SUPPLY CHAIN -
The move comes following an investigation by Repórter Brasil and Mighty Earth that tracked deforestation-linked beef to European retail store shelves. JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, has long been on the radar of environmental NGOs and forward-looking investors due to its destructive practices.
CLEANTECH -
Energy company Occidental and its subsidiary, Oxy Low-Carbon Ventures, are on a path to achieve net-zero emissions in their own operations and those associated with their products before 2050. And they are helping others reduce theirs, too.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
What has been sorely needed is an agreed-upon international framework that broadly establishes who can sell carbon credits; who can buy them and for what purpose; and what constitutes a quality carbon credit. COP26 took a major step towards such a framework.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Many organisations have not yet connected the dots between climate-change mitigation and a circular economy — the successful shift to which could be our greatest tool. Here, we examine the climate math for circular strategies, and the role of the humble car door in radical climate action.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Effort aims to help underrepresented applicants become McDonald’s franchisees by removing socio-economic barriers — in part through a $250M commitment to alternative financing — to attract more franchisees who reflect the composition of the communities it serves.
FROM PURPOSE TO ACTION: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE TOGETHER -
Today, Dow considers its sustainability strategy and business strategy to be one and the same; employees understand that the two can no longer be separate. But, as Global Sustainability Director Haley Lowry explains, this didn’t happen overnight.
WALKING THE TALK -
To capture the top trends of 2021, Porter Novelli reviewed and analyzed a year’s worth of Purpose-driven and stakeholder news, activities, campaigns and announcements to deliver the latest in stakeholder intelligence. Here are our 10 need-to-know trends for today and tomorrow.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
What is 'material'? And how can a slight play on words help brands make more sustainable, healthier material choices in the built environment to reduce risk and benefit all stakeholders — from investors to employees and communities, to the planet?
SUPPLY CHAIN -
China’s importance to global supply chains as a key source of raw materials and labor puts brands at high risk of inadvertently supporting forced labor. Right now, the focus is on the garment industry; but other industries should pay close attention and ensure they are closely monitoring their entire supply chains.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Building a circular economy to deal with our e-waste challenges means embracing a new level of industry-wide transparency.
WASTE NOT -
The Design for Decomposition initiative is the next step in the Institute’s effort to transform fashion, stopping millions of tonnes of textile waste escaping into the environment each year.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Shaw’s Tim Conway recently spoke with the Lab's director, Alison Mears, about how it is raising awareness about building material ingredients and educating the next generation of designers and architects.
WALKING THE TALK -
With no end in sight to the pandemic and its many ripple effects, we can all use a little bit of brightness in our lives! So, here are some of the many companies, platforms and products aligned with a more intentional approach to consumption, that we’d be happy to support anytime.
WASTE NOT -
AZEK’s FULL-CIRCLE PVC Recycling program helped it collect approximately 400M pounds of recycled product for reuse in 2020 — with the hope that this entire value-chain approach can disrupt the plastic waste paradigm meaningfully, as AZEK continues to scale up collection and processing.
LEADERSHIP -
In his new book, “Lead With We,” Simon Mainwaring urges business leaders to adopt a ‘first-responder’ mindset — and provides a blueprint for a proactive, ‘prepare for anything’ approach that enables them to lead with purpose in an increasingly challenged world.
LEADERSHIP -
As a fellow leader in this sustainability movement, how might you shift to a more regenerative approach? Here, Forum for the Future’s Samantha Veide explores what the concept means for business and shares five principles for regenerative leadership.
WALKING THE TALK -
Perhaps the takeaway of the week is that the ‘next 10 years’ of business and human rights coincide with the 2030 deadline for us to halve carbon
emissions — and that environmental rights are now very clearly seen as human rights. Companies pursuing a net-zero strategy must make human rights central, too.
WASTE NOT -
The Wonderful Company has chosen two winners to create value-added solutions from 50,000 annual tons of pomegranate husks, to reduce food waste and create a more circular supply chain.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
About half of our employees have a criminal record, and I’ve learned valuable lessons from working with them. If your business is considering hiring formerly incarcerated people, the following lessons may help you avoid common obstacles to building a positive environment, so both your new employees and your business can thrive.
WALKING THE TALK -
On day two of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, delegates discussed how environmental damage is being viewed as a human rights violation in a growing number of court cases around the world — and that the UN Guiding Principles may increasingly be criteria in court judgements.