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
With the SB Innovation Open finals taking place in just one week at SB ’15 San Diego, we wanted to give you a glimpse of some of the amazing sustainable startups competing this year. From saving paper with invisible ink to an “Expedia for restaurateurs,” this year’s crop of SBIO semi-finalists are set to revolutionize their respective industries.
Shareholders of ExxonMobil and Chevron and members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) say they will focus on climate change at the companies’ annual general meetings (AGMs) this coming Wednesday.
Earth Day 2015 marked $6.22 trillion invested in the global green transition since 2007, on track to meet the Green Transition Scoreboard® (GTS) goal of $10 trillion privately invested in the green economy by 2020 to effectively scale innovations and reduce costs in green technologies. The report, Breakdowns Driving Breakthroughs, focuses on Life Systems, a new category capturing system-wide interconnections, equaling 14 percent of the overall $6.22 trillion total.
Sustainable-minded beer lovers rejoice because a new UK-based microbrewery called Bucks Star plans to use solar power to make its beer.The startup says the ingredients, the brewing process and the energy source to run its machinery are all focused on “freshness and sustainability.” All of its beers will be handmade to boot.To get its operation off the ground, the startup is crowdsourcing both funds and ideas for beer recipes. It has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise £2,800 ($4,350 USD).
NASA, along with the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute — known as America Makes — are holding a $2.25 million competition to design and build a 3D-printed habitat for deep space exploration, including NASA’s journey to Mars.The multi-phase 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The competition is aimed at advancing the additive construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond.
Since Ellen MacArthur made the transition in 2009 from world-record-breaking sailor to champion of the circular economy, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has become a driving force behind shifting our approach to business away from that of take-make-waste to one centered on resilience, reuse and optimality.
Sonoma County, Calif.-based Jackson Family Wines is among the first winemakers to install Tesla Energy’s new energy-storage technology and currently one of Tesla’s largest installations: An early strategic collaborator in the development of the technology, JFW already has 21 Tesla stationary storage systems in place at its Kendall-Jackson winery and others.
The United States leads the world in cleantech investments, patents, renewable energy generation and electric vehicle (EV) adoption, but still is slow to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new ranking by Next 10.Over the last two decades, however, the U.S. has become more energy productive, using less energy per dollar of GDP generated.
Last week, seven young nominees were announced for the 2015 Inspired Leadership Award (ILA), an annual prize recognizing leaders with the potential to positively impact lives on a global scale for generations to come.
Just three months after announcing its industry-leading achievement of zero waste to landfill across its global factory network and weeks after confirming that its Sustainable Living Plan is having an increasingly positive impact on its growth, cost efficiency and resilience, CPG giant Unilever has reached another milestone — announcing today that it has saved 1 million tons of CO2 throughout its manufacturing network since 2008.
On Thursday, Bank of America Corporation announced that it has issued its second green bond for $600 million in aggregate principal amount, as part of its ongoing commitment to promoting a low-carbon economy by advancing renewable energy and promoting energy efficiency.
In 2010, Verizon set a goal to collect two million pounds — or 1,000 tons — of electronic waste in communities it serves by the end of 2015. The company has announced that that five-year goal was achieved today, eight months ahead of schedule, during Verizon's e-waste recycling rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, as area residents, businesses and Verizon employees safely disposed of tens of thousands of pounds of unwanted computer hardware, TVs and small appliances.The two million pounds collected for recycling over the past five years is equal to the weight of 500 average cars, or roughly 50,000 cathode ray tube computer screens.
From sustainability consultants to environmental compliance professionals, and from emissions or waste monitoring specialists to Vice Presidents of Sustainability, the challenge is the same: to tell their story. Perhaps the most difficult — and arguably the most important — part of their job is communicating: communicating with the media, with their executive team and in-house decision-makers, with professional partners, and with the general public.
With the rise of brands such as Warby Parker, Soapbox Soaps, Plum Organics and Bombas Socks, the one-for-one giving model has become a popular way for companies to easily tie social impact to consumer product purchases and show just how easy it can be to support a worthy cause.
With a rise in brands claiming to contribute to corporate social responsibility, it’s common for conscientious consumers to feel they’re “doing good” in their purchases, without actually knowing where their money is going.Outdoor gear brand Cotopaxi is trying to reconnect the consumer and cause; each of its products is attached to a specific humanitarian cause, ranging from clean water provision in India to a child’s schooling in Peru. When you buy a product from Cotopaxi, you know what difference your purchase has made.
Last week, Ford announced that its 2016 F-150 truck will have an available gaseous-fuel prep package that enables 5.0-liter, V8-powered models to run on clean, low-cost compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane, making Ford the only manufacturer of a CNG/propane-capable half-ton pickup.Next year’s F-150 will be available for order this summer. Along with the factory-installed, gaseous-fuel prep package, the new model includes upgraded intake and exhaust valves and valve seats to ensure the engine performs to customers’ expectations.
Last month, Vancouver welcomed back the ninth season of Eco Fashion Week (EFW), to celebrate the ongoing transformation of the fashion industry into one that is aware of and co-exists with the environment. This year’s Eco Fashion Week fell during Earth Week, with Offsetters Climate Solutions on board as the Official Offset Sponsor, helping to raise awareness of the environmental, and more specifically, the carbon impact made by the fashion industry worldwide. The week was inspiring, energizing and reinvigorating, full of runway shows, speaker sessions, films and, of course, more shows!
More and more companies are beginning to acknowledge the importance of water stewardship to the longevity of their operations, regardless of industry. Consumer-facing brands can have added impact — and have added responsibility — to engage their customers on this critical issue, as well.
In 2012, we launched the Think Big Blueprint, our first sustainability plan that set big, ambitious goals that we hoped would transform our role in the world around us. We set three goals and 40 commitments, and gave ourselves three years to achieve them.The idea at the heart of the Blueprint is that not only do we need to continuously improve our own social and environmental impacts, we also have a unique opportunity to inspire and enable millions of others to live more sustainable lives through our products and services.
New York consumes too much energy, London and Paris use relatively fewer resources and Tokyo conserves water well, according to a new study on "megacity metabolism," as reported by ScienceDaily.As the world's first comprehensive survey of resources used and removed in each of the world's 27 largest metropolitan areas, the findings could point the way toward strategies to make cities more sustainable.