CSR briefs

Zeavola Resort, on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, has scooped the global prize for the world’s best sustainable boutique hotel at the World Boutique Hotels Awards ceremony in London recently. 

Zeavola Resort's commitment to the environment and sustainability has been the cornerstone of their operations and philosophy ever since they launched.

Located on Laem Ton beach, Zeavola is built around a sustainability ethos, featuring a water reserve system including four deep wells and a reverse osmosis plant to minimise unnecessary water consumption at the resort - efforts which have earned it  membership in the international 'green' hotels group Green Pearls. 

The resort was also recently awarded the PADI Green Star Award, for outstanding contribution to the environment through the resort's project Coral Freedom. 

This project is focused on reversing the devastating effects of coral bleaching, a consequence of high carbon footprints and increasing global warming. So far it has  seen over 10,000 coral fragments replanted around Phi Phi that were regenerated in Zeavola's coral nursery. 

Zeavola is also part of the Green Fins project, which is coordinated by the UN’s environmental programme as part of a global effort to increase public awareness, and resort management practices to benefit the conservation of coral reefs and reduce unsustainable tourism practices. 

 

200 bikers ride for the environment

HSBC Thailand, with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)  and Green Library II project partners from leading private organisations, supported Biking for Green Library to raise awareness about environment and promote biking as an efficient exercise for good health and lower global warming. 

The event attracted about 200 bikers to ride for 36km, between WareePirom Park (previously Beung Sakae Ngam) in Klong Sam Wa District and HM the Queen 60th Birthday Park in Lad Krabang District. 

The bikers also brought a book each about environment to donate to the HSBC Green Library I in Lad Krabang District to encourage local young people to learn more about the environment. HSBC Thailand will also donate Bt100,000  to the BMA  to the development of HSBC Green Library II.

 

France, Australia take opposing sides on energy

While France has set ambitious targets to increase the share of renewables in its total energy consumption, Australia has taken a contrasting approach. It has repealed its 2011 Clean Energy Act, which established the carbon pricing mechanism, according to an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The lower house of parliament in France recently approved its energy transition law, setting a target of 32 per cent energy generation from renewable sources by 2030. The law also aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent from 1990 levels and to cut fossil fuel use by 30 per cent over the same period.

On the other hand, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott, has made radical changes to the country’s energy policy since he assumed power in September 2013. These include abolishing the carbon tax and reducing a goal to install one million solar roofs.

Pranav Srivastava, GlobalData’s analyst covering power, says France is committed to increasing its share of renewable energy, with Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and tradable green certificates being the main types of support. The country also has plans to decrease its nuclear power share from the current 75 per cent to 50 per cent by 2025.

“Meanwhile, Australia’s renewable energy targets that are currently under review may be significantly reduced, although the opposition Australian Labor Party is refusing to accept the level of reductions proposed. The country’s renewable policy review has severely affected the industry, as investments in the sector were low in the first half of 2014, lower than since the first half of 2001.”

The analyst adds that effective from July 2014, Australia’s minimum retailer FiT price has been cut from $0.076 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to $0.06/kWh.

While Australia’s alternative energy space has been hit hard, France is pressing forward with plans to promote the industry.

Srivastava continues: “France plans to invest about €10 billion ($13.41 billion) in renewable energy to cut the country's oil and gas bill and reduce its reliance upon nuclear energy.

“The development of renewable power plants will help the country to create more jobs and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.”

GlobalData is a global research and consulting firm offering advanced analytics.

 

Airbus, Unesco inspire student challenge

Leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have signed a formal partnership supporting Airbus’ global student challenge, Fly Your Ideas.

 This new agreement is another milestone in the partnership between Airbus and Unesco, following the granting of patronage to the biennial student challenge in 2012. The partnership aims at further inspiring a new generation of engineers and innovators, while harvesting relationships between universities and industries through Fly Your Ideas. The agreement builds on the competition’s success across three previous editions

To celebrate the agreement, Airbus has extended the registration deadline for the competition: students willing to take part in Fly Your Ideas 2015 now have until  December 1 2014 to register online by  submitting their ideas on www.airbus-fyi.com

Flavia Schlegel, assistant director-general of Natural Sciences at Unesco said the empowerment of young generations coming from all backgrounds and from all around the world, was key to developing innovative solutions and to improve their quality of life.

“Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas competition is excellent for challenging students worldwide to develop innovative ideas to respond to key challenges for aviation. It also  helps strengthen Unesco’s work in engineering education.”

 Since the competition was launched in 2008 Airbus has inspired more than 11,000 students representing over 600 universities from 100 countries to get involved. Charles Champion, executive vice president engineering at Airbus, patron of Fly Your Ideas and co-signatory to the Unesco partnership says “Fly Your Ideas reflects the reality of how we work within this exciting global industry, with students from all disciplines and backgrounds innovating and working together in international, multidisciplinary teams. “With Fly Your Ideas we want to inspire young people worldwide to seize the opportunity to make a difference with their ideas, and this partnership with Unesco gives us an even greater chance to do just that”.