SUPPLY CHAIN - With the Our Ocean conference taking place in Bali, Indonesia, this week, ocean sustainability has been a hot topic: The event burst with sweeping commitments from the public and private sector alike aimed at cleaning up and protecting this precious resource. One such commitment came from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which launched a £1 million Ocean Stewardship Fund.
COLLABORATION - NOTE: This article was updated on October 30, 2018 at 11:45am ET. A Global Commitment to eradicate plastic waste and pollution at the source has been signed by 250 organisations including many of the world’s largest packaging producers, brands, retailers and recyclers, as well as governments and NGOs. For some signatories, the Global Commitment is just one facet of their plan to overhaul their approach to plastic. The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), in collaboration with UN Environment, and was officially unveiled at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali today.
NEW METRICS - Novo Nordisk is the first global company to have completed a Future-Fit self-assessment and to have the results independently assured. In advance of Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’18 event next week in Philadelphia, I sat down with Cora Olsen, Global Lead on Integrated Reporting at Novo Nordisk, to discuss what the company learned from this process.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - Meat-heavy diets have been under increased scrutiny of late, spawning a host of research and campaigns linking them to the accelerating impacts of climate change around the world. Now, a new report from the Changing Markets Foundation, Mighty Earth and Compassion in World Farming points the finger at governments, which they say are failing to tackle meat over-consumption to meet climate targets.
SUPPLY CHAIN - Today, Ceres and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announce the addition of Target and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), one of the world’s largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers, to the AgWater Challenge. The two companies’ new water stewardship commitments were shared today at the Financial Times Water Summit in London.
NEW METRICS - In formulating strategy, shaping communications and improving their impact in the world, companies, and their sustainability teams, must answer two big questions: "What is important to our business?” and "What is important to our stakeholders?” (Sometimes as a proxy for the larger question: “What is important to the world?")
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE - Jennifer Motles and her colleagues at Philip Morris International (PMI) are on a crusade to end smoking. They know many of us probably won’t believe them. And they are OK with that; they just want the chance to prove it.
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.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - “Tourists, go home.” “Tourists: Your luxury trip, my daily misery.” “Your tourism kills my neighborhood.” These kinds of sentiments have likely been heard in travel destinations that have become victims of their own success and attractiveness. Indeed, for many residents living in popular landmarks, tourism can often be a nightmare rather than a dream. While many cities have been overwhelmed by mass tourism and what is now called “overtourism,” Seoul has been striving to promote alternative forms of tourism that do not put pressure on destinations and offer quality experiences to citizens as well as visitors.
WASTE NOT - The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit organization that made waves in 2015 with its grand plans and new approach to ridding the oceans of plastic, last weekend launched the world’s first ocean cleanup system from the San Francisco Bay. “System 001” headed to a location 240 nautical miles offshore for a two-week trial before continuing its journey toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1,200 nautical miles offshore, to start the cleanup. System 001 is being towed from the San Francisco Bay by the vessel Maersk Launcher, which has been made available to the project by A.P.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE - The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer many business opportunities for companies while addressing critical operational risks, according to a new report produced by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP; in partnership with the non-profit organization, Textile Exchange: Threading the Needle: Weaving the Sustainable Development Goals into the Textile, Retail and Apparel Industry.
WASTE NOT - One of the most frequently asked questions I get when pitching Thread is “what happens if you run out of plastic to recycle?”
WALKING THE TALK - The majority of US citizens (62 percent) say they believe climate change is a problem but feel unempowered to address it, according to the 2018 Cone/Porter Novelli Climate Change Snapshot — instead, they are looking to companies to take the lead. Yet, even as individuals may feel personally powerless — less than four-in-10 (38 percent) feel their actions can make a real difference — they do see companies as critical players in progress against climate change. 58 percent say that in the absence of government progress, companies should take the lead.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - A new GIIN report reiterates the need for impact investors to raise and direct new capital to help meet the UN SDGs by 2030.
CORPORATE MEMBER UPDATE - Sustainability isn't just a buzzword — it's an integral part of everything we do.
MARKETING AND COMMS - Understanding who your business affects and how they affect your business is key to long-term success. If you only focus on customers, you are falling way short. To truly take your business from local to national and on to global levels, you have to consider all the ways your company interacts with the world around it and, most importantly, what stories you are telling.
SUPPLY CHAIN - The winds are changing. Companies that have operated many steps removed from the farms and people that produce their raw materials are building stronger connections to their agricultural supply chains. This shift stems from interest to replenish soil and water supplies, and boost overall resilience and output through regenerative and thriving agriculture. Pure Strategies’ latest report, Connecting to the Farm, points to the best practices companies are using to get closer to the farm while advancing these critical sustainability aims and gaining valuable business benefits.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Over his more than 30 years in the business, Mike Saltzberg has seen firsthand how sustainability has grown to be of equal consideration with technical performance and cost in the development of new biomaterials. Saltzberg is the Global Business Director for Biomaterials at DuPont Industrial Biosciences, the team that ideates and develops products derived from bio-based materials. Among their innovations is DuPont™ Sorona®, a partially plant-based fiber increasingly used in apparel and carpet.
WALKING THE TALK - The release of classified documents such as the so-called Panama and Paradise papers in recent years has provided a glimpse into the opaque world of tax havens and their role in the global economy.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - More than 90 institutional investors, representing more than $6.7T in assets, have voiced their concerns over the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s relevance and effectiveness, and the current disconnect between its criteria and corporate policy commitments.