LEADERSHIP -
On November 5, 12 Australian companies committed to climate action at the Australian Climate Leadership Summit in Sydney, an official lead-up event to the COP21 UN climate conference. They join over 250 other companies from around the world who have made commitments through the We Mean Business coalition, including over 40 multinationals that are headquartered or active in Australia.
COLLABORATION -
EVgo, an electric vehicle (EV) DC fast charging solutions firm, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of California, San Diego to help support developments in sustainable energy technology, according to a recent announcement.
The agreement formalizes an already strong collaboration focusing on the intersection of electric vehicles and energy storage, and EVgo says it is leading two projects at the university.
In the first project, EVgo has constructed a site for assessing how owners of EV DC charging sites can leverage solar, battery storage and control systems to mitigate site host demand charges and provide services to the grid.
NEW METRICS -
Between 470 to 760 million people could lose their homes to rising sea levels if carbon emissions meet or exceed 4°C of warming — the direction in which business-as-usual is heading — with unstoppable rises to occur over centuries, according to a new report and searchable interactive maps published by Climate Central.
LEADERSHIP -
Today, President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have connected Canada’s tar sands to refineries in Texas. The project became a symbol of the fight against climate change, making its rejection a huge victory for the “unprecedented coalition” of groups that came together to oppose it.In his announcement, the President said that he agrees with the State Department’s decision that the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the country’s national interests, nor would it make a meaningful long-term contribution to the economy.
CLEANTECH -
A detailed analysis of 10 electric vehicle (EV) fast charging NRG EVgo Freedom Station sites at Whole Foods Market locations in the San Francisco Bay Area shows a 191 percent increase in EV charging over the last year.EV drivers also show a significant preference for DC fast charging, 12 to 1 when comparing the number of charging sessions to the Level 2 charging also available at those locations. In September 2015 alone there were nearly 6,900 DC fast charge sessions at those stations.
CLEANTECH -
Up to 28 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be captured by existing operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects this year, according to a new report launched today by the Global CCS Institute.Now in its sixth year, the Global Status of CCS 2015 profiles two large-scale CCS projects: the Canadian Quest project and the Uthmaniyah CO2-EOR Demonstration Project in Saudi Arabia. Uthmaniyah is the first large-scale CCS project in the Middle East.At the launch of this year's report, the number of operational projects stands at 15, with another seven projects in various stages of construction and due to come online in the next 18 months.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Logistics can be a sustainability manager’s “secret weapon,” because this theater of operations often gets passed over. It’s easy to think addressing logistics will be too complicated, given that most of the emissions are from equipment owned and operated by suppliers (i.e. scope 3). But freight operations often sit in the top five contributors of greenhouse gas emissions at any given corporation, so there are rich pickings to be had here.
CLEANTECH -
On Monday, The Goldman Sachs Group released its ambitious new Environmental Policy Framework, which includes bold targets and initiatives related to climate-change mitigation, adaptation, risk management, and operational impact. The company reports it is on schedule to be the first U.S. investment bank to be carbon neutral across its operations and business travel by the end of 2015, and has already invested $37 billion in clean energy since setting its $40 billion capital deployment goal in 2012.
PRESS RELEASE -
UPS today announced the deployment of 18 electric, zero emission delivery vehicles to the Houston-Galveston area in Texas. The truck purchases are the result of a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), local governments and non-profits. These vehicles, designed and built specifically by the Workhorse Group for the “stop and go” needs of a UPS delivery truck, will avoid the consumption of an estimated 1.1 million gallons of diesel fuel over 20 years.
PRESS RELEASE -
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today revealed the 100 biggest green power users in the U.S., and Mars, Incorporated entered the list at number six. The EPA’s National Top 100 ranks companies based on their use of green power – zero-emissions electricity generated from renewable sources like wind and solar. Mars is now an EPA Green Power Partner and a member of the agency’s Green Power Leadership Club – recognizing the company’s commitment to using cleaner energy. Green Power Partners are part of a voluntary movement that includes more than 1,300 partner organizations using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually.
PRESS RELEASE -
Fleet is Part of Clean Air Project with U.S. Department of Energy, Local Governments and Non-Profit
CLEANTECH -
Schneider Electric, global specialist in energy management and automation, announced the launch of a new brand campaign in North America to showcase the business and societal value of sustainability and efficiency. The brand campaign executes on the company's newly launched global brand strategy, Life Is On, which aims to clearly articulate how the company helps customers around the world transform the way they access and consume energy.
NEW METRICS -
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that carbon dioxide (CO2) has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making, according to a new study, as reported by ThinkProgress.These impacts have been observed at carbon dioxide levels that most Americans are routinely exposed to today inside classrooms, offices, homes, planes and cars.
NEW METRICS -
Microsoft has, as of July 1, 2015, achieved carbon neutrality across its manufacturing operations, according to the company’s 2015 Citizenship Report.The software company’s data centers, software development labs, offices and business air travel have been carbon neutral since July 2012.Microsoft was able to achieve carbon neutrality across its global operations due to its internal carbon fee. The program puts a price on carbon and makes the company’s business divisions responsible for the cost of reducing and compensating for the carbon emissions associated with their electricity use and air travel.
LEADERSHIP -
One of the highest standards for social and environmental responsibility in business, B Corp certification, was awarded to Fetzer Vineyards and praised by the U.S. Department of Labor last week. The certification developed by the non-profit B Lab now signifies over 1,400 responsibly run companies from 130 industries and 42 countries. The performance standards are comprehensive and transparent, and measure a company’s impact on all of its stakeholders, including workers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
CLEANTECH -
Fellows from the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Climate Corps program this summer helped more than 90 organizations in the United States and China identify energy efficiency and clean energy opportunities that could decrease energy usage by 134 million kWh per year, according to a recent announcement.
These energy savings could help cut these organizations’ collective energy bills by $90 million dollars, and reduce carbon emissions by 130,000 metrics tons per year — equivalent to the annual emissions of 27,000 cars.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
In a recent review of corporate responsibility reports from major consumer-facing brands, Environmental Defense Fund found that barely half of the companies mentioned the environmental impact of their freight supply chain and the steps they were taking to reduce this impact. This is unfortunate for two reasons: Freight transportation is a major source of corporate-caused climate pollution, and it’s ripe for rapidly achieving significant cost-savings and emissions reductions.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) released the first-ever industry materiality assessment in its 2015 Sustainability Report on Tuesday. Sustainability analytics firm Framework LLC conducted the assessment using data from across the sector’s value chain to map critical risks and opportunities, and found materials, transparency, and greenhouse gases among the top concerns for the $30 billion cleaning products industry.
LEADERSHIP -
General Mills, IKEA and Best Buy are among the 81 companies to recently join the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which sets significant greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy sourcing goals for 2020 and beyond.The pledges focus on increasing energy efficiency, boosting low-carbon investing and making sustainability more accessible to low-income Americans.