Work with Purpose

Facebook and Instagram get rid of fact checkers. The move comes as Zuckerberg and other tech executives seek to improve relations with US President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office later this month. Trump and his Republican allies have criticised Meta for its fact-checking policy, calling it censorship of right-wing voices. Said Ava Lee, from Global Witness: "Claiming to avoid "censorship" is a political move to avoid taking responsibility for hate and disinformation that platforms encourage and facilitate". For example, calling women ‘household objects’ now permitted on Facebook after Meta updated its guidelines. According to a section of the policy prohibiting such speech that was crossed out. A new section of the policy notes Meta will allow “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.” In 2018, the United Nations (UN) reported that social media had played a significant role in the 2017 Rohingya genocide in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The UN identified Facebook as a “useful instrument” for spreading hate speech in the country. Two months later, a $1.6 billion lawsuit in Kenya’s High Court accused Facebook’s parent company Meta of amplifying hate speech and incitement to violence on Facebook in relation to Ethiopia’s 2020–2022 Tigray War. (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). Following investigation for the Online Safety Bill (UK) it was identified in 2021 by "Whistleblower Frances Haugen has told MPs that Facebook is "unquestionably making hate worse", as they consider what new rules to impose on big social networks." "Facebook has been unwilling to accept even little slivers of profit being sacrificed for safety". And she warned that Instagram was "more dangerous than other forms of social media". and suggesting Facebook is "very good at dancing with data", but pushes people towards "extreme content". Another whistleblower, a moderator at facebook, spoke out about cuts to moderation: After that things got worse. “You get child pornography, you get bestiality, necrophilia, harm against humans, harm against animals, rapings,” he says, his voice shaking. “You don’t see that on Facebook as a user. It is my job as a moderator to make sure you don’t see it.” The approach is also at odds with recent regulation in both the UK and Europe, where big tech firms are being forced to take more responsibility for the content they carry or face steep penalties.

Bank of England delays rules (again) designed to avoid banking crash by a year: Latest setback, after talks with Treasury, blamed on lack of clarity about implementation in US. The Bank of England has delayed the introduction of tougher global banking capital rules by a further year to prevent another 2008-style crash, blaming the second delay on a lack of clarity about its implementation in the US. The Bank’s regulator, which made the decision after consultation with the Treasury, also said it was taking into account “competitive and growth considerations”. The Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which supervises banks and insurers, said implementation of Basel 3.1, the final set of banking reforms designed to avert another global financial crisis, would be delayed by one year to 1 January 2027. They had already been delayed last September by six months, to January 2026.

PFAS contamination ...so widespread its unavoidable? PFAS pollution is so widespread that the chemicals are thought to be in the blood of almost every human on the planet. Raw drinking water sources across England are polluted with toxic forever chemicals, new analysis has revealed, prompting the water sector to demand that ministers ban the substances and polluters pay for the astronomical cleanup costs. EU is considering a proposal to regulate all 10,000 or so PFAS together, but the PFAS industry is lobbying against it and the UK has no plans to follow suit. UK is failing to match EU in fight against ‘forever chemicals’, say scientists. Experts criticise Defra’s decision not to use OECD definition of PFAS, with one asking if move is ‘politically based’. The areas covered by Affinity Water and Anglian Water were found to be particularly badly affected, and experts have said they fear “we are drastically underestimating the size of the problem”. There are more than 10,000 PFAS in use, known as forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment. Two of the substances, called PFOS and PFOA, are now banned after they were linked to cancers, thyroid disease and immune and fertility problems, and little is known about the toxic effects of the others. PFAS are used in a huge range of consumer products and industrial processes as well as firefighting foams, and pollution is now widespread in air, soils, water, wildlife and even human blood.

Global climate highlights 2024: 2024 saw unprecedented global temperatures, following on from the remarkable warmth of 2023. It also became the first year with an average temperature clearly exceeding 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level – a threshold set by the Paris Agreement to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Multiple global records were broken, for greenhouse gas levels, and for both air temperature and sea surface temperature, contributing to extreme events, including floods, heatwaves and wildfires. These data highlight the accelerating impacts of human-caused climate change.

