A $15 minimum wage would barely hurt business and be life-changing for many workers

© Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A group of BLM demonstrators protest the Federal Reserve Bank about $15 minimum wage in NYC to solidarity nationwide in Lower Manhattan at the financial district in New York, United States on July 20, 2020 Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

President Biden wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Some fear that would hurt businesses or employment, but it would likely have a minimal effect.

And for workers currently making less than $15 an hour, it would be life-changing.

The federal minimum wage hasn't changed since the last time President Joe Biden held office.

In 2009, the federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 - where it remains today. Some individual states have raised their own minimums since then. But, as of 2019, 392,000 workers earned the federal minimum wage, and 1.2 million earned less, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

Now, President Joe Biden wants to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a move that has already seen some pushback. Some conservatives have argued that the raise could lead to job loss; in her confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen said the move would have a "minimal, if anything" impact on jobs. 

But for Drew Board, who works in online grocery pickup at a Walmart in North Carolina, an increase in the minimum wage would have more than a minimal impact. At his current wage of $13.50 an hour - the highest-paying job he's been able to find - he's sometimes found himself having to ask for help to buy essentials like food. 

"Last year, my dog was due for her annual shots, and that was like a hundred and some dollars," Board told Insider. "So do I use my money to put that into savings, or pay off a couple of my student loans, or do I spend it on my dog?"

He's been involved with United for Respect, a labor activist group, for the past year. He said that he's been advocating for basic rights for all retail workers: "If everyone is created equal, everyone should have that equal chance to live." 
An increase to the minimum wage would have minimal impact (if any) on employment

Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), told Insider that there's a "theoretical horror story" of businesses hiring less - and thereby hurting the lowest-paid workers - when the minimum wage is increased. He said that those effects are smaller or even nonexistent in the real world.

"What happens is that yes, it is true that when you raise the minimum wage employers hire fewer low wage workers, that is correct," Zipperer said. "On the other hand, the factor that's really offsetting that is that, even though employers are hiring fewer workers, fewer workers are leaving their jobs." 

Those workers can stick around, become more experienced, and even potentially more productive. And low wage businesses will have to spend less time and money finding and training new workers - making the employment effects "much smaller." 

"Boosting the federal minimum wage would lift millions out of poverty and serve as a huge additional pandemic stimulus boost for the entire economy," Chuck Collins, the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, said in a statement to Insider. "We have seen how many frontline essential workers are poorly paid and most vulnerable. Boosting their pay is both morally right and economically smart."

Gallery: Every state raising its minimum wage in 2021 (Business Insider)

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1/25 SLIDES © Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

EVERY STATE RAISING ITS MINIMUM WAGE IN 2021

To kick off 2021, 20 states raised their minimum wages.
According to a report from the National Employment Law Project, a record-breaking number of jurisdictions are set to increase their minimum wages this year. 
President-elect Joe Biden's newly announced stimulus package calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
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Some hourly workers will see larger paychecks in 2021. Twenty states already increased their minimum wages at the start of the year, and several more will see boosts in the coming months. 

Workers in New Mexico will get the largest bump. They'll receive an additional $1.50 an hour, with the state's hourly wage now cracking four digits. 

Overall, the movement to increase the minimum wage saw major gains in 2020, and the federal minimum wage could see a major boost in 2021: President-elect Joe Biden's new stimulus plan would boost the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

"Nobody working 40 hours a week should be living below the poverty line," Biden said in a speech Thursday.

As Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig noted in an analysis, raising the minimum wage has not consistently negatively impacted employment - and could put more money in the pockets of 27 million workers.

A 2019 Pew Research Center poll found that 67% of Americans support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour; Insider polling from 2019 also found that 63% of respondents supported the increase. 

A record-breaking number of jurisdictions will increase their minimum wages in 2021, according to a report from the National Unemployment Law Project. Here's where workers are already getting paid more - and where they will soon.
Read the original article on Business Insider


Read more: These maps show how the minimum wage has become another crack in the country's economic divide
Huge boost for workers - and the potential to bridge a racial wage inequities

Gloria Machuca has worked for McDonald's for 20 years. Until recently she worked at two different McDonald's, working 80 hours a week - she just left to try and sell perfumes to make ends meet. 

Machuca, who has six kids, makes $9.50 an hour. She said that it's not enough for her bills. She got involved with Fight for 15, a group advocating for a $15 minimum wage, five years ago.

For her, a $15 minimum wage would make a huge difference.

"It would change my life a lot," she said. "Right now, I work all day and I rarely spend time with my family, my kids." 

"The debate among elected leaders who have the responsibility to set the minimum wage is an important one that McDonald's looks to advance, not impede," McDonald's USA said in a statement to Insider.

"The company does not lobby against raising the minimum wage and believes any changes introduced should balance the needs of employees and small business owners - including the nearly 2,000 small business owners who own and operate more than 95% of McDonald's US restaurants. We look forward to engaging with elected leaders to provide our perspective on this conversation."

Zipperer said that women and workers of color are paid disproportionately low wages in the US. A minimum wage increase won't just increase family incomes and pull more workers out of poverty - it can also be an important step towards racial equity.

"In the late 1960s, there were a series of sizable minimum wage increases," Zipperer said. "Recent research has found that those minimum wage increases were responsible for about 20% of the fall in Black to white earnings gaps during that time period, so the minimum wage has played a very sizable role in reducing racial earnings inequality."

Read more: 7 charts that show the glaring gap between men's and women's salaries in the US
Biden has already made headway in raising the minimum wage

As Insider's Grace Dean reported, Biden is planning on signing an executive order that aims to boost all federal workers' wages to $15 an hour. He also plans on signing an additional executive order within his first 100 days that would make sure federal contractors pay $15 an hour (and provide paid emergency leave).

Still, the proposed wage increase may prove to be a sticking point for some conservatives. During Yellen's confirmation hearing, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina questioned the $15 minimum wage proposal and its potential to negatively impact jobs.

"How do we grapple with parts of this package that really are philosophical in nature and denies the practical reality that comes from it?" he said.

Machuca asks that politicians opposed to the measure put themselves in the shoes of workers like her. 

She added she wants them to know "that we're all human beings, that we have our depths, that we have our bills to pay. It is not fair that we work so much and that we have to suffer this much."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Target is giving all store workers another bonus

 of at least $500

© Provided by Business Insider AP 

Target plans to give all its employees a bonus after a strong year for sales during the pandemic.
Hourly employees will receive $500, while salaried employees and store leadership will receive up to $2,000.

It's the fifth round of bonuses Target's given out since the pandemic began nearly a year ago.

Target employees will receive another round of bonuses starting at $500 after a strong year for the retail giant despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The bonuses will amount to $200 million, the company said in a Monday press release. All hourly employees in stores, distribution centers and offices will receive $500. Store leadership and salaried employees will receive bonuses between $1,000 and $2,000, Target said.

This is the fifth time Target has given out bonuses since April 2020. The first bonuses went to individual store team leads in April. In July, hourly workers received $200 bonuses and leadership and store directors received performance bonuses. In October, Target gave $200 bonuses to 350,000 of the store's frontline workers.

Target also upped its minimum wage to $15 an hour in July 2020.

Despite the pandemic, Target reported strong sales numbers throughout 2020, and the chain saw major gains during the holiday season. Online sales also jumped 102% in 2020 compared to 2019, while in-store sales rose 17%.

Read more: Target is pushing harder into advertising with a new tool that shows if people buy a product after seeing an ad for it

The company's third-quarter earnings report, released in November 2020, showed that comparable sales were up by 20.7%. Shares of Target rose 52% in 2020, easily outpacing the broader stock market. 

Read the original article on Business Insider

#SPACERACE2.0

Investment in space companies put at record $8.9 billion in 2020 despite Covid

Private investment in space companies last year set a new annual record with $8.9 billion, according to a report on Monday by New York-based firm Space Capital.

"Despite expectations that [space] Infrastructure would be hardest hit by the pandemic, 2020 turned out to be a record for investment," Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson wrote in the report.

Space Capital also highlighted the "accelerating space ambitions" of Amazon and Microsoft as "one of the most overlooked stories of 2020, which we expect to have a significant impact in 2021 and beyond."

© Provided by CNBC A composite image showing a Falcon 9 rocket booster lifting off and a few minutes later landing back near the launchpad.

Private investment in space companies last year set a new annual record, defying industry fears that Covid-19 would stop the past decade's momentum, according to a report Monday by New York-based firm Space Capital.

