PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Just one year after the launch of its ambitious Sharing Beauty with All program for sustainable development, cosmetics giant the L'Oréal Group has today revealed significant improvements in the first progress reportof its efforts:
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
On Wednesday, Dow Chemical Company announced an ambitious set of 2025 Sustainability Goals, which it said were designed to redefine the role of business in society. Among the new commitments: developing breakthrough product innovations, positively impacting the lives of 1 billion people, and delivering $1 billion in cost savings or new cash flow for the Company by valuing nature in business decisions and advancing a circular economy.
CLEANTECH -
RE100, a global initiative aimed at recruiting and encouraging major companies to use 100 percent renewable power across their operations, has announced a partnership with the China Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) as part of a major new drive to help companies in China adopt renewable energy.
CLEANTECH -
Driven by consumer demands, and greater concern for resource scarcity and productivity, more companies are tracking and reporting performance in an effort to meet corporate sustainability goals. But once the low-hanging fruit is picked, further improvements can require sophisticated tools, such as emerging big data and geospatial analytics, to help companies make more informed decisions about sustainability goals, according to a new report from Lux Research.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
This week, the WorldWatch Institute, an independent research organization that focuses on energy, resource and environmental issues, released State of the World 2015: Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability. The report details a diverse range of threats, driven directly or indirectly by growing stress on the planet's resources, which have the potential to upend social systems, environmental balance and even entire economies.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Though the cost of solar panels continues to decline, many homeowners still can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars for a solar energy installation. Short of installing their own system, there aren’t a lot of options for sourcing residential solar energy especially for renters or those with poorly positioned roofs.Launched Monday, Yeloha, a peer-to-peer solar sharing network, hopes to change all that by making solar available to all homes through the purchase of a solar subscription, which is said to be cheaper than the cost of electricity from their utility.
LEADERSHIP -
This week, JetBlue Airways announced it is once again partnering with the Carbonfund.org Foundation to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (CO2e) generated by all scheduled flights from April 1 to April 30, in honor of Earth Month. Now in its eighth year, this partnership has allowed travelers to offset part of the carbon footprint from their flights by making a donation to support carbon-reduction projects. To date, JetBlue says it has purchased offsets totaling more than 350 million pounds (158,000 metric tons) of CO2 and CO2e emissions.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Today, Wells Fargo announced its selection of four clean technology startups for the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a five-year, $10 million program to foster leading-edge environmental technologies. The program is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This marks the first philanthropy program of its kind within the financial services industry.
WASTE NOT -
A commuter bus in Bristol, England, which runs on biomethane gas produced by food waste and fecal matter generated by 32,000 local households, entered regular service late last month. Originally launched with sporadic service in November, the waste-powered Bio-Bus, affectionately known as the “poo bus,” will now be available four days a week — on, you guessed it, Route #2.
CLEANTECH -
Clean energy is “key” to climate action, according to a senior advisor to President Obama in a blog post published last week, which discussed the United States’ official greenhouse gas emissions-cutting target to the United Nations. The proposal formalizes a U.S. commitment to reducing emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Caring for God’s creation is a key tenet of diverse Christian faiths including Presbyterians, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Methodists, Quakers and Baptists, who have all cited action to address climate change as a moral obligation. And Pope Francis has repeatedly made the religious case for addressing global warming, warning, “if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us.”
PRESS RELEASE -
ATLANTA, April 1, 2015 – UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced plans to build 15 compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to support the purchase and planned deployment of 1,400 new CNG vehicles over the next year. Twelve of the CNG stations will be in new natural gas vehicle deployment areas, and three will replace existing CNG stations with more robust, higher capacity equipment.
PRESS RELEASE -
By: Susan DiegelmanThe Second in a Series About Machine-to-Machine Technology and Water Management.Lake Mead provides up to 90 percent of Las Vegas’ water and experts estimate that since 2000, an ongoing drought robbed the lake of 4 trillion gallons of water. With 584,000 residents and millions of tourists each year, the Las Vegas Valley Water District brought its distribution system into the 21st century; it had to. A fragile combination of groundwater, water reuse systems, and desalination and banking systems make meeting the daily water needs of Las Vegas possible. For Las Vegas, every drop counts.
CLEANTECH -
A lightbulb with lower energy emissions, longer lifetime and lower manufacturing costs, and made with graphene — said to be the first commercially viable consumer product using the super-strong form of carbon — is poised to hit the market this year, thanks to a University of Manchester research and innovation partnership.The bulb’s developers — a Canadian-financed company called Graphene Lighting — expect the dimmable bulb to use 10 percent less energy than conventional bulbs, last longer and be priced lower than some LEDs, at roughly $20 each. It was designed at the University of Manchester, where the revolutionary material was discovered. The University’s National Graphene Institute was opened this month.
NEW METRICS -
Volvo last year reduced the total lifetime carbon dioxide emissions of its products by 40 million tons against a 2008 baseline, besting its goal by 10 million tons, according to the company’s 2014 sustainability report.The automaker also surpassed its target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its production plants by 0.2 million tons (12 percent), compared to 2008, instead achieving a 20 percent reduction (0.4 million ton) by the end of last year.Other 2014 highlights from Volvo’s report include:
CLEANTECH -
The market for thermal coal is in structural decline in the United States, according to a new report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative.The US Coal Crash – Evidence for Structural Change (PDF) finds that, in the last few years, US coal markets have been pounded by a combination of cheaper renewables, energy efficiency measures, increasing construction costs and a rash of legal challenges, as well as the rise of shale gas.
NEW METRICS -
German software company SAP’s operating profit improves EUR35 million ($38 million) to EUR45 million ($49 million) when its employee engagement index rises one percentage point, according to the company’s 2014 integrated report.The financial impact of a higher employee engagement index results, among other things, from the fact that dedicated employees are more innovative and absent from work fewer days. Likewise, because they are more loyal to the company, there is less missed revenue and less recruiting and training costs traditionally associated with higher turnover rates.
CLEANTECH -
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("HKSTP") is showcasing Hong Kong's sustainable innovations to the world by leading a delegation of cleantech companies at an event this week in San Francisco.The HKSTP delegation includes five cleantech companies that will showcase sustainable innovations ranging from a water filtration device to renewable energy technologies and energy management platforms.The participating companies in the HKSTP delegation are:
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Last week, the London assembly told mayor Boris Johnson to pull City Hall’s £4.8bn pension fund out of coal, oil and gas investments, after assembly members voted on a motion to support the fossil fuel divestment movement.The motion calls on the mayor to publicly support the principle of divestment and to begin the process of ridding the London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA) of its fossil fuel portfolio. But the vote is non-binding, meaning the mayor is bound only to consider its proposals and write a response.The Green Party’s Jenny Jones proposed the motion, which was unanimously supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Six of the Conservative’s nine members were absent. Those who were present voted against.