01/11/21; C Store Decisions Deal lets consumers access one-hour delivery from nearly 13,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores across the US. Online grocery delivery platform Instacart and Dollar Tree announced the companies’ expanded partnership to offer same-day delivery in as fast as one hour from nearly 7,000 Dollar Tree stores. Nearly 98 million U.S. households will now have access to Dollar Tree’s and Family Dollar‘s broad selection of household goods and seasonal decor, pantry and baby essentials, office, party and school supplies, personal care items and more, delivered from nearly 13,000 locations. “With our focus on best meeting customers’ evolving needs, we are pleased to expand our Instacart partnership to provide even more households across the country with convenience and value on everyday products, as well as the party essentials and seasonal items that Dollar Tree is best known for,” said Dollar Tree President and CEO Michael Witynski. With today’s expansion announcement, the companies…

03/11/21 CSP News WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — EG Group has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Sprint Food Stores Inc. The company expects to acquire all 34 company-operated fuel and convenience-store locations in Georgia and South Carolina and the proprietary Sprint Kitchen foodservice brand from Sprint. This acquisition will expand Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group’s presence in the United States to two additional states; it will operate more than 1,750 sites across 33 states. The Sprint Kitchen brand offers a selection of made-in-store hot food items including fried chicken, pizza and breakfast options, which will complement EG Group’s existing U.S. foodservice proposition. “We are excited to have Sprint join the EG America team,” said George Fournier, president of EG America. “We know our new colleagues will make a strong contribution, as we expand our business into two new states.” Zuber Issa CBE and Mohsin Issa CBE, co-founders and co- CEOs of EG Group,…

25/10/21; The Australian An electric vehicle charging station. Picture: Heidi Petith All new cars sold would be electric by 2035, under an ambitious new proposal from the Grattan Institute to slash carbon emissions. Grattan’s car plan would see the average annual emissions for new passenger vehicle sales capped at 143 grams of carbon per kilometre (g/km), starting from 2024. Under the proposal, this average annual emissions “ceiling” on new car sales would be lowered to 100g/km by 2027, and then to 25g/km by 2030. Carbon emissions from new vehicles under the ceiling should fall to zero by 2035, the report said. Passenger vehicles are responsible for 11 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions, and Marion Terrill, the director of Grattan’s transport and cities program and author of the report, said the plan would achieve 40 per cent of the nation’s emissions reduction task between now and 2030. Ms Terrill told…

26/10/21; news.com.au Supermarket giant Coles has launched a new online marketplace to rival Woolworths and Aldi. Coles’ customers will be able to purchase ‘Best Buys’ online using the company’s website or app from Wednesday. The lifestyle products are only available online and include Apple products, kitchen ovens and table sets. New products will be added fortnightly from Friday. It follows Woolworths’ launch of its own Everyday Market in September.

27/10/21; Herald Sun, Victoria THE state government will launch a review into tobacco regulation in a desperate bid to combat the sale and distribution of illicit tobacco across Victoria. The trade is favoured by organised crime syndicates because of the big profits and minimal enforcement risks. This year the Sunday Herald Sun revealed criminals were raking in more than $800m a year in the illicit tobacco trade, with 2.2 million kilograms consumed nationwide in 2020. Commissioner for Better Regulation Anna Cronin will carry out the independent review of Victoria’s tobacco laws and provide recommendations on ways to improve licensing, compliance and regulatory powers. It follows a recent report from the federal parliament’s joint committee on law enforcement, which said stronger regulation was needed to tackle the sale and distribution of “chop chop”. In August, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party MP Tania Maxwell called on the government to rein in the “insidious”…

03/11/21, The Australian Energy Minister Angus Taylor. Picture: Martin Ollman Ultra low-cost solar has been unveiled as the latest driver of Australia’s 2050 net-zero emissions target, with new time frames set for emerging clean-energy solutions to achieve price parity with higher-emitting alternatives. Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Tuesday released his second technology investment road map, which shows that getting clean-­energy solutions to cost parity or better with existing power sources is “the only way to reduce emissions without taxes”. The road map, which anchors Scott Morrison’s net-zero plan and medium-term climate change strategy, is backed by $1.7bn in new funding for low-emissions technologies this year and guides the government’s $20bn investment pledge over the next decade. Mr Taylor, who is selling the government’s long-term emissions reduction strategy at the COP26 summit in Glasgow this week, said “increased government investment in early-stage technology research, development and demonstration” would help de-risk the…