"With another $2.9 billion invested in Q4, 2020 was a record year for [space infrastructure companies] with $8.9 billion invested," Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson wrote in the report. "Despite expectations that Infrastructure would be hardest hit by the pandemic, 2020 turned out to be a record for investment."

© Provided by CNBC

The quarterly Space Capital report divides investment in the industry into three technology layers, with space infrastructure including what many would typically consider to be space companies: Those that build rockets and satellites, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, Planet Labs and Spire Global.


In addition to record investment, there were also 24 exits for infrastructure space companies in 2020, with investors liquidating $7.9 billion of value. An exit happens when the company owner or investor can sell the firm to an outside party.

"Nearly all of the Infrastructure exits over the past decade have come in the form of acquisitions," Anderson wrote. "The low-interest rate environment has acted as a tailwind for M&A activity with 2020 being the most active year on record."

Overall, Space Capital found that the infrastructure layer has brought in $30.9 billion in total equity investment since 2011.

The other two layers in the report are application and distribution – the former of which includes space-dependent services like ride-hailing or navigation and the latter of which represents terrestrial-based technologies that connect to space-based networks – which in 2020 brought in $15.9 billion and $800 million, respectively.

Amazon and Microsoft ones to watch in 2021

Why SpaceX and Amazon plan to drastically increase the number of satellites orbiting Earth

Additionally, Space Capital's Q4 report highlighted the "accelerating space ambitions" of Amazon and Microsoft as "one of the most overlooked stories of 2020, which we expect to have a significant impact in 2021 and beyond."

The two tech giants made several space moves last year.

Amazon set up a new unit within its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud division, as well as made progress with its Project Kuiper satellite internet program. Microsoft unveiled its Azure Orbital service in partnership with SpaceX's Starlink as a competitor to Amazon's existing AWS Ground Station service.

"Azure Space and AWS Space are removing complexity across the value chain, making a global network of space-based communication and data collection infrastructure accessible to the tech community to innovate upon," Anderson wrote.

"In the same way that every company today is a technology company, the companies of tomorrow will all be space companies," he added.

GREEN CAPITALI$M

ECB pledges to buy green bonds as pressure rises on Bank of England over climate change

© ECB handout/Getty Christine Lagarde said the ECB would create a specialist team to focus on climate change ECB handout/Getty

The European Central Bank stepped up its focus on climate change on Monday.

It will invest in a green bond fund and create a dedicated "climate center".

UK lawmakers pressured the Bank of England over its support for polluters.

The European Central Bank stepped up its focus on climate change on Monday, announcing that it will create a specialist team to look into the issue and start investing in a "green bond" fund.

It comes as central banks face growing scrutiny over their investments, with a group of British lawmakers on Monday calling on the Bank of England to stop funding polluters through its bond-buying programs.

Central banks have increased their attention to climate change in recent years. Many are now members of the Network for Greening the Financial System, which aims to manage the risk of climate change through financial systems.

But central banks have loaned billions of dollars to polluters including oil and chemicals companies during the pandemic through various schemes designed to prop up economies, drawing the ire of climate campaigners.

Today, ECB president Christine Lagarde signalled a renewed focus on climate change. She said the ECB would create "a new climate change center to bring together more efficiently the different expertise and strands of work on climate across the Bank".

It followed an earlier announcement from the ECB that it would use part of its own funds to invest in a euro-denominated green bond investment fund. The fund was established by the Bank for International Settlements, an international organization owned by central banks.

The BIS fund invests in bonds that support renewable energy production, energy efficiency and other environmentally-friendly projects.

Yet campaigners said the ECB needed to go further, in particular by reconsidering the bonds it buys through its €1.85 trillion ($2.24 trillion) coronavirus asset-purchase program.

Paul Schreiber of campaign group Reclaim Finance said the ECB is "trying to use the purchase of green bonds to distract from its support for fossil fuels". A Reclaim Finance study from May 2020 found that the ECB finances 38 corporations active in fossil fuels.

In the UK, a group of lawmakers on Monday made similar points about the Bank of England's bond-buying, saying the BoE should limit its support to companies in "high-carbon sectors". It comes as the UK prepares to host the UN climate summit known as COP26 in November.

The Environmental Audit Committee, which scrutinizes public bodies over climate change, wrote to BoE governor Andrew Bailey, saying: "The Bank must begin a process of aligning its corporate bond purchasing programme with Paris Agreement goals as a matter of urgency." The Paris Agreement between governments pledges to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2C (3.6F).

