Nine new leading companies join the likes of Ikea and M&S as part of the RE100 global campaign for low-carbon business. This global campaign encourages businesses to source energy from 100% renewable sources.

This report by the Science-Policy Partnership Network synthesizes current scientific information to help oil palm policy makers make land-use decisions which jointly meet biodiversity and carbon conservation agendas. The Science-Policy Partnership Network is led by University of York and was set up by the ‘Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Oil palm Research’ (SEnSOR) project with funding from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and includes representatives from oil palm growers, consumer goods companies, NGOs, government and the RSPO.

Photo credit: Getty images The German car giant Volkswagen has admitted that they have cheated in emissions tests in the US. Since 2009, Volkswagen has been installing elaborate software in 482,000 "clean diesel" vehicles sold in the US and according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these cars had devices in their diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results. The cars' pollution controls would then only work when being tested for emissions.

A row over its Arctic drilling programme has culminated in oil giant Shell leaving the Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group.  This is a network of European business leaders advocating for climate action including GlaxoSmithKline, Tesco and Unilever.

In this report WWF-UK and Food Ethics Council outline business interpretations of food security, assess the different business cases for food security and puts forward suggestions for action. The report finds that businesses want government intervention to avoid long term risk and they are in favour of bold actions to create a food system that serves citizens, the economy and planet alike. Businesses emphasise that the government needs to do more to provide a level playing field for businesses, including allowing them to collaborate more effectively.

A new analysis by global non-profit CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, looks at how some of the most recognizable household brands are managing climate change. Their report argues that many of the world’s biggest food, beverage and tobacco brands are missing their biggest opportunity to mitigate climate risks.

Eighty global food companies are ranked in a new report, now in its third year, representing food retailers and wholesalers, restaurants and bars, and food producers and manufacturers.

The first progress report of A Better Retailing Climate initiative has been published. It describes how retailers since 2005 have improved their performance against the environmental targets set out in the initiative, and that they have: