PRESS RELEASE -
Following biological clues to better materialsMIT Professor Brad Olsen creates bioinspired and biofunctional materials for widely diverse applications.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
A provocative new documentary called PUMP, produced by Submarine Deluxe, in association with Fuel Freedom Foundation and iDeal Film Partners, is opening in limited release next week.Directed by Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, and narrated by Jason Bateman, the film “tells the story of America's addiction to oil, from its corporate conspiracy beginnings to its current monopoly today, and explains clearly and simply how we can end it — and finally win choice at the pump.”
WASTE NOT -
Dairy farmer Chris Wagner, owner of the Green Dream Farm in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, has a new setup that provides him with low-cost bedding for his herd and reduces the greenhouse gas produced by his cows. Wagner was able to install the technology by partnering with fellow Vermonters NativeEnergy, a carbon-offset and project-development company, and Ben & Jerry’s, the iconic ice cream maker.Wagner’s new equipment processes his cow manure and then composts it. The resulting product is sanitary and makes excellent bedding for his milking herd. As a result, Wagner will no longer have to purchase wood shavings and will see significant savings in the cost of bedding.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
In 2013, legislation quietly passed within the UK that would require companies listed on the London Stock Exchange to disclose global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) within their publically available annual Directors’ Report. These new reporting rules made the UK the first country to institute mandatory carbon reporting as of October 2013.
NEW METRICS -
Offsetting one ton of carbon dioxide brings an additional $664 in benefits to the communities where carbon reduction projects are based, according to new research by Imperial College London and the International Carbon Reduction and Offsetting Alliance (ICROA).Unlocking The Hidden Value of Carbon Offsetting shows how purchasing carbon credits creates economic development opportunities, aids environmental conservation, and helps improve people’s lives by delivering household savings, health benefits and improving water resources, among other social benefits.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Greenpeace continued its campaign against LEGO on Tuesday with the release of a dramatic video, called “Everything Is NOT Awesome,” aimed at further illustrating the reasons the toy company should sever its ties with Shell, which Greenpeace contends is putting the delicate Arctic marine environment at risk through its oil drilling.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Greenpeace has launched a campaign urging LEGO to #BlockShell and end its partnership with the oil company, which the NGO contends has been using LEGO’s brand to clean up its image as an Arctic oil driller.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
An ethical smartphone, air-cleaning carpets and carbon-negative plastic are three of 100 game-changing innovations selected by Scandinavian think tank Sustainia as its top sustainability solutions for the year.
Sustainia100 is an annual guide to Sustainia’s picks for 100 projects, initiatives and technologies at the forefront of sustainable innovation from around the world that gives investors, business leaders, policy makers and consumers insights into promising solutions within their respective fields. This year, Sustainia’s research team and advisory board screened a pool of 900+ nominated solutions from which the final 100 solutions were selected.
COLLABORATION -
Shell has joined the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) “Methane Detectors Challenge,” a collaborative project between EDF and five other oil and natural gas companies aimed at identifying and bringing to market cutting-edge technologies that could ultimately help reduce methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations.Shell joins Apache Corporation, BG Group, Hess Corporation, Noble Energy and Southwestern Energy as an industry partner in this effort to help catalyze new technologies for enhanced detection of oil and gas emissions.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
At Sustainable Brands ’14 San Diego next week (June 2-5), the circular economy will be a major topic as we search for ways to decouple economic growth from resource consumption.
In 2013, Philips committed to reimagining its products through the lens of a circular economy approach that focuses on customer access over ownership and business models for services and solutions, rather than transactions. The company also became a global partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a global nonprofit dedicated to advancing the concepts of the circular economy.
PRESS RELEASE -
At AT&T, we’re all about using communications technology to improve people’s lives and help businesses — including our own — operate more sustainably. We connect millions of people every day, making everything more immediate, seamless and efficient.And as we do these things, we also work hard to find new ways to reduce the energy, fuel and resources we use. Here’s how we’re helping create a more sustainable world:
PRESS RELEASE -
CHICAGO – April 15, 2014 – In time for Earth Day, Radio Flyer, Inc., maker of the famous little red wagon and leading producer of wagons, tricycles and three-wheel scooters in the United States, proudly announced today its Chicago, Ill. headquarters has received Platinum Certification for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Focused on environmentally sustainable practices, the certification acknowledges key design decisions, including the renovation of existing warehouse space, dedicated recycling areas, and geo-thermal heating and cooling systems.
PRESS RELEASE -
SEATTLE – As the nation’s leading outdoor retailer, REI works to protect the environment and the places its members love to play. Energy use is one of REI’s largest impacts on the climate, and the company has committed to having all of its electricity come from clean renewable sources.
With 26 solar electric systems generating energy and a strong program to invest in energy efficiency, REI now buys certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) as part of its strategy to green the energy that powers more than 130 stores, two distribution centers and its headquarters.
PRESS RELEASE -
The program is an excellent example of a “Win-Win-Win” scenario. Carbon finance, which is provided by COOP Switzerland as part of their sustainability program, is enabling the preservation of the Giant Panda habitat, improving the living conditions of Chinese villagers and reducing air pollution. This project exemplifies the extraordinary social, environmental and economic benefits that leading organisations are now drawing from their carbon programs.
PRESS RELEASE -
VANCOUVER, Feb. 26, 2014 /CNW/ - CDP, an international, not-for-profit organization providing the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information, has signed on Offsetters as a CDP Accredited Consultancy Partner.Currently the only Canadian consultancy partner of the CDP, Offsetters can now provide its clients added value through CDP's international measurement and guidance. CDP consultancy partners demonstrate a commitment to working with CDP to encourage high-quality disclosure of climate change-related data from global corporations.
COLLABORATION -
The IKEA Foundation has launched a two-month campaign to raise funds to provide solar-powered lighting and other renewable energy technologies to UN refugee camps run through the sale of light bulbs in its stores around the world.For every LEDARE model LED bulb sold at IKEA from February 3 until March 29, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
NEW METRICS -
“Given that carbon footprinting is predicated on climate science, why doesn't the Greenhouse Gas Protocol include guidance on setting science-based emissions goals and targets?” That's the question I asked Janet Ranganathan, Vice President for Science and Research at the World Resources Institute (and founding director of the GHG Protocol at its outset), at the 2012 Ceres Conference (she's a Ceres boardmember). Her response has unfolded in words and actions over time, first by introducing me to Pankaj Bhatia, the current director of the GHG Protocol, at lunch in Washington, DC in the fall of 2012, where we discussed this gap and potential ways to fill it.
WASTE NOT -
Japanese multinational corporation Sumitomo has developed and installed the world's first large-scale power storage system that utilizes used electric-vehicle (EV) batteries. Built on Yume-shima Island, Osaka, the commercial scale storage system will begin operating later this month.Over the next three years, the system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the nearby Hikari-no-mori solar farm, and will aim to establish a large-scale power storage technology by safely and effectively utilizing the huge quantities of discarded used EV batteries which will become available in the future.
CLEANTECH -
Interface announced this week it has reached a series of major sustainability milestones at its European manufacturing facility in Scherpenzeel, The Netherlands. As of January 2014 the plant has been operating with 100 percent renewable energy, using virtually zero water in its manufacturing processes and has attained zero waste to landfill. This is a key achievement for the facility and a significant step forward for the company as it strives towards Mission Zero — Interface’s pledge to eliminate any negative impact it has on the environment by 2020 and by doing so, become a restorative enterprise.