PRESS RELEASE -
Eighth Annual Report Demonstrates Continued Commitment to Transparency and Progress Toward Sustainability Goals
Dalton, GA – July 11, 2016 – Shaw Industries’ 2015 Sustainability Report, released today, continues the company’s legacy of transparency through the disclosure of key metrics and progress against its goals.
The company’s 2030 sustainability goals include:
PRESS RELEASE -
United Airlines marked the opening of its new route from San Francisco to Auckland last weekend with a ‘green’ flight conducted under the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE). During the inaugural flight, operated with a Boeing 787-800, the carrier used ASPIRE best practices that included user preferred route and dynamic airborne re-route procedures to follow a flexible fuel efficient flight path that could be changed at various stages to take advantage of favorable winds. Air traffic controllers on the ground at both ends of the journey managed the flight’s arrival and departure to ensure optimal efficiency. Data and metrics from the flight will now be assessed.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the low-carbon, clean energy and sustainability sectors can now use a handy interactive online tool to identify funding opportunities most relevant to their sector, development stage and financial requirements. The Access to Finance Navigator was recently launched by none other than energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, building on the company’s existing funding and awards offerings.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Mars, Incorporated’s latest Principles in Action report captures the company’s performance on its targets for 2015, 2020, and those which are ongoing. Guided by its Five Principles of Quality, Responsibility, Efficiency, Mutuality and Freedom, the company has met and continues to pursue a wide range of sustainability, health and wellbeing, food safety, responsible marketing and workplace engagement objectives.
CLEANTECH -
In the spirit of "showing your work" in progress, I'm posting some info on the big new clean economy agreement announced by the so-called "three amigos" -- i.e., the leaders of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
In West Virginia, residents will soon be seeing a lot more green than they’re used to. And it may come in the form of dollar bills, too.
Researchers from West Virginia University are teaming up with a new startup called Agri Carb Electric Corporation to investigate the farming infrastructure benefits of hemp. This will mark the first time West Virginia has allowed hemp cultivation in 70 years.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Today, HP Inc. announced several new commitments with the release of its latest Sustainability Report. The company met the 20 percent emissions reduction targets it set for its operations and supply chain five years early, and set three new goals for 2020.
LEADERSHIP -
Business and political leaders convened in London on June 28 and 29 for the second annual Business & Climate Summit, where they called for the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement without further delay, as well as more collaboration between businesses and governments in order to achieve global policy frameworks conducive to long-term, climate-resilient, low carbon investments.
CLEANTECH -
In an effort to expand quality solar home system solutions to the 2.3 billion people worldwide without reliable access to power, d.light - a manufacturer and distributor of solar lighting and power products providing access to reliable, affordable, renewable energy for people in the developing world - is licensing its pay-as-you-go financing technology to partners and distributors around the world. d.light is the market leader in solar lighting and home system solutions in the developing world, as well as one of the early pioneers of the PayGo model.
CLEANTECH -
ReGen Villages is a tech-integrated and regenerative residential real estate development company. The Dutch holding company, in collaboration with Danish architecture firm EFFEKT, was founded by serial entrepreneur James Ehrlich, who describes his brand as “engineering and facilitating the development of off-grid, integrated and resilient neighbourhoods that power and feed self-reliant families around the world.”
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
On Monday, The Dow Chemical Company released its 2015 Sustainability Report, culminating Dow’s decade-long 2015 Sustainability Goals, which centered on producing solutions to global challenges including the areas of food, water and energy and continuing its commitment to operational excellence.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
For the first time, data has shown a decoupling between revenue growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions output among the world’s 500 largest businesses (Global 500), according to a Thompson Reuters report released today. While as a group the companies are not yet reducing their emissions at a rate that follows the global scientific consensus on the risks of climate change, the slight improvement over the past five years offers a glimmer of hope.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
New research commissioned by Oxfam shows that rice, soy beans, corn, wheat and palm oil together lead to more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than any country’s individual footprint, with the exception of emissions giants China and the United States.
PRESS RELEASE -
Hamburg model project for sustainable urban logistics awarded by the German Society for Sustainability DQS
CLEANTECH -
Sometimes innovation comes from unexpected places — a father-son duo in Chino Hills, California has transformed a family furniture business into Sunflare, a solar energy company that produced solar “wallpaper,” among other high-efficiency PV products.
For more than a decade, Len Gao and his son, Philip Gao, used the furniture business to finance their research on flexible solar panels. After much trial and error, they developed solar panels that are so lightweight and flexible they can be installed on nearly any building surface with little more than double stick tape.
PRESS RELEASE -
Specialty outdoor retailer REI has completed a 2.2 megawatt rooftop solar installation at its new distribution center in Goodyear which is expected to offset 100 percent of the facility’s annual electricity consumption.
The project was completed in conjunction with Blue Oak Energy, which has worked on numerous other solar installations for REI facilities.
“REI’s ambitious net-zero energy distribution center is a landmark project and houses one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in Arizona,” Kirk Meyers, sustainability manager at REI said. “We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Blue Oak Energy team. Their ongoing partnership is representative of what it takes to complete complex energy projects like this.”
PRESS RELEASE -
Cisco's sustainability journey took a big step forward last month with the announcement of a new goal to avoid one million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions from our supply chain operations by the year 2020, which will drive emissions reductions related to our outsourced manufacturing and logistics.
In March of 2016, we rolled out our Integrated Greenhouse Gas Reduction (IGR) roadmap to bring together a diverse set of initiatives aimed at further reducing our carbon footprint. We previously set targets encouraging suppliers and partners to report emissions.
LEADERSHIP -
Remember Coles Notes? Those magical little study aids that helped bring focus and clarity to even the most mind-numbing of university courses (Hmmm, come to think of it, I wonder what they were printed on?). As a busy professional, I now rely on exactly that kind of trusted analysis in almost all realms of my life - be it which phone to replace my ailing device with, which restaurants serve the best vegetarian fare, where to stay whilst on the road.
PRESS RELEASE -
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.
CLEANTECH -
Almost 40 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions come from the countries in East and Southeast Asia, and it is expected that the emissions will increase in pace with the region’s economic boom. From a climate perspective, renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels, should meet the region’s growth and increasing energy demand.
The good news is that the prospects for more renewables in the region are promising. In 2015, more than half of the global investments in clean energy came from East and Southeast Asia.
Increasing interest for offshore wind
For a long time, solar has dominated the East- and Southeast Asian clean investments. But, offshore wind power has attracted increasing interest in recent years.