Author: David Thomas

Logitech has announced the winners of its annual Future Positive Challenge, a technology and engineering initiative that identifies “disruptive sustainable solutions in electronics.” Now in its third year, the challenge invites entrepreneurs, startups, and researchers from around the world to propose solutions that make engineering and process design more sustainable. The focus at present is on areas like battery technology, printed circuits, materials, waste management, and sustainable manufacturing with a view to reduce environmental impact. Prakash Arunkundrum, President of Logitech for Business, commented on this year’s challenge and why it was initially set up. “The Future Positive Challenge was created…

Canadian lithium resource company, E3 Lithium, has announced the successful production of battery grade lithium carbonate, and launched phase 1 of a demonstration facility. Producing battery grade lithium carbonate, the entire phase 1 site is running effectively, with direct lithium extraction (DLE) processing through to the final purification steps. E3 announced that lithium chloride made using its demonstration equipment has been further processed and converted into lithium carbonate. Four separate samples were collected from the first batch of lithium carbonate, which were then analysed for purity levels. The final product achieved a very high purity of 99.70% on average, meeting…

Autel Energy, a provider of EV charging products, has introduced a high-powered charging system in the MaxiCharger DT1000 Series, which incorporates Phoenix Contact’s 1,000A liquid-cooled CCS Type 2 cable and connector system. It comes as part of Autel Energy’s product launch event “Infinite Power – Starting from Zero”. The integration of Phoenix Contact’s high-current technology into Autel Energy’s newest megawatt-class chargers serves high-power applications, including commercial fleet and heavy-duty vehicle charging, and enhance system-level compatibility and thermal stability, the company says. Andreas Lastei, Vice President of Autel Energy Europe, commented on how the collaboration will affect high-power CCS charging. “By…

Researchers have found that companies tend to favour internal environmental monitoring metrics and processes that allow them to grow, and don’t publish figures showing increased carbon emissions. New research from emlyon and TBS Business Schools has revealed businesses that voluntarily report their carbon emissions favour in-house carbon accounting tools over standardised models, despite the former sometimes producing false reports. The researchers discovered managers tend to rely on in-house reporting tools, as these typically highlight avoided emissions rather than the total amount of pollutants produced or caused. This, ultimately, helps a company’s sustainability performance look better. The case study involved 23…

euNetworks, the European bandwidth infrastructure company, has received an ‘A’ grade, the highest score possible, from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for the 2024 disclosure cycle of its Supplier Engagement Assessment (SEA). euNetworks has been striving to reduce its Scope 3 emissions by cutting carbon beyond the company’s own operations. The SEA achievement highlights a business’s commitment to improving sustainability throughout an entire supply chain. The SEA assesses organisations on various criteria that relate to how they work with suppliers in four main categories – risk management, governance & business, scope 3 emissions, and targets. An ‘A’ grade is only…

Older job applicants more likely to turn down management roles than Zoomers, a survey finds. A research paper published by the global nonprofit association of business schools, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), has revealed that millennials (people born ~1980-2000) are more inclined to turn down job offers if they have concerns over a prospective employer’s ethics and sustainability practices, compared to other generations. The Prospective Students Survey analysed data from 4,912 respondents in 147 countries. It says 27% of millennial prospective students said they strongly agree that an employer’s stance on ethics and sustainability would influence their decision to…

A study by ESSEC terms offsetting impractical at the required scale. A new study published in science journal Nature by the ESSEC Business School has shed light on the substantial costs and un-viable spatial requirements needed to offset fossil fuel emissions with afforestation by fuel companies. The study reveals that the necessary scope of forestation to remove the effects of fossil fuel burning would be unsustainable. According to the study, projects of any necessary scale would cost $11 trillion and require a forest area to be planted that would be larger than North and Central America combined. Planting trees to…