MARKETING AND COMMS -
Jones Lang LaSalle last week released its 2012 Sustainability Report, “Moving toward a more sustainable enterprise,” which details the company’s services, operations and client-focused strategies to achieve long-term sustainable solutions across five sustainability categories: energy and resources; client service excellence; green buildings; community and supply chain; and workplace, well-being and diversity.
NEW METRICS -
Many companies have been publicly reporting on sustainability metrics for more than 20 years, and others are just getting started. As the practice is maturing and becoming more commonplace, stakeholders are beginning to ask, “Are these metrics really measuring sustainability?”For example, most companies do report on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water use, but what they’re not doing is putting these metrics in context. In other words, does a company’s goals and performance meet the need to decrease emissions by 80–100% by 2050* in order to stave off the worst impacts of climate change? And how does its water use measure up to availability in water-scarce, water-stressed and water-sufficient areas?
NEW METRICS -
On Tuesday at the New Metrics of Sustainable Business Conference, Climate Counts will present initial findings of the first-ever science-based rating of corporate carbon emissions. The study, conducted by Center for Sustainable Organizations (CSO) Executive Director Mark McElroy and Bill Baue, applies CSO's Context-Based Carbon Metric, which compares company carbon emissions to science-based targets.
PRESS RELEASE -
Life Technologies Tops Life Sciences Sector of Dow Jones 2013 Sustainability Index
Company's sustainability record ranks among top 10 percent of large companies worldwide
PRESS RELEASE -
CDP Global 500 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index: BASF leading in climate protection reporting
BASF again listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
Ludwigshafen, Germany – September 12, 2013 – BASF was today again included in the global Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World). The company has been recognized for its engagement in risk and crisis management, human capital management and plant biotechnology. The DJSI World is one of the most renowned sustainability indices and represents the top 10 percent of the largest 2,500 companies included in the Dow Jones Global Index.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Advertising Age is releasing a report today entitled “How to Make Credible Green Marketing Claims: What Marketers Need to Know about the Updated FTC Green Guides.” Co-authored by Jacquelyn Ottman of J. Ottman Consulting and David Mallen from the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau, the report comes just in time for the one-year anniversary of the most recent update of the Guides.The FTC published the first edition of the Green Guides in 1992, to help advertisers avoid deceptive or misleading environmental marketing claims. These Guides are now the go-to standards for green marketing claims and have counterparts in Canada, UK and Australia.
The General Motors Enterprise Data Center in Warren, Michigan recently received Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, putting it among the fewer than 5 percent of data centers in the U.S. to achieve such certification. This marks the company’s fifth LEED-certified facility.
NEW METRICS -
For most of what passes for mainstream business today, it is still lamentably the case that profits trump sustainability, and thereby put natural resources and human well-being at risk. The only incentive for managers to do anything that even remotely resembles sustainability in business is to either lower costs or comply with the law -- or so the prevailing zeitgeist tells us.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Fifty of the world’s 500 largest companies are responsible for nearly three quarters of the group’s 3.6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the CDP Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013.Most of the top 50 carbon-polluting companies operate in the energy, materials and utilities sectors, the report says. The carbon dioxide emitted by these companies has risen by 1.65 percent to 2.54 billion metric tons over the past four years — equivalent to adding more than 8.5 million pickup trucks to the streets.
While August was a robust month for passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. — registering a 17 percent increase compared to August 2012 — there were remarkable jumps in sales of clean diesel and hybrid cars, with diesels showing a 41.8 percent increase and hybrids experiencing a 38.1 percent increase compared to this time last year, according to data compiled by Hybrid Cars.com and Baum and Associates.For clean diesels, August’s 41.8 percent increase was preceded by a 38.1 percent in July 2013 over July 2012. It was the 32nd monthly increase in diesel car sales in the past 36 months, with 27 of those months registering double-digit increases.
Alaska Airlines is the most fuel-efficient carrier in the United States, according to a report released yesterday by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.Alaska, along with its regional partner Horizon Air, led all 15 mainline U.S. carriers as the most fuel-efficient airline operating in the United States in 2010, outperforming the least fuel-efficient carrier by 26 percent.
