INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
UN Environment has awarded seed funding to twelve young people with business ideas on how to foster energy-efficient, low-waste and low-carbon lifestyles. Each of the winners of the Asia Pacific Low Carbon Lifestyles Challenge will receive US$10,000 and mentorship to help bring their ideas to fruition.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
In a bid to increase responsible shipping practices, Forum for the Future and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative have launched the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI).
The Initiative brings together key industry stakeholders to improve transparency in the global ship recycling value chain by facilitating voluntary disclosure of recycling practices and related data by ship owners, and to support the use of this information to inform decision-making.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Discussion around the future of mobility is dominated by discourse around the shift away from fossil fuels, but this is only one small part of a more complex conversation. Even clean energy vehicles have impacts on environmental and human health. China’s industry ministry, General Motors and Goodyear are taking these often-overlooked impacts into account by focusing on waste recovery and prevention approaches that seek to establish closed-loop systems.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Guided by its Sharing Beauty with All global sustainability program, beauty giant L’Oréal has revealed plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2019 for all 21 of its US manufacturing and distribution facilities.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The US’s infrastructure is falling apart beneath our feet. In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave our infrastructure a “D-” on its infrastructure report card. There are so many considerations for infrastructure repair, it’s mind-boggling. From aviation to wastewater systems to public parks, it all needs work. There are two common threads throughout: energy and concrete.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Nissan is driving the future of mobility forward with a vehicle-to-grid (VG2) demonstrator project that could prove instrumental in helping the UK transition to low-carbon transportation and a smart energy system. The £9.8 million e4Futures project will allow drivers to feed energy back into the electricity grid during peak times.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
A year after the launch of its Heathrow 2.0 sustainability leadership strategy, Heathrow Airport is encouraging UK businesses and organizations to apply for the first Sustainable Innovation Prize.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
New analysis from business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan has revealed that the Latin American market is undergoing a rapid paradigm shift in regards to mobility, with greater emphasis being placed on the creation of an on-demand, integrated, multi-modal mobility network. The transition is being driven by changing demographics, preferences and technology.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Air transport represents 2 percent to 3 percent of global man-made CO2 emissions. Sustainable aviation biofuel has been identified as one of the most promising ways to meet the ambitious targets of stabilizing emissions generated by global air transport as soon as 2020. A new initiative in France and a breakthrough discovery in Germany could just be the push the sustainable fuel source needs.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
From #DeleteUber to sexual harassment allegations, the Greyball scandal and a recent European court ruling that declared it a transportation business and taxi service, it’s fair to say 2017 has been a pretty rough year for Uber.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Uncertain times are finally starting to take their toll — according to a new report from Ford, more than 60 percent of adults globally say they feel overwhelmed by the unrest, upheaval and other changes taking place around them. The mobility company’s 2018 Looking Further with Ford Trends Report examines the issues responsible for this unsettling climate — and the coping mechanisms that are emerging as a result.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Big data and IoT are back in the news, as real-time cargo tracking and monitoring service Arviem scores a Green Supply Chain 2017 Award for advancing supply chain transparency and UNEP calls for greater collaboration between Africa’s public and private sector to develop solutions for pressing social and environmental problems.
PRESS RELEASE -
Deliveries by electric bicycle and on foot replace two delivery vehicles per day, reduce traffic congestion, and improve air qualityDeployment of hybrid low-emission vehicles capable of wider delivery radius around Frankfurt
PRESS RELEASE -
Innovative ‘depot-to-door’ system reduces traffic congestion and carbon emissions
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
While discussion around the future of urban mobility largely focuses on electric vehicles and public transportation, buzz is growing around the role of bikes in driving down emissions in cities.
Congested city streets pose considerable challenges for delivery trucks, a problem that French startup FlexiModal endeavors to solve with its BicyLift bicycle trailer. The emissions-free logistics solution allows the operator to move Euro pallets (120 x 80 cm) by bicycle and by hand in areas where circulation of traditional delivery vehicles is limited. The trailer weighs 55 lbs. and has a carrying capacity of around 400 lbs.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
Today, we are witnessing unusual weather patterns and natural disasters all over the world. Traditional state and corporate barriers must be transcended if we are to combat the universal issue of climate change.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
With the launch of its #OptOutside campaign in 2015, REI set a new precedent in retail, shuttering its stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, giving its employees a paid day off and – on a day that has come to represent consumerism at its most extreme – encouraging staff and consumers alike to forgo the shopping frenzy in favor of the great outdoors. The move epitomized the company’s ethos and kickstarted a movement to drive positive behavior change and impacts.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
UPS is ramping up its use of renewable natural gas (RNG), signing a new agreement with Big Ox Energy, a subsidiary of Environmental Energy Capital (LLC), to purchase 10 million gallon equivalents of RNG per year until 2024 — the largest investment in RNG to date for the company. Compared to convention diesel, RNG yields up to a 90 percent reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.