Today’s ESG Updates
- Ireland Pushes for New EU-wide Levies: The Irish presidency voices broad support for a proposed electronic waste tax that would generate an estimated €17.9 billion per year across the bloc.
- Crops Harvested Early, in Worse Condition: New data shows that crops matured significantly earlier than usual this year, leading to poor harvest results in both quality and quantity.
- Jaguar Land Rover Plans Large Layoffs: The UK-based car manufacturer faces fierce competition and pressing tariffs, prompting plans to cut approximately 10% of its workforce.
- France to Output Record-Low Wine Volumes: Climate change has severely affected vineyards across the country, with expected output falling below 3.4 billion litres this year—the lowest in 70 years.
Ireland presents its new perspective on carbon imports
The EU aims to finish the work on a budget agreement by the end of the year, before national elections in France, Spain, and Italy potentially disrupt the process. The bloc’s countries are finishing the list of potential new taxes that will partially fund its common cash pot. Amidst that, the Irish Council presidency reached consensus on introducing new levies on foreign polluters and electronic waste.
The final tax discussions will likely take place during the next bloc gathering in Brussels on the 15th of October. With less than four years until the end of year, national governments show openness towards a tax on foreign carbon imports, known as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), 75% of which would go towards the EU budget, and the rest to the national governments. However, other proposed taxes targeting carbon imports, Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), non-collected electronic waste and more, totalling more than €66 billion annually, still face resistance from national governments, including Ireland.
The Irish Presidency claimed that it is amongst a group of ETS opposers. The group includes Eastern countries like Poland and Hungary. Those are highly polluting countries who want to retain ETS revenue for domestic budgets.
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Climate change causes crops to mature early
New data shows maize, rapeseed, and winter wheat matured early this year. Farmers have already harvested the crops, as climate change disrupts the fields. For example, winter wheat reached maturity 20 days earlier in the European Union than at the start of the century, with similar shifts observed for rapeseed and corn. Farmers used to harvest wheat during the second week of August, but this year, in some cases, it was ready by the end of July.
Europe went through several heatwaves, starting as early as May. This directly affects the crop maturity timelines. Even a few degrees can cause crops to accumulate heat units more quickly, shortening the time needed to move through the plant’s physiological stages and mature.
Early maturity affects both quantity and quality of the crop. Data from the French farm office shows that a mere 27% of the maize crop was in good or excellent condition by the end of August, the lowest it has been since 2011.
Related Articles
Here is a list of articles selected by our Editorial Board that have gained significant interest from the public:
Jaguar Land Rover’s turnaround plan might cut up to 10% of the workforce
Jaguar Land Rover’s representative said on Monday that the company aims to cut around 10% of its workforce voluntarily over the next two years, affecting mainly salaried and management staff, as the industry as a whole faces fierce competition from China and tariffs on essential materials. The carmaker has 17 sites across England, and aims to achieve £1.7 billion in savings by cutting around 4000 jobs. The announcement comes shortly after Volkswagen revealed similar plans just last week. Additionally, the job cuts are a significant blow to the country as it heads into setting a tough budget in late October.
Jaguar Land Rover claims the savings are necessary to make the company more resilient, while pledging to invest more than £15 billion in electrification, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and customer experience improvements. The meetings with the firm and trade unions are scheduled later this week.
Poor wine grape harvest in France leads to champagne production halving
Repeated summer heatwaves, combined with drought, severely affected vineyards across France. The Champagne region endured the most damage, according to the government estimates published on Monday. Exceptionally high temperatures ripened the grapes earlier than usual, with harvests taking place in August.
In the Champagne region, grape bunch weights totaled their lowest in 20 years, and expectations are low, at about half the usual output. France’s total wine production might fall below 3.4 billion liters this year, the lowest since 1957. Despite Paris allocating €1 billion in emergency farm aid, agricultural groups claim the package falls short of the real damage, and even France’s Environment Minister has put summer’s economic damage at €10-15 billion.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Marek Piwnicki