A Bank of England spokesperson said: "The Bank will respond in full to the Environmental Audit Committee letter in due course.

"Climate change is a strategic priority for the Bank. We have an ambitious work programme on climate change, from the stress testing of the largest UK banks and insurers against climate-related financial risks through to working internationally with the central bank Network for Greening the Financial System - a network of which we were a founding member.

"As the governor told the Treasury Select Committee in November, work to consider how best to take account of climate considerations in our corporate bond portfolio is already underway at the Bank."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Bernie Sanders meme to raise money for charity

A single photo of US Senator Bernie Sanders has inspired countless memes worldwide. The Democrat said he would use the viral image to help feed the hungry.

Fans of Bernie Sanders are now able to buy sweatshirts imprinted with the viral photo of the US senator from Joe Biden inauguration, with all proceeds going to charity.

When asked by CNN for comment about his newly-found fame on meme sites, Sanders said he was overjoyed that it could be turned to good use via online sales.

"What we are doing here in Vermont is we're going to be selling around the country sweatshirts and T-shirts, and all of the money that's going to be raised – which I expect will be a couple of million dollars – will be going to programs like 'Meals on Wheels,' that feed low-income senior citizens," Sanders said on Sunday.

From 'Baby Yoda' to the Sistine Chapel

The now-famous photo of the 79-year-old Bernie Sanders was taken by AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski at US President Joe Biden's inauguration.

It shows the independent Vermont senator huddled in a chair against the cold, socially distancing as he keeps his arms folded above a distinctly unglamorous average-guy winter coat. 

Sanders' overall look – and his curmudgeonly glare — has prompted a river of creative memes as people worldwide have superimposed Sanders on famous works of art and into family photos. 

In recent days Sanders has been shown in Zoom meetings: 

Or sitting on the Iron Throne from "Games of Thrones", or alongside Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in Yalta in 1945. 

Beyond appearing in countless "Star Wars" scenes or cradling "Baby Yoda", 

others have depicted him in his mittens touching Michelangelo's Hand of God in the Sistine Chapel.

When asked about his outfit on Wednesday, the typically non-plussed Sanders grinned slightly while telling interviewers on CBS: "You know in Vermont, we dress warm, we know something about the cold, and we're not so concerned about good fashion."
Not your typical mittens

The woman who created the thick brown and beige mittens, Jennifer Ellis, hadn't even met Sanders before the inauguration.

A 42-year-old elementary school teacher from the town of Essex Junction, Vt, Ellis made the gloves from repurposed wool sweaters, using fleece made from recycled plastic bottles for the inside lining.

She first sent a pair to Sanders after he lost to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Last year, when Sanders was again running for president, Ellis learned that he liked wearing her creations. She was so touched after finding out that he'd lent them to someone in need that she sent him another 10 pairs.

Ellis is thrilled the mittens and meme-making are bringing people joy.

"I mean, people are so funny. And that's what we need right now: it's a very tough time for a lot of people. They need something to laugh about that's totally harmless and not political," Ellis said.

mb/dj (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Bernie Sanders' inauguration jacket is selling out as his mittens meme continues to dominate social media

© Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images Bernie Sanders is making money for charity thanks to his virtual inauguration meme. Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

The Burton jacket Bernie Sanders wore on inauguration day has sold out.

Bloomberg reports Burton saw sales of the jacket more than double on Wednesday compared to cumulative sales of the past 17 days.

The jacket is available in other colors, though supplies are going fast.

Bernie Sanders might not have been the most lavishly dressed on inauguration day, but his outfit choice has not only caused a barrage of memes, but booming sales for Burton, the company behind the senator's jacket.

The jacket Sanders wore on inauguration day has sold out, Bloomberg recently reported.

The company, based out of Sanders' home state of Vermont, saw a large increase of interest and sales after the inauguration. By Wednesday, Bloomberg reports the Edgecomb down jacket Sanders had worn had more than doubled in sales compared to the past 2.5 weeks combined.

The jacket is available in other colors, though Sander's taupe colored jacket sold out fast.

Sander's mittens also gained notoriety. The mittens, which were given to Sanders by second-grade teacher, Jen Ellis, are made from recycled sweaters.

