Hannah Ritchie
Hannah Ritchie is tagged in 71 stories.
Page 1 of 4.
Innovation & Technology /
The private vehicle sector has been one of the first and most pressing to push for a transition in the way we value the consumer economy. Companies such as Uber, Zipcar and Blablacar have stirred both applause and controversy as their disruptive business models have taken the marketplace by storm.
- 8 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
How does one move from a career as a commercial fisherman to becoming the winner of the 2015 Fuller Challenge, one of the most prestigious sustainability prizes? Bren Smith, founder of Thimble Island Ocean Farm and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, snagged the US$100,000 prize for his 3D ocean-farming model, which aims to address the range of most pressing sustainability issues in the fishing industry: degradation of marine ecosystems, climate change mitigation and resilience, depleting fish stocks, and a decline in local fisherman jobs.
- 8 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
While these models were implemented with the best of intentions, their lack of a holistic approach to the problems they’re aiming to address undermines a key selling point for mission-driven business models: the mutual benefits of improved reputation and profits.
- 8 years ago
Circular Economy /
The concept of the circular economy has, at least over the last couple of years, evolved as somewhat of a holy grail for the sustainable business world. It offers the possibility of decoupling growth and resource consumption; a beacon of hope for companies currently grappling with the need to increase profit while reducing their overall footprints. Yet still many view it only as a promising aspect, somewhat confused as to how to transition standard business models from the linear to circular; how to measure these steps along the way, and what an end target might look like. Wednesday morning’s session at SB’15 London aimed to address some of these barriers.
- 8 years ago
Organizational Governance /
There was a lot of discussion last week at SB’15 London around the so-called ‘aspirational generation’ - a rising generation of millennials with higher sustainability expectations of brands whose products they buy, as well as for those they work for. How to attract and retain a motivated workforce (younger and older, alike) with more stringent demands for positive purpose and impact was the core theme of Tuesday afternoon’s breakout session.
- 8 years ago
Organizational Governance /
In the midst (and potentially mist) of the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal, there was no better time to discuss the ESG (environmental, social and governance) regulation space than SB’15 London.
- 8 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
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.
- 8 years ago
Collaboration & Co-Creation /
It was the job of Zöe Arden, director of think-tank SustainAbility, to kick-start the workshop sessions on Monday morning at SB ’15 London with a focus on how to drive business model transformation from inside a company. This workshop was a developed as a hotly requested follow-up to SustainAbility’s workshop last year at SB’14 London, focused on Business Model Innovations for Sustainability.
- 8 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the total number of people without access to clean drinking water now stands at 663 million; each year, more than 840,000 globally die from water-related diseases. A key challenge in developing effective water filter technologies has been making them cheap and portable for distribution to those who need them.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
We have been following Chile-based startup Bureo from its launch in late 2013 to its first incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign last year. Now the company, which got its start upcycling plastic marine waste lining Chile’s waters and shores, has expanded its product range to sunglasses.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
Last month I did a feature interview with Davis Smith, CEO of outdoor gear and apparel company Cotopaxi, and was impressed with the way the brand had managed to build sustainability and social responsibility into its business model.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a range of startup fashion brands doing inspiring work on developing sustainable and socially responsible business models. However, it’s hard to escape the fact that the textile industry’s notoriously poor reputation means that these innovators are currently the exception and not the rule.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
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.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
It is often presumed in the modern world that drawing people out of poverty results in higher carbon emissions and environmental impact; the biggest driver of greenhouse gas emissions has been economic growth. However, Tilonia®, an ethical accessories brand based in Rajasthan, India, has shown that the conventional growth model can be broken.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
With two billion pounds of waste generated by the seafood industry in Alaska alone, finding creative ways to repurpose this waste represents an economic opportunity as well as an environmental imperative. We’ve seen shrimp shells turned into everything from bioplastic to solar cells … but upcycling seafood byproducts into clothing likely wouldn’t be a top-of-mind solution for most people.
- 9 years ago
Materials & Packaging /
The world today has a plastic addiction, a vice that creates major environmental issues by entering waterways and clogging up our landfills and oceans. The problem is that conventional plastics have a half-life (the time it takes for half of the product to degrade) of hundreds of years — basically, once the plastic is discarded, it’s in the environment for the long haul.Solutions including “bioplastic” and “biodegradable” plastics have been proposed and often marketed to consumers as such. One of the possible remedies is the use of additives in plastics, which help break them down in the environment. Could they be the answer?
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
International fashion brand EILEEN FISHER has announced its new Vision2020 campaign, detailing the strides it plans to take in the next five years to attain 100 percent sustainability in its practices.
- 9 years ago
Consumer Behavior Change /
After an often-heated six years of confrontation between activist group ForestEthics and paper and packaging giant 3M, the conflict finally came to an end yesterday as 3M announced its new paper and wood pulp sourcing policy. ForestEthics, which has been critical of the corporation’s sourcing policy, has applauded its new commitment to tracing its virgin wood fiber and ensuring it comes from renewable sources.
- 9 years ago
Supply Chain /
Heineken last week announced plans to team up with The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as part of a new sustainability initiative to support environmental and social growth movements in the developing world.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
L-R: Mart and Rob Drake-Knight | Image credit: RapanuiAs more and more brands begin to tout their sustainability credentials, increasingly savvy and conscientious shoppers are looking for companies that are walking their talk, with products and practices that reflect an authentic commitment to doing better business.
- 9 years ago