Collaboration
Follow the growing amount of collaborative work — cross-functional, cross-sector, pre-competitive and more — bringing about massive, disruptive, needed shifts to business as usual.
Understanding and Building Transformative Partnerships
Steve Jennings, the Founding Partner, Chief Innovation Officer and Futurist at Better Ventures opened up Wednesday afternoon's panel discussion entitled Understanding and Developing the Capacity for Transformative Relationships by asking the panellists to share what transformative partnerships mean to them. “10 years ago, partnerships for sustainability were very transactional,” answered Loa Dalgaard Worm, the Executive Director at FSC Denmark. “NGOs wanted money to run their initiatives, and businesses wanted something to put it their CSR reports.”
How Ajinomoto Is Working with Stakeholders to Create Sustainable Social Impacts
In 1908, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda changed the culinary world forever when he discovered umami as the fifth basic taste (along with sweet, salty, sour and bitter). Aspiring to foster healthy lifestyles and “create good, affordable seasonings and turn simple but nutritious fare into delicacies,” Ikeda invented a method for producing seasoning with glutamate as a key component. The following year, his friend, chemical and pharmaceutical businessman Saburosuke Suzuki II, launched a business venture to begin selling AJI-NO-MOTO®, the world's first umami seasoning, and the Ajinomoto Group was born.
Business Students to Assess Corporate Action on the Global Goals Through New Digital Platform
The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) has announced a new digital ‘Global Solutions Platform’ to engage business students to support the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, or Global Goals). The platform consists of two parallel projects through which business students will analyze and evaluate the quality of company activities as they relate to responsible and sustainable business operations, and highlight the most notable achievements of companies in each major industry.
For World's Most Purposeful Brands, Collaboration Is Key for Putting Purpose Into Practice
British creative consultancy Radley Yeldar (RY) has launched the 2016 Fit for Purpose index, ranking the world’s most socially, environmentally and economically purposeful companies. The overall trend that surfaced in this year’s index was collaborative thinking; the top purposeful brands are collaborating with stakeholders and partners within and outside the company to embed purpose in authentic and meaningful ways.
Brewers, NGOs, Governments Worldwide Joining Forces Around Global Beer Responsibility Day
Today, brewers, governments NGOs and retailers in 76 countries around the world partnered on the second annual Global Beer Responsibility Day in an effort to promote responsible consumption of beer.
SDG 2: New Agri-Business Alliance Aims to Tackle Global Food Security by 2030
Today, 37 leading agri-business companies have today launched the Global Agri-Business Alliance (GAA) in Singapore. Their aim is to collectively tackle the major environmental and social challenges facing agricultural supply chains and rural communities across the world.
Ag, Food Giants Partner with NGOs to Support Midwest Farmers, Strengthen Conservation
For the first time ever, leading food and agriculture supply chain companies and conservation organizations have formed an “end-to-end” partnership to support farmers in the improvement of soil health and water quality.
Making More Than Money: How Ford Is Collaborating to Create Environmental Innovation
News Deeply, in partnership with Sustainable Brands, has produced a series of profiles looking at how brands are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The goal is to examine trends and gather insights from a new wave of corporate citizenship – in an era when the private sector is increasingly expected to play a positive role in improving our lives and societies. This is the 8th article in the series.
Building a Resilient Landscape Through Global Collaboration
While the challenges of climate change are undeniably global, politics and measures to actually solve them remain largely local. Last year’s Paris Agreement was a landmark moment for this issue. Now comes the difficult task of putting words and treaties into action. The IUCN World Conservation Congress, set to begin in Honolulu this week, seeks to do just that. In order to be successful, it’s critical the delegates representing government, business, NGOs, the scientific community and indigenous people from more than 160 countries embrace not just the hard work ahead, but also the urgent need for meaningful collaboration.
Forests for All Forever: Driving Consumer Demand for Sustainability Through Meaningful Marketing
At SB’16 Cape Town in May, Tetra Pak, South African Airways (SAA) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) came together to share their views on the importance of building market demand from environmentally conscious consumers to move sustainable commodities further into the mainstream.
