Sustainable Brands
£1.4M Prize Awaits UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects
The Next Economy / A new £1.4 million flagship projects competition was launched at the inaugural annual meeting for members of The UK Plastics Pact, held in London yesterday. - 4 years ago
HP, Girl Rising Mark Int'l Day of the Girl with 12 Inspiring Stories of Empowerment
Behavior Change / Today, in honor of International Day of the Girl, HP and Girl Rising — a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating poverty by providing education to girls — are celebrating 12 stories of female empowerment gathered from around the globe as part of the first-ever Girl Rising Creative Challenge. Introduced on International Women’s Day in March, the challenge was a call-to-action to highlight storytelling that has the power to change the world. - 4 years ago
PepsiCo, Seventh Gen, CLF Bring Sustainable Plastics Closer to Reality
Chemistry, Materials & Packaging / There’s a flurry of activity this week, as several heavy-hitters announce moves that promise big ripple effects in the plastics and packaging space. PepsiCo, Inc. today announced a multi-year supply agreement with Loop Industries, Inc., a leading technology innovator in sustainable plastic, that will enable PepsiCo to purchase production capacity from Loop’s joint venture facility in the US and incorporate Loop™ PET plastic, which is 100 percent recycled material, into its product packaging by early 2020. - 4 years ago
Trending: Scottish Ale, 3D Printing Filament Among Latest Food Waste Innovations
Waste Not / A Canadian startup called Genecis, formed by a group of graduates from the University of Toronto Scarborough, is upcycling food waste into biodegradable plastics, which can then be used in everything from 3D printing filament to packaging. - 4 years ago
New Tool Helps Companies Determine If, How to Engage on Divisive Issues
Walking the Talk / In the past year, we’ve seen more and more bold and potentially risky moves from brands, taking stands on pertinent societal and environmental issues: Airbnb, Google and other tech giants against the US’ immigration ban; Target supporting individuals’ right to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity; Heineken’s and other brands’ vocal support of - 4 years ago
EVRYTHNG, CPG Brands Partner to Take Consumer Guesswork Out of Recycling
The Next Economy / EVRYTHNG — the IoT platform that makes every consumer product intelligent, interactive and trackable — is now powering a first-of-its-kind recycling scheme providing CPG brands and retailers with vital insights to consumer recycling habits and behaviors. - 4 years ago
ACCA Outlines 12 Characteristics Essential to Future Business Model Innovation
The Next Economy / A new report published this week by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) identifies 12 characteristics behind business model design, that are being combined by organizations around the world in different ways to create new sources of value. - 4 years ago
Carrefour, J&J Among Top Honorees at 3rd Annual D&AD Impact Awards
Marketing and Comms / Leading figures from the worlds of business, advertising, design and philanthropy gathered in New York City this week to honor the best in creative work creating a real social impact at the third annual D&AD Impact Awards. D&AD Impact celebrates creative campaigns that contribute towards a better and more sustainable future. In total, 76 D&AD Impact Pencils were awarded to campaigns, projects and products addressing some of the most pressing issues in the world today. - 4 years ago
Trending: Wood Pulp, Kelp Shaping New Crop of Plant-Based Textiles
Chemistry, Materials & Packaging / While it might be cliche to say that plant-based fabrics are the latest trend in fashion, the recent emergence of luxury textiles made from everything from kapok tree fibers, apples, orange waste and coffee grounds, to a vegan wool alternative made from hemp and coconut fibers suggests these innovations are more than a seasonal blip. - 4 years ago
While McDonald's Burgers Get More Real, Chipotle Reminds Us It's Been 'Real' All Along
Marketing and Comms / McDonald’s USA has announced that its seven classic burgers are now free from artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and added colors from artificial sources. The ingredient changes affect all 14,000 U.S. restaurants, marking this the next major milestone in McDonald’s food journey and another way the fast food giant aims to help customers feel good about its food. - 4 years ago
Nespresso Pilots Weather Index Insurance Program for Colombian Smallholder Coffee Farmers
Supply Chain / Nespresso has partnered with Blue Marble Microinsurance — a startup with the mission of providing socially impactful, commercially viable insurance protection to the underserved and incorporated by nine insurance entities — to launch a pilot weather index insurance program for smallholder coffee farmers in Colombia. - 4 years ago
Q&A: How Boothster Is Redesigning the Exhibit Industry
