CLEANTECH -
One of the major challenges in stopping illegal deforestation in Indonesia is the existence of numerous, conflicting concession maps, based on which level of government, or ministry, you talk to. This means for companies such as Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), APRIL or Felda, the land they have been granted could also have been given to another company, or conflict with indigenous or customary community land. And that's a problem.
PRESS RELEASE -
Procter & Gamble global chief executive David Taylor met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss the company's manufacturing initiatives in the country and partnership opportunities in education and the government's cleanliness drive.
In line with P&G's global sustainability goals, the company said it has offered to help the country's Clean India Initiative (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) by using technology to reduce waste to landfill that will up-cycle sanitary waste.
The maker of Ariel and Pampers appointed Taylor as its chief a year ago amid falling global sales and restructuring of its products portfolio. Internationally, Taylor has been reorganising P&G's brand portfolio, focusing on the core ones and selling dozens of unprofitable brands.
CLEANTECH -
Despite international efforts to curb climate change, communities and companies alike need to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. With this in mind, The White House has launched a new public-private collaboration to improve the availability and usability of data and information for climate resilience. Companies including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft and IBM’s The Weather Company are working alongside NGOs and four U.S. Federal agencies to execute the project.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
“The activist company” Patagonia is making donations, hosting events and stressing the importance of local- and state-level voting in a $1 million push to combat apathy and ‘get out the green vote.’
COLLABORATION -
Today, brewers, governments NGOs and retailers in 76 countries around the world partnered on the second annual Global Beer Responsibility Day in an effort to promote responsible consumption of beer.
CLEANTECH -
As Americans count down to Election Day, more than three-quarters (78 percent) believe the winner of the presidential race should prioritize the faster adoption of renewable energy, according to the seventh annual Sense & Sustainability® Study released by G&S Business Communications (G&S). The G&S Sense & Sustainability Study was conducted online by Harris Poll in August 2016 among 2,007 U.S. adults.
WASTE NOT -
The waste reduction experts at WRAP have brought together representatives from across the waste management sector to create an industry framework that could divert up to 11 million tonnes more recyclable material from disposal in England.
Supported by the U.K.’s Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and DCLG, the ‘Framework for Greater Consistency in Household Recycling for England’ offers opportunities for businesses and local authorities to save money and avoid around 5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Each year in the U.S. more than 2.3 million people experience homelessness, 7.4 million live “doubled up” with friends or family and scores live on the edge of homelessness.
Estimates are a community pays $5,000 for every person who enters a shelter, to say nothing of the social and health problems amongst homeless adults and children.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN) and 35 other associations1 representing a wide range of sectors including major consumer goods brands, packaging producers, material producers and extended producer responsibility (EPR) organizations have presented the European Union with a set of joint recommendations for its circular economy legis
PRESS RELEASE -
A pair of Department of Energy grants awarded to UPS (NYSE: UPS) will enable the company and a world-class team of engineers to conduct cutting-edge research aimed at reducing emissions and revolutionizing the charging process for electric trucks.
The grants, announced today, are part of the Department of Energy’s efforts to spur innovation and promote more efficient cars and trucks.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
A new report from relief and development charity Tearfund and the Institute of Development Studies suggests that businesses and governments could help save lives and create jobs by adopting a circular economy approach to waste management.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Two surveys of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) have highlighted their growing demand for food supply chain ethics.
Research from Globescan showed that the vast majority of shoppers believe that food companies and the government are responsible for ensuring long-term food production sustainability. 92 percent of shoppers put the onus on food companies, indicating they should focus their efforts on securing the future sustainability of food, while 85 percent believed the government should be held accountable.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
A unanimous decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the government’s right to use a social carbon price to inform policymaking. The verdict rejected an industry-backed litigation that challenged the Department of Energy (DOE)’s use of a $36/metric ton estimated social cost of carbon (SCC) in its decision-making on the premise that the figure is not based on “real-world” data.
PRESS RELEASE -
The U.S. Department of Energy is awarding about $6 million in funding for projects at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that advance fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.
Ford will use the money to develop a uniquely American fuel-cell catalyst production process, according to U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, who announced the funding Thursday afternoon.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Mark Manning, former oil industry insider and director of acclaimed Iraq war documentaries The Road to Fallujah and Caught in the Crossfire, has turned his lens to another battle taking place in the Gulf, this time on the U.S.’ Gulf Coast. The upcoming feature-length documentary, The Rising, details the devastating effects not only of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, but of the company’s cleanup efforts following the spill and the apparent large-scale cover-up of their health impacts on the coastal communities.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
In the south of Spain, unsustainable water use is threatening Doñana National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of Europe’s most important wetlands. Located southwest of Seville, the Park supports millions of migratory birds and is a stronghold of the endangered Iberian lynx.
LEADERSHIP -
16-year-old climate activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is petitioning the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates to take a strong stance on ending climate change. In a Care2 petition and a corresponding video letter, Martinez is urging the candidates to pledge to end fossil fuel use in the U.S. by 2026. The petition attracted over 100,000 signatures in its first week online.
CLEANTECH -
California’s aggressive climate policies — combined with the sheer size of its economy — have helped it create the most clean energy jobs of any state in the country, according to a new study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
The report, The Link Between Good Jobs and a Low Carbon Future, says the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) — California’s principal climate policy — has created 25,500 blue-collar job years — or around 53 million hours of blue-collar construction work. Many of these jobs have been created in regions of the state where they are most needed, with high unemployment and low income.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
After passing the Senate last week, a bill proposing a federal labeling standard for foods with genetically modified ingredients - and blocking states from creating their own standards - sailed through the US House of Representatives on Thursday, and is now on its way to President Obama.
The bill, which passed by a landslide 306 to 117 vote, directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a national labeling standard that allows food producers to choose how they want to disclose the presence of genetically modified ingredients - manufacturers will be able to use text, symbols or a QR code that consumers must scan with a smartphone to relay the information.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
In West Virginia, residents will soon be seeing a lot more green than they’re used to. And it may come in the form of dollar bills, too.
Researchers from West Virginia University are teaming up with a new startup called Agri Carb Electric Corporation to investigate the farming infrastructure benefits of hemp. This will mark the first time West Virginia has allowed hemp cultivation in 70 years.