Cost-of-living crisis rallies thousands in Portugal

REUTERS – Thousands took to Lisbon’s streets on Saturday to demand better living conditions at a time high inflation is making it even tougher for people to make ends meet.
House prices in Portugal rose 18.7% in 2022, the biggest increase in three decades, and rents have also increased significantly in part due to a speculative property bubble.

Global asset managers aren’t investing responsibly

REUTERS – Global asset managers controlling trillions of dollars are failing to invest in a way that will protect climate, biodiversity, and people, despite efforts by the industry to promote its sustainable finance credentials, the corporate responsibility group ShareAction said on Sunday.
Two-thirds of 77 asset managers surveyed, which control $60 trillion of assets, had “serious gaps in their responsible investment policies and practices,” the group found based on an analysis of their policies.
These include a failure to assess and prevent negative impacts on nature or include Scope 3 emissions, those tied to a company’s value chain, in climate targets.

Vegetable shortages in UK could be ‘tip of iceberg’

THE GUARDIAN – Shortages of some fresh fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers could be the “tip of the iceberg”, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.
Certain products are hard to come by in UK supermarkets due to poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and North Africa, Brexit rules, and lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses.