PRESS RELEASE -
Mattel recently became a California water agency’s newest recycled water customer, which will save about 2 million gallons of drinking water per year in the drought-stricken state. The global toy maker, whose brands include Barbie, Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, among others, said that using recycled water for irrigation at its El Segundo corporate campus will also save money.
“It does cost less for Mattel to purchase recycled water rather than potable water for irrigation,” said Sarah Levine, Mattel global sustainability manager. “The city of El Segundo and [water district] West Basin both sell recycled water for reduced rates.”
PRESS RELEASE -
View full infographic here.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and Unilever announced today a new partnership with leading non-governmental organizations to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder vetiver farmers in Haiti. The partnership, Vetiver Together, aims to sustainably improve food security, increase yields, and diversify income, while working to support women’s empowerment and environmental conservation.
PRESS RELEASE -
Stuttgart/London/Boston, July 14, 2016 – thinkstep and Anthesis, two leading, global sustainability solutions and services providers, today announced a strategic alliance to pursue joint marketing, sales and consulting opportunities. Together the companies will work to expand market access to both organizations’ global clients through sustainability strategy and software implementation.
The alliance will benefit businesses that are committed to making sustainability an integral part of their overall strategy. Initially, the two will work together to further market adoption of thinkstep’s SoFi ts enterprise sustainability software platform. The companies plan to expand their agreement to include the GaBi software suite in the near future.
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As one of the focal points of the global Sustainable Brands conference network, Sustainable Brands ’16 Copenhagen will explore how brands can succeed by Activating Purpose with next-level sustainability-led innovation and stakeholder engagement.
More than 100 influential thought leaders, brand strategists and cutting-edge practitioners of environmental and social innovation will contribute to the program by leading interactive discussions, deep-dive workshops, plenary presentations and networking activities designed to cultivate forward-looking win-win conversations.
Here are 16 categories of program highlights organized under 4 event tracks:
PRESS RELEASE -
Bank of America today announced a $40 million commitment to connect 100,000 teens and young adults to the skills and employment experiences needed for 21st-century jobs. Over the next three years, in partnership with nonprofit organizations across the country, the bank will fund summer internships, education and job training, and support diverse talent to help build a pipeline that will strengthen and enhance tomorrow’s workforce.
"Investing in young adults to help provide them the opportunities they need to build their career skills makes a meaningful impact in their lives and the lives of our communities," said Brian Moynihan, chairman and CEO, Bank of America.
NEW METRICS -
Efforts to measure corporate sustainability performance are now rampant. Many companies are actively working to improve the measurement of their sustainability impact; a Google search of “corporate sustainability metrics” yields 1.25 million results. Unfortunately, it is still unclear how corporate sustainability performance should be measured. A set of standardized metrics is needed to improve sustainability measurement and reporting.
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Ford of Europe has achieved zero waste-to-landfill at all of its European manufacturing plants. Eliminating 6,000 tonnes of waste per year, that was previously sent to landfill, compared with 2011 – equivalent to the annual waste discarded by a town of 12,500 people, for the 1.2 million vehicles that Ford produces in Europe each year.
Innovative measures employed to achieve zero waste-to-landfill include the briquetting of grinding sludge from the Dagenham engine plant, in the U.K., so that the oil can be re-used in the production process. At the Valencia plant, in Spain, Ford pioneered generating alternative fuel from waste that could not be recycled.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
With the release of its latest sustainability report on June 30th, Kimberly-Clark proudly announced that it had achieved or surpassed all of its 5-year sustainability goals. In anticipation of the company’s 150th anniversary, Kimberly-Clark introduced a new set of sustainability priorities and goals through 2022.
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BASF announced today the launch of its Colors & Effects brand, bundling BASF’s global pigments business. The new brand encompasses BASF’s distinct colorants and effect pigments portfolio, and serves customers across five key industries, including coatings, plastics, printing, cosmetics, and agriculture.
“To continue to grow and develop their business, our customers need a diverse selection of pigments and global expertise,” said Alexander Haunschild, Senior Vice President, Global Pigments Business. “In this competitive marketplace, we created a brand focused entirely on pigments to provide our customers with products and solutions from one single source.”
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In 2014, CVS made headlines when it rebranded to CVS Health and made the bold decision to discontinue the sale of all tobacco products. In September, the company claimed that the latter decision had a wider impact on public health; the data showed that cigarette sales were down across a variety of retailers in the states where CVS had greater than 15 percent market share.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The success of a community programme for your employees probably has more to do with branding than you first think. How can you activate purpose in employees and keep them engaged with your community programmes over the long term? Importantly, how can you create internal visibility about your programmes that withstands company change, especially in an uncertain post-Brexit world? Using examples from GSK and Patagonia we consider how their use of bold internal branding has allowed them to lead the way to creating employee programmes with that all-important ‘stickiness’ for the long term.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
New fashion brand Oliver Cabell is “seeking to disrupt the luxury fashion business” with an unmatched level of transparency around its products. Exclusively available online, each product’s page on the company’s website details where the item was made and the costs that went into it, including the brand’s mark-up.
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Points of Light honors UPS for its community engagement and philanthropic efforts for 3rd year
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As the global population marches toward 9 billion people, it is creating an even more urgent need to address sustainability challenges –from air pollution and water shortages to food safety and clean energy.
3M sees an opportunity to collectively overcome these challenges through innovation and collaboration. As a company rooted in scientific exploration 3M partners with customers and communities to make the world cleaner, safer and stronger. 3M’s investments in sustainable technologies result in solutions such as glass bubbles that make cars lighter and more fuel efficient, films that make smartphones and buildings more energy efficient, and low global warming potential immersion fluid that cools data centers.
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Roman Smith, Director of Sustainability Operations at AT&T, reflects on his experience at Sustainable Brands 2016:
I recently had the privilege and opportunity to represent AT&T at the
Sustainable Brands 2016
conference in gorgeous San Diego. The conference brings together top brands that fill 4 days with extraordinary conversation and insight to inspire and activate business success toward a sustainable future.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
In 2014, Patagonia dissolved its sustainability department – a move that the company’s VP of public engagement, Rick Ridgeway, remains proud of to this day. Overnight, the outdoor clothing brand deepened its commitment to environmental and social justice by decentralizing its sustainability team and moving them individually out into core areas of the business where they would have most influence.
NEW METRICS -
We have entered a new era: the Anthropocene, an era characterized by humans as the dominant influence on climate and the environment. We are causing changes at such an unprecedented rate that it has been called ‘the Great Acceleration.’ We are well on our way to exceeding planetary boundaries, and while science has established some understanding of this, it is still rather abstract for us in our daily lives and in our business planning.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
It was a packed house on Wednesday afternoon at SB’16 San Diego, where attendees sat on the floor and crowded around the door to hear panelists from companies leading the way in sustainability discuss their strategies, and their personal experiences, in aligning with and addressing the UN SDGs.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
“If you want to get people engaged, inspire them - don’t require them ... The most lasting changes people make are the ones they make themselves.” — Daniel Alvarez, Pixar Animation Studios
Research increasingly shows that purpose-driven employees are more productive and more deeply engaged, as well as more satisfied at work.
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Representing 40 percent of the global public, Aspirationals are defined by their love of shopping, desire for responsible consumption, and their trust in brands to act in the best interest of society. They are among the most likely to “support companies and brands that have a purpose of making a positive difference in society through their products, services, and operations.” Yet, according to a survey of 21,000 consumers across 21 countries, only half can think of a single company as having a strong purpose in this way.