TRENDING ISSUE IN FOCUS

Innovations in Sustainable Packaging

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Environmental/Social Issues

Elephants in the Glass House: Contextualizing Sustainability and Integrated Reporting

Cutting the fluff out of reporting by looking at some of the root causes of sustainability challenges may help stakeholders to better understand in how far the majority of companies are part of the problem or can be part of the solution to human survival.

Cutting Out the Middlemen: A Solution to the Dangers of Low-Cost Production

Sadly, for the second time in months, the world has turned its attention to one of the biggest low-cost producing countries for apparel, Bangladesh. In November, a raging fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh claimed more than 100 people’s lives and led to a countless number of injuries. And the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza factory in April, in which 1,127 people died, is the country's worst industrial accident to date.

Hyatt Launches Program to Support Global Literacy and Career Readiness

Hyatt Hotels Corporation recently announced a long-term commitment to help improve education and workforce readiness through a new global philanthropy program focused on literacy and career development.

With a focus on literacy and career readiness, Ready to Thrive will support community organizations and programs, offering a launching point for individuals to learn and develop the critical skills needed to professionally advance. It also will build on the existing foundation of Hyatt Thrive’s four pillars, which include economic development and investment, health and wellness, environmental sustainability, and education and personal advancement.

Sainsbury’s Hits Zero Landfill Waste Target Seven Years Early

Sainsbury’s says it has succeeded in diverting all store waste from landfills, reaching its zero-waste goal in just three years — seven years ahead of schedule.

As part of its 20x20 Sustainability Plan, the UK supermarket chain said it would put all waste to positive use by 2020.

Sainsbury’s says excess food that cannot be used by its charity partners is now processed into animal feed to support local farmers or used to produce energy through anaerobic digestion. The company claims to be the UK’s largest retail user of anaerobic digestion which, along with donating food to charity, helped it reach its zero-waste goal.

Canadians Rethinking Brand Choices Following Bangladesh Factory Collapse

Following the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April that claimed the lives of 1,127 workers, DIG360 Consulting Ltd. commissioned a survey to ask Canadians about their awareness of the incident, their perceptions around Canadian retailers sourcing overseas and, specifically, their attitudes about Canadian fashion brand Joe Fresh.

According to the results of the survey, this story has made an indelible impact on Canadians. Eighty‐seven percent of Canadians were aware of the Bangladesh factory tragedy. Of these, almost half (43 percent) reported that the incident has led them to think about their shopping choices. 

When It Comes to Sustainable Innovation, Corporates Can Learn a Lot from Entrepreneurs

One of the core ideas behind sustainable branding is that, by thinking of social problems as business opportunities, companies can gain a competitive advantage. It follows then that a very important core competency in the quest for sustainable branding is the ability to identify social and environmental opportunities and to turn them into innovative business solutions.

In other words, much of sustainable branding is about human-centered innovation and understanding how to continuously create relevance and value in the lives of individuals. This is a field that has advanced significantly in recent years with the increasing prominence of approaches such as design thinking, co-creation and customer development.

Case Study: How We Changed the Behavior of Littering

Over the last few years, Shelton Group’s Pulse studies have tracked a decline in concern for several environmental issues — hypothesizing that some issues (such as climate change) have become highly politicized and that the country’s declining economy has given Americans more immediate worries to focus on. One environmental issue that has definitely bucked this trend is trash.

In our Green Living Pulse™ study, throwing trash out of the car window was the only environmentally related behavior that a majority of Americans (63 percent) would be very embarrassed to get caught doing.

What I Learned About Sustainability At REI, Part 5: Systems Over Silos

This is the fifth of five posts in the series about what I learned in my time leading sustainable business strategy at REI (read part one). It was a privilege to be part of a significant transformation at the co-op and I hope sharing these posts will help others accelerate their efforts, or at least avoid the same errors.

Rhode Island Whole Foods' Produce Display Urges Consumers to Help Preserve Pivotal Pollinators

On Friday, a Whole Foods Market in University Heights, Rhode Island found an effective way to illustrate the pivotal role that bees play in our food system by removing all produce items that are dependent on bees and other pollinators, according to the company's website.

The store's produce team pulled 237 of 453 products — 52 percent of the department's normal product mix, including:

Dow, Unilever Build Business Case for Green Infrastructure

The Dow Chemical Company, Shell, Swiss Re and Unilever, working with The Nature Conservancy and a resiliency expert, recently published a collaborative white paper that argues for green infrastructure solutions to become part of the standard toolkit for modern engineers.

Green infrastructure employs elements of natural systems, while traditional “gray infrastructure” is man-made. Examples of green infrastructure include creating oyster reefs for coastal protection, and reed beds that treat industrial wastewater.

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Call for Content!

Our editorial Issue in Focus for June will examine how brands are activating sustainability. We invite you to share stories of how your organization is driving behavior change to encourage more sustainable consumption. Check out our call for content and find out about partnership opportunities!