How inspectors in Shanghai, Hong Kong HK travel to factory with instant PO (Factory Order/Purchase Order) under wuhan coronavirus

Under the wuhan coronavirus attack, our in-house inspectors / third party inspectors have difficulties to visit factories in Shenzhen and suzhou for product inspection jobs before shipment/packing list to UK even scheduled job inspection in ERP system. Factories are supposed to resume after Chinese new year and the manufacturing process will be completed in coming months.

2020 ESG GUIDE CONSULTATION CONCLUSIONS

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), today (Wednesday) published conclusions to its consultation on the ‘Review of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting Guide (ESG Guide) and Related Listing Rules’ (ESG Consultation Conclusions)1; and the findings of its latest review of listed issuers’ ESG disclosures (ESG Disclosure Review).

“We had a very broad and strongly supportive response to this consultation, and we are pleased to be announcing significant improvements to the ESG governance and disclosure framework for Hong Kong-listed companies.  The changes reflect the Exchange’s commitment to enhancing Hong Kong’s ESG regulatory framework and to meeting investor and stakeholder expectations in accordance with international best practices.  We would like to thank all those who made submissions to the consultation,” said David Graham, HKEX’s Head of Listing.

ESG Consultation Conclusions

The Exchange received 153 responses from a broad range of respondents.  The feedback indicated strong support for the consultation proposals to enhance the ESG reporting framework.  The Exchange will implement the consultation proposals, with modifications, reflecting comments received.  The changes will be effective for financial years commencing on or after 1 July 2020.

Key changes to the ESG Guide and related Listing Rules include:

Introducing mandatory disclosure requirements to include:
a board statement setting out the board’s consideration of ESG matters;
application of Reporting Principles “materiality”, “quantitative” and “consistency”; and
explanation of reporting boundaries of ESG reports;
Requiring disclosure of significant climate-related issues which have impacted and may impact the issuer;
Amending the “Environmental” key performance indicators (KPIs) to require disclosure of relevant targets;
Upgrading the disclosure obligation of all “Social” KPIs to “comply or explain”; and
Shortening the deadline for publication of ESG reports to within five months after the financial year-end.

More information: https://www.hkex.com.hk/News/News-Release/2019/191218news?sc_lang=en

Work from home WFH under Coronavirus in Hong Kong HK, Shanghai, Beijing and UK

Due to the coronavirus outbreak in wuhan city, after Chinese New Year in Shanghai, the people of buying office of UK-based huge online retailer in Shanghai started their "working from home" (WFH) for a week with the Order Management System and ERP System. They are all working from home and communicate with resumed factories and UK head office and Hong Kong/Beijing local office. While there is new order requested from UK day-to-day with variety of products, the data-powered "Vendor / Customer / Inspector Companies" modules and  "Merchandising Products Master Database" modules save their workload tracking the back-order.

More information from http://www.pro-quali.com/features/general-feature-list/

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions alarming levels in Wuhan?

High sulphur dioxide levels at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak could be a sign of mass cremations, it has been claimed.

Satellite maps in recent days have shown alarming levels of SO2 around Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began.

In addition, there were high sulphur dioxide levels in the city of Chongqing which is also under quarantine.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7986553/Does-satellite-image-scale-Chinas-coronavirus-cremations.html

Cities are set to miss 80% of their 2020 emission reduction goals

 Most cities that disclosed emissions reductions targets to CDP did not have goals for as early as 2020. Seventy percent of the more than 608 individual targets that cities self-reported in 2019 cite deadlines further in the future. Over 800 cities disclose some amount of data to the organization.

Source: https://qz.com/1760352/cities-are-set-to-miss-80-percent-of-their-2020-emission-reduction-goals/

Sulphur 2020 – cutting sulphur oxide emissions

The main type of “bunker” oil for ships is heavy fuel oil, derived as a residue from crude oil distillation. Crude oil contains sulphur which, following combustion in the engine, ends up in ship emissions. Sulphur oxides (SOx) are known to be harmful to human health, causing respiratory symptoms and lung disease. In the atmosphere, SOx can lead to acid rain, which can harm crops, forests and aquatic species, and contributes to the acidification of the oceans.

Limiting SOx emissions from ships will improve air quality and protects the environment.

