BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Amid growing concerns over escalating water scarcity and pollution risks, more than 60 leading North American and European institutional investors, collectively managing $2.6 trillion in assets, sent joint letters to 15 food and beverage companies last week calling for increased water risk management and disclosure practices.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
A new report from Trillium Asset Management finds that California’s two major public pension funds, the largest in the nation, lost a combined $5.1 billion on fossil fuel-related investments last year.
The California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) posted a 28 percent decline on its oil and gas portfolio, while the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) lost 27 percent on a similar set of investments for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Over the same period, most other stock investments held by the two pension funds rose.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Irish global diversified industrial company Ingersoll Rand has been added to the FTSE4Good Index Series, an equity index series designed to facilitate investment in companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards.The company, which claims to make “comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments,” was independently assessed according to the FTSE4Good criteria, and satisfied the requirements to become a constituent of the index.Created by the global index company FTSE Group, FTSE4Good companies must meet stringent environmental, social and governance criteria.
COLLABORATION -
Through an ambitious project model combining innovative financing approaches with traditional conservation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and The Orangutan Project (TOP) are partnering with local communities to actively manage Thirty Hills, 100,000 acres of former logging forest in Sumatra, Indonesia.
CLEANTECH -
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday announced $63 million in loans and grants for 264 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide that USDA is supporting through its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).Eligible agricultural producers and rural small businesses may use REAP funds to make energy efficiency improvements or install renewable energy systems, including solar, wind, renewable biomass, small hydroelectric, ocean energy, hydrogen and geothermal.
NEW METRICS -
If you are a regular or even semi-regular reader of Sustainable Brands, you are likely familiar with our New Metrics (#NewMetrics) events and publications.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
A World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) survey shows investors are increasingly studying the sustainability practices and policies of companies as a factor in their investment decisions.
39 percent of respondents to the global exchanges survey (22 out of 56) stated they had received ESG (Environment, Social and Corporate Governance)-related queries from investors, of which 10 said that such inquiries are on the increase.
The finding shows how ESG concerns are becoming widespread among global capital market participants. Exchanges provide an important informational and regulatory nexus on ESG issues between companies and the capital markets that serve their financing needs.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
San Francisco Bay Area startup ECOlunchbox has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $30,000 to bring to market its Blue Water Bento collection, a new line of lunch containers that combine no-leak silicone lids with non-toxic stainless steel bottoms.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A new WWF cost-benefit analysis released today of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification on a cross-section of forest operators finds that tropical and small or medium producers, regardless of geography, can benefit significantly from attaining FSC certification.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final version of its Clean Power Plan, the nation’s first-ever limits on carbon emissions from power plants — the single largest source of U.S. global warming pollution.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
In an unprecedented show of business support for tackling climate change, 365 companies and investor groups sent letters today to more than two dozen governors across the United States voicing their support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan for existing power plants and encouraging the state’s “timely finalization” of state implementation plans to meet the new standards.The letter, organized by sustainability advocacy group Ceres, comes just days before the expected finalization of the rule aimed at reducing U.S. power plant carbon pollution by 30 percent by 2030.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The UK-based Co-operative Bank has published its first Values and Ethics report, highlighting its significant environmental achievements, along with progress against its customer-led Ethical Policy, established in 1992. It is the only UK bank to have an ethical policy co-created by customers, and views this policy as essential to its comeback after its financial collapse in 2014.
LEADERSHIP -
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of 300 investors with assets under management of over $100 billion, along with Calvert Investments and Christian Brothers Investment Services, commend Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) for this week’s introduction of The Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2015 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week, Bank of America (BoA) pledged to expand its $50 billion investment in low-carbon business to $125 billion by 2025, signaling its leadership in environmental finance.BoA’s environmental commitment focuses on addressing energy efficiency, renewable energy and transportation, and other critical areas including water conservation, land use and waste.Over the next 10 years, the bank’s environmental business initiative will support lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and client financing solutions.
COLLABORATION -
Yesterday marked the launch of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, uniting 13 of the largest U.S. companies in pledging a collective $140 billion of low-carbon investments in the global economy and over 1,600 MW of new renewable energy. The high-profile pledge is the latest indicator that the White House is succeeding in its effort to garner private-sector support for a substantive climate agreement at COP21.
CLEANTECH -
Information technology company TruValue Labs has announced a major update to Insight360, a technology-based platform offering real-time environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability data.The new release allows the tool to substantially increased its coverage, from the 500 largest companies to now over 5,000 publicly traded companies in the United States, representing all companies that are traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges.
CLEANTECH -
Technology giants are making strides towards a sustainable cloud: in the past two weeks, HP, Facebook and Amazon announced significant investments in wind energy.HP’s first utility-scale renewable energy purchase involves a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SunEdison for 112 megawatts (MW) of wind energy, which will power 100 percent of its Texas-based data center operations.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
MCI, a leading agency in the global meetings, events and association and congress industries, used its sixth sustainability report, Building Possibilities, to assess the performance of MCI’s client-focused activities in addition to its own internal sustainability strategy.
LEADERSHIP -
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on the corporate community “to be our partners in supporting and financing this agenda” at a global conference on financing for development.The International Business Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was tasked with finding resources for a 17-point, 15-year UN plan on meeting human needs, protecting the planet and ending poverty. These Sustainable Development Goals will be up for final approval at the UN General Assembly in September.
LEADERSHIP -
Leading investors representing $1.5 trillion in assets under management released a statement of support on Thursday for a strong federal standard to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, according to Ceres.
The White House’s proposal, released in January 2015, would cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 45 percent below 2012 levels by the year 2025. A draft rule is expected this summer.