COLLABORATION -
As a first-time attendee at a Sustainable Brands conference, I expected SB’16 San Diego to be largely about environmental issues. It certainly was – from the conference’s commitment to producing zero waste, to Pratt & Whitney’s “green” jet engine on display in the parking lot. But as a purpose-driven professional with a commitment to the social impact side of corporate social responsibility, I was thrilled to hear panelists redefine sustainability through a human-focused lens.
PRESS RELEASE -
According to research from the EPA WaterSense® program, the average American adult spends 8 minutes in the shower, using about 18 gallons of water each time they lather up.* Kohler, a global leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products, encourages consumers to reduce their water usage by 25 percent by cutting their shower time by two minutes.
PRESS RELEASE -
Duck, Duck, GOOSE!
Toyota Tagged to Receive Keystone Leadership in Environment Award
WASTE NOT -
“It didn’t make sense to me — to make a bunch of products that use a lot of materials, and then throw it away,” Scott Hamlin, co-founder at Looptworks, said during a Tuesday breakout session on partnerships in the circular economy at Sustainable Brands '16 San Diego.
What Hamlin saw was a broken apparel industry, which focused on the traditional take-make-waste model. That’s why the social entrepreneur decided to found a company that doesn’t use virgin materials at all — and Looptworks was born.
“We are called Looptworks because we are working toward a closed-loop system,” he said.
LEADERSHIP -
In the wake of the signing of the historic global climate agreement on Earth Day, more than a half-dozen leading food and beverage companies converged on Capitol Hill last week to press U.S. House lawmakers for federal action on climate change.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) and Sedex have been competitors in the past, but this week, the business-driven initiative and non-profit organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reduce duplication of effort while building capacity and bolstering global collaboration to fight human trafficking. The announcement comes as both organizations release new online tools for their memberships.
LEADERSHIP -
The Coca-Cola Company, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IKEA and Unilever today in London launched the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment, a collaboration focused on promoting ethical recruitment and combating the exploitation of migrant workers in global supply chains across industries. The five founding companies have committed to the “Employer Pays Principle,” which states that no worker should pay for a job - the costs of recruitment should be borne not by the worker but by the employer.
NEW METRICS -
Forty-one companies have joined the Science-Based Targets initiative since the COP21 climate negotiations in December. On the eve of the Climate Action Summit in Washington, D.C. last week, the initiative announced that a total of 155 companies have now committed to set emissions reduction targets in-line with the global effort to keep warming well below 2 degrees Celsius.
NEW METRICS -
Luxury goods and responsible consumption need not be contradictory terms — that was the core takeaway from a livestream Q & A session held earlier this week by Kering, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of luxury apparel and home to brands such as Gucci, PUMA, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.
COLLABORATION -
A coalition of a dozen major food brands and retailers (and Patagonia!) have asked federal regulators not to back down on reducing trucking emissions and increasing fuel economy.
CLEANTECH -
As the legal briefings pile up over the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), I’m inspired by the growing number of companies and business organizations standing up for the most significant step in U.S. history toward reducing climate pollution.
The bar continues to rise for companies that want to lead on sustainability, and it’s great to see companies aligning their corporate sustainability strategy and policy advocacy. Today’s corporate-led amicus briefs in support of the Clean Power Plan and smart climate policy are the latest example.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Over 200 of the most influential figures in sustainability standards and certification will join business leaders to share their thoughts on today’s most pressing sustainability challenges on May 10 to 11 in Washington, DC.
LEADERSHIP -
On significant birthdays, it is traditional across much of the world to receive gifts, but somewhat characteristically, one of the world’s most altruistic brands is bucking that trend.
Last month, on the eve of its 40th anniversary, The Body Shop launched its new CSR strategy, ‘Enrich not Exploit,’ setting out 14 targets for 2020 that assist vulnerable communities around the world, further reduce the environmental impact of the brand, and support The Body Shop in its aim to become the ‘World’s most ethical and sustainable global business.’
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Earlier this month, Patagonia released a new book aiming to offer environmental advocates best practices in grassroots activism. While it may seem counterintuitive for a big brand to be talking about grassroots activism, it’s widely known that Patagonia’s history is deeply rooted in environmental activism. The company started off as a small group of surfers and climbers who had reverence for their playground: the great outdoors.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the US alone generates an estimated 24 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste (PCTW), which ends up in landfills each year — the equivalent of about 70 pounds of textiles per person.
WASTE NOT -
On Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 30 CEOs, government ministers, global institution executives, and civil society leaders announced the launch of the latest full-scale attack on global food waste: an all-sector collaboration aimed at increasing political and social momentum to achieve Target 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NEW METRICS -
The Roundtable for Product Social Metrics — a coalition of multinational consumer product companies aimed at developing a comprehensive, consistent methodology for businesses to measure the social impacts of products, launched in 2013 — announced Monday that it is now moving forward as a multi-stakeholder organization, opening its doors to interested companies, industry associations, NGOs, researchers and consultants to join the collaboration.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The bold thinking and actions taken by corporate sustainability trailblazers often challenge the status quo and alter the concept of a company’s role in society. The following companies are leaders. They have taken principled stances or have implemented innovative programs that lead to better social and environmental conditions. In some cases, a company is included here just because of some radical statement from the CEO. But, they are the kinds of statements and actions we need if we are to move past incremental improvements and achieve transformative change on our way to sustainability.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Heard of the Good Work movement yet? If you haven’t, it’s probably because companies such as Uber and Airbnb get more press. The Good Work movement, founded by the National Domestic Workers Alliance in October, is a gathering of companies pledging to deliver the protections and benefits that gig companies such as Uber notoriously fail to offer.There’s a lot going on here, and the movement’s model is extremely important for the future of work. Here’s why.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced the launch of four Global Smart Drinking Goals, deepening its commitment to implement effective and collaborative solutions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. The new goals, to be achieved by the end of 2025, demonstrate an evolution in the company’s approach to responsible drinking, from helping to raise awareness of alcohol responsibility to positively changing behavior by investing in longer-term, evidenced-based approaches to reduce harmful drinking, including underage drinking, binge drinking and drunk driving.