CLEANTECH -
Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, said he welcomed the idea of bringing forward the UK’s ban on new petrol and diesel car sales that is currently set for 2040. MPs,
PRESS RELEASE -
Today Ford Motor Company announces as part of its 19th annual Sustainability Report it has met its goal to reduce manufacturing emissions – eight years ahead of schedule.
In 2010, Ford’s Environmental Quality Office announced a goal – to reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing operations by 30 percent per vehicle produced by 2025.
PRESS RELEASE -
Kimberly-Clark Corporation today reported its progress toward achieving its Sustainability 2022 strategy to create social, environmental and business value.
"We continue to make strides in our efforts to create positive social and environmental change," said Thomas J. Falk, Kimberly-Clark's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "That's why we are committed to an ambitious set of sustainability goals that will have a lasting impact on the people we serve around the world and the communities we touch."
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The U.S. healthcare sector is the second most intensive commercial user of energy. Hospitals are one of the largest energy users, contributing 8 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the purchase of healthcare goods and services, and produce more than 4.67 million tons of waste each year. Realizing the significance of these impacts, NewGen Surgical was started in 2012 with a vision to make single-use medical devices more sustainable through their redesign and material inputs.
PRESS RELEASE -
UPS today announced plans to build an additional five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles including 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks. This $130 million dollar investment in CNG capacity for 2018 builds on previous UPS investments of $100 million dollars in 2016 and $90 million dollars in 2017. UPS will have invested more than $1 billion in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations from 2008 through 2018.
PRESS RELEASE -
To celebrate today’s Global Wind Day, AT&T* is expanding its renewable energy program with NextEra Energy Resources. Together, AT&T and subsidiaries of NextEra Energy Resources will help to deliver clean energy, create jobs, boost the local economy and support a low-carbon economy.
During a groundbreaking ceremony in Webb County, Texas for the first AT&T-backed wind farm project, AT&T announced a new agreement to purchase 300 megawatts (MW) of wind energy. It also announced a scholarship program for students interested in pursuing careers as wind turbine technicians, one of the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S.¹
Delivering renewable energy
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Among the latest wins for ‘good finance,’ Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to measurements of “just” business behavior; utility company CMS Energy has become the first U.S. company to enter a sustainability-linked loan; and six Danish pension funds partnered with the Danish State to establish a new DKK 4.1 billion Danish SDG Investment Fund.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Last week, over 2,000 representatives from our global community of sustainability practitioners, brand strategists, product and service innovators, thought leaders and other change-makers converged at SB’18 Vancouver to share their latest insights on a multitude of themes pertinent to all of those committed to improving business around the world. Here, we dig into brand and organizational efforts to get consumers to deliver their part of the equation, through responsible consumption.
P&G: The road to responsible consumption
By Marissa Rosen
WALKING THE TALK -
Interface has become the first global flooring manufacturer to declare that all of its products — including all carpet tile and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) – are carbon neutral across the entire product lifecycle. The company is now offering its Carbon Neutral Floors™ program as standard to every customer, at no extra cost, to help them meet their own sustainability goals while also allowing them to reduce the emissions impact of their projects or spaces.
PRESS RELEASE -
Today Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced presentations given on new research into sustainability innovations for its Tide® laundry detergent. The presentations discussed the potential for improved cleaning performance in cold water conditions with detergents containing a patented branched surfactant. While machine washing in cold water can reduce a household’s energy footprint, detergents may not perform as well on this setting, which can compel consumers to use more energy and water to compensate.
Tide Research Fellow Phillip Vinson, PhD, and Tide Senior Scientist Patrick Stenger, PhD, gave presentations at the 2018 American Oil Chemists Society Annual Meeting and the 22nd International Symposium on Surfactants in Solution, respectively.
LEADERSHIP -
On Wednesday, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the world's most diversified casino-entertainment provider, announced it has set science-based targets to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the company and throughout its supply chain. The ambitious goals demonstrate Caesars’ ongoing commitment to fighting climate change and mitigating long-term risk.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
L’Oréal USA announced today that five products in its Garnier SkinActive line have achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified™ SILVER recognition. The product line, manufactured at L’Oréal USA’s facility in Franklin, New Jersey, earned this certification based on an evaluation of material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social fairness practices. Garnier is the first mass market skincare brand to receive this certification for its products and is also one of the few skincare brands to have multiple products certified in a portfolio.
PRESS RELEASE -
Today, in recognition of World Environmental Day, Kohler Co. announces expansion of its environmental and human health product disclosures for its kitchen and bath products.
PRESS RELEASE -
Johnson & Johnson today released its 2017 Health for Humanity Report, demonstrating its approach and the considerable progress it has made toward an ambitious social, environmental and governance commitment to advance the Company’s mission to drive better health for all.
Looking across all Johnson & Johnson’s business practices, the Company shares important disclosure about how it supports good health for patients, consumers, employees and local communities on a global scale. The report tracks how Johnson & Johnson is striving to eradicate and prevent disease, reimagine how care is delivered, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of all people around the world.
PRESS RELEASE -
BOSTON – June 4, 2018 –Iron Mountain® Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services, today announced two important environmental commitments that significantly advance the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and increase its usage of renewable energy around the world.
CLEANTECH -
Striving to be the world’s greenest city by 2020, Vancouver has adopted several ambitious action plans and goals. The Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) set to work in 2010 to define what a “green job” was at the city level in order to meet the City’s economic goals to double the number of green jobs and the number of businesses engaged in greening their operations within a decade. Since then, VEC has been building relationships with investors, helping local cleantech firms increase their exports, and using city infrastructure projects to lead by example.
PRESS RELEASE -
Water is the most precious resource on earth — just ask the 844 million people globally that do not have regular access to a safe water supply.
Knowing this shortage, it’s almost inconceivable that 25 to 50 percent of the water that gets treated is wasted. And yet that’s the painful truth according to the International Water Association.
And it’s not just water. We’re also incredibly inefficient in how we produce and use gas and electricity; too much is wasted. It’s a situation that SAP partner Itron, a Liberty Lake, Washington-based company, is looking to change.
CLEANTECH -
Mars Australia has signed 20 year power-purchase agreements (PPA) with Total Eren to generate the equivalent of 100 percent of Mars’ electricity from renewable energy by 2020. In addition to its latest agreement in Australia, Mars is already using or purchasing renewable electricity to cover 100 percent of its operations in Belgium, Brazil, Lithuania, the United Kingdom and the United States.
WASTE NOT -
Like many large companies, Hilton has been steadily improving its sustainability performance one step at a time.