COLLABORATION -
Vestas 11th Hour Racing's team director Mark Towill and skipper Charlie Enright take on challenges the way most people layer cold cuts; one on top of the other. The duo and their team are
one of seven squads trying to win the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) a nine-month sailing slog, over 45,000 nautical miles, in all sorts of weather;
doing so while being the most sustainable team in the race, and
working to increase public awareness, concern and action on behalf of ocean health.
No problem, right?
CLEANTECH -
Back in 2015, we first learned about + POOL, a wildly ambitious idea by four enterprising New Yorkers to make the City’s notoriously polluted Hudson River swimmable with the help of a floating, water-filtering pool.
PRESS RELEASE -
Kohler Co. was recognized as a 2017 Green Master by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council and the Green Master Program at the organization’s annual conference.
Green Master recognizes Wisconsin businesses for their commitment to sustainability and provides benchmarks to track their progress. The program measures efforts in nine sustainability categories: energy, carbon, water, waste management, transportation, supply chain, outreach, workforce and governance. By providing businesses of all sizes and sectors objective criteria, Green Master allows companies to compare sustainability performance against peers.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Craft beer has taken off over the past five years, with the industry now boasting over 6,000 craft breweries in the US alone, 700 of which opened in the past year. In order to continue this momentum, Anheuser-Busch (A-B) has launched Elevate, a new initiative that aims to take craft brewing to the next level by creating a stronger, safer, more sustainable category and raising awareness of its craft beer and cider brands.
PRESS RELEASE -
Braskem's management and investments in the sustainability area were once again recognized by the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Program), a non-profit organization that selects the best publicly traded companies in the world in relation to the management of greenhouse gases, water consumption and forest use. The company will once again integrate the entity's "List A", appearing as the only Brazilian one with a maximum score in the Climate rankings - for the second consecutive time, and Water rankings - for the first time.
With the result, Braskem ranks among the 25 companies, in the universe of 2,452 evaluated companies around the world, that have received an A grade in both rankings simultaneously.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
An estimated 150 million metric tons of plastic waste are in the ocean today and every year around eight million metric tons more are being added. Earlier this year, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation warned that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans if a more effective system for global plastics is not put into place.
PRESS RELEASE -
When you combine biotech with cutting-edge water technology, you might find new solutions to some of the most pressing global issues concerning water scarcity. Thereby, you can make a direct impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6, aiming at securing universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.
This is the scope, when the world’s leading expert in enzymes and microorganisms, Novozymes, and Grundfos, the global leader in advanced pump technologies, enter an open innovation collaboration.
The partnership takes place on HelloScience.io, an online universe launched by Novozymes in September 2017 where entrepreneurs, startups and others can connect with industry.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
While carbon emissions and water and energy efficiency are top-of-mind concerns for companies keen on reducing the environmental impacts of their products, a sustainable future can’t be achieved without considering chemistry — the foundation upon which countless products are built. We’ve already begun to see progress on this front, with an increasing number of companies embracing better chemicals management practices.
PRESS RELEASE -
Everyone needs to do their part to conserve water. But what if entire communities could work together to eliminate the unnecessary waste of this valuable resource?
That’s the idea behind Green Plant Framework/Aquifer Systems, founded by Joshua Parde. The system allows users to compare the total volume of water delivered from a municipal source to the amount actually used in a home or other building. With this data, homeowners and property managers can identify water leaks and make critical repairs.
CLEANTECH -
Carlsberg Group is now one step closer to achieving its Together Towards Zero goals — the company’s brewery in Falkenberg, Sweden is now 100 percent powered by biogas and clean electricity, thereby reducing its CO2 emissions to zero.
COLLABORATION -
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.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Yesterday, representatives from across the apparel industry came together at the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute of Texas Tech University, where Wrangler, Lee, the Walmart Foundation and Indigo Mill Designs (IMD) unveiled a disruptive new dyeing process for producing denim.
COLLABORATION -
When it comes to tackling climate change, Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) believes collaboration is key. This very ethos is the driving force behind the company’s sustainability approach, and the reason behind the brand’s decision to embark on a second year of its flagship Levi Strauss & Co. Collaboratory fellowship program.
Launched last year, the program sees emerging socially and environmentally responsible entrepreneurs in the apparel industry come together for three days to collaborate on sustainability solutions for their organizations.
CLEANTECH -
Nature could hold the key to reversing or mitigating the effects of climate change — a concept that the Biomimicry Institute and Ray C. Anderson Foundation are banking on. The two organizations have issued a call to action for entrepreneurs to look to the planet’s living systems to create viable solutions to the global climate crisis.
WASTE NOT -
Wastewater that’s worth the likes of gold? What would seem like a farfetched concept is reality in Switzerland, where 95 pounds of gold find their way into Swiss sewage each year — the equivalent of US$1,947,925.60. The build up is the result of the country’s iconic watch-making trade, which sees 70 percent of the world’s gold pass through Swiss gold-refining plants each year. So what to do with all this gold?
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Corresponding with the kickoff of COP23, the World Water Council (WWC) has shed light on the current state of water infrastructure and what it means for mitigating climate change and delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The key takeaway: water infrastructure investment must triple to €255 billion annually in order to meet sanitation targets and tackle climate change.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) today released its 2017 Citizenship Report, detailing progress in improving social conditions for those in need, advancing Diversity & Inclusion, building a world free from gender bias inside and outside the Company and reducing its environmental footprint. As P&G operates in about 70 countries and serves nearly 5 billion people, the Company leverages its brands and people to make the world a better place through its Citizenship efforts.
PRESS RELEASE -
NestléWaters announced today that it would strengthen its collaboration with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) to certify 20 factories by 2020. The company has already certified four NestléWaters bottling facilities: one in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, and three in California (Ontario, Sacramento and Livermore). It plans to certify additional sites in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the United States as part of its 2020 objective.
The announcement represents an important step towards NestléWaters’ commitment to continuous improvement in their water stewardship practices, helping to address shared water challenges and ensuring the sustainability of water resources.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
October is Campus Sustainability Month (CSM), an international celebration of sustainability in higher education. One focus of this year’s CSM is the conservation of water, a natural resource that humans need to survive.
PRESS RELEASE -
“To sustain their business, companies need to better understand the costs and opportunities of effective water resource management”, stresses Quantis water expert Jean-Baptiste Bayart. Ahead of the AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum, Quantis shares its experience working with major industrial players over the last 10 years, laying out key hurdles and potential solutions for companies to adopt water stewardship.