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The Next Economy

The myriad new models and processes aimed at fixing the flaws in capitalism and laying the groundwork for practical, alternative economic frameworks designed to benefit all stakeholders.

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The New Reuse Economy: What’s Working (and Not Working) on the Quest for a Packaging Waste-Free Future

Cross-Posted from Waste Not. While recycling and lightweighting packaging strategies are helpful, they still align more with a linear rather than circular economy. Here, Upstream CEO Matt Prindiville lays out his organization’s vision for a truly plastic waste-free future.

2 New Funds Show Companies, Investors Putting Money Where Their Mouths Are on Biodiversity Commitments

Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. With a fresh spotlight on the critical role of biodiversity in the health of the planet, climate and economy, two ambitious new funds aim to mobilize millions in resources to scale on-the-ground, nature-preservation and -regeneration projects and nature-based climate solutions around the world.

Putting Recycling to Work for People, Communities and the Planet

Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. To create a truly circular ecosystem for plastics, we need scalable innovations to close the gap between what consumers can recycle now and which plastics might become a regular part of a future recycling system.

2022 Trends in Purpose and What They Mean for the Year Ahead

This year, we saw companies double-down on purpose amidst a rise in consumer skepticism and politically motivated attacks on ESG. Below are six notable trends and what they might mean for 2023.

3 Predictions for Cellular Agriculture in 2023

Cross-Posted from Product, Service & Design Innovation. Due to the urgency of solving our most formidable climate- and health-related challenges, we regard decision-makers’ behavior vis-à-vis cellular agriculture — and cultivated food products, in particular — to be of some consequence when considering what lies in store for 2023.

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Can Insuring Nature Encourage the Necessary Action to Protect It from Climate Risks?

Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. COP15 again highlighted the importance of ensuring money moves in the right direction to bring about lasting environmental protection. One example is The Nature Conservancy’s recent purchase of a coral reef insurance policy to protect Hawai‘i’s marine environment from damage by hurricanes or tropical storms.

Climate Policymakers Denounce UK Approval of New ‘Net-Zero’ Coal Mine

The mine’s operator and UK government pledge to offset nearly 500,000 annual tons of emissions through carbon credits; but the clear greenwashing has been lambasted by critics the world over.

Opinion: Why Some Big Brands ‘Aren’t Convinced’ by Plastic Credits

80M tons of plastic waste will end up in the environment just in the next 10 years. Without voluntary, global producer responsibility programs to unlock capital towards infrastructure and bridge the policy vacuum, how else do polluters suggest for us to tackle this massive financing gap in the meantime?

COP15 Must Mark a Turning Point for Meat and Dairy Investors

Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. Meat and dairy companies need to go further and faster to protect our natural world — before politicians, regulators and investors make the decision for them. The latest FAIRR Index shows what’s possible and shines a spotlight on the investment risks of maintaining the status quo.

Creating Life from Death: Transcend Attempts to Reverse the Environmental Impacts of Burial

Cross-Posted from Product, Service & Design Innovation. The new startup offers a regenerative ‘tree burial’ service that reimagines cemeteries as forests — enabling the dearly departed to truly give back to the land and encouraging younger generations to think about death in new ways.

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Energy Startup’s Biomimetic Solar Trees Planting Roots for a Net-Zero Future

Cross-Posted from Cleantech. Inspired by nature, SolarBotanic’s solar trees use leaf-shaped, thin-film, photovoltaic nanotechnology to harness both sun and eventually wind energy to power houses, charge EVs or be stored for future use.

COP15: ‘Environmental DNA’ Technology Enables World-First Nature Performance-Monitoring Service

Cross-Posted from New Metrics. NatureMetrics says new platform represents breakthrough in understanding and managing our impact on nature — providing simple, standardized metrics to track and report on site-based nature impacts.

Record Number of Companies Recognize Biodiversity Risks, But Struggling to Turn Commitments Into Action

Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. Self-reported data from over 7,700 companies that responded to questions on biodiversity through CDP’s climate change questionnaire shows they are ready to disclose on biodiversity, sending a powerful signal to negotiators ahead of COP15.

Breaking Through the Logjam to Accelerate Decarbonization in the Energy Sector

Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. Why have the collective efforts of national governments, NGOs, forward-looking companies and citizens had so little impact on curbing carbon emissions? Here are three reasons why high-level pledges are not translating into concrete actions — and what’s needed to break through.

COP27 Yields More Impressive Forest-Conservation Commitments; But Will Our Efforts Go Up in Smoke?

Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. From COP27, we see more and more business initiatives focused on not only reaching sustainability, but averting a climate crisis and achieving nature positivity — but have climate-fueled forest fires already nullified our chances at an effective carbon market?

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Purpose-Driven Brands Continue to Encourage More Conscious Consumption Habits in Antidote to Black Friday

Cross-Posted from Behavior Change. As US consumers report more conservative gifting plans due to money worries, alternatives such as Freitag’s S.W.A.P. events and Poshmark’s Secondhand Sunday meet the downshift in enthusiasm for the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

ShippingEasy Pilots Carbon-Neutral Shipping for Ecommerce Merchants During the Holiday Season

Cross-Posted from Product, Service & Design Innovation. The Texas-based small-business shipper, in partnership with South Pole, will offset merchants’ shipping emissions by funding a renewable energy project in Oklahoma.

New Report Guides Private Sector on How to Simultaneously Tackle Escalating Climate, Health Crises

New research from Forum for the Future and four healthcare giants calls on businesses, policymakers and the finance community to accelerate progress against the mounting threats to human health from the climate crisis.

Are We Seeing Glimmers of a Healthier, Even Regenerative, Economic System?

Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. Last week at [**SB’22 San Diego**](https://events.sustainablebrands.com/conferences/sustainablebrands), over 1K sustainability practitioners converged to share insights, tools, inspiration and opportunities for collaboration with the goal of building a regenerative future for all. Here, we hear highlights from our day four keynotes, which featured glimpses into the next frontier in finance and capitalism.

Empowering Waste Pickers, Building Communities and Closing the Loop

Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. In Latin America, where recycling rates remain below 10%, grassroots circular solutions are slowly beginning to scale — thanks to growing legitimacy, education, organization and protections for informal waste workers, who remain the backbone of the region’s collection and recycling infrastructure.

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