CLEANTECH -
Driven by consumer demands, and greater concern for resource scarcity and productivity, more companies are tracking and reporting performance in an effort to meet corporate sustainability goals. But once the low-hanging fruit is picked, further improvements can require sophisticated tools, such as emerging big data and geospatial analytics, to help companies make more informed decisions about sustainability goals, according to a new report from Lux Research.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
As California enters its fourth year of drought, more than 135,000 people have signed a petition to the California Water Resources Control Board to shut down Nestlé’s water bottling operations in the state.Created by the California-based Courage Campaign, the petition says Nestlé extracts water from California specifically for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brands, and bottles its product from at least a dozen natural springs. It says one such bottling plant is located on a Native American reservation “in one of California’s most drought-stricken areas that is exempt from oversight by local water agencies.”
COLLABORATION -
This year’s World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report lists water as the number one risk in terms of impact – it even surpasses failure to adapt to climate change, which currently sits at fifth place. The impact of water can already be seen and felt across different parts of society:
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ...There's been lot of love shown recently to the notion of cities being 'resilient,' 'good' … or just plain fabulous. Take, for example, The Rockefeller Foundation's well-known 100 Resilient Cities initiative, which offers support to cities attempting to become more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges being faced today.
NEW METRICS -
General Mills made “significant progress” in 2014 toward its commitment to sustainably source 100 percent of its 10 priority ingredients by 2020, according to the company’s annual Global Responsibility Report.It is furthest along towards the goal of sustainably sourcing 100 percent of two raw materials: palm oil (83 percent) and fiber packaging (99 percent).The 10 ingredients represent more than 50 percent of the company’s annual raw material purchases and cover a broad range of raw materials including oats, wheat, corn, dairy, fiber packaging, cocoa, vanilla, palm oil, sugar cane and sugar beets.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
According to the World Economic Forum, water scarcity ranks first among all long-term risks worldwide. Australia, Brazil and the United States are only a few examples of where droughts have affected everything from agriculture, hydropower and those everyday tasks most of take for granted. California’s annual snowpack this year was only 12 percent of normal — which has had a huge impact on the state’s skiing industry as well as its growing dairy sector. Finding solutions has proven to be a political minefield.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A brief released Friday by Sedex Global and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) finds that the majority of environmental non-compliances in global supply chains originate from a lack of understanding of relevant laws and regulations, despite the fact that the majority of self-assessors believe they meet all relevant requirements. The brief concludes that although positive efforts are being made to manage and set targets around water risks, improved, more collaborative systems are needed to help suppliers ensure environmental legal requirements are met.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
In the lead-up to this year’s Sustainable Brands Innovation Open — our competition for startups poised to make scalable, sustainable impacts — we’re catching up with some of our favorite game-changing solutions from past years. This week, we have an update from SBIO 2014 finalist AkwaMag.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
This week, Nestlé released the summary of its 2014 Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value report, which highlights the company’s progress — and challenges — in meeting its societal commitments. The report gives stakeholders the opportunity to scrutinize Nestlé’s progress during 2014 against 38 specific objectives. The full online version of the report will be available from April 7.Three new commitments cover responsible marketing to children, ensuring that all employees and stakeholders can easily report possible compliance violations, and working against corruption and bribery.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Taking a dip in the Hudson River typically is not something New Yorkers would advise — centuries of city sewage discharges have left the river toxic and harmful to human health. Although public policies aimed at cleaning up the Hudson have improved conditions over the past several decades, leftovers from past pollution remain, and new problems are becoming evident.
CLEANTECH -
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("HKSTP") is showcasing Hong Kong's sustainable innovations to the world by leading a delegation of cleantech companies at an event this week in San Francisco.The HKSTP delegation includes five cleantech companies that will showcase sustainable innovations ranging from a water filtration device to renewable energy technologies and energy management platforms.The participating companies in the HKSTP delegation are:
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Levi Strauss and Co. today announced it has saved one billion liters of water since 2011 through its Water<Less™ process, which reduces the water used in garment finishing by up to 96 percent. This announcement coincides with the release of LS&Co.’s new Product Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), an update on the company’s groundbreaking 2007 study on the environmental impact of its products.
CLEANTECH -
California builders, water & sewer agencies and homeowners are one step closer to being able to construct bona fide drought-resilient homes.Nexus eWater, maker of home water and energy recyclers, has received certification to the NSF/ANSI 350 global standard for residential grey water treatment for its ‘NEXtreater’ home water recycler. The water recycler is capable of safely recycling two out of every three gallons of grey water in the home for non-potable, approved uses.Grey water is drain water from showers, laundry and hand sinks and is the largest potential source of on-site water in homes — typically, this makes up two-thirds of indoor water.The potential water savings associated with in-home grey water recycling are “unprecedented”, Nexus eWater says.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
In the lead-up to this year’s Sustainable Brands Innovation Open — our competition for startups poised to make scalable, sustainable impacts — we’re catching up with some of our favorite game-changing solutions from past years. This week, we have an update from SBIO 2014 finalist and Target Award winner Amazi.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
This week, non-profits Ceres and WWF published resources that provide guidelines for how strategic investment at the private and public level can help avert environmental and economic crises felt the world over. The reports also present compelling arguments for how said environmental crises fuel — and could easily eclipse — the global economic crisis.On Tuesday, Ceres released a report and cheat sheet (right) designed to help global investors improve their analysis and decision-making with regards to water scarcity.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Heineken last week announced plans to team up with The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as part of a new sustainability initiative to support environmental and social growth movements in the developing world.
COLLABORATION -
As California’s devastating drought enters its fourth year and local organizations are appealing to residents to rein in their water use, a diverse coalition of companies with skin in the game — food and beverage giants General Mills, Driscoll’s and Coca-Cola North America, Gap Inc., Symantec and home builder KB Home — are coming together to launch a new campaign urging companies to enact more aggressive measures to maximize California's local and state water resources.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Waste2Watergy, a Corvallis startup formed at Oregon State University, has secured a $225,000 federal grant to advance technology that cleans organics from brewery wastewater while producing electricity. The company says the technology could revolutionize wastewater treatment for the entire food and beverage industry.Developers have created a microbial fuel cell (MFC) system that generates energy from treating wastewater. Tiny microbes were designed to consume organic material; as an added bonus, the electrochemical energy created from microbial reactions in the fuel cell produce electricity.
LEADERSHIP -
Citi announced a commitment to lend, invest and facilitate a total of $100 billion within the next 10 years to finance activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions that benefit people and communities. Citi's previous $50 billion goal was met three years early in 2013.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
GE Water & Process Technologies recently launched UsedtoUseful, a new platform that explores the impact of water reuse on industrial and municipal sectors. The site shares industry insight and discusses interesting concepts surrounding the impact of water reuse on industrial and municipal sectors.UsedtoUseful focuses on water reuse, tough-to-treat water, energy efficiency, and monitoring through interesting articles, original content, and water stories from around the globe in a non-commercial way.