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
American Modular Systems (AMS) has started production on River Vine Vineyards, a new Gen7 Concept Home to be sited on a 50-acre working vineyard along the banks of the Mokelumne River Watershed in Lodi Wine Country.Designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, AMS claims River Vine will be one of most advanced, high-end prefabricated residences ever constructed — a state-of-the-art smart home that will take sustainable prefabricated design and construction to the next level.
My last social post explored how living wage employers benefit from higher productivity levels, lower hiring costs, better brand recognition and increased customer satisfaction. In this article, I focus on the importance of Social Buying, the third of the four core corporate strategies that I explore in more detail in my Social Value Business Guide, which examines why social businesses are more profitable businesses and explains how your company can become a change agent in the local community and a leader in the global marketplace.
Diverting waste from landfills and the innovative reuse of textiles are becoming higher priorities for businesses large and small. From pro baseball teams to grocery stores, partnerships are helping companies send less waste to the dump.
What can we learn about purpose from design? In preparation for launching this series and my consulting business, I decided I needed a bit of a crash course on design. I’ve always been interested in design (particularly interior and visual design), and I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person, but I’ve always felt I lacked the skills to succeed.Well, now at least I know I was mostly lacking the knowledge. Like everything, turns out being a good designer is like most things. First, you learn the basics, then practice, a lot, till you get to the point where you’re good enough to break the rules, then do that.
TiE Silicon Valley, a not for profit organization dedicated to "fostering entrepreneurship in the Bay Area and globally," has announced an upcoming hackathon event focused on tackling three real-world issues within the “smart city” space: smart parking, waste disposal management and water access management.The event will begin in January 2016 and will last for two weeks. Winners will be invited to attend TiECon 2016, TiE's largest annual conference, and will also have an opportunity to win prizes and publicity.
Reimagine Food, an organization on a mission to create an “ecosystem for the techno-food revolution,” has announced the second edition of its Prometheus accelerator program. Touted as the first disruptive food and tech program in the world, Prometheus will accept startups using emerging technologies to create food sector solutions.
Renewable energy company Masdar kicked off its Innovation Week activities by announcing the Middle East’s first startup accelerator focused on sustainability and clean tech.
“There was an American comedian 100 years ago that said, ‘If we don’t change direction soon, then we’ll end up where we’re going.’ Where we’re going at the moment is not very pretty.”So said Geoff Kendall, CEO of the Future Fit Foundation, as he opened this breakout session, continuing by explaining that a clear, defined destination is needed for companies to know where they should be headed.“At the start of any journey, the most important step is to understand what the destination is; something that we have been lacking in the sustainability world. That is what the Future Fit Business Benchmark is.”
One the final sessions at SB ’15 London saw Mandar Apte, chemical engineer and program manager of Shell's GameChanger program on social innovation, facilitate an interactive workshop about how to drive social innovation from inside large organisations and how this could empower the employees and create shared value - for business and society.Apte started by demonstrating the power of the relationship economy. He drove home the idea that in this world of open innovation, it is important to build relationships.
The final morning plenary at SB ’15 London brought together a handful of popular household brands with some established and up-and-coming industry innovators, all of which pulled back the curtain on key success factors for bringing sustainability into their business strategy.
Athletics brand adidas will end the use of microbeads in its body care products by January 1, 2016. With the help of its license partner Coty, adidas has outpaced body care industry giants in eliminating the plastic beads from their products.
On November 18, telecommunications company AT&T announced goals for 2025. The goals represent the company’s first long-term roadmap for its citizenship and sustainability work, and focus on three areas: networks and customers, supply chain, and communities.The three corresponding goals for 2025 are:
On Tuesday, BBMG co-founder Raphael Bemporad hosted the second morning’s plenaries at SB ’15 London. He began by highlighting the transitionary power of sustainable brands.“As we begin the conversation today, I’d like us to think about the privileged position we occupy as a force for societal and market transformation,” he said. “We are uniquely placed: We can harness the emotional power of brands to convey stories and to channel aspirations, but we also embody sustainability — we’re system thinkers, we’re innovators. When we bring these two things together, we have the power to shape culture and shape the market.”
Apparel brand TOMS, the poster child of the one-for-one business model, is taking its support for fellow purpose-driven businesses to the next level. The newly launched TOMS Social Entrepreneurship Fund is investing in up-and-coming startups that can make a difference.
Telecommunication company Globe Telecom is advocating responsible use of mobile devices in school campuses in the Philippines to leverage advancement in information and communications technology, according to a recent announcement.While government learning institutions are now adopting the use of ICT materials, the use of digital technologies as a learning tool is not as widespread as it should be, Globe Telecom said.However, even if technology is available in the schools, children increasingly are gaining access to some devices, as internet-enabled smartphones abound.
Kicking off this Monday morning workshop at SB’15 London was Raphael Bemporad from BBMG. He soon got the room buzzing with his warm welcome and introduction to the topic for the morning’s workshop: market insights related to customer attitudes and behavior.
Arriving a few minutes late after taking ‘the sustainable option’ and walking to the Beaumont Estate from Egham station, Forum for the Future’s Zoe Le Grand kicked off Monday morning’s Net Positive workshop. “Nature cannot continue to provide as the population grows and grows,” she asserted. “We are not going to get there by doing what we have always done or just being 10 percent more efficient. Business needs to step up the level of ambition and drive things faster and further.”So what is Net Positive?“Net Positive is about aiming to put back more than the organization takes out; with overall positive impact. This is a mindset shift that the organizations I have worked with have found very helpful.
Workshops often vary in their composition of speaker insights, Q&As and practical activities, but Monday afternoon’s SB’15 London session with Chris Sherwin, Head of Sustainability at design firm Seymourpowell, was all about active participation. You’d expect a workshop focused on product design and innovation to be a hub for brewing and evolving ideas (from the obvious to the most far-fetched) and it lived up to expectations.
GRI, developer of one of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards, has launched its latest Linkage Document at the Fourth United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights.Linking G4 and the UN Guiding Principles highlights the connections between the GRI G4 Reporting Guidelines (G4) and key concepts of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These include due diligence, grievance mechanisms and impact assessments — undertaken both for operations and suppliers — which are also recurring concepts throughout G4.
On Monday, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, launched a peatland rehabilitation project in Indonesia and committed to 100 percent traceability to mill by the end of 2015.