Product, Service & Design Innovation / The exhibit industry is one of the most wasteful on the planet. Just take a look at the end of most conferences and trade shows, and you’ll see floors and dumpsters filled with plastics, banners, janky aluminum and other non-sustainable materials. Back in March, the Sustainable Brands team saw a clever, sustainable booth-building system and reached out to the designer, Boothster, to collaborate on sustainable stage designs and booths for SB’18 Vancouver. - 4 years ago
EcoVadis: Global Sustainability Performance, Business Ethics Picking Up
Walking the Talk / EcoVadis has published the second annual edition of its Global CSR Risk and Performance Index. The report provides an updated look at the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of more than 33,000 companies, across the calendar years 2015 through 2017. - 4 years ago
BCFN Foundation, UN SDSN Promise Roadmap to Global Food System Transformation
Collaboration / The past few weeks have seen a flurry of big announcements and commitments regarding increasing sustainability in a variety of areas, including overhauling our broken food system: Two weeks ago, at the Global Climate Action Summit, FoodShot Global launched a new investment platform aimed at accelerating food system transformation through a “Moonshots for Better Food” challenge to startups working to create a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable food system worldwide; while earlier this week at Climate Week NYC, - 4 years ago
Q&A: Schneider Electric Banking on Science, Smarter Cities to Power a Sustainable Future
Cleantech / In the past few years, Schneider Electric — a global specialist in energy management and automation — has partnered with its customers around the world in various capacities to co-create smart solutions for a more sustainable future. It focuses its energy on prioritizing resource productivity and management, promoting energy efficiency and rethinking energy consumption. It has also adopted science-based emissions targets and helped its clients set their own. We spoke with Erik Mohn, Director of Americas Sustainability Services at Schneider Electric, to learn more about the company’s multi-pronged strategy to spread sustainability. - 4 years ago
Investors Can Now Compare ESG Scores on New ESGHub™ App
Finance & Investment / Responsible investing has been an overriding theme of the past two weeks, with a proliferation of new initiatives, campaigns and reports joining a growing list of recently released resources for sustainable and impact investors to increase the quality of their investments emerging during last week’s Global Climate Action Summit and this week at Climate Week. - 4 years ago
Campaign Calls on BlackRock to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is on Climate Change
Walking the Talk / A campaign launched today is holding BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, accountable as the single largest contributor to climate destruction. BlackRock’s Big Problem — supported by over a dozen organizations, including Friends of the Earth US, Amazon Watch and the Sierra Club, with support from The Sunrise Project — asserts that as the world’s biggest owner of fossil fuel companies, BlackRock is putting the planet on a path towards runaway climate change. The campaign launches as world leaders in climate policy, solutions and finance gather in New York for Climate Week. - 4 years ago
Q&A: EcoAct on How the Dow 30 Measure Up on Climate Action
Finance & Investment / Since its founding in 2006, EcoAct Group has grown from raising awareness at the local level in France into a global collection of experts engaging with the private and public sectors to aid in the transition to a low-carbon economy. In addition to advising companies on climate change and carbon neutrality strategies, EcoAct also conducts research to assess publicly listed companies’ efforts in these areas. - 4 years ago
African Union, Champions 12.3 Unveil 3 Latest Weapons in Food Waste Fight
Waste Not / At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2015, countries committed to Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, calling for the world to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030. Now three years on, Champions 12.3 — a global coalition of sustainable food champions — is tracking progress toward this fast-approaching target and finding that the private sector has seized the opportunity to tackle food loss and waste. - 4 years ago
HPE, WEF Enlisting Tech Sector to Solve World Hunger by 2030
Product, Service & Design Innovation / Today at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Sustainable Development Impact Summit, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and WEF committed to help solve world hunger by 2030 through the innovative application of technology. HPE and WEF are calling on public and private organizations to join them in an open collaboration to find solutions that will eliminate food insecurity; and sustainably, nutritiously and inclusively feed a growing population. - 4 years ago