How brands are evolving in the area of sustainability marketing and communications — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences.
Greenpeace is arguably the founder of modern environmental activism.
Can humor save us? Today, the Guardian launched a new multimedia series on climate change that aims to drive the public conversation, debate and action on climate change by making its readers laugh. “Too Hot to Handle,” which encourages readers to take “a lighter look at the dark problem of climate change,” was created in partnership with Ben and Jerry’s and will run through December 2015.
Pope Francis has been creating news in sustainability circles lately and lots of it.Why? Well, it’s not just because his message of peace, simplicity, and pursuit of the common good resonates with millions the world round, but also because his beliefs are uniform and undivided in ways political, corporate, union or community leaders can seldom afford to be: It is within each of us, he says without preaching or scolding, to be better people, more caring, more generous and, of course, more considerate of the environment.
Morgan Stanley has announced that it closed on the issuance of a $500 million green bond, its first green bond, as part of the company’s strategy to advance market-based solutions to social and environmental challenges.Funds equal to the net proceeds of Morgan Stanley’s green bond will be allocated to various renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Much of these funds will correspond with investments in existing and future third-party renewable energy projects, primarily wind farms, including Route 66 Wind, a 150 MW wind farm under construction in Texas, and Rattlesnake Wind Energy Center, a 207 MW wind power project also under construction in Texas.
My friend recently purchased a washing machine from a major manufacturer. Its energy efficiency was poor but the carton it was delivered in featured a large recycled packaging label. A credible sustainability claim? I would say not. Believe me, I am all for recycled packaging. But credible claims are relevant to the main sustainability attributes of a product. For a washing machine, that should be energy use. Otherwise, the claim could be misleading – think of the consumer misconstruing the recycled symbol as the mark of an overall ‘green’ washing machine.
335 million square kilometers of ocean waters.¹ 2.3 million square kilometers of forests.² Countless mountain peaks, wetlands and deserts. The earth is vast, and with so many areas of need, it can be difficult to feel like any one individual can make an impact. But there’s another, even larger, statistic that matters: 7 billion–the number of people on our planet.World Environment DayThis year, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has selected the theme #7BillionDreams to celebrate World Environment Day (WED) on Friday, June 5th. When the dreams of the world’s population combined, we can become an unstoppable force for good on behalf of our planet.
A Wednesday afternoon session at SB ’15 San Diego explored compelling case studies on designing and implementing consumer-facing water campaigns. Representatives from Waste Management, Stella Artois and Water.org, the National Hockey League, and WhiteWave Foods described their efforts to engage consumers in their water conservation initiatives and offered tips on creating effective partnerships with NGOs.
SB ’15 San Diego’s final day plenaries centered on what many would describe as the Holy Grail of sustainability engagement: reaching people’s hearts and minds to drive sustainable change. MC’d by Annie Longsworth, founder and CEO of The Siren Agency, the day’s speakers explored topics as varied and interconnected as employee and consumer engagement, stakeholder partnerships and activist visual art.
On Wednesday morning of SB ’15 San Diego, ISEAL Alliance unveiled a new tool that brings clarity to the landscape of sustainability claims and labels, providing key questions any “sustainable” business should ask its partners. ChallengeTheLabel.org is a filter for information about the social and environmental attributes of a product or service. Two years in the making, this user-friendly and interactive tool promises to be helpful for decision-making for sustainable purchasing and procurement for consumers and businesses alike.
AECOM, Van Alen Institute and 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) on Wednesday launched a new ideas competition calling on multidisciplinary teams of students worldwide to identify risks to urban food, energy or water systems and offer strategies that make these systems more efficient, equitable and accessible to diverse populations.
ISEAL Alliance, the global association for sustainability standards and labels, has launched its new “Challenge the Label” website with downloadable tools that helps companies choose credible sustainability labels for their products. ISEAL’s Director of Communications, Lara Koritzke, alongside leaders from Marine Stewardship Council and Bumble Bee Seafoods unveiled the “Challenge the Label” site and buyer tools today at the Sustainable Brands 2015 Conference in San Diego, California.
Matthew Yeomans spoke to a packed house on Tuesday morning, sending the message that social media can no longer be seen as a tactic; it is a fundamental way of doing business — as is sustainability.Yeomans, founder of Sustainly, is a writer and consultant with 20 years’ experience writing and editing at major publications. In his 10 years of advising companies’ online communication strategies, he authored the Social Media Sustainability Index and became one of the UK’s first social media consultancies.
In the words of John Ehrenfeld: “Sustainability is the possibility of human and other life flourishing on the earth forever.” But how many conversations actually lead to flourishing? A workshop on Monday afternoon, day one of SB ’15 San Diego, addressed the ever-present problem of “preaching to the (sustainability) choir.”
On Monday evening, opening night of SB '15 San Diego, Gregg LaBar and members of the Dix & Eaton team led a creative session in the Activation Hub. Instead of presenting from a PowerPoint, they asked a series of questions on their whiteboard, crowdsourced input from attendees, and empowered people to write down and interact with their ideas and those from other attendees. Ask meaningful questions and we usually get meaningful answers.What was the deep-dive topic? Finding the communication sweet spot between “greenblushing” and greenwashing.
The good news is, there is good news. The bad news is, very few know about it.
HP is redoubling its efforts towards improved governance and stakeholder engagement, according to the company’s 2014 Living Progress Report, released Wednesday. The report describes HP’s global citizenship policies, programs and performance through the company’s fiscal year 2014.“Living Progress” is how HP refers to its efforts to integrate sustainability into its business strategy. It’s the framework the company uses as it develops its products, services and solutions, manages its operations and drives interactions with its customers, partners and communities.
Reputation, in a world where social media is the mainstream, can no longer be seen as just a “hygiene” issue where corporate comms and PR agencies handle a few annoying but easily identifiable stakeholders. Instead, when the whole online world can see and comment on your dirty laundry, reputation actually becomes a fundamental part of sustainability. Not least because, all too often, a corporate transgression has a direct effect on the wellbeing of customers, greater society or the planet.
I like singing, dancing and snapping like everyone else when it comes to ‘Single Ladies.’ And I totally agree - if you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it. But it still doesn't mean I like Beyoncé.Why don't I like Beyoncé? Very simple, I have no clue who she is. I've never met her and know anything about her life. How I can I like her? What's there to like? I just don't like her. Not even a bit.Make no mistake, I don't dislike Beyoncé either. I am completely ambivalent when it comes to Beyoncé the person. Beyoncé the person is a complete unknown to me and everyone who isn't close family or friends. How can you like or dislike something or someone you simply don't know and have no clue who or what they are?
BMW, Google and Daimler are the world’s most reputable companies, according to the Reputation Institute’s 2015 Global RepTrak® 100.Rolex, LEGO, The Walt Disney Company, Canon, Apple, Sony and Intel rounded out the top ten.The annual survey measures public perceptions of corporate reputations based on seven dimensions: innovation, leadership, governance, citizenship, workplace, performance and products and services.
Last week, just as TOMS Shoes began enabling socially conscious shoppers to make an impact — for free — through its One Day Without Shoes campaign, WWF launched its first ever emoji-based crowdfunding campaign to help support the organization’s work to protect endangered species and their habitats.