How organizations are working to address the myriad social, environmental and operational issues that can arise in complex supply chains
The sustainability challenges facing the clothing industry today are immense. In 2013 the Danish fashion institute estimated it to be the second-most damaging industry in the world, with 25 percent of the world’s pesticides used to grow cotton alon... View More
For the first time ever, family forest owners and well-known marketplace brands will connect and discuss their respective needs and challenges related to sustainable forest management. Mars Inc., McDonald’s, Avery Dennison, and Evergreen Packaging ... View More
WWF-UK and the Food Ethics Council recently interviewed senior food business executives to investigate their understanding of sustainable food security and barriers to achieving it. They said the government needs to take bold action to create a food ... View More
Climate change is only one of the issues to which corporate leaders must be attentive. We live in a world that increasingly sees acute water problems — in some areas too little (drought), in others too much (flooding), and elsewhere poor quality (p... View More
Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestlé and 70 other major food brands already are engaging suppliers on managing climate change, but much work remains to uncover this specific but significant area of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new CDP report.The ... View More
Over 35,600 people have signed a Courage Campaign pledge to boycott several popular California produce companies after news that they may be using contaminated oil industry wastewater to grow their crops. ... View More
Coca-Cola announced today it is on track to meet its 2020 water replenishment goal five years ahead of schedule. The company expects it will safely replenish 100 percent of the water it uses in beverages and production through community water project... View More
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is soliciting feedback on a new traceability tool that verifies seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale. A public consultation period is taking place from August 16th to September 18th, during which in... View More
The Modern Slavery Act, passed into UK law in March, is the first of its kind in Europe, and one of the first in the world, to address slavery and human trafficking in the 21st century. It includes a Transparency in Supply Chains Clause, which as of ... View More
A new WWF cost-benefit analysis released today of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification on a cross-section of forest operators finds that tropical and small or medium producers, regardless of geography, can benefit significantly from attaini... View More
A new report released today from Rainforest Action Network (RAN) documents decades of human rights abuses suffered by communities at the frontlines of plantation expansion for tree-based fabric production. Lessons from the Incense Forest implicates p... View More
This week, a comprehensive special report in The New York Times detailed the very bottom of a systemic epidemic of human rights violations in global supply chains.There are 35.8 million people enslaved worldwide in 2015. One in five is a child. Half ... View More
Today, the US Department of State released its 2015 Global Trafficking in Persons Report, which places countries onto one of three tiers based on the extent of their efforts to comply with “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.” T... View More
If you’re a small-scale designer or apparel brand, managing your supply chain efficiently and sustainably can be a challenge. MadeRight, a startup that recently launched out of Y Combinator, wants to change that.MadeRight is helping designers simp... View More
Farmers have tilled the soil - turning it as preparation for planting - for millennia. But that legacy is under scrutiny today as “soil health” has entered the vernacular – at least amongst people aware of prevailing agri-trends such as those r... View More
Tradeshift, the fastest-growing supplier collaboration platform, today announced its partnership with EcoVadis, creators of the first collaborative platform providing Supplier Sustainability Ratings for global supply chains. The partnership will give... View More
General Mills announced a major move toward cage-free eggs this week as part of an updated animal welfare policy that now extends throughout its global supply chain.The Minnesota-based food giant committed itself to 100 percent cage-free eggs for its... View More
The recent announcement by McDonald's, which outlines its approach to combatting deforestation across its main commodity supply chains, is perhaps the most comprehensive environmental commitment of any major restaurant group. It sets an example for a... View More
Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed new fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.I spoke with Jason Mathers of the Environmental D... View More
Today, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) released a new progress report, titled Testing Commitments to Cut Conflict Palm Oil, ranking the relative strength of palm oil commitments made since the launch of its Snack Food 20 campaign two years ago. The 2... View More