Ellis said she has received numerous requests to make the mittens as well as turn them into a business, according to Slate.





Video: Bernie Sanders Turns Inauguration Meme Into a Sweatshirt for Charity (Money Talks News)

A photo of Sanders dressed for cold weather amidst celebrities like Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, who dressed up for the occasion, went viral on Wednesday and has continued to spread on social media since. Celebrities, including Ryan Seacrest, Whoopi Goldberg, and Guy Fieri, as well as brands like IKEA have gotten in on the fun.

Ikea used the image for a new marketing campaign, using the image of Sanders with the title. "Get the look," to sell a folding chair and similar open gloves.

Sanders responded to the memes during NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

"I was just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on," Sanders said.

Sanders also turned the inauguration meme into an opportunity to raise money for charity, selling sweatshirts online with the meme on it for $45 with the proceeds going to Vermont's Meals on Wheels.

The sweatshirt has already sold out on the campaign store website.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Bernie Sanders Memes Go International 

With Google Maps Tool 

© Provided by HuffPost Canada Bernie Sanders in Vancouver's Crab Park.

The evolution of a meme is a beautiful thing to watch.

In the 24-hours since the image of a mitten-clad senator Bernie Sanders first drew attention at U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the meme has naturally changed and evolved. At first the Internet was simply obsessed with Sanders’ “Vermont grandpa-core” look, remarking on how he looked like he was on his way to the post-office, or like a chilly parent at their frigid kids’ outdoor sports game.

Now, the meme’s evolved, and we’ve collectively moved on to simply placing Sanders in places he seems like a natural fit. Because why not imagine Bernie hanging out with sad Keanu or on the Toronto sign?

Of course Canada’s prodigal son Ryan Reynolds got in on the fun with his own spin on the meme. 

But a new web tool makes building your own Bernie memes even easier for the not-so Photoshop savvy, allowing you to drop photographer Brenden Smialowski’s iconic image of cosy Bernie literally anywhere in the world. New York software engineer Nick Sawhney developed the tool, which uses Google Maps to place Bernie at any address or place the service recognizes.

You can simply type a place name or street address, and the webpage will load you your very own version of the Bernie meme. Canadians took the chance to place Sanders in some iconic locales in their own neighbourhoods, like Vancouver’s Congee Noodle House or its international airport.

Or various Toronto-area Chinese restaurants. 

Or even just a driveway in Edmonton. 

Really, we all just love putting Bernie places.

Admittedly some addresses work better than others, like when we tried to plunk Bernie down in front of the old HuffPost Canada office in Toronto.

© Provided by HuffPost Canada This is what happens when you try to input the old HuffPost Canada office into the Bernie meme generator.

On Twitter, Sawhney said the site has crashed several times since its launch due to overwhelming demand. He is funding the server out of his own pocket, and has launched a fundraiser on buymeacoffee.com to fund both the server and associated fees from Google Maps and keep the Bernie memes going.

When asked about the iconic image yesterday, Sanders himself said he wasn’t looking to inspire a meme, but rather was simply bundled up against the cold.

So go forth and put Bernie in front of your childhood home. It’s the least we can do to smile during these trying times.

WATCH: Image of Sanders in mittens goes viral.

RELATED

© Provided by HuffPost Canada

Bernie’s Inauguration Mittens And Practical Coat Were A Mood

© Provided by HuffPost Canada

The Deeper Meaning Behind Those Stunning Inauguration Outfits

Pacific island nations turn to Beijing-backed AIIB as pandemic sinks economies

By Jonathan Barrett and Praveen Menon

© Reuters/TINGSHU WANG FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Pacific island nations are turning to China-led agencies to plug funding gaps in their pandemic-ravaged budgets after exhausting financing options from traditional western partners, stoking fears the region is becoming more dependent on Beijing.

The Cook Islands, a tiny country of around 20,000 people in the South Pacific, turned to the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) late last year after loans from the U.S. and Japanese-led Asian Development Bank (ADB) and grant from close ally New Zealand fell short.

The US$20 million AIIB loan to the Cook Islands was the second to a strained Pacific economy in the last few months, after Fiji secured a US$50 million facility, signalling the arrival of a development bank closely linked to China's Belt and Road Initiative to the Pacific.

Vanuatu, with a population of 300,000, also announced last week that it had accepted a US$12 million grant from the Chinese government.