IMO regulations to reduce sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions from ships first came into force in 2005, under Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (known as the MARPOL Convention). Since then, the limits on sulphur oxides have been progressively tightened.

From 1 January 2020, the limit for sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships operating outside designated emission control areas will be reduced to 0.50% m/m (mass by mass). This will significantly reduce the amount of sulphur oxides emanating from ships and should have major health and environmental benefits for the world, particularly for populations living close to ports and coasts.

Below you will find answers to some of the frequently asked questions about the sulphur limit.

Source: http://www.imo.org/en/mediacentre/hottopics/pages/sulphur-2020.aspx

Fossil CO2 and GHG emissions of all world countries, 2019

The global GHG emissions trend has increased since the beginning of the 21st century in comparison to the three previous decades, mainly due to the increase in CO2 emissions from China and the other emerging economies. As a result, the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases substantially increased enhancing the natural greenhouse effect, which may negatively affect the life on the Earth. These issues are internationally addressed in the framework of UNFCCC; countries are developing national emissions inventories and propose/implement actions to mitigate GHG emissions. CO2 emissions, which are the main responsible for global warming are still increasing at world level despite climate change mitigation agreements. However, CO2 emissions within the EU28 have decreased in the last two decades. Human related activities largely influence the total CO2 emissions – particularly, power generation and road transport but also emissions from combustion in the residential and commercial sectors play a key role. Despite decreasing trends for total EU28 CO2 emissions, CO2 emissions per capita within the EU28 are still higher than the world average value.

Read more at https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=booklet2019

China, US biggest carbon polluters, study finds

The world continues to increase the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide it pumps into the air, but it’s not rising as fast as in the previous couple years.

Led by big jumps from China and India, the world is projected to spew 40.57 billion tons (36.8 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air in 2019. That is up nearly 255 million tons (231 million metric tons) from 2018, according to two scientific studies released Tuesday.

Read more at http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news.php?id=137976&sid=6

EMS (Energy Management System) can manage greenhouse gas accounting, reporting and management

The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases due to power generation, transportation and other industrial / commercial activities are contributing to climate change and environmental impacts worldwide. EMS (Energy Management System) can manage greenhouse gas accounting, reporting and management in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, New Zealand and UK.

Studio Retail has announced that it is selling its Findel Education unit to Wakefield City Council for £50 million.

Studio Retail has announced that it is selling its Findel Education unit to Wakefield City Council for £50 million.

Creating an AI can be five times worse for the planet than a car

Training artificial intelligence is an energy intensive process. New estimates suggest that the carbon footprint of training a single AI is as much as 284 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – five times the lifetime emissions of an average car.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2205779-creating-an-ai-can-be-five-times-worse-for-the-planet-than-a-car/

Li Ka Shing Foundation Processes 'Instant Relief Fund' via Google Cloud AI; Applications in 8 Mins on Avg.

The Li Ka Shing Foundation is embracing technology and using Google Cloud AI to facilitate application for Crunch Time Instant Relief Fund for eligible SMEs. The entire application and review process is completed within a matter of days, as all data are processed online automatically.

60% of applications were submitted via a mobile device and it takes just five seconds for Google Cloud Vision AI to process the text in each image. Each application can be submitted within eight minutes and The Foundation was able to process over 43,000 applications within the first 3 weeks, said Lucy Werner, Head of Google Cloud Hong Kong.

Source: https://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/analysis/stock-aafn-con/00001/NOW.980301/hk-stock-news

EU bank to focus solely on clean energy sources starting in 2022

(CNN Business)The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced Thursday that it will end financing for fossil fuel energy projects at the end of 2021, adding in a statement that future financing will focus on accelerating innovations in clean energy.

"We will stop financing fossil fuels and we will launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere," EIB President Werner Hoyer said Thursday.
The EIB is the European Union's lending arm. Its new energy lending policy will "unlock 1 trillion euros of climate action and environmental sustainable investment" in order to enable energy decarbonisation, and meet a 32% renewable energy share throughout the European Union by 2030.
"Climate is the top issue on the political agenda of our time...The EU bank has been Europe's climate bank for many years. Today it has decided to make a quantum leap in its ambition," Hoyer added.

Continue reading at https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/14/intl_business/eu-funding-fossil-fuel-projects/index.html