SUPPLY CHAIN -
Supplier collaboration and sustainability can drive innovation and growth in top supply chains, but only 43 percent of suppliers feel fully empowered to collaborate with their partners, says new research from 3M. Surveying 237 suppliers across the U.S., the report uncovers insight on the most urgent trends, opportunities and challenges facing suppliers today.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
This month BNP Paribas, the world’s seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people.
WASTE NOT -
Closed Loop Fund (CLF) has released the results of its latest impact report, which highlights recent successes such as the diversion of 100,000 tons of materials from landfill, a 230,000 metric ton reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the creation of more than $530,000 in economic benefits to municipalities.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
British supermarket group Sainsbury’s has launched its own in-house sustainability standard, provoking backlash from The Fairtrade Foundation and Fairtrade producers alike.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Forests play a critical role in mitigating global climate change and deforestation is responsible for 10-15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as habitat loss and social conflict. With the development of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the protection of forests has become a top priority for policymakers, investors and consumers.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Human Rights Watch is calling on the fashion industry to adopt and carry out the Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge. The organization contacted 72 apparel companies, asking them to publish information identifying the factories that produce their goods, addressing a key obstacle to rooting out abusive labor practices across the industry and helping to prevent disasters such as the Rana Plaza collapse.
LEADERSHIP -
The social and environmental impacts of palm oil production are widely recognized. And while the issues of deforestation, habitat degradation and human rights abuses are gaining momentum within the international community, measures designed to curtail them — including certification — are plagued by inefficiencies and a lack of transparency.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Transparency is increasingly becoming a food industry standard, with more and more brands sharing information regarding supply chain and nutritional content with consumers. This new wave of transparency is also joined by a greater focus on creating products that are made with “clean” ingredients derived from natural sources. Since the launch of its “Food as It Should Be” campaign back in 2014, Panera Bread has been sharing its journey towards serving only “100% clean” food.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
International non-profit Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has launched its 2017 policy development round, opening up six areas of the MSC program to consultation from stakeholders to improve its existing programs and develop effective and sustainable new standards.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A wave of efforts to increase transparency and ethics in complex global supply chains in recent years has not only unearthed grave ongoing issues, but a groundswell of private sector commitments to address them. Two that have risen to the forefront of concern for multinationals are deforestation and human rights abuses.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
International Women's Day (March 08) is asking each and every citizen to #BeBoldForChange to help forge a better working world - a more inclusive, gender-equal world. Here, Taco Terheijden, Director of Cocoa Sustainability at Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, reflects on why a thriving cocoa sector is predicated on successful female role models.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Multinational consumer goods company Unilever announced a new transparency measure today that will provide consumers with access to additional fragrance ingredient information for its personal care products.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Waste packaging and food leftovers from this Christmas alone will have cost councils £72 million1, according to new research from UK think tank Green Alliance. In England, local authorities spend roughly £300 million every year dealing with waste packaging and, after rising steadily since 2001, England’s recycling rates went down for the first time in 2015.
COLLABORATION -
There are an estimated 21 million victims of forced labour in the world today, with labour exploitation fast becoming the dominant form – in 2015, it overtook sexual exploitation for the first time in the UK. The insidious nature of forced labour, coupled with the growing complexity of global supply chains, makes it a tough problem for corporations to identify, let alone stamp out.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Domestic migrant workers make up a substantial percentage of the workforce in China's manufacturing industry. Latest figures estimate that there are 247 million migrant workers in the country. These workers often originate from towns and villages hundreds or thousands of miles away from the factories where they work. The majority of these workers are parents, and due to childcare needs and the Hukou system – a household register that has tied people's access to social services to their hometowns, making it difficult for millions of domestic migrant workers to take their children with them.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On Tuesday, day 2 of New Metrics ’16, Greg Norris of the International Living Future Institute, Jane Abernethy of HumanScale, John Pflueger of Dell, Johanna Jobin of Biogen and Daniel Aronson of Valutus discussed the next stages of the business world’s efforts to become Net Positive.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
With private and municipal composting programs becoming more mainstream, as well as more companies turning to more sustainable packaging designs, composting is now easier than ever. The next step in the crusade to reduce waste? The Sustainable Packing Coalition (SPC)’s launch of the new How2Compost label program.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Closed Loop Fund (CLF), a private sector investment fund that finances recycling infrastructure and sustainable manufacturing technologies to advance the circular economy, released its first public progress report. Details reveal investment opportunities in the recycling industry that deliver clear environmental and financial returns for cities, companies, and private investors, despite the headwinds of low commodities prices.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Nestlé and Unilever are helping set the standard for sustainable agriculture, according to a survey of over 150 global sustainability heads conducted by Pure Strategies. The responses identified these firms as the leaders and revealed that farm-level engagement is a top priority across industries such as apparel, home and personal care, and life sciences.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Many clothes are now made in Turkey because of its proximity to Europe, allowing retailers to fill last-minute orders and get new designs into shops more quickly. But Turkey is a challenging place to do business, especially following the influx of almost 3 million refugees escaping war and bloodshed in Syria. With under-resourced humanitarian assistance, jobs and wages are critical to refugee families’ well-being and security.