SUPPLY CHAIN -
A new digital platform aims to make sustainable business decisions easier for the fashion industry. By matching actors along the supply chain and providing data-driven, solutions-focused information, Common Objective (CO) hopes to improve the day-to-day practices of textiles and clothing companies around the world.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On Tuesday, Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) published its Sustainability Report 2017, outlining the concrete steps being taken to fundamentally transform its business, by putting smoke-free products at the core of its sustainability efforts to address wider societal challenges, drive operational excellence, manage its social impact and reduce its environmental footprint. PMI says it is committed to replace cigarettes as soon as possible with better alternatives to smoking for the millions of men and women who would otherwise continue to smoke.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF was named a 2017 General Motors (GM) Supplier of the Year for the thirteenth time since 2002. The award is presented to suppliers who distinguish themselves by meeting performance metrics for quality, execution, innovation, and total enterprise cost.
“This is an opportunity for General Motors to honor those suppliers who are truly the best of the best,” said Steve Kiefer, GM senior vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “The automotive industry is transforming at an incredible rate.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Reimagining global agriculture will require numerous efforts of various size and focus, such as those in the news this week from a global agribusiness firm trying to meet targets across complex supply chains, a startup developing ways for bees to deliver natural pesticides, and teens looking to utilize unused space for agriculture or al
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Though diamonds in today’s jewelry market are much more likely to be conflict free thanks to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, it can still be difficult to trace individual components back to their exact origins. IBM and a newly-formed consortium of gold and diamond businesses aim to make the jewelry supply chain more transparent through the use of
WALKING THE TALK -
Last year saw unprecedented natural disasters across the globe – from wildfires in California to record-breaking hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf Coast, eastern seaboard, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. At the same time, scientists warn that the risks posed by climate change are even more dire than predicted and will lead to even bigger impacts on heat and extreme weather. Combined, this has led to a spike in environmental consciousness, not only for the American people, but for businesses across the globe.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
As we approach the 2020 deadline for many corporate sustainability pledges, plus the commitments made in the New York Declaration on Forests, sustainable business practices are front and center in the minds of decision-makers. The next twelve months will be pivotal in achieving these goals.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Choosing from the many existing compliance schemes can be challenging for organisations who strive to work with suppliers that provide decent working conditions, respect the environment and align with industry-approved resolutions.
PRESS RELEASE -
Rising to meet the challenges of achieving global sustainable development is expected to require all the major stakeholders around the world to work together. DuPont Nutrition & Health is among this group that aims to make a greater impact on the food and beverage industry value chain.
WALKING THE TALK -
As food supply chains grow more complex, consumers are setting higher expectations for food quality, safety and sustainability as they seek more aspirational choices around what they eat. But food scares continue to happen, one of the most famous being the horse meat scandal in 2013.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Everyone’s gotta eat – and it makes for a big industry. Globally, food and agriculture is a $7.8 trillion industry. Its also growing (pun intended): global investments in the food and agriculture sector have grown three-fold since 2004 and, according to McKinsey, on average have demonstrated higher returns to shareholders than other sectors. In the US, agriculture, food and related industries generated 5.5% of the country’s GDP at $992 billion, $137 billion of that coming directly from US farms.
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:
BUSINESS CASE -
Extreme weather events cost the global economy a record $320 billion in 2017. Food systems are experiencing more shocks than ever before, yet they also cause about one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Shortages of raw materials, lower crop quality, and less secure supply are just some of the challenges companies may face due to an emerging pollination deficit – and businesses are largely unaware of the risks, according to a new report by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative.
Around three quarters of food crops depend on pollination, making pollinators worth up to $577 billion annually, of which half comes from wild pollinators. However, pollinator populations are declining rapidly, with more than a third of wild bee and butterfly species facing local extinction.
WASTE NOT -
Long before concepts such as future-fit and circular became buzzwords, Fuji Xerox was already busy redefining business as usual and demonstrating the opportunities to be harnessed by embracing a more sustainable, resource-efficient business model.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Despite stakeholders’ increasing recognition to prevent human rights abuses in the extraction and trade of minerals, public reporting on conflict minerals by companies remains limited, and the quality and comparability of existing reports presents opportunities for improvement.
PRESS RELEASE -
Danone today announces the successful launch of a €300 million bond to finance and refinance
projects that include positive social impacts. This innovative Social Bond is the first to be issued by a
multinational aligned with the new Social Bond Principles, as set out in June 2017 by the
International Capital Market Association.
A few weeks after the integration of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) criteria in the
payable margin of its €2bn syndicated loan, this pioneering bond issuance continues to support
Danone’s long-term ambition to leading the way to creating and sharing sustainable value. It
attracted significant appetite from investors focused on ESG and was subscribed at attractive
market conditions.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The team behind digital supply chain mapping platform Sourcemap has been busy. Their latest projects aim to bring a new level of transparency to two of the most notoriously difficult to track industries in the world: clothing and palm oil.
PRESS RELEASE -
IVL Swedish Environment Research has analysed the environmental impact of ten products from BillerudKorsnäs. The findings reveal that emissions of greenhouse gases have fallen by between 5 and 19 percent since the previous analysis in 2012.
The products that have been examined are BillerudKorsnäs Artisan, Carry, Decor, Design, Flute®, Light, Liquid FC, Liquid LC, Supreme and White, and the results demonstrate that the company has succeeded in cutting the associated greenhouse gas emissions by 5–19 percent* since 2012. The majority of the reduction is attributable to cuts in the consumption of fossil fuels.