PRESS RELEASE -
ATLANTA, April 1, 2015 – UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced plans to build 15 compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to support the purchase and planned deployment of 1,400 new CNG vehicles over the next year. Twelve of the CNG stations will be in new natural gas vehicle deployment areas, and three will replace existing CNG stations with more robust, higher capacity equipment.
NEW METRICS -
Avaya, provider of customer and employee engagement communications technologies, has exceeded its carbon reduction goal two years early by adopting desktop and mobile videoconferencing systems, according to the company’s 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report (PDF).Avaya delivers technology solutions that enable organizations — from mid-market companies to large enterprises — to increase customer and team engagement. It serves some 300,000 customers around the world across a broad range of industries. More than 95 percent of the Fortune 500 companies are Avaya customers.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ahead of the release of a new heavy duty truck fuel-efficiency standard from the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this spring, a new Union of Concerned Scientists study, released this week, says new fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty trucks should require at least a 40 percent decrease in fuel use, and shows the target is achievable with existing technology and would result in billions of dollars in fuel cost savings.
PRESS RELEASE -
In 2013, United Airlines executed a definitive purchase agreement with AltAir Fuels for cost-competitive, sustainable, advanced biofuels at commercial scale, representing a historic milestone for aviation. With United's strategic partnership, AltAir Fuels retrofitted part of an existing petroleum refinery to become a 30 million gallon, advanced biofuel refinery near Los Angeles, California.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ford Motor Company is expanding its global Ford Smart Mobility plan with a new experiment to study how electric bicycles can work seamlessly with cars and public transport to deliver faster and easier daily commutes and help businesses operating in urban centers.
LEADERSHIP -
Citi announced a commitment to lend, invest and facilitate a total of $100 billion within the next 10 years to finance activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions that benefit people and communities. Citi's previous $50 billion goal was met three years early in 2013.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Uber seems to be under fire from all directions. The ride-sharing service is being blocked by some cities and entire nations, dealing with accusations of a driver having sexually assaulted a passenger, addressing a story by a reporter who felt threatened when a company executive suggested they try to squash negative coverage, receiving criticisms over surge pricing during the recent incident in Sydney, and being sued for allegedly making false claims about the safety of its service. You’d be right for wondering if Uber might fall even faster than it rose.
CLEANTECH -
This week at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford is showcasing its latest innovations — aimed not only at advancing its vehicles, but at helping to change the way the world moves.With the Ford Smart Mobility plan, the automaker is focusing on leading-edge work in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and big data. Ford also announced 25 mobility experiments it’s conducting around the world this year, testing breakthrough transportation ideas to create better customer experiences, more flexible user-ship models and social collaboration that can reward customers.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Transportation Network Company (TNC) Uber has received an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the lowest possible rating given by the organization. The failing rating largely was attributed to dozens of complaints related to the company’s practice of implementing “surge pricing” during times of high user demand.Uber received more than 90 complained filed with the BBB over the past three years, most of which focused on surge pricing. Customers claimed they felt misinformed about how they are charged for rides, and say they are unable to receive proper customer service when they try to complain about their fares.
PRODUCTS AND DESIGN -
Goodyear has launched a new fuel-efficient long haul drive tire that improves highway fuel economy by an average of 2 percent compared to the Michelin X Line Energy D, the next most fuel efficient tire on the market.The tire, called Fuel Max LHD G505D, saves around $1,444 worth of fuel per truck per year, compared to the Michelin X Line Energy D. The Fuel Max technology incorporates innovative fuel-efficient compounds, tire constructions and tread designs to lower the rolling resistance of the tires, which reduces truck fuel consumption.
