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.
Unilever Joins Better Than Cash Alliance, Embraces Digital Finance Across Value Chain
In an effort to advance the goals outlined in its Sustainable Living Plan, in which it aims to positively impact the lives of 5.5 million people by 2020, consumer goods giant Unilever has announced a new partnership with the Better Than Cash Alliance.
How the Arbor Day Foundation Brought Brands Together to ‘ReGreen’ Detroit
At this year’s Sustainable Brands conference in May, we did something that we hadn’t done before — it was an ‘aha’ moment. Sustainable Brands and the Arbor Day Foundation — the world’s largest member-based tree-planting organization — partnered to host the first volunteer experience for conference attendees to get their hands dirty. This urban tree planting event, “ReGreening the Good Life,” was a fitting jump-start to the SB ’17 Detroit conference. More than 55 volunteers from the conference helped plant trees in a downtown Detroit park.
Back to the Roots, Fall Out Boy Team Up to Accelerate 'Undo Food' Movement
Since 2009, Oakland, California startup Back to the Roots has been on a mission to "Undo Food" by reconnecting consumers (and kids) with what’s on their plates, and driving the food industry towards greater transparency and integrity.
PepsiCo Reports on First Year of Progress Against Its 'Performance with Purpose' 2025 Goals
Today, PepsiCo reported progress towards its ambitious Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda sustainability goals, announced last year. The company improved performance against goals in each of the Agenda’s three focus areas – Products, Planet and People – while returning over $7 billion to shareholders.
In Record Time, Visa Rallies NFL Stars, Morgan Freeman for Ad to Support Harvey Victims
Brands are increasingly leveraging their influence for good, using their tremendous reach and means to draw attention to and inspire action to address some of the biggest environmental and social challenges of our time. ‘Goodvertising’ plays an important role in this space — as evidenced by this year’s Cannes Lions — but getting it right doesn’t always come easy. Spotlighting the world’s most burning issues is important, but simply telling stories isn’t enough — businesses need to demonstrate what they’re actually doing to create a better world.
The Burden of Clean Water Worldwide Still Borne by Women
Clean, drinkable water is crucial for human existence, but according to the Women Thrive Alliance, roughly 663 million people worldwide still lack easy access to safe water.
Businesses Band Together to Provide Relief to Communities Hit Hardest by Harvey
Hurricane Harvey, the strongest storm to hit Texas and Louisiana in decades, has left a wake of destruction in its path. More than 30,000 people have been driven into shelters and the storm’s aftermath has left behind some estimated tens of billions of dollars in damage. Though the storm has now been downgraded to tropical storm status, the danger is far from over if forecasts predicting the storm to move towards the Gulf of Mexico, where it will pick up strength before moving back over Texas, prove to be true.
Over 250 CEOs Pledge to Advance Diversity in the Workplace
Only one month after 175 CEOs came together to launch the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, nearly 100 additional CEOs have taken the pledge, committing themselves — and the organizations they lead — to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Collaboration for Logistics Innovation: An IoT Pallet Designed for a Circular Economy
Pallets, ubiquitous throughout our economy, have been an early example of the potential for a circular product system, with reusable, pooled pallets reducing waste in logistics. For decades, wood has been the dominant pooled pallet material. While a natural, renewable material, wood can break, is porous and can create worker safety issues from handling. With roughly 10 billion pallets in circulation, there remains a significant opportunity for improvements.
How Savers Is Cultivating Community Through Reuse
As we navigate tumultuous times in our country and across the globe, people are looking to businesses to cultivate community, either through their own programs or through partnerships. According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, businesses and NGOs are the most trusted organizations by the public, more so than media or the government. People are looking to these organizations to fill a need, solve problems, and redefine the ‘good life’ in their communities.
Trending: JPMorgan, GSK Strike Up New Partnerships to Save Energy, Tackle CO2
When it comes to achieving bold sustainability goals, every action counts — a concept that is catching on fast with industry heavy hitters such as JPMorgan and GSK. The two companies have struck up new partnerships with GE and Schneider Electric, respectively, to tackle emissions and resource inefficiencies that threaten to impede their climate progress.
13 Energy Giants Call on EU to Cap State Subsidies for Major Polluters
A coalition of 13 major energy industry firms, including Siemens, Shell, Statoil, Solar Power Europe and Total have launched a new initiative to limit the amount of state aid subsidies that are sent to highly polluting power plants across the European Union.
adidas, Arizona State University Unite to Shape the Future of Sport
Over the years, adidas and Arizona State University (ASU) have emerged as leaders in the sustainability movement as a result of groundbreaking innovations, education and outreach programs and thought-provoking campaigns designed to solve global sustainability problems. Now, the two forward-thinking entities are teaming up to launch the Global Sport Alliance, a strategic partnership that aims to shape the future of sport and highlight its positive impact on society.
It Takes an Industry to Move the Needle on Sustainability
We can’t become sustainable by going it alone. This is the core tenet that has underpinned the vinyl industry’s sustainability efforts from the onset. As industry leaders first came together to talk about establishing a sustainability platform, there was a general consensus that this was an effort that had to be broad-based and encompass companies across the vinyl value chain.
Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Merge to Create Single Agriculture Sustainability Standard
Two of the world’s leaders in sustainable agriculture and certification, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ have announced plans to merge later this year in an effort to simplify the certification process for sustainable agriculture.
How Mondelēz International Foundation Is Cultivating Health, Skills in the Next Generation
Improving childhood nutrition globally through gardening is a goal of the Mondelēz International Foundation (MIF). The MIF supports public-private partnerships, bringing school and community-based gardening programs to children around the world.
Greenpeace Teams Up with 100 Authors to Protect Free Speech, Boreal Forests
Following the filing of two multi-million dollar lawsuits by Canadian pulp and paper manufacturer Resolute Forest Products to silence Greenpeace’s criticism of its controversial logging in the boreal forest, 100 authors and thought leaders, including Margaret Atwood, Michelle Alexander, John Maxwell Coetzee, Stephen Fry, Naomi Klein and Yann Martel — have signed the environmental NGO’s pledge to support free speech and stand up for forests.
Digital Financial Infrastructure Key for Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
A new study released by the Better Than Cash Alliance has revealed how agriculture nonprofit One Acre Fund and Citi Inclusive Finance have cut payment losses and collections costs by over 80 percent for smallholder farmers in Kenya by successfully digitizing loan repayments. According to the report, the move has significantly boosted transparency and efficiency, thereby driving economic opportunity and financial inclusion for thousands of farmers and their families.
SB'17 Detroit Highlights, Day 4: Human Capital, Better Business Models, and Knowing When to Shut Up and Listen
How Detroit Can Become the Most Sustainable City in North America By Nithin Coca Joel Howrani Heeres It’s been an eventful week for Joel Howrani Heeres, the brand-new Sustainability Director for the city of Detroit, who welcomed over 1000 attendees at the final day plenary at SB ’17 Detroit, on what was just his fourth day on the job.
3M, International Paper, P&G Team Up in the Name of Sustainable Forestry
American Forest Foundation (AFF), International Paper, The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) and 3M Company have banded together to form the Carolinas Working Forest Conservation Collaborative.