Stories About Finance/Insurance/Investment
Found 502 stories. Page 25 of 26.
Walmart Launching $10 Million Fund For US Manufacturing Innovation
SUPPLY CHAIN - On Thursday at the US Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington, D.C., Walmart US President and CEO Bill Simon announced a new fund for innovation in US manufacturing.Walmart and the Walmart Foundation will fund the five-year program and launch it in March in collaboration with the US Conference of Mayors. The fund will provide grants to innovators in the manufacturing sector and seeks to create new processes, ideas and jobs that support the country’s growing manufacturing footprint.
New EY Series Highlights Top Sustainability Concerns for Business in 2014
MARKETING AND COMMS - As companies begin their 2014 planning, it is critical to have a firm understanding of the regulatory and sustainability trends that will impact core business. In a new publication series Let’s talk: sustainability, Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services group highlights the top concerns facing companies in these areas in 2014.
Mosaic and Mark Ruffalo Make New Year's Resolution to 'Put Solar on It'
MARKETING AND COMMS - Mosaic, the first U.S. company to crowdsource investments for solar projects, is kicking off 2014 with a New Year’s Resolution campaign to “Put Solar on It.” The campaign invites anyone to pledge to put solar on a local home, school, place of worship, business or other property on PutSolarOnIt.com. Throughout 2014, Mosaic says it will provide people with the tools and network they need to make their pledge a reality.Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo is leading the campaign with his pledge to put solar on his children’s school, Stephen Gaynor Elementary, in Manhattan.
CDP: Many Businesses Still Unaware of Supply Chain Risks Due to Deforestation
SUPPLY CHAIN - In a year of extreme weather events, commodity price spikes and supply chain disasters, the latest data from CDP’s forests program reveals that the business community remains largely unaware of the deforestation risks in their own supply chains, threatening shareholder value.
UK Industry Leaders Found ‘Research Council’ to Promote Social Sector Investment
LEADERSHIP - Five major organizations active in the social investment market — the Big Lottery Fund, Citi, Big Society Capital, the City of London Corporation and the Cabinet Office — have come together to launch the Social Investment Research Council (SIRC), which aims to “generate powerful and practical insights for the benefit of social sector organizations and investors.”The research body will seek to maximize the benefits for socially motivated investors by enhancing knowledge within the sector, the founders say. During the organization’s first year of operation, it will focus on better understanding the investment products currently on the market and the kind of investors they seek to attract.
Water Scarcity: Dealing with the Long-Term Business Risk
COLLABORATION - Yesterday, in an attempt to stimulate dialogue and increase awareness around global water risk, CDP held its Global Water Forum 2013, “Investing in Water Security.”The impetus for the conversation, and in general CDP’s water program, is to catalyze sustainable global water stewardship.Water scarcity is a long-term business risk which has not, quite frankly, been gaining the same level of attention as other sustainability issues, such as energy efficiency and carbon reduction.However, unlike carbon, water is not a renewable resource.“I am very passionate that water is not carbon,” said Will Sarni, Director and Practice Leader, Enterprise Water Strategy at Deloitte Consulting LLP. “There is no replacement for water. Carbon is renewable. Water is not.”
Rubies in the Rubble: Fighting a Culture of Waste One Chutney at a Time
WASTE NOT - In 2010, Jenny Dawson was a couple of years out of university working at a hedge fund company in London. One day, she found herself at a wholesale market where she saw pallets of edible fruit and vegetables going to the waste bin. The food had been grown in neighboring countries in Europe and as far away as Kenya.To Dawson it was sheer madness and an environmental and social travesty that so much good food requiring great resources to grow and transport to London would ultimately end up in the garbage. “Seeing pallets of perfectly good fruit coming in from Kenya destined for the garbage evoked a reaction in me. There must be something we could do. We can’t be this wasteful,” says Dawson.
Investors Ask General Mills to Step Up Packaging Responsibility
WASTE NOT - This week, investors are asking General Mills to take responsibility for recycling its post-consumer packaging waste.
