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
On Monday, Barclays reaffirmed its commitment to the Green Bonds sector by announcing it will invest a minimum of £1bn (US$1.64) by November 2015 to form part of its liquid asset buffer — one of the largest such investments by a bank."Every so often, market innovation and social imperatives come together to create something exciting that has the potential to make a real difference,” said Tushar Morzaria, Group Finance Director at Barclays. “The Green Bond sector is a fast-growing and powerful example of this synthesis."
As a marketer, your goal is to win fans and keep them. You do that by making a difference. And by showing what moves you. What you stand for. But what is the best way to get to the core of your brand?
Unilever has partnered with the ad:tech London initiative and the trade show’s Future Media and Technology Summit. With this new partnership, a range of marketing and media tech startup hopefuls will pitch their ideas to brand, agency and venture capital judges to win the prestigious honor of being named "The Next Big Thing."
Burlington, Vermont now acquires all of its energy from renewable sources, including wind, hydro, and biomass, after the recent purchase of 7.4 megawatt Winooski One hydroelectric project.The city of 42,000 people, through the Burlington Electric Department, will get around one-third of its power from a biomass facility that primarily uses wood chips from logging residue; one-third from wind energy contracts; and one-third from the hydroelectric stations Winooski One and Hydro-Québec.Vermont has a statewide goal of securing 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, which includes electricity, heating, and transportation.
Parx Plastics, a Dutch-Italian bio-innovator in antibacterial plastic technology, is launching its first ready-to-use Saniconcentrates™ for manufacturers in Europe and the US to safely create self-sanitizing products with an antibacterial property of up to 99 percent within 24 hours*.
Shell and Brazilian soccer player Pelé this week showcased a first-of-its-kind soccer field capable of capturing kinetic energy created by players' movement and combining it with nearby solar power to generate renewable electricity.Located in the heart of Morro da Mineira, a Rio de Janeiro favela, the soccer field uses 200 high-tech, underground tiles that capture kinetic energy created by the movement of the players. The energy is then stored and combined with the power generated by solar panels next to the field to convert into renewable electricity for the new floodlights, giving everyone in the favela a safe and secure community space at night.
What happens when a publicly traded, 147-year-old global food and beverage institution buys a scrappy, organic baby food startup dedicated to alleviating hunger for children in the US?On the one-year anniversary of Plum Organics’ both becoming a B Corp and being acquired by what CEO & co-founder Neil Grimmer calls “an American icon,” we caught up with Grimmer and Dave Stangis, VP of Public Affairs & Corporate Responsibility at Campbell Soup Company, last week at SOCAP to find out if the mission-driven startup and the multinational corporation are still in the honeymoon phase.
Cross-Posted from New Metrics. In order to better help its customers align environmental and societal considerations with business success, BASF has developed a new process for steering its portfolio based on sustainability criteria. Launched today, the Sustainable Solution Steering method is used to systematically review and evaluate the sustainability aspects of the approximately 50,000 relevant product applications in the company’s portfolio, which represent sales of €56 billion. The benefit: This externally validated process makes it possible to measure the products’ contribution to sustainability within their various markets and industries and to increase this contribution through targeted steps.
Cura Coffee Co, a San Diego-based startup, sells a direct-trade, premium organic coffee that directly connects coffee lovers with the farmers who produce it.
General Mills announced Monday that it will acquire Annie’s, Inc, a leading U.S. producer of branded organic and natural food products with net sales of $204 million in its latest fiscal year (completed March 2014).
Controlling the size of your portions is a great way to save money, food and unnecessary health problems caused by obesity. Eating out, on the other hand, takes that control away from you — unless you go for a restaurant that’s signed up for Halfsies. Launched at the end of 2012 in Texas and New York, it’s an initiative that lets you donate half of your food before it even gets to the table. Apart from the warm, fuzzy feeling you'll get from giving, your waistline will be thankful as well.
Datacoup, “The World’s First Personal Data Marketplace,” launched Thursday, providing a platform for individuals to aggregate, analyze and sell their own personal data. After a successful beta period with over 1,200 active users testing new site features and receiving money for their data, the service is primed to welcome 10,000+ individuals on its waiting list, as well as the general public, to its platform.
Anheuser-Busch has announced it is replacing its 66 diesel tractor fleet in Houston with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered tractors. This marks the beer company’s first conversion of an entire brewery fleet and represents a significant milestone in achieving its goal to reduce carbon emissions.“The next-generation CNG engine technology paired with support from state incentive programs contributed to our ability to take such a significant step in fully converting our Houston fleet,” said James Sembrot, Senior Director of Transportation at Anheuser-Busch. “Houston is a strategic choice due to the central location to our facilities and distribution radius, as well as its proximity to fueling stations.”
Apple has topped the electronics sector in addressing its environmental footprint, according to a new report released by Greenpeace. In the same week that Berlin will gather some of the world’s biggest technology companies for its IFA 2014 technology show, Greenpeace has released a new report, Green Gadgets: Designing the future, evaluating which of these products wins the award for having the lowest environmental impact.
The first commercial-scale biofuel plant in the United States is now open and will eventually produce more than 25 million gallons of fuel a year from corn waste.Project LIBERTY converts baled corn cobs, leaves, husk and stalk into renewable fuel. The $272 million plant, located in Emmetsburg, Iowa, has officially started up, processing its first batch of biomass into cellulosic ethanol and is moving forward toward continuous operation. At full capacity, the facility will convert 770 tons of biomass per day to produce ethanol at a rate of 20 million gallons per year, later ramping up to 25 million gallons per year.
CVS Caremark today announced three potentially game-changing developments for its brand and its business. First, the pharmacy chain has changed its corporate name from CVS Caremark to CVS Health, to reflect its broader commitment to healthcare — first illustrated in February by its bold decision to discontinue the sale of all tobacco products.CVS Health encompasses the company’s retail business, which will continue to be called CVS/pharmacy; its pharmacy benefit management business, which is known as CVS/caremark; its walk-in medical clinics, CVS/minuteclinic; and its growing specialty pharmacy business, CVS/specialty.
RSF Social Finance, a San Francisco-based organization that lends money to path-breaking social enterprises, is launching a campaign Sept. 2 to find the Next 25 Social Enterprise Stars (#SocentStars).The campaign, kicking off in concert with SOCAP 2014, the world’s leading conference on impact investing and social enterprise, is designed to attract RSF’s next cohort of extraordinary, mission-driven borrowers. RSF wants to add 25 social enterprise stars to its loan portfolio over the next year.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute has announced the semi-finalists for the 2014 Fuller Challenge. Named "Socially Responsible Design’s Highest Award," the Fuller Challenge invites scientists, designers, architects, activists, entrepreneurs, artists and planners from all over the world to submit their solutions to some of humanity’s most pressing problems. A $100,000 prize is awarded to support the development and implementation of one outstanding strategy.
FedEx could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in drivers’ operating expenses and wages after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a class of 2,300 individuals working for FedEx Ground was misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees.As a result, FedEx may owe its workforce of drivers hundreds of millions of dollars for illegally shifting to them the costs of such things as the FedEx branded trucks, FedEx branded uniforms, and FedEx scanners, as well as missed meal and rest period pay, overtime compensation, and penalties. The case, known as Alexander v. FedEx Ground, covers employees in California from 2000 - 2007.
invisaband is a DEET-free, mosquito-repellent microfiber bracelet currently seeking funding on Indiegogo.Creator Gogadgety, Inc. says invisaband improves upon existing repellent lotions and sprays in several ways: