PRESS RELEASE -
CHARLOTTE – The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, which will support two critical TNC initiatives. The first initiative focuses on using the comprehensive system-scale planning approach to help countries balance the generation of renewable energy and the conservation of rivers that provide food, livelihoods and many other values to people – particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The second program aims to scale up cost-effective investments in nature-based resilience approaches that will help protect communities from climate risks and extreme weather events.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
The newly released Looking Forward with Ford report finds consumers at a crossroads. People are reassessing how they define 'the Good Life,' value material possessions, and use their time. They are placing greater accountability on brands to be transparent and truthful, and to act in the best interest of both individuals and society overall. The world seems to be in a perpetual state of flux, and companies will need to keep up.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Since the signing of the Paris agreement, more and more initiatives are emerging and making waves in terms of carbon reduction. However, our planet is much more complicated than a carbon cycle, in fact, there are nine planetary boundaries to look out for from biodiversity to land system change and our current way of doing business is on the trajectory of trespassing many of them.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ramblers Way, an ethically sourced, American-made sustainable clothing company announced today an extensive rebrand across the company along with the new tagline ‘Clothing for a Good Life.’ The new brand look and feel embodies Ramblers Way’s commitment to protect the planet, support local economies and build its business based on lifelong values.
PRESS RELEASE -
PepsiCo Latin America and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Latin America announced "Water for the Planet," a new collaboration that will work to replenish five different watersheds for the urban areas of Mexico City, Monterrey, São Paulo, Guatemala City and Bogotain the next seven years.
CLEANTECH -
Commodity production drives two-thirds of tropical deforestation worldwide, and tracing those commodities has proven difficult.
PRESS RELEASE -
Avery Dennison has collaborated with partners throughout the supply chain namely Viridor and PET UK, to help Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) reduce waste, costs, and the carbon footprint of Smartwater production in the United Kingdom.
According to Joe Franses, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Coca-Cola European Partners, “This example shows how we can turn the crisis of resources into a business opportunity through close collaboration across the value chain. Businesses which can be truly innovative with the products and services they provide, optimising the resources they use and encouraging consumers to do the same, have the potential to transform our economy.”
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Moving the needle on consumer behavior remains a monumental task - but a necessary one if we are to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With household consumption accounting for nearly 70 percent of economic activity in the United States, consumers’ choices can make a real difference. At the same time, consumers are faced with so many decisions in their day-to-day lives that “decision fatigue” is commonplace. We cannot expect consumers to weigh the environmental and social implications of each of their actions and purchases.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), a project of As You Sow, recently reported which major brands are leading in adequately protecting human rights and informing investors about their conflict minerals risk, and those who are failing to do so.
Mining the Disclosures is RSN’s annual analysis of conflict minerals reporting, ranking 200+ individual companies across 25+ industries in risk mitigation, human rights impact, and reporting quality.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
For those who follow the workings and importance of our global ecosystem - the gatekeeping mechanism for our economy, you will know that early October marked the end of another opportunity at a Conference of the Parties (COP17) to greatly improve the future of our planet’s wellbeing - but we missed the chance, yet again.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Today, research groups released what they are calling the most comprehensive and detailed look at private sector progress on forest commitments. The report analyzes 600 companies engaged in the production of the “big four” globally traded commodities responsible for 40 percent of deforestation — palm oil, wood, cattle and soy. While forest protection commitments have surged, the report details mixed progress on their implementation.
PRESS RELEASE -
California’s forests are in crisis. A lethal combination of drought, wildfires, warmer temperatures and pests has destroyed 66 million trees in the past six years.
Restoring our forests won’t be easy. Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature recognized the importance and magnitude of the task by allocating $40 million in cap-and-trade funds. At the same time, President Barack Obama visited Lake Tahoe to announce $29.5 million to improve forest health and decrease the threat of catastrophic wildfires.
PRESS RELEASE -
SoFi Software enables sustainability performance management for multiple projects and provides insight into success
PRESS RELEASE -
United Airlines and Clean the World Partner to Assemble Hygiene Kits For Hub-Based Charities
Volunteers in cities across the country and in the U.K. gather to help those in critical need
PRESS RELEASE -
New campaign promotes FSC as one simple action with a profound impact.
For the first time, six publicly traded companies – some of which are competitors – have come together to promote the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) directly to consumers. The companies are HP Inc., International Paper, Kimberly-Clark, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. All sell FSC-certified products.
COLLABORATION -
As California enters its sixth year of record-breaking drought, 20 leading organizations this week announced the formation of the California Water Action Collaborative (CWAC), their collaborative effort to support critical projects designed to protect the state’s water future.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Aluminum roller and recycler Novelis has teamed up with digital content provider Discovery Education on an all-new aluminum recycling education program, "Life of a Can - A Never Ending Story." The program is intended to empower students to make a positive environmental impact through standards-aligned lesson plans and interactive classroom activities focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The way the majority of the world’s economy works is ‘linear’. We take materials out of the earth, make them into marketable goods that we consume, and dispose of the goods when we’re done with them. It’s a system that accelerated since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, when there was an abundance of cheap and easily accessible natural resources. Mass production made a lot of sense at the time and has since arguably raised our standards of living exponentially.
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 -
REI, the specialty outdoor co-op, has designed its new distribution center to be Net Zero Energy and is pursuing LEED Platinum—the highest level in the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) rating system. Situated in the Arizona desert, the facility is intended to be one of the world's most sustainable distribution centers. To encourage further innovation, REI is taking an unusual approach and will make the design information of this facility available to the public, so that others can advance the parameters of sustainable design.
REI is driving sustainability and efficiency at its new distribution center in several new ways: