Are people with specific personality traits more prone to commit frauds than others? Psychological researchers and experienced anti-fraud professionals agree that this is indeed the case.

A study into the motivation of cyber-fraudster, written by a researcher at Perdue University, Indiana, USA, last year (2020) concluded that individuals with higher levels of narcissism had “higher capabilities to commit online fraud”.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will start work in early 2022, based in Frankfurt, Germany, and Montréal, Canada, the IFRS Foundation Trustees have announced at the COP26 climate change meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. The trustees added that the new body would by next June (2022) incorporate the work of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), which itself includes the Integrated Reporting Framework and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).…

Food manufacturers across the European Union (EU) may pay more for their ingredients because of new EU rules requiring farmers to undertake additional work to get the same subsidies, while the cost of fuel and fertiliser is also rising.

“I think you will see that the industry will, at least initially, eat some of the price increases,” predicted Gunnar Kvistgaard, director of Denmark-based 1A Food Consulting.…

Growth in demand for and production of renewable diesel is set to disrupt the global liquid fuels sector, with major increases in refining capacity being developed now. Renewable diesel has major potential as a transitional alternative energy source, because, unlike standard biofuels, in its highest quality form, it is chemically identical to fossil fuel diesel. …

Sub-Saharan Africa has natural resources that aids the development of renewable energy, it has lots of sun, plentiful wind, and much potentially sustainable biomass. With the development of small-scale affordable renewable energy technologies, such systems have been promoted by major aid agencies keen to prevent deforestation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, that – even where they are plentiful, have not usually led to widespread economic development.

The Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a revision of the island’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Law, partly to help paint and coatings manufacturers maintain access to the European Union (EU) market. The reform will take account of the EU’s planned Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which may levy duties on products the EU deems have been made with excess carbon emissions.…

Researchers from England’s Lancaster University and Aston University, plus the Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, have developed a technique of making textile additives from spent nuclear fuel. They argue the system offers economic and environmental gains regarding the processing of waste, as well as substituting sodium dithionite, which can help form toxic gases.…

The European Commission has warned that European Union (EU) member states are making “alarmingly slow progress” in reviewing the safety of active biocidal substances on sale before May 2000 – covering most products. A review of the operation of the 2012 EU biocidal product regulation (BPR) of 2012 concluded that while the system was “fully operational”, there has been a “substantial delay in active substance approval,” whose completion deadline has already been extended from 2014 to 2024.…

Ireland’s burgeoning medtech sector has supported changes in the latest Irish government budget, announced on October 12, which could boost investment and start-ups in this globally important Irish industry. The Fianna Fail-Fine Gail-Green coalition unveiled reforms to the country’s Employment Investment Incentive (EII) scheme, which grants tax exemptions to investors in industries such as medtech.…

THE FINNISH can manufacturing industry has been growing, with new production coming online in the past 10 years to diversify a sector that is able to draw on effective access to raw materials and a highly skilled workforce.

Both Rexam (now part of Ball) and Poland-based Canpack operate efficient Finnish can-making plants.…