PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Yogurt manufacturer Chobani has unveiled the nine food startups participating in its third Chobani Incubator. The Spring 2018 class is comprised of companies disrupting and improving high-potential food categories in the US, from new and innovative snack products to healthier energy drinks and nutritious foods that can help kids learn to love veggies.
WASTE NOT -
Earlier this year, tech giant Dell announced an innovative partnership with actress Nikki Reed’s jewellery company, Bayou with Love, which spawned a new line of fine jewellery made using recycled gold from the motherboards of end-of-life Dell computers. The juxtaposition of fine, intricate jewels with old computers has driven media interest and raised the issue and importance of sustainability within the tech sector. ‘The Circular Collection’ has been positioned as an example of circular economy success, but how deep does this move go?
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
With the world population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, 70 percent more food will be needed, making sustainable food and agricultural solutions an imperative. Urban farming and alternative proteins are emerging as viable and intelligent approaches to meet growing nutritional demands with minimal environmental impacts.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
As a division of the fashion industry, the footwear sector has a hefty environmental footprint. However, a slew of emerging brands are gearing up to change footwear’s future, raising the bar for the rest of the industry by embracing sustainable sourcing, ethical labor practices and transparency.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
In a bid to increase responsible shipping practices, Forum for the Future and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative have launched the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI).
The Initiative brings together key industry stakeholders to improve transparency in the global ship recycling value chain by facilitating voluntary disclosure of recycling practices and related data by ship owners, and to support the use of this information to inform decision-making.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Crop diversity and water conservation are critical aspects of sustainable agriculture, but to truly future-fit our food system, ensuring soil health is imperative. To do this, DanoneWave has launched a new soil health initiative to build best-in-class programs to support sustainable agriculture in its farming communities.
WASTE NOT -
Discussion around the future of mobility is dominated by discourse around the shift away from fossil fuels, but this is only one small part of a more complex conversation. Even clean energy vehicles have impacts on environmental and human health. China’s industry ministry, General Motors and Goodyear are taking these often-overlooked impacts into account by focusing on waste recovery and prevention approaches that seek to establish closed-loop systems.
PRESS RELEASE -
General Motors today announced an expansion of its industry-leading landfill-free program as all of the company’s manufacturing plants in Canada, Mexico and South America now recycle, reuse or convert to energy all waste from daily operations. With the addition of 27 newly certified facilities, General Motors has 142 manufacturing and non-manufacturing landfill-free facilities globally — more than any other automaker.
PRESS RELEASE -
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), the nation's largest pharmacy innovation company, was recognized today by Fast Company as one of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies List for 2018. CVS Health was also honored as No. 7 on Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Health.
Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies List recognizes leading enterprises and rising newcomers that exemplify the best in business and innovation. The list was curated from Fast Company's Top 10 lists, which recognize pioneering companies across 36 categories, including health. More than three dozen Fast Company editors, reporters, and contributors surveyed thousands of companies to create these lists.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
A new online tool developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and social enterprise Searious Business could help stem the massive tide of microplastics entering the world’s oceans each year. The tool, dubbed Plastic Scan, allows businesses to measure their plastic emissions and provides recommendations on how to reduce impact across the textile supply chain.
PRESS RELEASE -
Visa today announced its commitment to use 100 percent renewable electricity across its global operations by the end of 2019.
As part of this commitment, announced in conjunction with this week’s Climate Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado, Visa is joining the RE100 initiative, a collaborative, global platform developed by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP to increase demand for and delivery of renewable energy.
PRESS RELEASE -
Today, L’Oréal USA announced its plans to achieve carbon neutrality in 2019 for all 21 of its U.S. manufacturing and distribution facilities with a financially sustainable approach that could potentially serve as a model to support new renewable natural gas (RNG) projects in the future. In order to reach this milestone, L’Oréal USA is adding to its diversified energy portfolio with RNG purchased from a new processing facility in Kentucky. The company currently has 17 renewable energy installations across the country, including large on-site solar arrays in Arkansas, New Jersey and Kentucky as well as wind turbines in Texas. The RNG purchased from the new project alone is expected to eliminate the carbon equivalent of 1.8 million gallons of gasoline consumed per year.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
A shift in consumer awareness around sustainability is causing a surge in demand for plant-based proteins — an emerging market opportunity that global food companies won’t want to miss.
PRESS RELEASE -
HEINEKEN today announced its 'Drop the C' programme for renewable energy. With 'Drop the C' the company aims to grow its share of renewable thermal energy and electricity in production from the current level of 14% to 70% by 2030. HEINEKEN wants to drive a real change towards renewable energy and will therefore not purchase unbundled certificates to meet its reduction targets. In addition, new emission goals will be set for distribution and cooling and, for the first time, also for packaging. The brewer commits to set science based targets for these areas in the next two years.
WASTE NOT -
As increasing emphasis is being placed on circularity, the concept of planned obsolescence is being called into question. While it has long been criticized by consumers, brands and governments are finally beginning to recognize that the short-term strategy has no place in the low-carbon economy — and are taking action to promote transparency and resource efficiency.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Building on the success of its “Good Odds” spots released during the Super Bowl, in which it highlighted the real-life story of Canadian Para-alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft, auto giant Toyota has released a new ad campaign “Start Your Impossible” for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
PRESS RELEASE -
BillerudKorsnäs’ mission, to challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future, is based on the fact that innovative and sustainable packaging solutions have an important role to play in delivering solutions to some of the global challenges that we all face today. Through the communication concept “What If?”, classic product positioning is replaced with open questions that invite reflection and dialogue.
PRESS RELEASE -
AT&T will purchase 520 megawatts (MW) of wind power through 2 agreements with subsidiaries of NextEra Energy Resources, the world’s largest operator of renewable energy projects. Together, these deals constitute one of the largest corporate renewable energy purchases in the U.S.1 It’s also a key component of our goal to develop and leverage technology solutions that enable carbon savings 10 times the footprint of our operations by 2025.
WASTE NOT -
Resource scarcity and the rise of the circular economy are inspiring businesses, industry associations and governments to develop new ways to recover precious and critical raw materials (CRMs) from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The Urban Mine Platform, a database of valuable materials for “urban mining,” is the public and private sectors’ latest attempt to take on the challenge.