PRESS RELEASE -
Zurich, Switzerland, and San Francisco, United States, 14 February, 2017 - The momentum in renewable energy has accelerated and made the transition to a low-carbon economy more inevitable. As more organizations set targets of growing the share of renewable energy in their consumption, being able to trace the origin of energy and the impacts of renewable energy procurement has never been more important.
WASTE NOT -
From 10kg of blueberries to 10-litre tubs of mayonnaise and handmade farmhouse cheese, surplus food is now up for grabs eBay-style, thanks to a new UK-based platform.
Using the principles of the infamous auction site, Takestock applies the transaction to solving food waste. The online trading platform efficiently connects owners of surplus stock with buyers, rather than scrapping it.
PRESS RELEASE -
In a joint effort to improve the quality of life in urban areas, IoT and Smart City platform provider Fybr has teamed with IBM’s Watson Internet of Things group. This new partnership will bring sensor data from Fybr’s Smart City Platform to IBM’s Bluemix Cloud to take advantage of Watson’s advanced analytics capabilities to add continuous learning and contextual data to Fybr’s sensor data.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a collaboration agreement to evaluate how satellite-derived data and images can best be used for agricultural purposes. In close partnership with farmers, the partners’ long-term goal is to translate this information into digital tools and services.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Solid and e-waste generation are growing at alarming rates as income and demand for new gadgets, appliances and automobiles rise across the globe. The dangers of rampant e-waste for environmental and human health are significant, but a new partnership announced last week marks an important step towards progress.
The world’s largest automotive battery manufacturer Johnson Controls has joined forces with Aqua Metals to change the way lead-acid batteries are recycled globally.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Communications provider Three UK is attempting tackle the ever-growing e-waste problem while connecting disadvantaged citizens to the digital world with a new recycling initiative aimed at redistributing unused mobile phones across the UK.
Three’s Reconnected scheme encourages the public to donate their old or unused mobile phones to people at risk, including the homeless, individuals who have left the military and victims of domestic abuse.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Multinational consumer goods company Unilever announced a new transparency measure today that will provide consumers with access to additional fragrance ingredient information for its personal care products.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
More than two million people in six countries subscribe to HP’s “Instant Ink.” When a customer is running low on ink, an Internet-connected printer notifies HP and a replacement cartridge is automatically delivered, with a return envelope for the used cartridges, which HP recycles. Compared with conventional business models, printers using this service generate up to 67 percent less materials consumption per printed page.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Energy companies are grossly underestimating low-carbon advances with a business-as-usual approach says a new report co-authored by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
The report also points to the falling costs of electric vehicle and solar technology as having the potential to halt the growth in global demand for oil and coal from 2020, challenging the wisdom of backing fossil fuel expansion.
WASTE NOT -
The City of Phoenix, AZ and Recyclebank, a company that pioneered and patented an education and incentives platform to help cities encourage residents to make sustainable purchasing and disposal habits, formally announced today that they will be teaming up to amplify the city’s “Reimagine Phoenix” initiative, a program aimed at diverting 40 percent of the city’s waste from landfills by 2020.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Think tank SustainAbility has released its 2017 trend report, which highlights 10 issues that are expected to have the greatest influence over sustainability in the upcoming year and their implications for the private sector. 2016 was a year of profound global change, rife with protectionism, populism, and political and economic instability, whose far-reaching effects pose a potential threat to the further advancement of the sustainability agenda.
CLEANTECH -
Everything around us is impacted by big data today. The phenomenon took shape earlier in this decade and there are now a growing number of compelling ways in which big data analytics is being applied to solve real-world problems.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Mother Nature knows best: Even more companies across industries are harnessing biomimicry principles to drive forward renewable energy and develop strong, durable materials that provide protection and promise higher performance.
Tyer Wind, a startup based in Tunisia, has developed a new wind turbine technology based on the flapping of hummingbird wings. Instead of converting linear motion into a circular motion, the turbines mimic the mechanical action of hummingbird wings — a figure-eight pattern — which generates energy on both the upstroke and downstroke.
PRESS RELEASE -
Cisco has launched a targeted investment program called Digital Acceleration Netherlands (DAN), aimed at helping to boost the digitization of the Dutch economy and society. Over the next three years, Cisco will be working closely with the Dutch government, industry and education, through the DAN program and its strategic activities. This program is designed to run in parallel to, and help accelerate the “Digital Agenda for the Netherlands” (which was published by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in July, 2016). By accelerating the national digitization agenda the Netherlands can grow its GDP, create new jobs and provide innovation and education across public and private sectors.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ambitions to reduce waste and move away from a linear economic model are driving companies across the globe to create breakthrough technologies and unique solutions to drive forward the circular economy.
CLEANTECH -
Despite the hype around Internet of Things (IoT), it’s helping more and more brands streamline operations and meet ambitious sustainability goals.
First, Fetzer Vineyards, a leader in regenerative winegrowing, is slated to meet its 2020 water efficiency goals two years ahead of time thanks to a new water metering technology by APANA, Inc. that will allow the vineyard to intensify its water conservation efforts.
COLLABORATION -
Twenty-five leading global companies, including Google, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, DuPont and Kellogg’s announced during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland that they were joining together to launch FReSH, the Food Reform for Sustainability and Health program, under the leadership of the World Business Council for Sustainable
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Two recent bits of news from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) point to continued groundwork being laid toward a circular economy in the U.S. and beyond.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Tech startup Intuition Robotics has unveiled an artificial intelligence-based robot companion designed to improve the quality of life of the elderly populations.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
It takes a tremendous amount of energy to manufacture and power our devices, data centers and infrastructural needs. And with an energy footprint accounting for approximately 7 percent of global electricity, the IT industry has an important role to play in the transition towards clean energy.