INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
As water-dependent companies seek to cut their usage and survive through punishing droughts, Costco is finding solutions with the help of the latest computing technologies – the cloud, data algorithms, wireless tech and low-cost sensors. Through a partnership with Washington-based startup Apana, the retail giant is employing innovative water-conservation technology to cut water use and generate significant cost savings.Costco first tested the Apana technology on several of its buildings in Mexico. After saving thousands of dollars at each facility, the company has now expanded its use of the technology to over 50 buildings in North America.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Tradeshift, the fastest-growing supplier collaboration platform, today announced its partnership with EcoVadis, creators of the first collaborative platform providing Supplier Sustainability Ratings for global supply chains. The partnership will give Tradeshift customers access to EcoVadis’ trusted supplier sustainability ratings to solve their supply chain CSR performance monitoring challenges and advance their Sustainable Procurement programs.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
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.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The Coca-Cola Company has launched a development agreement with Liquid Light, a technology company focused on converting carbon dioxide into major industrial chemicals, to accelerate production of mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) – a component used to make Coca-Cola’s plant-based PET PlantBottleTM.
Sustainable chemical technology company Genomatica announced today it has partnered with Cargill to accelerate the production of renewable chemicals for industrial applications. The collaboration will give chemical producers, distributors and users access to a reliable, cost-effective source of carbohydrate feedstocks, co-location support services and production partnerships, based on GENO™ process technologies.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Hyundai Heavy Industries, a leading shipbuilder, and Accenture are collaborating to design a ‘connected smart ship’ that will enable ship owners to better manage their fleets and achieve potential operational savings through the application of digital technologies. The collaboration is part of Hyundai Heavy Industries’ plans to expand its business, moving from manufacturing to services.Using a network of sensors that will be built into new vessels, ship owners will be able to capture a range of ship voyage information including location, weather, and ocean current data, as well as on-board
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
The European Commission on Thursday proposed a revision to its energy efficiency labeling laws to "ensure coherence and continuity and makes sure that customers are able to make better informed choices that will help them save energy and money."To provide consumers with a clearer indication of the energy efficiency of products, which are currently classified in different scales, and to improve compliance for producers and retailers, the Commission is calling for a revised energy labeling system consisting of:A single energy labeling scale from ‘A to G’: the Commission is proposing a return to the well-known and effective 'A to G' label scale for energy-efficient products, including a process for rescaling the existing labels.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Although 82 percent of Americans expect companies to report on the progress of their social and environmental efforts, only 17 percent say they have read a CSR report in the past 12 months, according to the recently released 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity Global CSR Study. And who can blame them? Reports tend to be so dull, it’s even a challenge to get them read internally. This illustrates a need for companies to be more creative with the ways they inform and engage consumers and other stakeholders of their progress against goals.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
In the future, you may be able to print meat in your kitchen. That is the hope behind the Cultivator, a conceptual prototype for a countertop 3D printer made by design students Sarah Mautsch and Aaron Abentheuer.The Cultivator intends to spark conversation about the future of food production and bioprinting, a technology currently being explored to fabricate human organs in experimental medicine. Inspiration for the Cultivator was based on the assumed development of this technology over the next 30 years.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Yesterday, I posted a piece about the Pope's "encyclical" on the environment, released last month. I summarized what I saw as the key themes and takeaways. I also provided the first half of my list of the best quotes from the essay. Yesterday's excerpts covered climate science (and denial), environmental ills in general, and the Pope's critique of modern technological society.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
At SB ‘15 San Diego in early June, speakers on the Sustainable Cities panel discussed big issues and a few case studies around global brands building innovative partnerships with cities. They also shared how new, non-conventional partnerships are necessary and discussed opportunities that corporate sustainability teams should take into consideration.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Sevamob, a social enterprise which aims to fundamentally transform primary healthcare in India through mobile clinics and a tele-health marketplace, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) to reduce anemia by 30 percent, HIV transmission to children by at least half of the national average and dental issues like caries by 25 percent, in the areas where it is active.The company says it provides primary healthcare and dental care to low-income people through a subscription-based model that combines local health teams with a network of specialists and a 24/7 call center for accurate diagnosis and treatment and leverages cloud-based mobile technology and data analytics to manage and monitor health outcomes.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
This week, startup Measurabl, a provider of sustainability data management and analytics software, announced a partnership with Optoro, a technology company focused on supply chain sustainability for retailers. The “We Are Measurabl” pilot program allows Optoro and other companies to track and validate their corporate sustainability performance to their stakeholders.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
Deliver Change, a UK-based non-profit focused on sustainable technology projects, launched a campaign this week called “Let’s make air pollution visible,” which aims to bring together businesses, policy makers and local groups to solve the problem of air pollution in the UK.“Air pollution remains the greatest invisible threat to our health today, as well as to the economic performance of our cities,” said Deliver Change chief executive Jonathan Steel. “People are waking up to the problem, but we need to be able to see the ‘unseeable’.”
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Today we can access vast quantities of information from countless sources to help us make better decisions quickly.My cell phone can help me find a restaurant with the type of food I like, at a price I like, and with a customer satisfaction rating. I can get directions to the restaurant, including current traffic conditions. And if I don’t want to drive myself, Uber can take care of that.All of this is possible, yet when I go to my grocery store I’m still unclear as to what’s in the products I buy and where they came from.Is this can of soup lined with BPA? Are there GMOs in it? What’s the environmental impact of this product? Can I recycle it?
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Today, Ford announced progress on its commitment to developing autonomous vehicle technology, including innovations in wearable technology and collaborations with startups in Silicon Valley to make mobility solutions more accessible. The announcement, made at the Further with Ford trend conference, marks a transition from Ford’s investment in autonomous vehicle technology as a research effort to an advanced engineering program.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
As previously functioning urban areas fall into disrepair, urban blight increasingly is afflicting cities across the United States. Characterized by high local unemployment and crime, political disenfranchisement and depopulation, in some of these areas the endless blocks of abandoned buildings seems like scenes out of a post-apocalyptic movie.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Today Dell released an update on its headway in 2014-2015 against its 2020 Legacy of Good Plan, highlighting its first signs of progress in achieving 21 goals in the areas of environment, communities and employees.“Dell has made great progress across its global business ecosystem in its efforts to use the technology we produce for good,” said Trisa Thompson, VP of Corporate Responsibility at Dell. “We’re committed to this ongoing work and share our results to both create and inspire positive change in business practices.”Notable accomplishments in terms of its products and operations include:
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
For more than three years, BASF, Cargill and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have worked together to promote sustainable coconut oil and improve the living conditions of coconut farmers in the Philippines. This week they’ve announced the establishment of the world’s first certified production of copra, the dried coconut flesh needed to process coconut oil. The project on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is partly financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the develoPPP.de programme.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The far-reaching social impacts of the fashion industry were catapulted into the global spotlight with the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013.