PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week, Bank of America (BoA) pledged to expand its $50 billion investment in low-carbon business to $125 billion by 2025, signaling its leadership in environmental finance.BoA’s environmental commitment focuses on addressing energy efficiency, renewable energy and transportation, and other critical areas including water conservation, land use and waste.Over the next 10 years, the bank’s environmental business initiative will support lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and client financing solutions.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today recognized Germany’s SAP SE as one of the United States' Top 100 green power users for the second consecutive year.In 2014, SAP – a software corporation – transitioned all of its data centers to running on electricity from renewable sources. In the U.S., this has translated into the company purchasing 90 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power each year, the equivalent to the annual use of 9,000 homes.
CLEANTECH -
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday pledged to construct half a million new solar panels within her first four years of taking office, Reuters reports.Clinton called for a decisive national shift to renewable energy sources, setting a goal of generating enough renewable energy to power every U.S. home within a decade after she takes office. She called for more solar, advanced biofuels and energy efficiency, among others.The two goals were the first elements of what Clinton said would be a comprehensive climate-change agenda to be released over the next few months, Reuters reports.
LEADERSHIP -
At a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff committed Brazil to an agreement for both countries to obtain up to 20 percent of their electricity from renewable power by 2030, The Guardian reports.In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change, Brazil also committed to restoring close to 30 million acres (12 million hectares) of forest — an area the size of Pennsylvania.
CLEANTECH -
Red Rock Biofuels, maker of renewable biofuels, announced Monday that it will produce approximately three million gallons of low-carbon, renewable jet fuel per year for FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.The agreement runs through 2024, with first delivery expected in 2017. FedEx joins Southwest Airlines in purchasing Red Rock’s total available volume of jet fuel.
CLEANTECH -
Technology giants are making strides towards a sustainable cloud: in the past two weeks, HP, Facebook and Amazon announced significant investments in wind energy.HP’s first utility-scale renewable energy purchase involves a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SunEdison for 112 megawatts (MW) of wind energy, which will power 100 percent of its Texas-based data center operations.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The Coca-Cola Company has launched a development agreement with Liquid Light, a technology company focused on converting carbon dioxide into major industrial chemicals, to accelerate production of mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) – a component used to make Coca-Cola’s plant-based PET PlantBottleTM.
LEADERSHIP -
Forest conservation firm Wildlife Works' factory in Kenya has become the first in Africa to be both carbon neutral and certified by Fair Trade USA.On the heels of this announcement, Wildlife Works is launching its first-ever carbon-neutral, Fair Trade-certified t-shirts, designed by fashion brand Threads 4 Thought (T4T). The clothing company will be contributing over $6,000 in Fair Trade premiums directly to Wildlife Works factory workers.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On Thursday, Sunny Delight Beverages Co. (SDBC) released its fifth annual Sustainability Report, detailing its sustainability goals and progress — including an $85 million investment in new production equipment to improve efficiency, a significant reduction in the calorie count for its beverages, and sustaining zero waste to landfill for the fifth consecutive year.
LEADERSHIP -
The European Commission on Thursday proposed a revision to its energy efficiency labeling laws to "ensure coherence and continuity and makes sure that customers are able to make better informed choices that will help them save energy and money."To provide consumers with a clearer indication of the energy efficiency of products, which are currently classified in different scales, and to improve compliance for producers and retailers, the Commission is calling for a revised energy labeling system consisting of:A single energy labeling scale from ‘A to G’: the Commission is proposing a return to the well-known and effective 'A to G' label scale for energy-efficient products, including a process for rescaling the existing labels.
WASTE NOT -
British coffee drinkers can now support biofuel production on their morning commutes. Network Rail, the company owning and operating Britain’s stations announced a partnership Tuesday with bio-bean, a company recycling waste coffee grounds into carbon-neutral fuel.Following a successful trial at London’s Victoria and Waterloo stations, the scheme will be introduced at Network Rail’s six largest stations, which generate nearly 700 tons of coffee waste annually. Instead of sending the grounds to landfill, generating roughly 5,000 tons of carbon emissions, the waste will now produce over 650 tons of biofuel — enough to power 1,000 homes a year.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
A new report shows evidence that economic growth is decoupling from carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions in a majority of American states. Authored by sustainability groups Ceres and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), along with Bank of America and four of the largest U.S. power plant operators, the research shows 42 of 50 states decreased emissions from power plants from 2008-2013, totaling a nationwide decrease of 12 percent.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
A new partnership between Ford, automaker FCA US LLC and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory could lead to more efficient engines on the road. Announced this week, the research collaboration will explore technical concepts and development of engines that will simultaneously use natural gas and traditional gasoline.“The fact that two major players in the auto industry are partnering with Argonne on this project really shows the promise of this approach,” said project director Thomas Wallner. “The assumption here is that if you blend the fuels properly, you can make substantial gains in efficiency.”
WASTE NOT -
The Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery in Scotland has cut its carbon footprint by 90 percent after installing a biomass boiler late last year.Traditionally, distilleries are heavy users of fossil fuels, but this is the latest example of investment in biomass gaining traction industry-wide.“Moving away from boilers that use heavy fuel oil – to more efficient wood pellets – helps reduce energy costs and lower emissions into the environment,” a spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said in a statement.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Canadian startup Daymark has developed a fully electric, solar-powered scooter capable of playing music from built-in speakers, charging your phone and traveling up to 10 miles using its 24V battery pack, which is available in lithium or lead acid varieties.The Photon scooter re-charges under daylight during any kind of weather, gaining approximately 0.2 miles for every hour of exposure the 6W solar panel receives.
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For the 20th year in a row, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing landmark sustainable chemistry technologies developed by industrial pioneers and leading scientists that turn climate risk and other environmental problems into business opportunities, spurring innovation and economic development.
CLEANTECH -
Boeing and Japanese aviation industry stakeholders have partnered to develop sustainable aviation biofuel for flights during the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, when millions of people are expected to visit Japan.
The Initiatives for Next Generation Aviation Fuels (INAF) — a consortium of 46 organizations including Boeing, ANA (All Nippon Airways), Japan Airlines, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Japan's government and the University of Tokyo — laid out a five-year "roadmap" to develop biofuel by 2020 as a way to reduce aviation's environmental footprint.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Battery storage has long been one of the last remaining significant barriers to the widespread adoption of solar energy — and a nimbler, more resilient energy grid. But a number of players are quickly emerging with solutions.In May, Tesla Energy dominated headlines when it unveiled a new home battery called the “Powerwall,” which can store solar energy and allow customers to cache grid electricity from non-peak periods to use during peak times. For business and utilities, there is a larger version available called the “Powerpack.”
NEW METRICS -
I’ve been working in the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility (CR) field for twenty years. In that time, skeptics have persistently challenged the discipline: Do corporate environmental, social, and governance practices drive or distract from tangible financial, competitive, and wider business performance?On the one hand, anyone who attended SB’15 in San Diego should celebrate the present as the best of times to answer this question. Eyes are opening – backed by rigorous assessment – on the financial and wider competitive potential of low-carbon innovations, circular economic and other breakthrough economic strategies, and base of the pyramid development.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report this week documenting the deception tactics used by fossil fuel companies in spreading misinformation about climate change. The Climate Deception Dossiers contains 85 internal memos showing a variety of efforts to manufacture uncertainty about climate science.Fossil fuel companies have long been aware of the harmful impacts of their products and have intentionally deceived the public to deny this harm, the report argues. The authors present a small history lesson evidencing the extent of companies’ dishonesty.