While most Pacific island countries have used their natural borders to combat COVID-19 infections, they have faced economic hardship given their reliance on international tourism, a sector that abruptly shut as the pandemic struck.

China's growing reach in the region is unsettling for the United States and its allies, who have been the dominant powers in the Pacific since World War II.

Despite being small, Pacific states boast strategic ports and air strips and control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean. They also represent a vote in some international forums.

"China is very willing to lend money to any Pacific island nation. As much as Australia and New Zealand have encouraged the islands to look to them first it's been a lot easier getting money out of China," said Fletcher Melvin, president of Cook Islands' Chamber of Commerce.

The AIIB did not immediately respond to questions.

FUNDING GAP

One of the most remote outposts of World War Two, Cook Islands has a free association agreement with New Zealand and shared citizenship, though it is its own country.

Almost one-third of Cook Islands' NZ$215 million ($153.2 million) external debt now lies with Beijing-linked bodies, AIIB and China's Exim Bank, up from 16% before the pandemic.

Cook Islands expects to require additional borrowings of NZ$71.2 million ($50.74 million) over the next three years to cover shortfalls, documents show.

Jon Fraenkel, Professor in Comparative Politics at Victoria University of Wellington said Fiji, which has one of the biggest Pacific economies, was desperate for foreign funds after it entered the pandemic in a weak financial position.

The Cook Islands has previously defended its economic ties to China, which has funded several projects, including a water supply system. Its government did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

The ADB said in a statement to Reuters that late last year it provided an additional US$20 million loan, which was the "country limit" for the small island nation.

The New Zealand government said it provided a NZ$22 million ($16 million) grant through its aid programme.

After getting what it could from those sources, the Cook Islands then sought funding from AIIB, sources with knowledge of the financing talks told Reuters.

"If the AIIB becomes the primary lender to the Pacific and the region's economic recovery is driven by Chinese lending, then certainly there will be cause for significant concern that economic dependence could be exploited," said Anna Powles, senior lecturer in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University based in Wellington.

($1 = 1.4033 New Zealand dollars)

IKEA lowers climate footprint helped by pandemic and energy-efficient light bulbs

By Anna Ringstrom

© Reuters/PHIL NOBLE FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Warrington

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Furniture giant IKEA said it is on track to cut its emissions further after an 11% reduction in its climate footprint in the 12 months to the end of August, partly because of temporary store closures.

Brand owner Inter IKEA said on Monday carbon emissions throughout the value chain - from the production of raw materials to customers' use and disposal - fell in its fiscal year (FY) 2020 to 21.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

The reduction per euro of retail sales - a measure that takes into account that government lockdowns meant most stores closed for several weeks - was 7%.

"Our expectation is that the trend that we started already in FY19 and continued in FY20 will also continue in FY21," Inter IKEA Chief Executive Jon Abrahamsson said in an interview.

"Looking at CO2 emissions divided by sales we do believe we will have a positive development compared to 2020."

Head of sustainability Lena Pripp-Kovac told Reuters the main contributors, beside the pandemic, to curbing emissions were more energy efficient lighting and appliances, followed by more renewable energy use in production and transport.

IKEA, whose emissions shrank for the first time in 2019, aims to be climate positive - to reduce more greenhouse gas emissions than the value chain emits - by 2030. It said on Monday that translates into a cut of at least 15% from baseline year 2016 to 20.4 million tonnes CO2 equivalents.

IKEA said in fiscal 2020 it reached its target that more than 98% of wood in its products be from responsibly managed forests - as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - or recycled. It launched a new target that at least a third of wood be recycled by 2030, up from 12% last year.

IKEA, one of the world's biggest wood buyers, in the year used 19 million cubic metres of wood in products and packaging.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Barbara Lewis)

GOUGING NB MONOPOLY CREATES PETRO PANIC
Irving Oil supporters and skeptics lining up on opposite sides of company price hike request

© CBC News file photo Irving Oil says it needs an 'urgent' increase in petroleum margins to ensure product shortages do not hit consumers.

An initial hearing into Irving Oil's request for increases in petroleum wholesale prices begins today in front of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board with supporters raising the stark prospect of the company shutting down if it does not get what it is asking for and skeptics warning the board against being manipulated.

"We must be cautiously aware that no business is too big to fail," read one letter on the issue received and posted publicly last week by the EUB.

