Month: July 2025

South Africa’s Export Engine at Risk as Biggest Markets go Clean

Stuart Mitchell

South Africa’s trade-oriented economy faces mounting risks as companies decarbonise supply chains and countries begin to impose penalties on carbon-intensive imports. A new report from the Net Zero Tracker, Carbon Competitiveness: South Africa at the Net Zero–Trade Nexus, finds that the country’s coal-dependent power grid — which drives up embodied CO2 emissions (1) — makes it uniquely vulnerable, threatening billions in export revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Key findings: 78% of South Africa’s $135 billion in exports go to countries with net zero targets — supporting 1.2 million…

Read More

Danone launches the Iron Up! program to accelerate its efforts in the fight against Iron Deficiency Anemia in Children

Stuart Mitchell

Danone announces the launch of Iron Up! the first global program of its kind set up to supercharge the company’s efforts to combat iron deficiency in children. Iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia, a condition affecting more than 40% of children under five globally. Despite its prevalence, iron deficiency anemia remains often undetected and undertreated due to low awareness of its symptoms and causes, insufficient screening, and suboptimal nutrition. “At Danone we are convinced nutrition can make a positive, proven difference to health especially in those early years”…

Read More

Fund Managers Still Drive Twice as Much Investment to Fossil Fuels as Clean Energy

Stuart Mitchell

Global fund managers are driving twice as much capital investment into fossil fuels as they are into low-carbon energy supply, according to new analysis by BloombergNEF (BNEF). For every $1 of capital expenditure attributed to investment funds around the world that backed oil, natural gas or coal assets, just 48 cents went into low-carbon capex, the BNEF analysis showed. The report analyzes almost 70,000 funds and introduces a new method for investors to quantify and measure climate alignment of their portfolios. BNEF’s Energy Supply Fund-Enabled Capex Ratio (ESFR) is a…

Read More

Despite progress, child labour still affects 138 million children globally – ILO, UNICEF

Stuart Mitchell

Nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labour in 2024, including around 54 million in hazardous work likely to jeopardize their health, safety, or development, according to new estimates released today by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF. The latest data show a total reduction of over 20 million children since 2020, reversing an alarming spike between 2016 and 2020. Despite this positive trend, the world has missed its target of eliminating child labour by 2025. The report, titled “Child Labour: Global estimates 2024, trends and the road…

Read More

WFA revamps its approach to Sustainable Marketing

Stuart Mitchell

WFA is revamping its approach to sustainability and bolstering its commitments with a new Sustainable Marketing Advisory Board and Community, open to all WFA members. Sustainable Marketing will now sit as a transversal topic for WFA, connecting with its policy work and all other WFA forums including the CMO, Sourcing, Media and Insight Forums and AI and Inclusive Marketing Communities. The new strategy will build on the marketing-led approach it launched in 2021 with the WFA Planet Pledge and will continue to work on identifying and developing case studies, resources…

Read More