Shared Value: Tough But Timely Medicine
When in hot water, take a bath. To many westerners, this Chinese saying is nonsensical. Yet it accords with a fundamental African way of thinking: when faced with something profoundly troubling, the solution lies in a deeper experience of that very state.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition Opens Access to Higg Index Tools to SME Brands, Retailers
The industry group Sustainable Apparel Coalition has opened use of its Higg Index suite of tools for measuring and evaluating supply chain impact to non-member small and medium-sized (SME) brands and retailers. SMEs may now take advantage of a special licence for full access to the Higg Index.
3 Lessons in Innovation Every Organization Can Learn From (RED)
When (Red) was founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver back in 2006, it was born out of necessity. The Global Fund — an organization dedicated to fighting diseases such as AIDS, TB, and malaria in the developing world — had launched in 2002, with a commitment to garner private sector engagement and raise funds from governments in an effort to accelerate the end of AIDS. But the private sector was not biting, contributing only $5 million in the Global Fund’s first four years. This low level of funding threatened to jeopardize ongoing commitment levels from the public sector.
How Engaging Its Employees, Value Chain Is Carrying Sustainability Forward at Alaska Airlines
News Deeply, in partnership with Sustainable Brands, is producing a series of profiles looking at how brands are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The goal is to examine trends and gather insights from a new wave of corporate citizenship – in an era when the private sector is increasingly expected to play a positive role in improving our lives and societies. This is the 2nd article in the series.
Neighbourly Helping Businesses Align Philanthropic Efforts with SDGs
Companies including SABMiller, Dow, Novozymes, and many others have begun to align their corporate responsibility targets with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since the United Nations (UN) launched them in September.
Accenture Leading Effort to Bring Renewable Energy to Off-Grid Communities in Africa
Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) is a consortium featuring Accenture, the University of Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD) and The Rural Development Company, which have joined forces on a renewable energy initiative in Uganda and South Africa that leverages solar-powered microgrids to deliver clean, affordable electricity to local populations.
Ford, Jose Cuervo Explore the Only Scenario in Which Tequila, Cars Might Be a Good Mix
In the latest of a string of innovative partnerships in its quest for more sustainable materials (which so far have yielded CO2-based and tomato-based plastic, and guayule-based rubber, to name a few), Ford Motor Company and Jose Cuervo® are exploring the use of the tequila producer’s agave plant byproduct to develop more sustainable bioplastics to employ in Ford vehicles.
#BusinessCase: Dow Continues to Show Positive Return on Pursuing Sustainability Goals
Last week, The Dow Chemical Company released its 2015 Sustainability Report, which examined the company’s journey toward reaching its 2015 goals and what it’s already achieved looking ahead to 2025. I caught up with corporate VP and Chief Sustainability Officer Neil Hawkins to learn more.
Avery Dennison, Outerknown Partner to Make More Sustainable Care Tags
When Stan Avery founded Avery Dennison in 1935, he set out to create a values-based business admired as much for its ethics and integrity as for its innovation. Eight decades later, the company still strives to adhere to its value-based mandate and is working to ensure that its employees and business partners know, understand and live up to its high ethical standards, according to Helen Sahi, senior director of Sustainability at Avery Dennison. “Key to our progress has been treating sustainability not as something we do, but how we do everything,” Sahi told Sustainable Brands. “We’ve integrated sustainability into our underlying business strategy, from our people to our products to the communities we serve.”
Sex Trafficking: How Brands Can Help End Commercial Exploitation by Interrupting Demand
As a first-time attendee at a Sustainable Brands conference, I expected SB’16 San Diego to be largely about environmental issues. It certainly was – from the conference’s commitment to producing zero waste, to Pratt & Whitney’s “green” jet engine on display in the parking lot. But as a purpose-driven professional with a commitment to the social impact side of corporate social responsibility, I was thrilled to hear panelists redefine sustainability through a human-focused lens.
