Nike
CDP Identifies 853 Water Risks Threatening Growth For World's Largest Companies
8 years ago - Two-thirds of the world's largest companies are reporting exposure to water risks, some of which have potential to limit growth, according to a new report by CDP. The news comes amid mounting shareholder concern around the business impacts from water scarcity, accessibility and poor water quality.
Unilever, Coke, M&S, BT Launch Digital Platform to Engage Millennials on Our Power to Create Change, 'Collectively'
8 years ago - A coalition of the world’s biggest companies has launched a global digital platform to drive conversation and momentum around sustainability — and to help reach the ever-elusive goal of making sustainable lifestyles the new normal.The idea for Collectively, launched today, emerged from conversations at last year’s World Economic Forum between Unilever, BT Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Marks & Spencer and Carlsberg, around how to engage more effectively with millennials to inspire and accelerate more sustainable ways of living.
The #CVSEffect in Action: Wagon Train Edition — IKEA, GM, Mars Stand Up for Climate Policy
8 years ago - Previous articles in this series talked about leading businesses taking bold steps on their own for the common good — because it's the right thing to do — even if it costs the company financially in the short term.This time I want to point to the latest wave of businesses working collaboratively on the urgent, common ground issues of renewable energy and climate policy. In America's history of westward expansion and exploration, pioneer families came together in wagon trains for mutual support. In the same way, the examples below show that businesses are taking action, together, to ensure a more certain future that's good for all of us and for business.
LAUNCH Seeking Chemistry Innovations to Advance Sustainable Materials, Manufacturing
8 years ago - Calling all chemistry innovators! LAUNCH — the open innovation platform aimed at identifying and fostering breakthrough ideas for a more sustainable world — this week announced its newest System Challenge: Green Chemistry.
Greenpeace Chastising Brands for Toxic World Cup Gear
9 years ago - With less than a month to go before the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Greenpeace Germany has released a new report indicting adidas, Nike and Puma for producing soccer gear with hazardous chemicals after testing 33 items including boots, goalkeeper gloves and the official “Brazuca” ball, for a range of substances.
How CEOs Can Save the World from Global Warming
9 years ago - The business world is waking up to the challenge of climate change.Apple CEO Tim Cook recently lashed out at a shareholder who pressed the company to stop investing in carbon reduction and renewable energy. In the most recent World Economic Forum Global Risk survey of CEOs and world leaders, three of the top six issues of “highest concern” were failure to tackle climate change, extreme weather, and water crises.
Ceres Conference and Report Ask: Is Corporate Sustainability Gaining Ground or Losing Pace?
9 years ago - “We're screwed,” agreed authors Andrew Winston and Paul Gilding in the opening plenary of last week's Ceres Conference.“But we've got huge opportunities to solve mega-challenges profitably,” Winston added.
How Brands Can Connect with Consumers — Through 'Storydoing'
9 years ago - We all have a personal metastory, a story that we build through every action we take, every choice that we act on, and every purchase we make. It is the story that emerges in the minds of others as they see us and our choices. This is true for people and for brands.In True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business, author and former ad man Ty Montague argues that consumers use the story of brands to tell part of their own metastories. His advice to brands: “People don’t buy products; they take actions that help advance their own personal metastory, and sometimes buying and using your product is one of those actions.”
How to Redefine Capitalism-as-Usual (or 8 Steps to Becoming a Truly Sustainable Brand)
9 years ago - When Patagonia launched its Responsible Economy campaign last fall, VP of Environmental Initiatives Rick Ridgeway eloquently summed up the ‘elephant in the room’ of capitalism: Growth is not sustainable. Ridgeway accepts that evolving from our current economic system will be especially challenging for larger companies with insatiable IPOs, but I’d like to share some ways it not only can be done but is being done.1. CSRCorporate social responsibility has been a fantastic gateway for newcomers to sustainable business values, allowing a brand to better understand its impacts and act as a baseline to refer back to over time.
6 Cool Tools for Driving Behaviour Change and Innovation
9 years ago - When wrestling with the attitude-behaviour gap and grappling with the emotional and often-irrational nature of the human animal (aka any of your business's stakeholders), you’ll need all the help you can get. Whether you’re crafting a communications strategy to encourage positive behaviour change or facilitating a process to unleash new ideas and breakthrough innovation on a project, thankfully, digital media is facilitating the rapid sharing and diffusion of smart, practical ways to create change.