Current climate policies risk catastrophic societal and economic impacts: The global economy could face a 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090, unless immediate policy action on risks posed by the climate crisis is taken. Populations are already impacted by food system shocks, water insecurity, heat stress and infectious diseases. If unchecked, mass mortality, mass displacement, severe economic contraction and conflict become more likely. ‘Planetary Solvency – finding our balance with nature’ is the IFoA’s fourth report in collaboration with climate scientists. The report develops a framework for global risk management to address these risks and show how this approach can support future prosperity. It also shows how a lack of realistic risk messaging to guide policy decisions has led to slower action than is needed. The report proposes a novel Planetary Solvency risk dashboard, to provide decision-useful risk information to support policymakers to drive human activity within the finite bounds of the planet that we live on. https://lnkd.in/eVPb8wvh

UK Government opens £77m funding round to boost heat network efficiency: the Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero (DESNZ) has launched the ninth round of the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES), which will allocate £77m to improve the performance of heat networks in England and Wales. Deadline for aplications is 28 March 2025. The Heat Network Efficiency Scheme supports public, private and third-sector organisations in optimising underperforming heat networks, which often result in subpar outcomes for customers and operators. Heating in buildings contributes to 30% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, and improving the efficiency of heat networks is seen as a key strategy for reducing emissions. Heat pumps are expected to play a key role. Heat networks are another key piece of the puzzle. The Government’s climate advisory body, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has recommended that at least 18% of the UK’s domestic heat demand is met with heat networks by 2050, up from 2% in 2020.

UK EV sales reached record highs in 2024. Electric models accounted for almost one in five car registrations (19.6%) in the UK during 2024, with a record 382,000 sold, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has confirmed. Pure petrol and diesel car registrations fell by -4.4% and -13.6% year-on-year respectively as more buyers opted for pure electric or hybrid electric models. Consequently, average new car emissions have fallen by -6.2% year-on-year to 102.1g of CO2e per km travelled. “We expect these record numbers to continue through 2025.” EV charging points still remains an issue, with uneven roll-out and access. A poll of 1,000 Britons (in 'rural' areas) revealed that more than half do not feel able to switch to an electric vehicle (EV) due to a lack of public charging points in their local area – with the issue hitting rural residents most acutely. However, “It has also been a year of growth for the EV charging sector, with over 73,000 public chargers currently in place and thousands more being installed every month ready to support these vehicles."

EU gender balance on corporate boards (among directors of listed companies) in force (EU 2022/2381). The Directive set a target for EU large listed companies of 40% of the underrepresented sex among their non-executive directors and 33% among all directors. The deadline for the transposition by Member States was 28th December 2024, and companies must meet the targets by 30 June 2026. The share of women in corporate boards is 34% on average in the EU. Since 2010, the representation of women in corporate boards has improved in most EU Member States, but the extent of progress varies considerably and in some Member Sates it is stagnating. For example, in 2024. women accounted for 39.6% of the board members of the largest listed companies in countries with binding gender quotas, compared to 33.8% in countries with soft measures, and iust 17% in countries that have taken no action at all.

One in four properties at flood risk by 2050 (England) - Around eight million properties in England - or one in four - could be at risk of flooding by 2050 as the danger increases due to climate change, the Environment Agency (EA) has said. In its first assessment of how a warming world could affect flooding, the EA warned of increasing threats from heavier rainfall and rising sea levels. The number of at-risk properties could be even higher if more houses are built on floodplains, but could be lower if flood defences are improved. Currently, 6.3 million properties are considered at risk from flooding, new figures show, which is higher than previously thought.

The 2025 QS Sustainability University rankings: which of the world's universities are leading the way in social and environmental sustainability with the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025? University of Toronto hits first place, followed by ETH Zurich, Lund University, University of California, Berkeley, UCL, and University of British Columbia.