The work of organizations joining forces in win-win, pre-competitive ways to bring about massive, impactful shifts away from business as usual
UN Global Compact chairman Sir Mark Moody-Stuart used his time on the main stage at the Third Global Forum for Business as an Agent of World Benefit on Thursday to propose how business can join the global fight to eradicate malaria.In addition to his role with Global Compact, Moody-Stuart also serves as the chairman of the IVCC Board of Trustees. IVCC is a not-for-profit public-private partnership that was established as a charity in 2005. The group’s mission is to save lives, protect health and increase prosperity in areas where disease transmitted by insects is endemic.
The International Center for Alcohol Policies and the Global Alcohol Producers Group have launched a new organization called the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) to help reduce harmful drinking and promote responsible drinking through research, programs and advocacy around the world.Also central to IARD’s mission will be supporting and accelerating implementation of the Beer, Wine and Spirits Producers’ Commitments to Reduce Harmful Drinking. The organization will promote effective policies and programs, as well as contribute to an informed debate by providing balanced and evidence-based science.
Today, in recognition of Global Handwashing Day, Dow and Unilever have collaborated on an improvement that is expected to positively impact health and hygiene around the world.Unilever's Lifebuoy, the world’s #1 germ protection soap, now uses DOW POLYOX™ Water-Soluble Polymers in its unique formulation, creating a soap that lasts longer, providing better value while still feeling great on the skin.
In a collaborative move that’s happily becoming a trend, 57 leading organizations across a variety of industries — including the Climate Group, Ecover, GE, IKEA, Interface, Tesco, Unilever, and notably, energy companies such as Shell and Dong Energy — have published an open letter to the European Council, to support stronger 2030 climate goals at meetings later this month, ahead of COP21 in Paris next year. You can read the short letter in full below.Dear EU Heads of State and Government,Our 57 companies, funds and associations represent more than 4.5 million employees worldwide. We each acknowledge responsibility for a sustainable economic future for Europe.
In front of hundreds of associates, suppliers and nonprofit organizations at its Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting on Monday, Walmart announced its commitment to create a more sustainable food system. The company will reach this goal through four key pillars: improving the affordability of food for both customers and the environment, increasing access to food, making healthier eating easier, and improving the safety and transparency of the food chain.
At the SXSW Eco conference in Austin, TX, SolarCity and Honda today announced a renewal of their partnership with a new fund expected to finance $50 million in solar projects. The commitment is aimed at making solar power more affordable and available to Honda and Acura customers and dealerships in the U.S.
With eyes on New York last week as leaders gathered for the UN Climate Summit, a pivotal REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) program has been launched to protect forests in the Congo Basin and promote the inherent value of natural standing forests around the world.
Today, at the Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park, Unilever is announcing a commitment to help 25 million people gain improved access to toilets by 2020.The commitment is part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, contributing to the company’s goal of helping one billion people improve their health and well-being by 2020, and augmenting existing goals on providing access to safe and affordable drinking water, and education on the importance of hand-washing with soap.
Unilever and the United Kingdom government are launching a joint initiative to use new social business models to improve health, hygiene and livelihoods for 100 million people by 2025. They will also each contribute more than $8 million to a research and innovation program focused on affordable sanitation and safe drinking water.The partnership is the first of its kind between an international business and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
The world’s forests have today been given what we can only hope is a realistic reprieve. The New York Declaration on Forests marks a watershed in the global effort to contain, then halt deforestation around the world.United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has done the planet and some of its most critical ecosystems a great service in convening this groundbreaking meeting of governments, global businesses and NGOs, all of whom are committing to a range of targets designed to secure the future of the world’s forests. Deforestation is one of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore climate change.
AkzoNobel, The Nature Conservancy, Risk Management Solutions and Veolia have joined the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative (100RC) to provide critical tools to help cities around the world become more resilient to the shocks and stresses that are a growing part of the 21st century. The announcement was made this week at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City.
Almost 400,000 people turned out in NYC yesterday for the US edition of the People's Climate March, the largest protest in the history of the issue, joined by more than 2,000 events in 166 countries worldwide.The streets began to fill up about 10:30am, with the official start scheduled for 11:30am, at 59th Street and Columbus Circle.
H&M announced two new initiatives this week centered on the betterment of its supply chains, one from the social perspective and one from the environmental.First, the apparel company signed a unique agreement with ILO, under which the partners will address industrial relations, wages, capacity-building for social partners and skills development throughout H&M’s supply chain.
H&M has teamed up with Swedfund, a Swedish company that offers expertise and financial support to emerging markets within Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, in a rare collaboration to try to develop a more ethical Ethiopian textile industry. The main goal of the coupled effort, to be launched this fall, is to promote both high social and environmental standards in an industry which is characteristically plagued with a poor ethical standing.The possibility of a collaboration was brought to light following initial talks between the two companies, before culminating in a joint trip to examine factory conditions in Ethiopia in May.
Airbnb has partnered with Nest to provide selected hosts in the US with free Nest Learning Thermostats as part of an effort to help Airbnb's community of hosts and guests to conserve energy. The Nest Thermostat programs itself, automatically turns down the heat when a host or guest is away, and can be controlled from a mobile device. All hosts who participate in the program will have access to MyEnergy, a service that allows you to track your energy consumption, learn how to save energy, and be more efficient as part of their energy plans.
Unilever and the World Resources Institute (WRI) this week announced a new partnership that will increase transparency in agricultural commodity supply chains with the goal of ending tropical deforestation.
Deforestation can pose significant operational and reputational risks to businesses, and we at EDF are seeing companies start to take action in their supply chains. Deforestation accounts for an estimated 12 percent of overall GHG emissions worldwide — as much global warming pollution to the atmosphere as all of the cars and trucks in the world. In addition, deforestation wipes out biodiversity and ravages the livelihoods of people who live in and depend on the forest for survival.
The travel and tourism industry needs to put sustainability at the forefront of everything it does and businesses need to lead by example — that’s the message from David Scowsill, CEO & president of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Scowsill asked leading sustainable tourism businesses to play their part in ensuring that the industry’s ethics are raised to the highest order.WTTC just launched its 2015 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards program and is calling for applications from companies in the industry who are setting the sustainability benchmark in their field. Scowsill explained that the purpose of the Awards is to be an inspiration to others and to educate governments and travel & tourism businesses about how to improve the sustainability of the Industry.
Novozymes and Monsanto say they have discovered several microbes that are demonstrating increased yield in corn and soybeans, a result of ongoing collaborative research into microbial products farmers can use to help meet rising global demand for food stuffs.This year, the companies’ BioAg Alliance conducted research across 170,000 field trial plots in 70 locations throughout the United States. The companies expect to more than double the number of research field plots next season.
A new global initiative launching Wednesday by DNV GL and Scandinavian innovation think tank Monday Morning Global Institute aims to identify opportunities for sustainable responses to a range of global risks. A series of eight workshops beginning this week around the globe marks the start of the identification process — with the results to be published in the first Global Opportunity Report in January 2015.