the Natural & Organic Award winners on Sunday 1 April. Around 450 industry professionals saw her present the awards, jointly hosted by Natural Products magazine and the Soil Association. This year’s Natural Products Outstanding Achievement Award was won by Green & Black’s co-founder Craig Sams.

Sustainable Investment organisations launch global trends report

Sustainable investment membership organisations in major markets have agreed to join forces to create a trailblazing report on the global scope of sustainable and responsible investment. For more than a decade, these regional bodies have produced research reports, generally on a biennial schedule, on the trends in sustainable and responsible investing within their own markets. The release of this harmonized global “Trends” report, the first ever, is scheduled for December 2012.

Ethical Banks: Forging a new sustainable path for finance

A new study Commissioned by the Global Alliance for Banking on Values shows that sustainable values-based banks, which base their decisions first and foremost on the needs of people and the environment, are outperforming traditional mainstream banks in many areas, including financial indicators such as return on assets, growth in loans and deposits, and capital strength, making a compelling case for values-based banking.