PRESS RELEASE -
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) today reinstated Nestlé S.A.’s membership following the submission of its time-bound action plan to achieve 100% RSPO certified sustainable palm oil by 2023.
Effective Monday, July 16, 2018, Nestlé's certificates and membership status will be reinstated.
RSPO and Nestlé share the vision of transforming the palm oil industry for a sustainable future. They also believe that achieving this requires the entire industry to work towards greater transparency, inclusiveness, direct supply chain engagement and capacity building throughout the supply chain.
WALKING THE TALK -
115 organizations, representing over US$3.3 trillion of combined annual spend, are working to improve supply chain sustainability by requesting environmental data from more than 11,500 global suppliers.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Sugar has been a hot topic the past few years due to artificial and natural sweeteners entering the market and growing concerns about obesity and children’s health. The U.S.
NEW METRICS -
From remote sensors to digital field mapping, information technology (IT) is rapidly becoming a part of day-to-day farm management. When a state-of-the-art cotton picker, for example, records crop yield and moisture every few seconds, along with the GPS coordinates of the machine, that data can be analyzed against water and fertilizer applications — or other farm practices — to determine optimal growing conditions. Technology also can enable reporting up and down the agricultural value chain of all farm practices and conservation metrics associated with a particular field.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
‘I would like to source more sustainable cotton, but I’m not quite sure where to start. There seems to be an awful lot of standards out there, and I’m not quite sure what the differences are between them.’
‘I’d like to increase the volumes of sustainable cotton I buy, but I’m worried about sourcing different types of sustainable cotton — does a portfolio approach work?’
‘I want to source sustainable cotton. I just want this to be easy. I wonder how other brands are doing it.’
COLLABORATION -
Fashion for Good and PVH Corp., one of the largest apparel companies in the world that owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, today announced their partnership to accelerate the transition towards a good fashion industry.
NEW METRICS -
To keep the global temperature increase to well below 2⁰C and meet the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement, everyone must take bold action to reduce their share of emissions as soon as possible. Companies are responsible for the majority of global emissions and therefore play an integral role in meeting these goals.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The rise of natural health products and cosmetics has set off a flurry of research and development to discover the next great breakthrough for skin care or for specialized foods that provide an energy boost when you need it most. From shampoos and natural medicines to herbal teas and healthy spreadable fats, Earth’s biodiversity is providing the inspiration for a growing number of consumer goods. What began as luxury products for high-end shoppers have now gone more mainstream, as ingredient-savvy consumers look to natural alternatives in our chemically saturated stores.
WALKING THE TALK -
In its new campaign, Behind the Barcodes, Oxfam shines a light on the millions of women and men trapped in poverty and facing brutal working conditions while producing the food on our supermarket shelves
MARKETING AND COMMS -
For some, blockchain is the disruptive technology that promises to solve transparency problems by creating one version of the truth; for others, it is all hype with no great real-world application other than cryptocurrency. I attended an SB’18 Vancouver workshop on “How Blockchain Technology Can Power Superior Supply Chain Innovation and Understanding” to move closer to understanding blockchain and its applications.
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 -
BillerudKorsnäs, a sustainability leader in the global packaging industry and provider of packaging solutions, is encouraging action against ocean litter in a series of just-announced U.S. events, in theme with this year's World Oceans Day. The Swedish company has outlined an ambitious mission to challenge conventional packaging and bring more sustainable practices to the industry.
"Between the growing chorus from consumers to address single-use packaging waste to reports from ocean researchers on declining ocean health, the problem of ocean litter has reached critical awareness," said Peter Malmqvist, BillerudKorsnäs Marketing Director, Americas. "What we need now is collaboration for sustainable development."
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.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
What if rating brands and retailers, and not just suppliers, is the key to better supply chains? That is the goal behind a new index from Better Buying. The index provides sustainability professionals with previously inaccessible data about supply chains, as it empowers suppliers themselves to assess purchasing practices of 65 brands and retailers in the global apparel, footwear and household textiles industries globally.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The buyer-supplier relationship is changing in more ways than you might imagine. Consumers and retailers are increasingly demanding that suppliers demonstrate their sustainability: How are buyers and suppliers collectively adapting to changes in the market, as well as labor and environmental pressures?
My conversation with Kelley Bell, VP of social and environmental impact at Driscoll’s, provided insight into how large food brands are approaching these challenges and what the conversation is like among leading businesses as they work to create shared value with and for their suppliers.
PRESS RELEASE -
3 things we are looking forward to at Sustainable Brands ‘18
SUPPLY CHAIN -
WAP Sustainability Consulting works with manufacturers and brands to help them meet customers’ expectations on sustainability – specifically around life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon management and product ingredient transparency, particularly in regards to chemicals management.
We spoke with founder William Paddock to learn more about these current hot spots in the ongoing quest for supply chain transparency.
What are some of the key issues or buzzwords of concern for companies right now?
William Paddock: I tend to see organizations struggling with three things:
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the U.S., is starting to step up to the plate on sustainability and respond to pressure from investors and consumers to tackle water risks in its supply chain.
Recently, the company made a commitment to improve the water, soil and fertilizer practices in its far-flung feed grain supply chain — impacting more than two million acres of corn production by 2020, or about half of its corn supply chain. The measures have strong potential to both improve water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Tyson’s move sends a strong signal to the rest of the meat sector that driving down the massive environmental impacts of growing animal feed is a smart business strategy.
WASTE NOT -
How does food get on a plate? Unless you’re growing it yourself, that food may have had a long, complex journey before it arrived on your fork. That long trail all too often results in a lot of food wasted and lost along the way. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that around 40 percent of food production is lost before it even reaches the market.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
“All I really need is the word to be brought up.”
“If they aren’t talking about it, then it can’t be important to them.”
At WAP Sustainability, we work with manufacturers and brands to help them meet customers’ expectations on sustainability, many of which receive requests through The Sustainability Consortium (TSC).