"They are playing the Board," read another about the company's application.

New Brunswick adopted petroleum price regulation in 2006 and put the Energy and Utilities Board in place to oversee it. Currently wholesalers are allowed to add 6.51 cents per litre to the price of motor fuels they handle (gasoline and diesel) and 5.5 cents per litre to furnace oil.

Irving Oil is applying for a 62.8 per cent (4.09 cent per litre) increase in the allowed wholesale margin for motor fuels and a 54.9 per cent (3.02 cent per litre) increase in the margin for furnace oil

© Robert Jones/CBC News New Brunswick's Energy and Utilities Board has scheduled a full hearing into Irving Oil's request for wholesale petroleum price increases for March 30. It will hear arguments Monday for and against an emergency interim increase.

The increases are substantially more than the 11 per cent growth in inflation that has occurred since the margins last changed in March 2013, but the company says fundamental changes in the oil industry and a sudden collapse in demand for petroleum products caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have rendered those old amounts obsolete.

"Petroleum pricing regulations in New Brunswick were created 15 years ago," Darren Gillis, Irving Oil chief marketing officer, said in an affidavit supporting the application. "They did not contemplate the challenges of the last several years and were not designed to react to a global pandemic."

If granted in full, the increases would apply to all New Brunswick wholesalers and would cost consumers about $60 million per year in higher retail prices.

The Energy and Utilities Board has tentatively scheduled a full hearing into the matter for the end of March, but in its application Irving Oil said its situation is dire and it cannot wait that long for relief.

Instead it is asking for 85 per cent of the requested increase on motor fuels (3.5 cents) and 99 per cent of the increase on furnace oil (3.0 cents) to be granted immediately pending the outcome of the full hearing next spring.

"The entire supply chain in under pressure and at risk," Gillis said in the application. "COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges for the industry and urgent action is required."

That tone has alarmed supporters of Irving Oil who fear the company is in trouble. Last week, the company announced layoffs at its Saint John refinery and worried suppliers have been mobilizing to urge the EUB to grant its request in full.

Eric Lloyd is president of Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc., an industrial construction firm in Miramichi that does business with Irving Oil.

Lloyd wrote to the EUB to say it "must take action to understand the economic forces that are stressing a very important contributor to our economy," and warned it is not "too big to fail" in asking its request be granted.

© Tori Weldon/CBC News Hafsah Mohammad is with the Moncton social justice and climate action group Grassroots NB, one of several groups registered to oppose Irving Oil's application.

Another Irving supplier, Lorneville Mechanical Contractors Ltd. in Saint John, also sent a letter expressing concern about the company's financial health.

"We understand that Irving Oil has identified New Brunswick's highly regulated fuel pricing system as a challenge to its ability to operate reliably and sustainably," wrote Lorneville's president Jim Brewer, in endorsing immediate increases.

Local building trade unions warned the viability of the refinery itself could hinge on the EUB's decision.

"It would be devastating to lose this asset," wrote union president Jean-Marc Ringuette in his letter supporting Irving Oil's request.

But others are skeptical.

A number of anti-poverty, union and social justice organizations have signed up to oppose Irving Oil's application and a clutch of private citizens, like Saint John resident Mary Milander, also sent letters opposing the increase.

"I believe that that the people of Saint John and the whole province have suffered financially much more than the oil industry during the pandemic," Milander wrote to the board.

© Radio-Canada Natural Resources and Energy Development Minster Mike Holland stoked early controversy about Irving Oil's request by writing a letter to the Energy and Utilities Board telling it the application should be dealt with quickly.

Although yet to start, the hearing has already been highly controversial following news last week that New Brunswick Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland sent his own letter to the EUB expressing concerns about Irving Oil's ability to supply products at current prices.

That led to criticism from all three opposition parties and a call for Holland to resign from Green Party Leader David Coon. Premier Blaine Higgs defended Holland's intervention.

The EUB has granted interim relief to applicants in other cases before, but normally on the condition money collected from consumers be returned if the increases are later found to be unjustified.

A complicating factor in Irving Oil's application for immediate relief is that Gillis has acknowledged that other than home heating oil sales, returning money to customers will not be possible.

"In the unlikely case the permanent increase for motor fuels is lower than the interim increase, Irving Oil cannot effectively and fairly rebate the difference," he said.