ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
In 10th and final year of the company’s Sustainable Living Plan, CEO Alan Jope reinforces commitment to sustainability leadership; calls for renewed action to
tackle social inequality and the climate crisis in post-COVID world.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
How nice to stop thinking about COVID for a minute and revel in the potential of some truly groundbreaking creations! Here are some of Fast Company’s most recent
list of 26 World-Changing Ideas that we’re especially excited about …
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Ibotta teams with CLIF, Danone, Nestlé, The Honest Company and more to raise awareness of coupon waste; partners with Trees for the Future to plant 1M
trees to offset environmental impact of paper coupons.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
International advocacy groups publish joint consumer purchasing guide to more ethical chocolate choices, just in time for Easter.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Climate Futures’ 1PLANET Marketplace will launch during Earth Month as a blockchain-enabled, decentralized app (dapp) designed to help users do their part to mitigate the climate crisis — and keep it top of mind during COVID-19 hysteria.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Faced with shortages of suitable recycled material, a growing consumer backlash and a hostile regulatory environment, it is no wonder that some companies are shifting away from plastics. But encouraging this shift towards material choices that do little to improve end-of-life environmental impact would be the worst possible outcome for the planet.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
We shouldn’t lure people into buying more than they need; but rather, help people make it all add up to a more meaningful life. Brands might be able to keep afloat on a short-term strategy and hide behind a cloak of innocence, but every dinosaur step is one closer to extinction.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
While a circular economy will present huge challenges to most brands' conventional business models, there are huge opportunities for those who embrace and adapt to this change — while those who drag their heels with incremental changes will undoubtedly fall behind.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
To paraphrase Voltaire: “With great market power comes great responsibility.” Retail market leaders are setting the pace in the transition to safer chemistry in their products and packaging. Their actions add up to saying, “Forever
chemicals no more.”
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Consumers appreciate recycled packaging as long as it doesn’t affect the quality, functionality and price of the product. But how do brands remain competitive in view of added costs for high-quality recycling and the low price of virgin plastics?
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
As retail sales reportedly fell for the first time in 25 years, with particularly weak holiday sales, new research reveals that a new conscientiousness may be a central cause — with sustainability-concerned consumers buying less.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
We know, of course, that no matter how many bold ambitions a company has, it cannot change the world alone. But through collaborative effort, the impact companies can make is multiplied, often many times over.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
With higher-priced products, “sustainability” can still be seen as a privilege. It is time for brands to empower consumers by offering them accessible choices that are better for them, for the planet and for generations to come.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
What better way to celebrate and participate in the season of giving than with gifts that truly keep on giving? Here are just a few of our favorite discoveries this year of products we'd be thrilled to give and receive.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
With goals to achieve carbon-neutral factories by 2030, to reduce CO2 emissions in its supply chain, combat deforestation and step up its efforts to tackle littering, PMI is working to reduce its environmental impacts, end to end.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
'Period poverty' — in which women and girls struggle to access and afford menstrual products — is particularly bad in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s why a new initiative in Tanzania is taking a 21st-century, FMCG approach to a centuries-old problem.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Brands that are committed to sustainability could conduct efficient, cost-effective research to show that their products help reduce exposure to harmful substances, leveraging their commitment to sustainability and expanding it to a commitment to consumer health.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Sustainability experts for decades have been exhorting managers to focus more on the function their products deliver and less on the product itself. Biosphere Rule #5, Function Over Form, is focused on fulfilling customers’ functional needs in ways that sustain the value cycle.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
The waste we produce in our daily lives is just one small portion of the total waste stream. Public Thread and Rewilder, two winners of the recently
announced Upcyclers Network Annual Product Awards, are putting non-household waste streams to creative use.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Child labor and other labor abuses are recurring problems characteristic to tobacco-growing and other agricultural communities in countries such as India. But Philip Morris International’s Agricultural Labor Practices is creating a step change.