THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Sweden is a leader in waste-to-energy generation and earlier this year, the country began powering its incineration plants with trash purchased from neighboring countries. With less than one percent of Swedish household waste sent to landfill since 2011, the country needed to look outside its borders to keep its incineration plants going. Now, news has emerged that some of this waste is discarded clothing from fast fashion giant H&M.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
HSBC is making moves to tackle climate change, unveiling five new commitments aimed at helping drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. A major component of the financial giant’s climate push is a pledge to make $100 billion in financing available for sustainability projects by 2025.
PRESS RELEASE -
At the extraordinary general meeting today, it was decided to change the company's name from DONG Energy A/S to Ørsted A/S.
Thomas Thune Andersen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ørsted, says:
"I'm delighted that the shareholders clearly supported changing the company's name to Ørsted. The reason for the name change is that after the comprehensive strategic transformation from black to green energy, our old name no longer matched the company. Ørsted is a signal of our Danish roots – and our vision of creating a world that runs entirely on green energy. The new name has already been well received in Denmark and abroad."
PRESS RELEASE -
As organizations around the world team up to combat the effects of climate change, companies like Target have a big role to play. Since we opened our first store back in 1962, we’ve aimed to make our products and operations more sustainable for our guests—we’re a two-time ENERGY STAR partner of the year, and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s 2016 top corporate solar installer in the U.S. We’ve also come to the table in support of the Paris Agreement and other global and local environmental efforts.
PRESS RELEASE -
L’Oréal USA announced today that it has received a 2017 Green Power Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The company was one of only two organizations nationwide to be chosen as a 2017 Green Power Partner of the Year, which recognizes Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through their leadership, overall strategy and impact on the green power market. The award was presented at EPA’s annual Green Power Leadership Awards Luncheon to Jay Harf, Vice President, Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability for L’Oréal Operations Americas.
CLEANTECH -
Nearly three weeks after Puerto Rico was pummeled by Hurricane Maria, the island is still feeling the storm’s disastrous effects. The destruction of transmission lines across the island has left much of Puerto Rico’s population in darkness and without access to information technologies. The problem is critical, but Elon Musk believes Tesla technology may hold the key to rebuilding the US territory’s antiquated grid.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Over the past decade, Danish energy company DONG Energy has ambitiously transitioned away from oil and coal to transform itself into one of Europe’s cleanest, most sustainable energy companies.
CLEANTECH -
Earlier this week, the Larta Institute, an accelerator for small businesses and startups in science-based innovation, announced that its subsidiary, Larta Inc. has been awarded an exclusive contract by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to manage its national Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP) for as many as 450 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and II awardees per year beginning in September 2017. The DOE granted over $224 million to SBIR recipients in 2016.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) and Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), today announced the completion of a 50-megawatt biomass-fueled combined heat and power plant located at one of P&G’s largest U.S. facilities. Constellation owns and operates the plant, which supplies steam to P&G’s Albany, GA paper manufacturing facility and generates electricity for the local utility, Georgia Power.
PRESS RELEASE -
As an employer, a corporate citizen and a global company founded on family values, The Estée Lauder Companies considers it one of our responsibilities to address climate change. We believe that working toward a low-carbon future will help ensure a beautiful and sustainable planet for generations to come.
On the first day of Climate Week 2017, we are proud to reinforce our commitment to a low-carbon future by joining Renewable Energy 100 (RE100) and co-sponsoring this year’s Climate Week. By supporting Climate Week and signing on to RE100, we are underscoring our commitment to climate action and sourcing 100 percent of our global electricity consumption from renewable energy technologies.
PRESS RELEASE -
Kohler Co., the leading manufacturer of kitchen and bath plumbing products in the U.S., has released its first public sustainability and stewardship report.
The report reflects Kohler Co.'s sustainability strategy, introduced in 2008:
PRESS RELEASE -
Today, Bank of America released “Banking on a Low-Carbon Economy: The Economic Impacts of Bank of America’s $125 Billion Environmental Business Initiative.” The report, based on analysis conducted by consulting firm EY, examines the economic impacts of a $12.6 billion subset of the company’s $125 billion environmental business commi
PRESS RELEASE -
DETROIT — General Motors’ sustainability approach enables the company to serve its customers and shareholders, increase operational efficiency, mitigate risk and improve the communities where it does business.
PRESS RELEASE -
Iron Mountain Data Centers has announced that it has signed an agreement to power its data centres using a renewable energy supply sourced from a new wind farm in Ringer Hill, Pennsylvania.
The 15-year wind power purchasing agreement will see the storage and IT management company use 25 MW of the wind farm’s capacity, providing power for data centres across three U.S. states.
The firm argued that the shift to wind power has helped to reduce operating costs and its impact on the environment. Iron Mountain also noted that the project is also delivering long-term utility price stability, as well as a carbon-neutral solution for its data centre customers.
PRESS RELEASE -
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recently recognized IBM as an early leader in setting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. In its new report Corporations: Unlikely Heroes in America’s Quest for Climate Action, WWF describes how companies like IBM know they can save money by becoming more efficient, securing less-expensive renewable energy, and reducing market volatility risk while lowering emissions.
IBM has been taking aggressive actions against climate change since the 1990s, and our commitment remains to this day. Among these actions is our call to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with our electricity and fuel consumption.
PRESS RELEASE -
Ten companies and organizations, two partnerships, and three individuals today will receive 2017 Climate Leadership Awards for their accomplishments in reducing greenhouses gas emissions and addressing climate change.
The awards, now in their sixth year, are a partnership program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and The Climate Registry. The awards are being presented this evening at the 2017 Climate Leadership Conference in Chicago.
This year’s awardees represent a wide array of industries including finance, consumer products, retail, aviation, and technology, plus federal and local government.
PRESS RELEASE -
Target Corp. is installing solar power systems on five of its stores in the Denver metro area.
The Minneapolis-based company (NYSE: TGT) said today that the solar power systems will generate about one-third of the power each store consumes. Over a year, the systems on the five stores will produce a total of more than 3,800 megawatt-hours of power, enough power to supply the needs of 285 homes for a year. Work on installation of the systems is underway at the five Colorado stores, the company said.
PRESS RELEASE -
Zurich, Switzerland, and San Francisco, United States, 14 February, 2017 - The momentum in renewable energy has accelerated and made the transition to a low-carbon economy more inevitable. As more organizations set targets of growing the share of renewable energy in their consumption, being able to trace the origin of energy and the impacts of renewable energy procurement has never been more important.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Energy giants Statoil and BP are part of a growing number of utilities future-fitting their operations to better compete in the emerging low-carbon economy. The two companies have recently invested in new wind and solar power projects across Europe, demonstrating their commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.