FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
CNote's new impact investment vehicle provides funding to underserved women of color and low-income women entrepreneurs across the US.
WASTE NOT -
Hilton is ramping up its soap-collecting efforts around the world, with a goal of recycling 1 million bars for Clean the World to distribute on Global Handwashing Day (October 15).
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Backed by John Hancock, COIN offers customers eight Impact Areas — including Better Health, Clean Water, Gender Equality and Reducing Waste — to invest in, with as little as $50.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
New Fairtrade Foundation campaign calls on the UK government and companies to end ‘shameful’ exploitation of cocoa farmers by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
WALKING THE TALK -
The optical health company’s goal to “provide access to affordable, high-quality eye care and eyewear to the world” guides business development, branding, product innovation and other integral operations.
COLLABORATION -
Collaboration will allow companies to gain data-backed insight into worker treatment in their supply chains.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Now, under SD VISta, projects seeking funding must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of a third-party assessor, that they advance the SDGs.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Let me tell you a few things about failure — a subject on which I’m something of an expert.
WASTE NOT -
It was 2014 and social entrepreneur Samir Lakhani was working on sustainable aquaculture projects in the villages of Northern Cambodia. Watching a mother wash and bathe her new baby using laundry powder rather than soap is a vision that has stayed with him to this day.
It was also the inspiration for his next business venture.
“I noticed that nobody seemed in good overall health — whether it was an infection that wouldn’t go away or a child with diarrhea,” he told Sustainable Brands in a recent interview.
COLLABORATION -
The Indonesian Network of the United Nations Global Compact today announced a partnership between Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and Martha Tilaar Group (MTG) — a leading Indonesian manufacturer of cosmetics and herbal medicine — to train 1,000 women from forest communities to help preserve herbal plants and become self-sufficient entrepreneurs.
CLEANTECH -
Last year, the leading economies in renewable energy investment growth were not to be found in North America or even Europe — the leaders in growth were countries often described as developing, such as China, Brazil, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina.
These big shifts in renewables investment have, in fact, been emerging since 2004, and portend a strong outlook for continued growth in global renewable energy investment and reaching carbon-reduction targets.
COLLABORATION -
Sanitation is one of the most pressing social and public health challenges today. 1 in 3 people worldwide do not have access to a safe toilet — and 892 million people have no choice but to defecate in the open. Every two minutes, a child dies from a preventable diarrhea-related disease — approximately 288,000 children each year. The issue also contributes to the number of girls who drop out of school, since they are especially affected by a lack of hygiene and sanitation during their period.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Transparency has become a bit of a buzzword in the fashion industry and judging by the number of times it was mentioned at this year’s Copenhagen Fashion Summit, it is a trend that we are not going to shake anytime soon. Quite the contrary, transparency is reshaping how brands and retailers interact with their suppliers and consumers. But can it really transform the entire fashion industry? C&A Foundation’s Leslie Johnston hosted a panel of experts to find out.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Have you ever stopped to think about how many people were involved in making the clothes you buy? Chances are you have heard about or read The Travels of a T-shirt in a Global Economy or listened to Planet Money’s piece on making a t-shirt. Both are incredibly interesting examinations of the effects of global trade on the fashion industry, developing countries and garment workers.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Proposing a new idea and convincing others of its validity is no easy task. Even more so when you’re dealing with complex issues such as supply chain transparency, or trying to shift the ‘take, make and waste’ model of the fashion industry to one of circularity.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
For the first time ever in Ghana, cocoa farmers have obtained official ownership of non-cocoa trees on their farms. Some 150 farmers in the country’s western region will now be able to include shade trees as part of their business plans, providing additional sources of income in the form of timber while reducing deforestation and the effects of climate change.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
A first-of-its-kind research project led by Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) in partnership with Fashion Revolution and C&A Foundation gives the most comprehensive picture yet of the living and working conditions faced by female garment workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
"We want to create "radical impact", as we like to call it: create access to better quality coffee than the one sold by the leading multinationals and make sure that the people growing our coffee make a better living by bringing value-adding activities back to their countries. But how do we measure and show what we actually do with Moyee?” said Guido van Staveren van Dijk, CEO of Moyee Coffee, describing one of the key challenges his company is facing.