Toyota plans to keep pressing the advantages of its renewed mojo in the U.S. market with sportier hybrids, a greater emphasis on customer care and the possible addition of more production in Mexico to supply U.S. customers.The company has seen its market share in the U.S. slip from a peak of 17 percent in 2009 to around 14 percent this year through July, as it was afflicted by natural disasters, its safety-recall fiasco, and intensified competition that took advantage of Toyota's weakness.
More than 58 clean energy and transportation projects, launched across the US in the second quarter of 2013, have led to the creation of 38,600 new jobs in the sector, according to a recent report by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).The number of jobs is slightly higher for Q2 of 2013 than it was for the same period in 2012 (37,400), according to the report.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
When we launched our business in Texas nearly five years ago, our vision was to empower millions of people to reduce their carbon footprint, invest in the dreams and journeys of female entrepreneurs, and create an impact that inspires action. We came together in 2008 as sisters and friend and started our mission-based business, BlueAvocado.Today, we are thrilled to have a variety of eco-collections for food-on-the-go, travel and beauty that can be found at The Container Store, Whole Foods, Target, JC Penney and numerous online retailers.However, a key part of our original vision was to have a made-in-the-USA line, which at the time of our launch (and the height of the recession) was simply too great a challenge.
PRESS RELEASE -
80,000 tonnes of carbon credits add clean energy to the grid
August 29, 2013 – Burlington, VT – NativeEnergy, a Vermont-based carbon offset project developer and supplier, announced a seventh community wind energy project in the country’s heartland. Corporate Sustainability leaders are seizing the opportunity to meet environmental goals by purchasing Help Build™ carbon offsets from the Middletown, Indiana school wind project.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
With the announcement of the first synthetic burger grown in a petri dish, would it be more or less shocking to say “human waste is the currency of the future”? “Carbon footprints” and “data footprints” are carving the way for “microbial footprints.” Consumers are paying to get dirty … germ-dirty, that is. “Going viral" is taking on a whole new meaning in marketing. Online communities are flourishing around “intestine communities.” Brand ecosystems now have as much to do with biology as technology."Rotten" Is the New "Improved"
MARKETING AND COMMS -
From electric cars to reusable shopping bags, it's undeniable that "going green" is one of the fastest growing trends out there today. This is great news for the eco-friendly consumer, as companies are scrambling to offer greener versions of their products to meet demand. Unfortunately, many companies have also noticed that it's much cheaper to claim to have environmental standards than it is to actually live by them. When a company misleads its customers about the environmental impact of its products or practices, it's called greenwashing.
Johnson Controls, Sunpower and 20 other solar companies have been awarded $7 billion in Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC), according to a recent announcement.Some of the other winning companies include NRG Energy, Borrego Solar, Washington Gas Energy Systems and Energy Matters.The announcement says MATOC is a way for the Department of Defense (DOD) to get multiple similar construction projects done by different companies in different locations quickly and easily by assigning base line prices for specific project tasks.
In June, the Tesla Model S outsold several well-established vehicle brands in California — including Porsche, Buick and Lincoln — according to a recent report from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), using data sourced from Polk.The electric car company also outsold Cadillac and both Jaguar and Land Rover combined. Even Infiniti — a long-established, full-luxury brand — posted only 51 more registrations.
CODA Energy has partnered with Energy Vault and Growing Energy Labs (GELI), to deploy the first Eco-Station, a solar integrated electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging station optimized by energy storage, in the San Francisco Bay Area.CODA says the charging station will incorporate a 175 kW solar array, DC fast charging, a 40kWh CODA Core UDP energy storage system, and GELI's intelligent Energy Operating System (EOS) software.DC charging refuels a typical EV battery in 30-60 minutes and improves the usability of EVs by extending their effective range and enabling road trips. However, CODA says these stations require high quantities of power to operate, which is expensive to run during peak hours and can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars per month.