NEW METRICS -
More than $100 trillion in cumulative public and private spending, and 1,700 megatons of annual carbon dioxide (CO2) — a 40 percent reduction of urban passenger transport emissions — could be eliminated by 2050 if the world expands public transportation, walking and cycling in cities, according to a new report released by the University of California, Davis, and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).In addition, an estimated 1.4 million early deaths could be avoided annually by 2050 if governments began requiring the strongest vehicle pollution controls and ultralow-sulfur fuels, according to a related analysis of these urban vehicle activity pathways by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) included in the report.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The number of sea ports using ship evaluation systems to decrease carbon emissions will expand from two to 10 in the next year, according to Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Bloomberg reports.Branson is a founder of the Carbon War Room, a nonprofit that rates ship efficiency.Port Metro, Vancouver and the Prince Rupert Port Authority in Canada already use a system that ranks 60,000 vessels in the merchant fleet with an A-to-G scale for fuel efficiency — ships rated A get the biggest discounts on port fees. Metro gave $1.1 million in discounts last year, while Prince Rupert budgeted for $100,000 this year, according to Bloomberg.
PRESS RELEASE -
Chris Caplice, executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, will teach CTL.SC1x Supply Chain and Logistics Fundamentals to more than 9,000 online students.
PRESS RELEASE -
Online voting open in 18 contests addressing climate changeVoting is open in the fourth annual Climate CoLab contests, a series of crowdsourced competitions addressing specific aspects of climate change. The contests rely on the power of collective intelligence, inviting and including ideas from all corners of the world to address global climate change.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
This post was originally written for and published on CSRwire's Commentary section, Talkback, on January 7, 2014.No, this is not another “looking at 2014” piece. I am more interested in looking a little further ahead. The world we live in has changed dramatically over the last 10 years and there are larger trends changing the world in ways we can hardly imagine.
WASTE NOT -
Over the past fiscal year, more than 99.35 percent of all materials entering Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) plants were used in products and through recycling, reuse, and conversion of waste to energy, according to the company’s 2013 Sustainability Report.Additionally, more than 50 of the Company’s global sites now send zero manufacturing waste to landfill, including every site in Germany. Since 2010, P&G says it has reduced manufacturing waste by 56 percent per unit of production — more than double the company’s original goal.
ICT AND BIG DATA -
UPS has announced the launch of its route optimization software known as ORION (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation), which the company expects will save more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 14,000 metric tons by the end of the year.ORION has a team of 500 dedicated resources to move the U.S deployment forward as UPS nears its busy holiday season. The rollout of ORION will optimize 10,000 delivery routes by the end of the year, reduce miles driven and reinforce UPS's sustainability efforts. A reduction of just one mile each day per driver over the course of a year saves the company up to $50 million annually, UPS says.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
'Energy independence' is a term we hear a lot of politicians throw around, but not too many actually follow through on their plans or promises.Aruba, however, is actually making good on its goal of energy independence. The tiny Caribbean country is not only addressing its energy concerns but is actually on track to become fully energy independent by 2020, thanks to a number of clean-energy investments and initiatives.Sure, it might be easier for a country that measures about 20 x 6 miles to achieve energy independence than it is for, say, the U.S., but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing or two from this country and what it is doing to get its energy situation in order. Let’s take a look at some lessons we can take away from Aruba's example:
PRESS RELEASE -
According to Feeding America, one out of six Americans, one out of five children and about three million senior citizens lack adequate access to affordable and nutritious foods. This equates to approximately 47 million people considered to be food insecure. The urgency is acute and screams for more innovative approaches to help fill the shelves of foodbanks. One such idea emerged at meeting back in 2010 in Madison, Wisconsin between Professor Jed Colquhoun from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, fresh produce companies, Del Monte Foods and other processors, a group of Wisconsin growers, and Second Harvest, a subsidiary of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
HP recently announced that it has set a goal of driving a 20 percent decrease in its first-tier manufacturing and product transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 2020, compared to 2010, a first for the information technology industry.Developed in consultation with the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Climate Savers Program, HP says the GHG emissions-reduction goal will be pursued through a variety of HP-led activities, including:· Business incentives for suppliers to set and achieve tangible GHG emissions-reduction goals.· By 2020, direct prevention of 2 million metric tons of GHG emissions across HP’s multitier supply chain, cumulatively, through specific supplier environmental improvement projects, including: