Latest News
MSC Pilots Seafood Traceability Tool, Asks for Industry Feedback
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is soliciting feedback on a new traceability tool that verifies seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale. A public consultation period is taking place from August 16th to September 18th, during which industry members are encouraged to offer their expertise and comments to shape the tool. Read More...
Clinton Foundation, Kuli Kuli Looking to Moringa to Tackle Poverty in Haiti
Superfood social enterprise Kuli Kuli has announced a partnership with the Clinton Foundation and a Haitian nonprofit, the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), to develop a new moringa supply chain in Haiti. Earlier this month, Chelsea Clinton met with Haitian women moringa farmers. Read More...
Employee Engagement for Purpose-Driven Business 101 (or 5 Reasons Clif Bar Employees Are So Damn Happy)
While more and more companies are becoming focused on a triple bottom line — in which they prioritize the health of people and planet in addition to profit — Clif Bar founder Gary Erickson took the sentiment further back in 2000, when he decided to not take a $120 million payout and instead focus on sustaining the health of five bottom lines: Business, Brand, Community, Planet and People. As CEO Kevin Cleary said during a recent “Feed Your Adventure” tour of Clif’s Emeryville headquarters: “In any given year, we incent ourselves and say we have to deliver on all of them — if you deliver on Business, but you don’t deliver on the rest, that isn’t delivering shareholder value.” Read More...
Greenpeace Continues Month of Shell Protests with 'Titanic'-Themed Performance
Greenpeace has begun its latest campaign against Shell, with a month of protests over the oil giant’s plans to drill in the Arctic. Read More...
Report: Fossil Fuel Industry Long Deceiving the Public on Climate Change
"The Climate Deception Dossiers" documents deception tactics used by fossil fuel companies in spreading misinformation about climate change — revealing 85 internal memos showing a variety of efforts to manufacture uncertainty about climate science. Read More...
How to Use Internal Competition to Drive Sustainability Engagement, Innovation Across a Company
As part of L’Oréal’s global sustainability program called Sharing Beauty With All, the company has pledged that by the year 2020, 100 percent of its products will have an environmental or social benefit. To help make that commitment a reality, L’Oréal is calling on its employees, at every level and across every function, to contribute their own innovative solutions. The L’Oréal Beauty Shaker Awards is the company’s annual internal innovation competition, and in 2014 — the program’s fifth year — sustainability was the name of the game. Read More...
Lego Group Investing $150M in R&D for Sustainable Materials
This week, LEGO Group announced an investment of 1 billion Danish Kroner (~US$152 million) in the research, development and implementation of sustainable raw materials to manufacture LEGO® toys and packaging materials. Read More...
The Ocean Cleanup Sets Course for World’s Largest Landfill — On Water
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. Read More...
AB InBev Reportedly Most Water-Efficient Brewer in the World
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. Read More...
How New Engagement Tools Are Making Carbon Offsets More Accessible for Business
Given the packed room for Wednesday afternoon’s panel discussing carbon offsetting, it’s evident that as organizations become increasingly aware of their environmental risks, carbon management has become a critical tool. Read More...
Purdue Students Develop Device That Harnesses Energy from Nuclear Waste
Three Purdue students and a graduate have launched a startup called Atlas Energy Systems, that has found a way to turn nuclear waste into its own source of energy, according to The Purdue Exponent. The project that started in an apartment as a prototype held together with Scotch tape has gone on to win the Indiana Clean Energy Challenge. Read More...
Two Years On, How Are Global Fashion Supply Chains Changing in the Wake of Rana Plaza?
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh. It also marks the second Fashion Revolution Day, launched last year to commemorate the Rana Plaza disaster with the aims of encouraging greater collaboration across the fashion sector supply chain. Read More...
Fashionistas Around the World to Demand Industry Clean Up Its Act on Fashion Revolution Day 2015
On Friday, the second annual Fashion Revolution Day, people in 66 countries around the world will challenge global fashion brands to demonstrate commitment to transparency across the length of the value chain, from farmers to factory workers, brands to buyers and consumers.One in six people work in the global fashion supply chain. It is the most labor-dependent industry on the planet, yet the people who make our clothes are hidden from us, often at their own expense, a symptom of the broken links across the fashion industry. Read More...
Successful Stakeholder Engagement 101 (or How Prince Ea Is Rallying Millions to #StandForTrees)
For those of us in the sustainability field, stakeholder engagement that leads to action is the Holy Grail for creating the change needed for a healthy world and future. Read More...
adidas Partners to Help End Ocean Destruction, Releases Sustainability Progress Report
Today, the adidas Group announced a partnership with Parley for the Oceans, an initiative dedicated to raising awareness about the beauty and fragility of the oceans and to collaborating on projects that can end their destruction. Together, the organizations will implement a long-term program that builds on three pillars: communication and education; research and innovation; and direct actions against ocean plastic pollution. Read More...
’10 Million Better’ Campaign Rallying Travel, Tourism Industries Around Protecting Destinations, Communities
At the World Travel & Tourism Council 2015 Global Summit in Madrid today, Sustainable Travel International (STI) unveiled an industry-wide campaign, entitled “10 Million Better,” to monitor and scale up social and environmental benefits from travel and tourism.The 10-year initiative convenes leading tourism corporations, organizations and destinations around the globe with the goal of tracking and demonstrating improvements in the lives of at least 10 million people and their families by 2025. Improvements to be monitored include growth of income and opportunity, and better protection of destinations’ natural, cultural and heritage sites. Read More...
JetBlue Once Again to Offset Carbon Emissions For All Flights During Earth Month
This week, JetBlue Airways announced it is once again partnering with the Carbonfund.org Foundation to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (CO2e) generated by all scheduled flights from April 1 to April 30, in honor of Earth Month. Now in its eighth year, this partnership has allowed travelers to offset part of the carbon footprint from their flights by making a donation to support carbon-reduction projects. To date, JetBlue says it has purchased offsets totaling more than 350 million pounds (158,000 metric tons) of CO2 and CO2e emissions. Read More...
REI, National Parks Encouraging People to #FindYourPark and Truly Experience the Great Outdoors
REI has announced its support of the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 through a multi-year, multimillion-dollar partnership with the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. The partnership kicks off this week with the launch of Find Your Park, a public awareness and education campaign celebrating the milestone centennial anniversary of the National Park Service and setting the stage for the next 100 years. Read More...
Discovery of 'Heat-Beater Beans' Could Safeguard Vital Crop from Climate Change
As the effects of climate change on our global ecosystems continue to reveal themselves, fears are growing that it could threaten food security, particularly a vital source of protein that has sustained humans for centuries. Luckily, bean breeders at the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global food research consortium, have announced the discovery of 30 new lines of “heat-beater” beans that could keep production from crashing in large swaths of bean-dependent Latin America and Africa. Read More...
SAP: Increased Employee Engagement Helping Bottom Line
German software company SAP’s operating profit improves EUR35 million ($38 million) to EUR45 million ($49 million) when its employee engagement index rises one percentage point, according to the company’s 2014 integrated report.The financial impact of a higher employee engagement index results, among other things, from the fact that dedicated employees are more innovative and absent from work fewer days. Likewise, because they are more loyal to the company, there is less missed revenue and less recruiting and training costs traditionally associated with higher turnover rates. Read More...
