PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Shareholders of ExxonMobil and Chevron and members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) say they will focus on climate change at the companies’ annual general meetings (AGMs) this coming Wednesday.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Earth Day 2015 marked $6.22 trillion invested in the global green transition since 2007, on track to meet the Green Transition Scoreboard® (GTS) goal of $10 trillion privately invested in the green economy by 2020 to effectively scale innovations and reduce costs in green technologies. The report, Breakdowns Driving Breakthroughs, focuses on Life Systems, a new category capturing system-wide interconnections, equaling 14 percent of the overall $6.22 trillion total.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Despite recent commitments to deforestation-free palm oil by several well-known brands and producers, many companies are delaying implementation of these commitments. Commitments are just the first step; the implementation stage is where companies can really start to make a difference – and both conservation groups and the investor community are voicing their dissatisfaction and concern about the lack of follow-through from companies including McDonald's and Bunge Limited.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
From toxics to human rights, advocates are increasingly focusing on consumer-facing brands to drive change on environmental and social issues. Corporate campaigns have been going strong for decades, but with the rise of social media, higher demand for supply chain transparency and increasingly savvy coordination between activist networks, companies are scrambling to address stakeholder concerns before they bubble into conflict.
CLEANTECH -
The United States leads the world in cleantech investments, patents, renewable energy generation and electric vehicle (EV) adoption, but still is slow to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new ranking by Next 10.Over the last two decades, however, the U.S. has become more energy productive, using less energy per dollar of GDP generated.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Nearly 15 years ago, John Fullerton left a two-decade career at JP Morgan in pursuit of meaning. Fullerton was disillusioned with the direction of mainstream finance; he saw a once principled culture yielding to the ferocious competition in deregulated capital markets, where economic brawn increasingly trumped civility.In his search for a new path, Fullerton soon discovered the profundity of interrelated ecological, economic and social crises afflicting the world. His most startling realization, he writes, “was that the modern scheme of economics and finance — what Wall Street ‘geniuses’ (like me) practiced so well — formed the root cause of these systemic crises.”
CLEANTECH -
On Thursday, Bank of America Corporation announced that it has issued its second green bond for $600 million in aggregate principal amount, as part of its ongoing commitment to promoting a low-carbon economy by advancing renewable energy and promoting energy efficiency.
NEW METRICS -
Shareholders would revolt — and fire the CEO, CFO and Boards of Directors — of companies who ignore more than 80 percent of the factors that drive more value and profit.Prepare for a revolution, as 84 percent is the proportion of corporate value in the S&P500 corporations that is intangible. That’s right — the plant, property and equipment, as well as inventory, receivables and cash recorded on regulatory- required financial statements are only 16 percent, or one-sixth, of the value of your S&P500 index.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Employer-sponsored smoking cessation programs with financial incentives are associated with higher rates of quitting smoking and sustained abstinence, according to a new study by the CVS Health Research Institute and researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.Published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study helped shape a new smoking cessation program for CVS Health employees that will launch in June 2015.
PRESS RELEASE -
By: Tom MurrayMon, May 11, 2015 11:48 AMA company’s public statements matter– they can influence consumer choice, sway public policy decisions and demonstrate leadership on important issues. But in terms of actual change, it’s where a company puts its money that really matters. This week, Bank of America spoke with both its voice and wallet: At its shareholder meeting last week, the bank announced a new coal policy that continues the company's commitment to reducing its exposure to coal extraction companies and accelerating the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
From universities and churches to prominent investment funds, fossil fuel divestment continues to gain traction among diverse groups around the world.80 percent of global fossil fuel reserves need to remain unburned to avoid global warming more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the internationally accepted target for climate policy.
CLEANTECH -
Rapidly falling costs and clear benefits have led to a sharp increase in the number and scale of light-emitting diode (LED) and smart streetlight projects in the past year, according to a new study published today by Northeast Group.There currently are more than 2,000 LED and smart streetlight projects globally. By 2025, cities around the world will invest $64 billion in LED and “smart” streetlights.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
In these times of increasing corporate scrutiny, do we need a radical new definition of CSR? One that pretty much pushes the idea that companies need to take a financial hit in order to do social good? That solving the world’s most important environmental problems requires a level of business ‘altruism’ that can only be realistically achieved at the expense of the bottom line?
LEADERSHIP -
Sixty-two institutional investors representing nearly $2 trillion in assets have called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to push for better disclosure by oil and gas companies of critical climate change-related business risks that will “profoundly affect the economics of the industry.”
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
On April 24, the first annual Risk and Value Creation Forum, a finance innovation conference focused on evolving the concept of risk (as a key constraint in achieving sustainability goals), new risk frameworks, and biomimetic technology innovation as a sustainable value creation opportunity (at the startup and public company level), will take place in Mountain View, CA.
NEW METRICS -
The Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR) has announced the launch of its Center for Ratings Excellence (CORE) Program — designed to accelerate the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the global financial markets.In 2014, sustainability-oriented assets under management eclipsed $20 trillion, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. These investments are shaped by a growing market for sustainability research and ratings from more than 100 organizations covering more than 50,000 companies on approximately 10,000 performance metrics.
NEW METRICS -
Would you invest in a business that gave you only one figure — number of customers — by which to assess both its current state and future prospects? Of course, not; you would inquire about total sales, costs, revenues, margins, market share, and other figures.Any business decision-maker wants multiple figures. Context, and contextualizing data, is key.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
As sustainability management becomes ever more closely linked to company resilience and reputation, CSR goals are coming into sharper focus for companies that are truly on the journey. But there are many choices to be made among a broad range of sustainability initiatives that could achieve those goals; just as in the world of product development, where there is an unlimited number of possible new product ideas and features, there will always be too many ideas and not enough resources. So how do you prioritize your company’s sustainability initiatives for maximum value and impact?
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
According to the World Economic Forum, water scarcity ranks first among all long-term risks worldwide. Australia, Brazil and the United States are only a few examples of where droughts have affected everything from agriculture, hydropower and those everyday tasks most of take for granted. California’s annual snowpack this year was only 12 percent of normal — which has had a huge impact on the state’s skiing industry as well as its growing dairy sector. Finding solutions has proven to be a political minefield.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Patagonia today announced a strategic investment in a chemical company focused on making high-performance textile treatments based on natural raw materials.Beyond Surface Technologies, a Swiss firm, was founded in 2008 by scientists and marketing experts with more than 40 years of experience in the textile industry. They left careers at big chemical companies to build a business based on the premise that it is possible to make textile treatments based on natural raw materials — without sacrificing performance or reducing the lifespan of a product.