LAUNCH Nordic Enlists IKEA, Novozymes in Quest for Sustainable Materials
9 years ago - LAUNCH — the strategic collaboration between NASA, NIKE, Inc., the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) — announced Friday it has added the expertise of a host of Scandinavian innovators in its continued search for sustainable materials. LAUNCH teamed up with Nordic-based companies IKEA, Novozymes, Kvadrat, Arla and a number of government institutions to announce LAUNCH Nordic, an initial step in taking the LAUNCH process to innovators around the world.
It Just Got Easier for Companies to Invest in Nature
9 years ago - Nature is valuable. But figuring out how valuable has been challenging. By some measures, the services that nature provides business and society — clean water, food and metals, natural defense from storms and floods, and much more — are worth many trillions of dollars. But that number is not helpful to companies trying to assess how dependent they are on natural resources, or how to value them as business inputs.
Leaders Now Seeing Climate Change as Risk That Can Be Managed, Not Uncertainty That Can’t
9 years ago - Last month, a front-page New York Times story reported that global business leaders Coca-Cola, Nike, and others are factoring in climate change risks as threats to the bottom line. This news followed CDP’s December reveal that 29 major companies use a shadow carbon price in their finances for climate risk evaluation.What do these stories have in common? Risk.
Burberry Is Latest Apparel Brand to Commit to Eliminate Hazardous Chemicals
9 years ago - … Or, as Greenpeace refers to its apparent victory: “How to Detox a fashion brand in 14 days, 6 cities and 10,000 tweets.”British luxury fashion brand Burberry has responded to recent allegations by Greenpeace that some of its clothing contains hazardous chemicals by committing to remove all such substances from its operations by 2020.
Businesses Cannot Be Successful If the Society Around Them Fails
9 years ago - Once upon a time, the ‘S’ word — sustainability — was about as relevant to business as a fork in a sugar bowl. At best, a box to be ticked; at worst, seen as a serious impediment to the pursuit of profit.But the world is changing. Look at the business news and you’ll see the global heads of big businesses uttering that ‘S’ word with increasing frequency.
Nike, PUMA in Talks with Chemist Revolutionizing Bio-Based Materials
9 years ago - University of Delaware professor Dr. Richard Wool is setting about revolutionizing bio-based materials for a wide variety of applications. The professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering — who is also director of UD’s Affordable Composites from Renewable Resources (ACRES) program — has already developed safer chemical adhesives, composites, foams and circuit boards from renewable resources through processes that require less water and energy to produce and create less hazardous waste compared to petroleum-based processes, according to Science Daily.
The Alchemy of Sustainability: 5 Forces That Will Drive More Meaning, Growth and Impact in 2014
9 years ago - At BBMG, we often use archetypes to help reveal a brand’s true character and provide a North Star for the products, services and experiences it can bring into the world.My favorite is the Alchemist, whose core desire is to search out the fundamental laws of how things work and apply these principles to make things happen. The Alchemist integrates physical, environmental and spiritual elements to spark transformation in people, organizations and our times.In 2014, we see an alchemy of economic, environmental and social values that will bring new opportunities for business and society, and we’ve identified five forces that will advance a more sustainable marketplace:
How Brands Can Unlock Our Adventures
9 years ago - Many classic tales of adventure begin with an empowering gift: something that opens doors, reveals possibilities, or helps to overcome obstacles. D’Artagnan’s father presents him with fifteen crowns, a horse and a letter of introduction; James Bond goes to see Q to pick up his car and gadgets; the Master of Jordan College gives Lyra the all-knowing, all-telling alethiometer.
New Greenpeace Report Reveals 'Little Monsters' in Children's Clothing
9 years ago - Hazardous chemicals have been found in children’s clothes and shoes made by major brands including Disney, Burberry and adidas, according to a new report, A Little Story About the Monsters in Your Closet, released yesterday by Greenpeace East Asia.
Top 10 Ways Brands Used Their Power to Create a More Sustainable World in 2013
9 years ago - 2013 was a banner year for companies using their muscle to drive transformative change, both internally and globally. Without further ado, here is just a taste of some of the progress we found most inspiring.