COLLABORATION -
Marking the end of the comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, 223 companies have announced their support for EPA’s proposed carbon standard for electric power plants, including IKEA, Mars Inc., VF Corporation, Novelis, Levi Strauss, Unilever and Nestlé.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear maker The North Face today unveiled the Backyard Hoodie, the newest addition to its portfolio of environmentally conscious products. In collaboration with Fibershed (which supports the creation of local textile cultures that enhance ecological balance), Sally Fox at Foxfibre®, and the Sustainable Cotton Project, The North Face designed The Backyard Hoodie with the goal of sourcing and manufacturing a product within 150 miles of its headquarters in Alameda, California.
COLLABORATION -
CVS Health has committed to invest more than $1 million in grants to support tobacco-cessation and -prevention programs nationwide. The grants will be distributed to healthcare and community partners working to promote tobacco-free communities, programs that help people kick the habit and help those who don’t smoke to never start.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) has announced that its membership has overwhelmingly approved global Principles and Criteria for defining sustainable beef and sustainable beef production practices.More than 96 percent of the GRSB General Assembly members voted in favor of the definition, principles and criteria. Every one of the five constituencies — producer, commerce and processing, retail, civil society and regional and national roundtables — voted to approve the definition.
PRODUCTS AND DESIGN -
Timberland has announced a collaboration with tire manufacturer and distributor Omni United to create the first tires ever purposely designed to be recycled into footwear outsoles after their journey on the road is complete.
Timberland Tires represent a new model in tire innovation: a sustainable, tire-to-shoe lifecycle. The tires will be made in the U.S. (using both domestic and imported materials) and feature a rubber formulation that is appropriate for the recycling of the tires at the end of their useful life into shoes, rather than alternatives such as being used for tire-derived fuel or ending up in landfills.
COLLABORATION -
CVS Health and Direct Relief have partnered to provide $1 million in flu shot vouchers to community health clinic patients in underserved communities lacking health insurance.Nearly 100 participating clinics will identify uninsured individuals from their existing patient populations and provide them with a flu shot voucher redeemable at any CVS/pharmacy® or MinuteClinic® location.Direct Relief's network of more than 1,200 community health centers and clinics nationwide enables CVS Health's generous contribution to reach people in need.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Sustainability bona fides are at the heart of the first national TV and print advertising campaign by Whole Foods Market, which ushers in the slogan “Values matter.” The Austin-based healthful-foods pioneer hopes that the commercials can restore some of the brand’s differentiating luster now that sales growth has slowed and it has more worthy competitors than ever.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
I am sitting in the airport at Minneapolis, Minnesota, having just left the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Retailer Sustainability Conference, and my mind is awash in the list of challenges and risks that were reinforced over the past few days. The U.S. retail economy plays an enormous role in our daily lives — it employs 25 percent of the U.S. workforce, represents more than 66 percent of the country’s GDP and undoubtedly plays a critical role in our environmental stewardship.While the central theme of the RILA conference was sustainability, much was devoted to addressing recent advancements in technologies, the sharing economy, resource responsibility and transparency.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Seven months ago, this series kicked off with CVS’ surprise announcement that it would no longer carry tobacco products in its retail stores. Fast forward, the company announced Sept. 3 that it had met its goal a month ahead of schedule and had a new name to match its bold, new vision of a tobacco-free America — CVS Health.
COLLABORATION -
H&M announced two new initiatives this week centered on the betterment of its supply chains, one from the social perspective and one from the environmental.First, the apparel company signed a unique agreement with ILO, under which the partners will address industrial relations, wages, capacity-building for social partners and skills development throughout H&M’s supply chain.
COLLABORATION -
H&M has teamed up with Swedfund, a Swedish company that offers expertise and financial support to emerging markets within Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, in a rare collaboration to try to develop a more ethical Ethiopian textile industry. The main goal of the coupled effort, to be launched this fall, is to promote both high social and environmental standards in an industry which is characteristically plagued with a poor ethical standing.The possibility of a collaboration was brought to light following initial talks between the two companies, before culminating in a joint trip to examine factory conditions in Ethiopia in May.
PRESS RELEASE -
SEATTLE – The REI Foundation awarded a total of $410,000 to nonprofit programs dedicated to engaging younger and more diverse populations in the outdoors. Grant recipients include the Children & Nature Network (C&NN), Futuro Media Group, Outdoor Foundation and YMCA of the USA.
“The REI Foundation’s mission is to better connect the next generation of adventurers and environmental stewards with the outdoors by partnering with key organizations,” said Marc Berejka, president of The REI Foundation and REI’s director of government and community affairs. “It is our honor to support each of these programs. They recognize and promote the benefits of nature among diverse audiences, and empower youth with important outdoor leadership skills.”
PRESS RELEASE -
SEATTLE – As the nation’s leading outdoor retailer, REI works to protect the environment and the places its members love to play. Energy use is one of REI’s largest impacts on the climate, and the company has committed to having all of its electricity come from clean renewable sources.
With 26 solar electric systems generating energy and a strong program to invest in energy efficiency, REI now buys certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) as part of its strategy to green the energy that powers more than 130 stores, two distribution centers and its headquarters.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), with the help of dozens of prominent retailers, designers and NGOs from the UK clothing industry, on Tuesday launched a new campaign aimed at reducing encouraging Brits to find new appreciation for their unwanted clothes.
COLLABORATION -
The IKEA Foundation has launched a two-month campaign to raise funds to provide solar-powered lighting and other renewable energy technologies to UN refugee camps run through the sale of light bulbs in its stores around the world.For every LEDARE model LED bulb sold at IKEA from February 3 until March 29, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Yerdle, the online marketplace where shoppers in the greater San Francisco and New York City areas can give and get things for free, today becomes available across the country by providing low-cost, flat rate shipping for $2-4 nationwide. Yerdle has also updated its iPhone app to offer enhanced discovery browsing, a re-designed home screen, a new social “activity feed,” and a simplified shopping cart.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Tiffany & Co., Target and over 100 of the world’s leading jewelers and retailers have committed to more responsible metals sourcing by agreeing to abide by Earthworks' No Dirty Gold (NDG) campaign’s Golden Rules.As part of the initiative, the companies will study their metals supply chains, revise their supplier sourcing criteria to include the Golden Rules, increase recycled gold content and seek more responsibly produced metals.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Irish retail giant Primark, which operates across the UK and across Western Europe, today joined the growing number of brands committing to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from its supply chain as part of Greenpeace’s global Detox campaign.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
IKEA is launching a new marketing campaign in the UK this weekend called “The Wonderful Everyday,” which will explain the brand’s values and sustainability ethos to consumers, according to Marketing Week.The first ads, which launch tomorrow (February 8), mark the Swedish retailer’s first sustainability-focused campaign. Created by Mother, the UK’s largest independent ad agency, the first TV and radio spots will focus on touting energy-saving LEDs as an alternative to incandescent lightbulbs, which IKEA has committed to phasing out by 2016.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
IKEA has expanded the use of sustainably sourced cotton in its products to 72 percent, up from 34 percent in 2012, according to a recent announcement.The furniture company uses around 0.6 percent of all cotton grown around the world, and in 2013 sourced 79,000 tons of cotton from more sustainable sources; it used a total of 110,000 tons of cotton in 2013.