Here’s what we have for you today:
• YouTube lowballs
• Cow disruption
• Honda upgrade
Bill Gates trying to reduce emissions from cow burps?
New venture: Bill Gates has led a new $12m investment in an Australian company that is aiming to feed seaweed to cows in order to reduce the planet-heating emissions from their burps.
Do what? Rumin8 is developing a range of supplements to feed to cows in order to reduce the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, they belch out.
Future: The US and EU are among those to have signed a global pledge to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030 but with worldwide meat-eating expected to rise in the coming decades some companies have looked at ways of directly reducing the climate impact of the planet’s 1 billion cows.
YouTube illegally using return-to-office push to derail union?
Ignition: In a filing, the Alphabet Workers Union accused the tech giant and a staffing firm of responding to a YouTube unionization campaign by announcing new stricter rules.
The choice: Under the restrictions- refusing to return to the local office in Austin will be considered “job abandonment” and “voluntary termination,” the union said.
News flash: Treatment of contract workers has become a flashpoint for Alphabet, the owner of Google and its YouTube unit which relies heavily on staffing firms to meet its labor needs. Contract employees became the majority of the company’s global workforce in 2018, and Alphabet Workers Union has been trying to organize both direct and subcontracted staff.
Honda makes a major step forward
Game on: Japanese automaker Honda Motors said it plans to launch an electric vehicle EV division in an effort to compete with other EV giants such as China’s BYD and U.S. based Tesla.
The launch: The automaker said its new division will be launched on April 2023. It will combine its electrification strategy and its development of automobiles, motorcycles and power products such as generators, according to a statement.
The goal: Honda plans to manufacture mid- to large-sized vehicles in China and North America and plans to sell small to mid-sized cars for the other two regions, the spokesperson said.