MARKETING AND COMMS -
While sustainability and citizenship mean different things to different people, these terms are most commonly associated with a company’s impact on the external world, focusing heavily on social and environmental initiatives. However, businesses can do a lot of good (for the world and their bottom line) by equally focusing internally, on such things as their diversity and inclusion practices.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Early marketing for products promising sustainability was all about what they “weren’t.” Tofurky wasn’t meat. Soy milk wasn’t dairy. Solar wasn’t coal.
Positioning against the negative helped companies attract consumers who were revolting against the polluting impacts of standard manufacturing practices and products. But doing so ignored what potential customers still wanted, whether a product was sustainable or not: delicious taste, high performance, reliable quality and comfort, and overall satisfaction.
Consider the ominous ads for the first Prius, which started running in 2001. The only virtue they extolled was fuel efficiency, and portrayed oil drills as monsters.
PRESS RELEASE -
Sometimes a great notion matters. Sometimes a great notion matters a huge amount. In this case, the great notion was the Michigan Source Reduction Initiative (MSRI). Few people remember MSRI, but its legacy lives on.
MSRI was the catalyst that launched The Dow Chemical Company into a collaborative approach in helping the world achieve sustainable development. It also ushered in a wave of new and unique company-NGO collaborations that helped accelerate progress and set new standards for these relationships. It is hard to imagine the great collaborations of more recent years (e.g., US Climate Action Partnership formed in 2006) happening without that catalyst of MSRI.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Sustainable Brands® community gathers today in Philadelphia, PA to kick off the 8th annual New Metrics conference. Over 300 global executives from brands like Nike, Salesforce, and Eileen Fisher are convening to unveil cutting-edge corporate practices that measure and quantify environmental and social impacts and tie them to financial and business value.
NEW METRICS -
Novo Nordisk is the first global company to have completed a Future-Fit self-assessment and to have the results independently assured. In advance of Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’18 event next week in Philadelphia, I sat down with Cora Olsen, Global Lead on Integrated Reporting at Novo Nordisk, to discuss what the company learned from this process.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The brand communications crisis is not an urban legend, albeit just as scary
Between 2001 and 2002, Brazil went through its largest energy crisis. The lack of infrastructure planning combined with economic growth forced the Government to ration the energy supply from its main urban centres, for intermittent periods of time. Back then, as a student living in São Paulo, I remember streets darkening as the sun went down. In one of those evenings, walking back home from university, two men driving a motorcycle stopped right in front of me. One of them jumped off the bike and before I knew it, he hit me on the head with the back of his gun and stole my backpack.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Well known as a technology engine — with a global network of 200,000+ startups that has powered a 1000+ innovation/startup competitions and challenges — YouNoodle might not be the first company you think of for advice on corporate sustainability strategy. But as the industrial era is replaced by a more entrepreneurial society, YouNoodle is helping brands and organizations keep up with disruptive innovation — and the sustainability space could certainly use more of that.
PRESS RELEASE -
EcoAct, Novo Nordisk, B Lab and others sharing new research and performance metrics, Oct 29-31 in Philadelphia
SAN FRANCISCO, October 24, 2018 – Members of the Sustainable Brands® community will gather next week for the 8th annual New Metrics conference, taking place October 29-31 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. More than 300 executives and global thought-leaders will reveal new methodologies, toolkits and case studies for demonstrating the ROI of Sustainable Business.
Compelling new initiatives presented at New Metrics ‘18 will include:
PRESS RELEASE -
Iron Mountain Incorporated™ (NYSE: IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services, today announced the signing of a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with an affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, for 145 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy from the Pretty Prairie Wind Farm, located in Reno County, KS. With this agreement, coupled with other recent green power purchases, Iron Mountain expects to exceed 75 percent global renewable electricity usage in 2018, and move the company closer to its goal of 100 percent renewable power by 2050.
Iron Mountain worked with Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services to identify and evaluate projects and arrange the deal.
WASTE NOT -
Today, NextWave Plastics — a collaborative, open-source initiative convening leading technology and consumer-focused companies to develop the first global network of ocean-bound plastics supply chains — announced that HP Inc. and IKEA are joining its global consortium. The addition of HP and IKEA marks 10 companies collaborating to “turn off the tap” of plastic entering the ocean.
PRESS RELEASE -
"Our commitment to used gear is part of our broader effort to offer affordable, sustainable gear to our customers," said Peter Whitcomb, REI director of new business development. "Swapping gear is a fun way for our members to connect, get the gear they need, and sell or trade what they no longer use – all while helping to keep products out of the landfill."
The events are free and open to REI members and one guest. Individuals looking to sell gear do not need to be an REI member, but are asked to pay a $20 fee for table space. Event proceeds will be donated to a local outdoor nonprofit in each city. Learn more here.
PRESS RELEASE -
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) announces the availability of Renewable Select, simplifying the renewables procurement process and making it easier for businesses to choose renewable energy. The plan transforms the lengthy and complex traditional energy procurement process into a cost competitive, easy to execute transaction.
Today’s customers demand renewable energy at grid parity to meet their fiscal requirements while achieving their sustainability goals. Renewable Select uniquely delivers to customers:
NEW METRICS -
Oceans cover more than 70 percent of our planet’s surface and are home to 80 percent of life on earth. Fish, which provide 20 percent of daily protein intake to about 3.1 billion people, is among the most widely traded food commodities — at a value of US$145 billion annually.
PRESS RELEASE -
The annual CSR prize seeks out best practices in economic, social and governance (ESG) reporting among Denmark’s biggest companies.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT -
Ann Starodaj (@AnnStarodaj), director of sustainability at Optoro, spoke with us recently to discuss her passion for promoting sustainable consumption, how Optoro’s software solutions enable this for clients, and how leveraging a strong appetite within the business to measure product impact is helping her expand the sustainability team.
Keep reading to learn more about the inspiring army of changemakers Ann is seeing in the marketplace, her desire to collaborate with members on reverse logistics, and the insights she gained as a pastry chef before diving head long into sustainability.
WALKING THE TALK -
In the past year, we’ve seen more and more bold and potentially risky moves from brands, taking stands on pertinent societal and environmental issues: Airbnb, Google and other tech giants against the US’ immigration ban; Target supporting individuals’ right to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity; Heineken’s and other brands’ vocal support of
NEW METRICS -
At its core, the #NewMetrics series of events has always been about quantifying previously ignored risks, costs and revenue potential associated with sustainability impacts. Over the years, we have explored important new metrics related to the whole range of vital capitals — natural, human, social, relationship, intellectual and financial — with the same end goal of helping businesses understand the full picture of their presence in the world, so they can then improve it in informed, holistic ways.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
McDonald’s USA has announced that its seven classic burgers are now free from artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and added colors from artificial sources. The ingredient changes affect all 14,000 U.S. restaurants, marking this the next major milestone in McDonald’s food journey and another way the fast food giant aims to help customers feel good about its food.
PRESS RELEASE -
There are two types of recycled fiber – composed of either post-consumer reclaimed material or pre-consumer reclaimed material – that can be used to make recycled paper. The two are fundamentally different, as specified in these definitions from the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®):
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The exhibit industry is one of the most wasteful on the planet. Just take a look at the end of most conferences and trade shows, and you’ll see floors and dumpsters filled with plastics, banners, janky aluminum and other non-sustainable materials. Back in March, the Sustainable Brands team saw a clever, sustainable booth-building system and reached out to the designer, Boothster, to collaborate on sustainable stage designs and booths for SB’18 Vancouver.