PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The circular economy and water stewardship dominated the morning’s agenda on the final day of SB ’14 London. After leading us through a host of thought-provoking plenary presentations Tuesday morning, our two event MCs - Forum for the Future chief executive Sally Uren and The Guardian’s executive editor Jo Confino – expressed their enthusiasm for the ideology that underpins the circular economy.Confino felt it was a concept that could go mainstream. “Business can buy into it easily as it doesn’t fight against the current capitalist system,” he said, while Uren was optimistic about the level of brand innovation it could potentially unlock.
ICT AND BIG DATA -
EcoLab and Trucost on Wednesday launched a free new tool to help companies assess water-related risks in financial terms and enable more informed decision-making.The Water Risk Monetizer is the first financial modeling tool that enables businesses to factor water into decisions that support business growth and help ensure the availability of this limited natural resource for future generations. The tool provides actionable information to help businesses understand the impact of water scarcity to their operations and quantify those risks in financial terms.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Two-thirds of the world's largest companies are reporting exposure to water risks, some of which have potential to limit growth, according to a new report by CDP. The news comes amid mounting shareholder concern around the business impacts from water scarcity, accessibility and poor water quality.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Here at The North Face, we believe in making great outdoor gear in a sustainable and responsible way. That’s why we’ve set out to change the way outdoor apparel is made. We’ve set a bold goal to have 100 percent of our polyester (or 80 percent of all of the fabric we use for apparel) come from recycled content — from thousands of plastic bottles — by 2016. Repurposing plastic waste helps reduce carbon emissions and avoids using more open space for landfills.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Procter & Gamble just announced expansion of its sustainability goals with ambitious new initiatives for 2020 aimed at water conservation and product packaging. But when you’re a company as big, old and sprawling as the Cincinnati-based consumer packaged goods giant, nothing comes easily — including accomplishment of a huge sustainability agenda. And some in P&G’s diverse body of shareholders are making sure to hold the company’s feet to the fire.CEO A.G. Lafley was able to boast about P&G’s “promises kept” on sustainability at the company’s recent annual meeting.
PRESS RELEASE -
More Than Three Million Trees Planted Across 47 Countries to Support Global Environmental SustainabilityThe UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPS® (NYSE: UPS), announced it has awarded nearly $2.5 million to non-profit organizations with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. The UPS Foundation's largest environmental grant recipient is The Nature Conservancy, a leading conservation organization that works globally to protect ecologically important lands and bodies of water.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Global populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish dropped 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, according to a new report by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).The 2014 Living Planet Report says this biodiversity loss is occuring disproportionately in low-income countries — and correlates with the increasing resource use of high-income countries.
COLLABORATION -
With eyes on New York last week as leaders gathered for the UN Climate Summit, a pivotal REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) program has been launched to protect forests in the Congo Basin and promote the inherent value of natural standing forests around the world.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
This post is our second in a series on how companies can reduce deforestation from their supply chains. Read the first post here.What do companies, governments, civil society organizations and indigenous peoples have in common? Despite their differences, they share a common interest in reducing deforestation, which accounts for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
COLLABORATION -
The world’s forests have today been given what we can only hope is a realistic reprieve. The New York Declaration on Forests marks a watershed in the global effort to contain, then halt deforestation around the world.United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has done the planet and some of its most critical ecosystems a great service in convening this groundbreaking meeting of governments, global businesses and NGOs, all of whom are committing to a range of targets designed to secure the future of the world’s forests. Deforestation is one of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore climate change.
COLLABORATION -
AkzoNobel, The Nature Conservancy, Risk Management Solutions and Veolia have joined the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative (100RC) to provide critical tools to help cities around the world become more resilient to the shocks and stresses that are a growing part of the 21st century. The announcement was made this week at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) Group chairman Teguh Ganda Wijaya today joins a number of companies, governments and NGOs to sign the New York Declaration on Forests at the UN Climate Summit 2014. The declaration is an unprecedented international, multi-sector commitment to safeguard the world’s forests and to help tackle climate change.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
IKEA, Tetra Pak and Kingfisher are partnering to promote the benefits of legal, responsibly sourced, sustainable timber and clarify the role of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in the delivery of these values.
The two-year Value and Impact Analysis (VIA) initiative will support the development of a methodology for assessing the impacts of FSC forest management certification and the piloting of this methodology in selected areas. It is supported by IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative and coordinated by the ISEAL Alliance.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Institutional investors representing over half a trillion dollars in assets under management are calling on four major palm oil producers to adopt an immediate moratorium on deforestation and join the growing effort within the industry to establish traceable, deforestation-free palm oil supply chains.Led by Green Century Capital Management, investors called on Sime Darby Plantation, Kuala Lumpour Kepong Berhad, IOI Corporation Berhad, and Asian Agri to cease their efforts to weaken the existing threshold for no-deforestation.
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 -
From 2002 to 2011, Arizona lost a quarter of its forests to wildfires, drought and bark beetle infestation. Decreased public funding for forest thinning and the low economic value of small diameter wood has made the state’s forests especially vulnerable to devastating fires and drought.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The Rainforest Alliance (RA) announced this week it has lifted the suspension of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate of Swedwood Karelia LLC, a subsidiary of IKEA, following an independent appeals committee evaluation of the company’s 2013 annual audit.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), a nonprofit dedicated to ending human rights abuses associated with the raw materials found in everyday products, today released a new report, Cotton Sourcing Snapshot: A Survey of Corporate Practices to End Forced Labor. The report includes survey results and ratings of 49 companies in the apparel and home goods industries reflecting steps companies are taking to identify risks and establish procedures to prevent cotton from Uzbekistan picked with forced labor from entering their supply chains.
WASTE NOT -
It is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional view of business existing purely to maximise profit for shareholders is not so much wrong as built for another time. Businesses have been slowly moving towards a model that recognises the impact they have on society and the environment, putting increasing amounts of budget and resources towards mitigating that impact. But just minimising the amount of environmental damage a business does is no longer enough.Nor is it sufficient to rely predominantly on CSR to create a good impression. Information is becoming ever more accessible, which means that businesses are subject to greater levels of scrutiny than ever before.