Mike Hower
Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
P&G’s New Plastic Mold Process Could Save $1 Billion Annually
Procter & Gamble has developed a new process to mold plastic that it claims is thinner, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the current industry standard and could save the company $1 billion a year by using less plastic and different ... View More
Global Climate Change Investment Falling Short of Need, Report Says
Global investment in climate change plateaued at $359 billion in 2012, roughly the same as the previous year, according to a new study by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).The Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2013 says this figure falls well bel... View More
Unilever, KT, Nestlé Top Tomorrow’s Value Rating 2013
Unilever, KT and Nestlé lead the Tomorrow’s Value Rating 2013 (TVR), which recognizes companies that increasingly demonstrate “clarity of vision and innovation in their pursuit of a sustainable business model.”Sprint, Vodafone, Iberdrola, E.ON... View More
World Bank Says Businesses Must Collaborate to Help Save Oceans
Businesses must work with government and the scientific community to help counter damage to the world’s oceans, according to a panel established by the World Bank to advise the Global Partnership for Oceans (GPO).The Blue Ribbon Panel consists of 2... View More
Americans Would Rather Remain Unemployed Than Work for Companies with Bad Reputations
A majority of Americans (69 percent) would not take a job with a company that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed, according to an annual corporate reputation survey released by Corporate Responsibility (CR) magazine and Allegis Group ... View More
UK Households Waste $11 Billion Worth of Food Each Year
UK households waste £6.9 billion ($11 billion) worth of food and drink, or 7 percent of overall sales, each year, according to new research from WRAP.The organization estimates that the grocery retail supply chain produces roughly 6.5 million tons (... View More
Dell Pledges 80% Reduction in Product Portfolio Energy Intensity by 2020
Earlier this week, Dell announced a commitment to reduce the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 80 percent, as part of a comprehensive long-term corporate responsibility framework to achieve by 2020.The information technology company’s 20... View More
Boeing, Oracle Team USA Partner to Recycle Composites in America's Cup-Class Yacht
Boeing and Oracle Team USA are collaborating to recycle 7,000 pounds of carbon fiber from USA-71, a yacht built for the America's Cup campaign in 2003. The hull and mast of the racing yacht will be processed and repurposed — a first-of-its-kind eff... View More
New Bioplastic Could Eliminate 50 Million Tons of Annual E-Waste
Italian biotech firm Bio-on has developed a bioplastic called PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate), made from agricultural processing waste materials, which is 100 percent biodegradable in water and soil and can be used as a substrate for electric circuits. Wh... View More
Monsanto Launches Coalition to Reverse Decline of Honey Bee Populations
Monsanto on Friday announced that it has joined a multi-stakeholder coalition aimed at improving health in honey bee populations, which includes agriculture commodity groups, industry groups, government agencies, environmental NGOs and agriculture co... View More
Diageo, GSK and Anglo American Top 2013 FTSE 350 Climate Change Report
Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Anglo American were recently ranked highest among the companies reporting on indirect emissions and supply chain impacts on the CDP's FTSE 350 Climate Change Report.Launched this week, the report provides an annual u... View More
Boeing, South African Airways Launch Sustainable Aviation Biofuel Effort in Southern Africa
Boeing and South African Airways (SAA) announced thursday that they will work together to develop and implement a sustainable aviation biofuel supply chain in Southern Africa, the first for the continent.The companies signed a Memorandum of Understan... View More
Rogers Family Launches 97% Biodegradable Single-Serve Coffee Product
Rogers Family Company says it has developed a single-serve coffee product that is 97 percent biodegradable.The coffee company claims an estimated 9.1 billion single-serve coffee and drink cartridges – some 19 million cubic feet of waste – end up ... View More
AT&T Halfway to Deploying 15,000 Alternative Fuel Vehicles By 2018
AT&T says it has placed over 7,500 alternative fuel vehicles in 44 states nationwide, reaching the halfway mark of its commitment to invest up to $565 million to deploy close to 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles by 2018.The 7,500th vehicle – a 2... View More
Fair Trade USA, Kiva Launch Microlending Program for Fair Trade Farmers
Fair Trade USA has partnered with nonprofit Kiva to help small-scale coffee farmers access financing, improve crop quality and invest in the future of their families and communities.The partnership resulted from a successful collaboration last year b... View More
CVS and Humana Partner to Educate Customers About Health Coverage Options Under the ACA
CVS recently announced a partnership with health and well-being company Humana to help customers make sense of their healthcare coverage options under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).Starting this month, Humana representatives will be present at CVS’... View More
Women Directors Now Make Up 19% of UK Boards
The number of women directors who now sit on the boards of the United Kingdom’s largest companies, the FTSE-100, has risen from 12.5 percent to 19 percent since 2011, according to a recent report by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Sk... View More
Indigenous Taps Crowdfunding to Finance Fair Trade and Supply Chain Transparency Tool
Fair trade and organic fashion company INDIGENOUS has launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdsource funds to increase access to The Fair Trace Tool and fund social impact research with artisans and farmers to bring the story of fair trade and supply ... View More
Microsoft Achieves Carbon Neutrality, Increases Green Energy Use By 70%
Microsoft says it achieved carbon neutrality after introducing an internal carbon fee for renewable energy and carbon offsets, which led the company to increase the purchase of green energy in the U.S. by 70 percent, from 1.1 billion kilowatt hours (... View More
HP Pledges to Reduce GHG by 20% in Supply Chain by 2020
HP recently announced that it has set a goal of driving a 20 percent decrease in its first-tier manufacturing and product transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 2020, compared to 2010, a first for the information technolog... View More
