The latest products, services, design approaches and business models that are helping organizations of all sizes deliver on their sustainability ambitions and establish a new business as usual
After recently receiving straight A’s on CDP’s A-List for its approach to climate change, water and deforestation, consumer goods giant Unilever is making moves to expand its portfolio of natural care hair and skincare offerings. The new line of products will target the growing number of consumers seeking more natural, responsible personal care products.
The popularity of electric vehicles is on the rise, but infrastructure constraints have largely kept a widespread EV boom from becoming reality — until now.
Selected from a pool of over 900 applicants, 20 promising African digital startups will participate in the XL Africa residency, the flagship initiative of the business accelerator launched by the World Bank Group’s infoDev program last April. Running from November 6 – 17 in Cape Town, South Africa, selected entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to learn from their mentors and peers, increase their regional visibility and get access to potential corporate partners and investors.
The Nature Conservancy has embarked on a first-of-its-kind partnership with entrepreneurial network Techstars to launch the Techstars Sustainability Accelerator, which aims to identify entrepreneurs with commercially viable technologies to address pressing environmental and social issues.
Renewable energy solutions are on the rise, particularly in the realm of efficiency and storage advancements, making emissions-free electricity more accessible and affordable for all. One drawback, however, is the pressure intermittent renewable energy puts on electrical grids, but Dutch energy expert Alfen may have found the answer. The company has developed the Cellular Smart Grid Platform (CSGriP), which divides the central grid into smaller cells that can operate autonomously and even self-heal.
Today at SB’17 Copenhagen, Makersite co-founder Christoph Wilfert will take attendees through the new features and expanded functionality of the all-in-one open data platform for eco-design, product costing and stewardship. Product teams use it to analyse and collaborate on how things are made and to improve the impacts of making them.
Maybe you remember visiting a post office to pick up one of your online purchases and seeing the hundreds, even thousands, of packages going to other shoppers — to be used once and thrown away. Sure, online purchases need to be individually labelled and protected for transport, so some form of packaging is necessary. But shouldn’t we as environmentally conscious purchasers have a say in how our goods are packaged? And shouldn't sustainably minded brands be able to offer their customers a choice in this matter? Because surely shoppers and brands would choose a returnable, recyclable package for transporting online purchases — especially if it made economic sense. This is where RePack comes in.
The genius physicist Albert Einstein once said, “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” This philosophy acts as a backbone of Pauline Dawes’ idea to truly revolutionise the trucking industry. It is very simple: By using the empty space between the wheels on trailers, the sector can cut down on the amount of journeys being made, saving money, fuel and carbon in the process. It was while working as a director in the logistics sector, and doing an MBA at Manchester Business School, that Dawes was struck by the idea for SOMI Trailers.
Innovators continue to look to nature to create new solutions to tackle everything from water scarcity and depletion to climate change.
There’s no denying it: Clean energy is on the rise in America. Each year, investments in renewable sources of power continue to increase, bringing with it economic and job growth. In fact, it’s on track to deliver an increasing share of total energy supply, putting traditional energy sources to the side. That’s why organizations across the country are committing to renewable energy as a way to meet their sustainability goals and cut energy costs.
Following a recent commitment to source 100 percent sustainable cotton by 2020, Target has introduced a new climate policy and Science-Based Target Initiative-aligned goals aimed at reducing its carbon footprint.
Gold Standard, an organization established by WWF and other NGOs to catalyze action on climate change, is making it easier for anyone to support sustainable development projects around the world while offsetting their carbon footprint with the opening of an online ‘shop’ for carbon credits. For the first time, members of the public, small businesses and organizations can offset their emissions by purchasing carbon credits online through Gold Standard. The carbon credits offered come from a range of projects in Cambodia, China, Sudan, Ethiopia, Laos, Panama and Rwanda, with plans to add additional projects within the coming months.
It’s Waste Reduction Week in Canada, and to celebrate, I spoke to some superstar companies reducing waste through product design that are featured in the National Zero Waste Council’s Design Portfolio. Previously, I interviewed the inventor of the world’s first reusable beeswax food wraps. In this second article of the three-part series, I spoke to Claudio Gemmiti, Club Coffee’s SVP of Innovation and Strategic Growth.
Traceability is an ongoing concern for the textile industry. Technologies such as barcodes, QR codes and RFID tags have been put in place to enhance supply chain transparency, but they often fail to provide complete traceability. Researchers at the University of Borås in Sweden have developed a novel coded yarn-based tracking system that promises to overcome existing limitations and deliver improved traceability.
Ford has announced a new strategy to investors that will see the auto giant leverage its unique product strengths, trusted brand and global scale to refocus and thrive in an evolving and disruptive period for the auto industry. The shift will include greater focus on accelerating the introduction of smart vehicles and services. The investor presentation follows a four-month-deep dive into Ford’s strategy and business operations led by Jim Hackett, Ford’s new President and CEO, and the company’s senior leadership team.
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the seventh edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), with this year’s theme focusing on “investing in inclusive innovation ecosystems.” The IPA seeks to celebrate outstanding breakthroughs that deliver practical, sustainable and commercially viable solutions to African challenges.
Earthshine, a consultancy and think tank focused on business and economic transformation, and remanufacturing company Norsk Ombruk have released a new business case white paper demonstrating how remanufacturing within a circular economy can deliver a wide range of benefits for society, environment and economy.
Nearly three weeks after Puerto Rico was pummeled by Hurricane Maria, the island is still feeling the storm’s disastrous effects. The destruction of transmission lines across the island has left much of Puerto Rico’s population in darkness and without access to information technologies. The problem is critical, but Elon Musk believes Tesla technology may hold the key to rebuilding the US territory’s antiquated grid.
Earlier this week, the Larta Institute, an accelerator for small businesses and startups in science-based innovation, announced that its subsidiary, Larta Inc. has been awarded an exclusive contract by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to manage its national Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP) for as many as 450 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and II awardees per year beginning in September 2017. The DOE granted over $224 million to SBIR recipients in 2016.
Following major electric vehicle announcements from Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Volkswagen last month, General Motors Co. (GM) and, unexpectedly, Dyson have joined the ever-expanding group of automakers and companies dedicated to