1 Strongest week for oil since March (Gulf News) Oil
capped its strongest weekly increase in five months after entering a bull
market as investors weighed speculation that Opec talks next month could lead
to an output freeze, and US inventories dropped.
Futures rose 0.6 per cent in New York. While Opec is
unlikely to reach a deal to freeze production, its plans to hold informal talks
in Algiers next month “were the spark” behind oil’s rally, according to Morgan
Stanley.
Oil has climbed more than 20 per cent since it
dipped below $40 a barrel earlier in the month, meeting the common definition
of a bull market. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the nation
was open to discussing a freeze after his Saudi counterpart Khalid Al Falih
said that informal talks in September may lead to action to stabilise the
market.
US oil drillers added 10 rigs this week, extending
the biggest and longest increases since April 2014, Baker Hughes Inc data show.
An agreement to freeze output is within reach as Saudi Arabia, Iran and
non-Opec member Russia are producing at, or close to, maximum capacity, Chakib
Khelil, former Opec president and Algerian energy minister, said.
http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/energy/crude-oil-caps-biggest-weekly-gain-since-march-1.1882225
2 Self-driving Ubers have arrived (Emily Price in
San Francisco Chronicle) Starting later this month, a fleet of Volvo XC90 SUVs
will be picking up and dropping off passengers in Pittsburgh with one
interesting twist: they won’t have drivers.
The cars won’t be completely empty though — there
will be a “driver” sitting in the driver’s seat in case things get dicey along
the ride. Nevertheless, the vehicles are outfitted with sensors, cameras, radar,
and GPS receivers that make it possible for them pick you up and get you to
your destination without the help of anyone behind the wheel.
There’s even a tablet in the back of each car
letting you know you’re in a driverless car, which suggests you pretend the
human driver isn’t even there. So far, he or she sometimes needs to grab the
wheel when tackling bridges; that task is still difficult for the car’s
computer system.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said that the need for the
company to develop its own self-driving fleet became apparent when Uber
realized Google was planning to get into the ride-sharing business down the
line.
If Google was successful, and Uber still relied on
drivers, the move would eventually put Uber out of business. Volvo worked with
Uber on the SUVs, but it won’t be the only car manufacturer with which the
ride-hailing service will be working. Uber began road testing its vehicles in
Pittsburg in May.
3 The evolution of corporate greenwashing (Bruce
Watson in The Guardian) The term greenwashing was coined by environmentalist
Jay Westerveld in 1986, back when most consumers received their news from
television, radio and print media – the same outlets that corporations
regularly flooded with a wave of high-priced, slickly-produced commercials and
print ads.
The combination of limited public access to
information and seemingly unlimited advertising enabled companies to present
themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in
environmentally unsustainable practices.
But greenwashing dates back even earlier. American
electrical behemoth Westinghouse’s nuclear power division was a greenwashing
pioneer. Threatened by the 1960’s anti-nuclear movement, which raised questions
about its safety and environmental impact, it fought back with a series of ads
proclaiming the cleanliness and safety of nuclear power plants.
By the early 1990s, consumers were wising up to
sustainability concerns: polls showed that companies’ environmental records
influenced the majority of consumer purchases. This interest in the environment
brought an increased awareness of the greenwashing; by the end of the decade,
the word had officially entered the English language with its inclusion in the
Oxford English Dictionary.
Since then, the trend has only increased: a 2015
Nielsen poll showed that 66% of global consumers are willing to pay more for
environmentally sustainable products. Among millennials, that number jumps to
72%.
One shift has been outreach. Many companies are now
working to engage customers in their sustainability efforts, even as their core
business model remains environmentally unsustainable. The Home Depot and Lowes,
for example, both encourage customers to do their part by offering onsite
recycling for several products, including compact fluorescent lights and
plastic bags. Meanwhile, they continue to sell billions of dollars per year
worth of environmentally damaging products, such as paints that are loaded with
toxic ingredients and which release noxious fumes.
Greenwashing may have taken on a new shape in the
last decade, but it’s still as murky as ever.
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