Latest News
Water Risk Is a Financial Risk: Companies Will Soon Have the Tools to Calculate, Disclose and Mitigate It
For too long, investors have lacked the data and analytics to make well-informed investment decisions around the financial risks of water impacts. That is about to change.
How Brands Can Help Turn the Tide on Plastic Pollution in the Caribbean
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - Our vision is to embed effective recycling across the region’s islands and enable value-added processing of materials where it makes commercial sense — but we’ve been held back by many challenges. For businesses and brands that sell into the Caribbean, it’s an opportunity to be part of our mission and walk their talk around plastic pollution reduction and circularity.
Smart, ‘Living’ Buildings Can Sense, Think and Act to Improve Sustainability
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Our buildings have long been unresponsive, mute structures for housing, work and play. But the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution’s technological advances — high-speed connectivity, AI, the ability to acquire and analyze vast data streams — have enabled buildings to actively participate in their operations and use resources more efficiently.
Toxnot: A Passport to Healthier Materials, Products, Supply Chains
SUPPLY CHAIN - Toxnot’s cloud-based software helps advance companies’ focus on material health and supply chain engagement. Shaw's Kellie Ballew spoke with Toxnot CEO and co-founder Pete Girard about the greatest challenges to supply chain engagement.
The Role of Brands in Supporting Consumers to Make More Sustainable Choices
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - Lowering the washing temperature of a laundry load or dish cycle can greatly reduce carbon emissions. But for people to turn down the temperature or select eco-cycles, they must trust that products will still clean with brilliant results — this is where brands can play a crucial role in decarbonization.
A Sustainable Moo-vement: How the Dairy Industry is Fighting Climate Change
COLLABORATION - Dairy farming has quickly evolved for sustainability. Here are just a few examples of how innovative dairy organizations and farmers are working to fight climate change by reducing their impacts, improving soil health and using regenerative agriculture.
This Startup Is Determined to Provide ‘Plenty’ of Jobs and Leafy Greens All Year Round
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - By teaming up with retail leader Walmart, San Francisco-based Plenty is set to supply California (for starters) with healthy, sustainable food at an affordable price, using only 1% of the land needed for traditional farming.
The Doomsday Clock Is Ticking on the World’s Biggest Advertising Festival
MARKETING AND COMMS - The heat is on — from Greenpeace protesting Cannes to concerned citizens and legislative pressure — for advertisers to make their work count for more than selling more products to the Western world. Here are six key takeaways from this year’s Cannes Lions, and how your campaigns can be and do better.
Protecting the Collectors: A Case Study in Ensuring Safe, Sustainable Livelihoods for Workers in the ‘First Mile’
SUPPLY CHAIN - Many companies still shy away from responsibility for what’s happening in the first mile of their supply chains; but First Mile, along with its nonprofit and brand partners, is actively engaging with these issues — and creating positive impacts for thousands of waste collectors around the world.
‘Changing Our DNA’: Brands Large and Small Illustrate New Models for Sustainability in Asia
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - On day two of SB’22 Kuala Lumpur, leaders in construction, eco-tourism, artisanal goods, marketing and more highlighted successes and challenges behind next-generation sustainability strategies — and the need for Malaysian brands to embrace collaboration for greater impact.
Why, for Bumble Bee, Certification Matters for the Future of Sustainable Seafood
REDEFINING SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD FOR THE FUTURE - As anyone who works on sustainable supply chains knows, getting transparency and/or certification on the final pieces can often be the most difficult. Bumble Bee’s goals will require ensuring better practices around catch reporting and verification of data, and working with and training consultants and vessel operators.
Ando Launching World's First 100% Fossil-Free Insurance Program
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - Through partnerships with leading providers including Allstate, Nationwide and Travelers, Ando aims to expand the scope of financial independence from fossil fuels available to sustainability-conscious consumers.
To Build Back Better Post-Pandemic, We Must Re-Examine Lessons Learned from the Past
THE NEXT ECONOMY - The pandemic has laid bare not only the many flaws in our global systems but also our capacity for resilience and ingenuity in the face of complex, immediate challenges — if we apply that thinking to those that lay ahead, we may yet save ourselves from ‘business as usual.’
Talk Is Cheap: How Brands Can Move from Table Stakes to Putting a Stake in the Ground for Racial Justice
WALKING THE TALK - Two years after George Floyd’s murder galvanized the nation to address systemic racism, corporate progress on advancing racial equity in the workplace and community remains a mixed picture. Smoketown’s Ryan Pintado-Vertner lays out three approaches brands can take to show they’re walking their anti-racism talk.
Introducing the Modern, ESG-Fluent Boardroom
LEADERSHIP - The fiduciary duty of boards and directors is being redefined in the 21st century. The boardroom and its advisors need to unlearn old mindsets, overcome their biases, and embrace he new governance practices.
Sustainable Food Systems Will Mean Coexistence, Not Competition
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - The meat sector in its current form is unsustainable; yet so is completely replacing the use of animals as a food technology. For the biggest and fastest environmental impact, we must address the way we grow our food. More sustainable models will involve coexistence between traditional and alternative production methods.
Creatives for Climate Launching ‘Greenwash Watch’ to Help Radically Reskill the Communications Industry
MARKETING AND COMMS - Launching at Cannes Lions this week, the course is a response to industry professionals’ need to reskill to drive positive change at work: 40% of marketers report lacking relevant sustainability marketing qualifications, despite 76% having been involved in sustainability projects over the past five years.
4VI Creates New Model for Destination Marketing Organizations by Becoming a Social Enterprise
WALKING THE TALK - Earlier this year, Tourism Vancouver Island evolved into a social enterprise called 4VI that supports communities, businesses, culture and environment. A social enterprise is a revenue-generating business that identifies a social benefit and directs its revenues toward it; in the tourism industry, this is a completely new way to operate.
Study Shows Purpose-Driven Ads Fall Short in Gaining, Holding Attention; New Approaches Needed
MARKETING AND COMMS - Joint research by GfK and the Goodvertising Agency reveals value of 'transformational campaigns that empower consumers, rather than those that tout product attributes.
AIA Materials Pledge Enables Architects, Designers to Create Spaces Where People and Natural Systems Thrive
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - The places where we work, play, eat, sleep, learn and heal can have an impact on our wellbeing. And everything from access to daylight and sound levels in a room to material selection and color schemes affects how we experience a space.
