Mike Hower
Managing Director, Sustainability & Social Impact
Deutsche Bank
Mike Hower is tagged in 1051 stories.
Page 10 of 53.
Waste Not /
The largest landfill in the world can’t be found on land at all — but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The so-called “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” consists of millions of pounds of trash, mostly plastic, which have created an oceanic desert where only tiny phytoplankton can survive.
- 8 years ago
Behavior Change /
The Norwegian parliament has unanimously voted for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (GPFG) to adopt strong divestment criteria for companies involved in coal mining and coal fired utilities, including 49 companies and subsidiaries based in the United States.The GPFG is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and the new criteria will most likely force it to divest from 122 companies totaling $8.7 billion, according to calculations made by Urgewald, Greenpeace and Future in Our Hands.The exclusion criteria states that any company deriving more than 30 percent of its activity from coal will be excluded from GPFG’s portfolio, including both coal mining and coal fired utilities.
- 8 years ago
Waste Not /
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced it achieved a water use ratio of 3.2 hectoliters per hectoliter of production from 2013 to 2014, which the company says makes it the most water-efficient brewer in the world.This resulted in saving the equivalent of the amount of water it takes to make more than 4 billion cans of beers.In addition to the work done within its brewery walls, the company says it also engages in a comprehensive water stewardship program, including watershed protection measures in brewery communities facing water stress and working with barley growers to obtain the most "crop per drop." The efforts aim to improve the quality and quantity of available water for all users.
- 8 years ago
Marketing and Comms /
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.
- 8 years ago
Collaboration /
Whirlpool Corporation and Kohler will collaborate to identify ways to achieve net-zero water in the home, according to an announcement made this week at SB '15 San Diego.During the conference, representatives from both companies discussed a shared hope to create energy and water advancements that lead to reduced consumption and allow existing buildings to become self-sustaining systems.
- 8 years ago
Behavior Change /
Ben & Jerry’s has announced that it will institute its own internal carbon tax of $10 for every metric ton of its greenhouse gas emissions, from farm to landfill.Using a recent Lifecycle Analysis that gave the ice cream company a “cow-to-cone” picture of its carbon footprint, Ben & Jerry’s says it will be putting the funds from the tax to jumpstart sustainbility programs it’s already working on. Due to the fact that the dairy component counts for 42 percent of its overall lifecycle emissions, the company will start by working with farmers to develop and implement carbon footprint-reducing strategies.
- 8 years ago
Cleantech /
A majority (87 percent) of public sector sustainability professionals in the UK have begun to embrace smart technologies, but future projects are stymied by lack of finance and poor implementation strategy, according to new research by GE Lighting and the Carbon Trust.The most common areas where there has been significant smart technology adoption are building efficiency (77 percent), LED lighting (57 percent) and water and waste technologies (24 percent). The smart technologies most commonly installed include intelligent features such as sensors, which combined with internet connectivity and control systems, enhance performance and efficiency and reduce resource consumption, costs and carbon emissions.
- 8 years ago
Cleantech /
Future improvements in information technology will lead to greater transparency, with sustainability reporting moving fully into the digital realm and occurring in real-time instead of annually, according to a new paper by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).Sustainability and Reporting Trends in 2025: Preparing for the Future examines future trends in sustainability and corporate reporting and disclosure following a series of thought-leadership interviews.
- 8 years ago
Marketing and Comms /
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.
- 8 years ago
Supply Chain /
The Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) today announced it is available to help companies navigate compliance with the pending conflict minerals legislation recently voted on by the European Parliament.In addition, the CFSI says it is adopting a risk-based approach to its audit program to bolster audits of smelters and refiners of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold worldwide.The draft EU legislation on conflict minerals requires importers and processors of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold to self-certify via independent, third-party due diligence audits of smelters and refiners that their products do not directly or indirectly finance conflict and serious human rights abuses.
- 8 years ago
Marketing and Comms /
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.
- 8 years ago
Waste Not /
As concerns over bulging landfills abound, a diverse and growing group of innovators across the country are looking for new ways to transform trash into something less wasteful.The Minnesota Twins and Eco-Products, for example, recently partnered to reduce the waste generated at Target Field through a new effort to divert fans' trash from the landfill by turning it into fertile soil.Eco-Products, which makes single use foodservice products made from renewable and recycled resources, is supplying hundreds of thousands of compostable cups, plates, trays, utensils and straws at Target Field. Virtually all packaging used at Target Field will be either compostable or recyclable, the company says.
- 8 years ago
Product, Service & Design Innovation /
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).
- 8 years ago
Cleantech /
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.
- 8 years ago
Leadership /
San Diego, Calif., Aurora, Colo., Torrance, Calif., Poway Calif. and Hermosa Beach, Calif. are the cities with the highest percentage of residents that made pledges during a monthlong campaign in April to promote water efficiency.The 2015 Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, organized by the Wyland Foundation and Toyota, involved residents from more than 3,900 cities making 391,325 pledges online to reduce their water use at home, around the yard and in their lives. The challenge addressed the growing importance of educating consumers about the many ways they use water, the organizers say.
- 8 years ago
Marketing and Comms /
Climate change is literally killing us, according to some of the nation’s leading medical practitioners, who have found direct and indirect links between it and an increase in respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease and heat-related deaths. Americans also face increased risks to their health and well-being from injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events.
- 8 years ago
Behavior Change /
Employer-sponsored smoking cessation programs with financial incentives are associated with higher rates of quitting smoking and sustained abstinence, according to a new study by the CVS Health Research Institute and researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.Published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study helped shape a new smoking cessation program for CVS Health employees that will launch in June 2015.
- 8 years ago
Marketing and Comms /
Beekeepers across the United States lost more than 40 percent of their honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2014 to April 2015, according to the latest results of an annual nationwide survey led by a University of Maryland professor.While winter loss rates improved slightly compared to last year, summer losses and total annual losses were more severe. Commercial beekeepers were hit hardest by the high rate of summer losses, which surpassed winter losses for the first time in five years, intensifying concerns over the long-term trend of poor health in honey bee colonies.
- 8 years ago
Waste Not /
Nestlé is investing in technology to help reduce the amount of water it uses in California at the five water bottling plants and four facilities where food or petcare products are manufactured.Work is underway to transform the Nestlé milk factory in the city of Modesto into a ‘zero water’ factory, meaning the plant will not use any local freshwater resources for its operations.The project is expected to save nearly 63 million gallons of water each year, equivalent to 71 percent of absolute withdrawals in 2014. Around $7 million has been invested in the project, which is due to be completed by the end of 2016, the company says.
- 8 years ago
Collaboration /
Hilton Worldwide today announced an initial three-year commitment with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to reduce its impact on the environment.
- 8 years ago