PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Amazon has launched a new challenge to reward developers of Alexa skills that have a positive impact on the environment, local communities and the world.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Circulate Capital, a new impact-focused investment management company, launched today in partnership with Closed Loop Partners, a firm that invests in companies, technology and recycling infrastructure to advance the circular economy; and Ocean Conservancy, a leading nonprofit environmental advocacy organization working to protect the world’s oceans.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Globalia have announced the first worldwide competition for tourism startups. The UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition is accepting applications from entrepreneurs across 164 countries whose companies aim to transform tourism, whether their focus is on the future of travel, tourism experience, environmental impact or community development.
COLLABORATION -
How much forest land — and what quality — is needed to ensure forests can continue to provide people, plants and animals worldwide with clean air and water, food and the goods and services they need to thrive?
COLLABORATION -
At the 2018 Global Forum on Responsible Business and Recruitment this week, the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) called on businesses around the world to play their part in the fight to end all forms of forced labor. The event, co-hosted by the CGF and Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), brought together key stakeholders to discuss how best to galvanize efforts and drive real progress on the issue.
PRESS RELEASE -
Did you know recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 30 minutes? And recycling 16 aluminum cans saves the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. A series of small actions like these can turn into great things when they are brought together. And that’s what The Recycling Partnership is all about. The Recycling Partnership is a rapidly growing national nonprofit committed to improving curbside residential recycling and boosting recycling education in cities across America — one community at a time, family by family, bin by bin. They’ve already impacted 33 million households in just four years!
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Since 1990, Indonesia has lost half of its rainforests. What’s worse, the rate of deforestation, currently at roughly two million hectares per year, is still accelerating.
Heart of the issue being that ecological values remain difficult to measure in monetary terms. Such is the tragedy of the commons for a country with the world’s fourth-largest population: Its eagerness for economic development driven by the global market has made one of the planet’s most diverse natural habitats subject to exploitation for fast cash, rather than being protected as a crucial part of the global ecosystem.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
For decades, the ASPCA has been advocating for better breeding practices and adoption for dogs with campaigns that focused on educating the public on where pet store dogs come from.
But over time, the influx of digital technology has completely transformed how people get dogs. And Millennials, the largest generation of dog lovers ever, are increasingly relying on online sources, which makes it difficult to track where our furry friends are coming from.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
This is the eighth in a series of articles examining how business leaders and companies can transform their corporate culture in order to succeed in the midst of the impending Purpose Revolution. Find links to the full series below.
CLEANTECH -
Many people assume that tech companies are always competing. But as we celebrate Earth Day this year, we’re feeling grateful for our tech peers. When it comes to the environment, working together allows us to make bigger strides toward our shared sustainability goals — and collaboration is the only way forward.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
While weekly headlines tout the efforts of major food companies and NGOs working to increase the sustainability of the food industry through reducing waste, improving packaging and responding to consumer demand for healthier choices, organizations such as NSF: The Public Health and Safety Organization are working behind the scenes on an
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Just over a week ahead of the five-year anniversary of the devastating Rana Plaza factory collapse, Better Buying and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) have announced an 18-month partnership in Bangladesh to support and promote responsible buying practices within garment industry supply chains.
The two NGOs will invite Bangladeshi garment factories to anonymously evaluate their buyers using the Better Buying online rating platform, which gives buyers anonymized ratings from suppliers on seven key aspects of purchasing practices:
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Climate change is predicted to reduce the amount of arable land suitable for growing coffee by 50% by 2050. Climatic changes are already impacting coffee production around the world, threatening the global supply, and the endangering the livelihoods of the 25 million families who depend on its production.
PRESS RELEASE -
Eighty years after Lloyd and Mary Anderson officially formed the REI Co-op with 21 of their fellow outdoor adventurers, the outdoor co-op is strong and healthy – today reporting a record $2.62 billion in sales in 2017 and bringing its community to 17 million members strong.
But at the co-op, success isn’t just measured in sales.
“As a co-op, we are a different kind of company,” says REI CEO Jerry Stritzke. “Our founders were bold enough to think about doing business differently, which is why we hold ourselves accountable to a ‘quadruple bottom line’: measuring not just how we do as a business, but how we drive impact for our employees, our members and society.”
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Sustainability reporting focuses on the challenges that most affect business performance and matter most to key stakeholders. From understanding consumption and cost of inefficiencies and anomalies, clear reporting is mission critical to any organization’s ability to meet sustainability goals.
But sustainability reports are only as impactful as the quality of the data that is being used. If the data driving your reports is incomplete or inaccurate, you could be compromising the nature of your assessments. Just like the quality of soil is important for the growth of a tree, the quality of your data is just as important for growing your sustainability programs.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Dow Chemical Company is again teaming up with national nonprofit and longstanding partner Keep America Beautiful to award a total of $100,000 in grants for organizations to establish Hefty® EnergyBag™ programs in their communities.
WASTE NOT -
Today, Soma and Parley for the Oceans announced their exclusive and limited-edition product for Starbucks; the world’s first reusable water bottle with a sleeve made using Parley Ocean PlasticTM, a material created from upcycled plastic intercepted from marine environments.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Humana Foundation, philanthropic arm of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) for the past 37 years, today announced the details of its planned health-focused community investing work for 2018 in its headquarters hometown of Louisville, Ky., as well as in seven additional communities where the foundation intends to make significant community investments this year.
Strategic Community Investments in ‘Bold Goal’ communities
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Environmental charity Hubbub has launched a campaign that challenges male gym-goers to replace half of their animal-based protein with plant-based alternatives.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Businesses have a critical role to play in cleaning up the global economy, but it is consumers whole truly hold the key to achieving a more sustainable future.
In a new report, PA Consulting Group shows that retailers can build customer loyalty — and grow sales — by providing customers with reasons to stay engaged by returning to stores to resell, recycle and donate clothing and electronics.