Arizona State University partners with sustainable Dutch development for productivity assessment
PRESS RELEASE - The Arizona State University Global Sustainability Solutions Center (GSSC) at Haarlemmermeer announced its first project agreement in the Netherlands on September 30th 2013. GSSC will conduct research and analysis for Park 20|20, the Netherlands’ first cradle-to-cradle working environment, in order to assess the links between employee and firm productivity and the built environment. Park 20|20, located in the town of Hoofddorp, is geared to energize and empower employees through a “human-centered design approach” via its architecture and landscape. The cradle-to-cradle design achieves sustainability by creating closed cycles for materials, energy, waste, and water.
The Emerging, Not-for-Profit Economy
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Across numerous countries, the economic contribution of the not-for-profit sector has been on the rise since the late 1990s. In Canada, for example, not-for-profit institutions now contribute 8% of the country’s gross domestic product. Moreover, in the U.S. the not-for-profit (NFP) sector grew significantly faster than the for-profit (FP) sector between 2001-2011, despite the financial crisis of 2008.
Nestlé, Volkswagen, SAP, Air France Named Industry Leaders in 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
MARKETING AND COMMS - S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s largest providers of financial market indices, and RobecoSAM, an investment specialist focused on sustainability investing, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review. Launched in 1999, the DJSI were the first global indices to track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.
Report: Product Sustainability Investments Will Accelerate as Business Benefits Revealed
MARKETING AND COMMS - Corporate spending on product sustainability initiatives will likely accelerate as sustainable product pioneers such as H&M, Nokia and PUMA share evidence of the business benefits they have achieved, according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. The study draws on data from a survey of 250 heads of sustainability in 13 countries, as well as interviews with product sustainability experts at PE International, PRé Consultants, Pure Strategies and Quantis.
Consumer Collaboration Investment: The Communispace Client Index vs. the S&P 500
COLLABORATION - Introducing the Communispace Client Index — an index designed to track the stock market performance of our top 25 clients (i.e., those clients investing the most in consumer collaboration) against the S&P 500. Our nerd-o-licious intent was to see if our clients — companies who are engaged in an ongoing collaborative relationship with their consumers — are doing any better than the rest of the companies out there.The Index by no means shows causality between our work and the share performance of any given company. However, it does say some pretty interesting things:
Investors Achieve Strong Results on Climate, Supply Chains, Water Issues During 2013 Proxy Season
MARKETING AND COMMS - Investors achieved notable victories during this year’s shareholder proxy season, with a near-record 110 shareholder resolutions filed with 94 U.S. companies on corporate sustainability challenges such as climate change, supply chain issues and water-related risks, according to Ceres.
Follow-Up to SB'13: Bob Willard on the Emergence of Capitalism 2.0
NEW METRICS - Bob Willard is an expert on quantifying and selling the business value of corporate sustainability strategies. He serves on the advisory boards of The Natural Step Canada and Forum for the Future US, and his fourth book, The New Sustainability Advantage was published in 2012.
13 Hot Research Reports on Corporate Sustainability Issues, Tools and Trends
MARKETING AND COMMS - As the fourth and final piece in our 4-part series of ‘hot lists’ (check out our other picks for hot products, books and business model innovations), this week we introduce 13 hot research reports tracking the state of various aspects of corporate sustainability, as well as respective consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Mosaic Crowdsourcing $100 Million in New Solar Projects
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Mosaic, an online marketplace that connects investors to solar energy projects, is tackling more and more ambitious projects. Recently, it started the Golden State Series, a string of solar investments that will total $100 million. The first project, seeking a investment $153,000 in a solar charity in San Diego, sold out in just six hours.
Crossing Thresholds: From Fossil Fuel Divestment to Sustainable Investment
NEW METRICS - Three cheers to Bill McKibben and 350.org for raising much-needed awareness through their campaign urging university endowments and pension funds to divest from fossil fuel-producing companies.
Paper Supplier Suspends Forest Clearance After Losing Disney, Levi’s
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - In response to its recent abandonment by nearly 100 international corporate customers, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has announced an immediate end to the clearing of natural forest across its entire supply chain in Indonesia. Disney, Levi’s and Mattel were among some of the major brands to jump ship after years of criticism over the paper company’s role in harming Indonesia’s endangered rainforests and communities.
European Leaders Call for Wasteful Goods To Be 'Taken Off Market'
WASTE NOT - This post first appeared on edie.net on December 17, 2012.