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Ninety-one percent of companies in the S&P Global 100 Index see extreme weather and climate change impacts as current or future risks to their business, but many struggle to translate long-term, global climate data into short-term and local risks, according to a new report by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Despite growing access to climate-related data and tools, companies say they need "actionable science" that helps them understand locally-specific risks or risk scenarios.

Sodexo, the food services and facilities management company, Deloitte consulting, Mission Point Capital Partners impact investment firm and the Closed Loop Fund have taken it upon themselves to study the economics and data points of food waste in the U.S. and develop a road map for action.

As the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change in Paris approaches, an increasing number of companies are pledging to reduce their own emissions and carbon footprints - and seeing cost savings from these actions.

Monsanto announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality across its operations by 2021. The company will focus its efforts on seed production, crop protection, sharing data, and increasing the adoption of best practices.

The limelight is on nation-states at COP21, but cities around the world are getting serious about climate action. 

On Tuesday at COP21, the MIT Climate CoLab announced the launch of a series of online contests to help strengthen the resilience of vulnerable countries to respond to climate-related hazards. The suite of contests are part of the UN Secretary-General's Climate Resilience Initiative: Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape (A2R), a global, multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at accelerating action on the ground to enhance climate resilience of the most vulnerable countries and people by 2020. 

Clean Production Action evaluates the landscape of businesses and NGOs pushing for safer chemicals

London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen have announced they will work together to design a project that will improve the capture of plastics. City officials from the three capitals will share information and experiences on the development and delivery of circular economy action plans. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently estimated plastic packaging waste at $80-120 billion annually. 

In an effort to help companies use safer chemicals, the Clean Production Action (CPA), has released the next version of the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals Hazard Assessment Guidance, adding information for using the GreenScreen List Translator as a first step in identifying hazardous chemicals in products.

We are on the cusp of a new growth era, one where growth is driven by the interaction between rapid technological innovation, sustainable infrastructure investment and increased resource productivity. Ambitious climate action across key economic systems-energy, cities, food and land use, water and industry-can lead to higher productivity, more resilient economies and greater social inclusion. It is the growth story of the 21st century.

The government has charted a zero-waste plan that aims to abolish single-use plastic by 2030. Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia to take bold action to tackle plastic pollution.

This month BNP Paribas, the world's seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people. It also requires companies to adhere to strict human rights and labor standards, end the use of hazardous pesticides, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other significant measures. The move charts a new path for responsible financing that all major financial institutions should follow - or else face the growing consumer backlash against environmentally destructive institutions.

JPMorgan Chase is the target of a new environmental push demanding the bank end funding for tar sands drilling, HuffPost has learned. In a new campaign set to be announced Tuesday, the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network criticizes the country's largest bank by assets for providing over $3.1 billion to tar sands producers between 2014 and 2016 alone.

When it comes to the private sector's efforts to curb climate change, the rubber hit the road at New York Climate Week. Companies and their nonprofit partners announced numerous milestones and hosted discussions throughout the city to translate lofty goals into action. Meanwhile, new initiatives were launched to deepen collaboration among the private sector, governments and civil society.

A coalition of investment firms with more than $6.5trn in assets under management have called on six of the world's largest fast food companies to take more ambitious action to tackle the climate and water risks within their supply chains, as a "matter of urgency".

India's booming population and rapidly expanding urban areas have exacted a huge toll on its rivers, which are badly polluted and choked by development. But in cities across India, activists are heading to court to force municipalities and states to take action.

One hotel chain is working to be a part of the solution: Iberostar Group, which owns more than 120 hotels in 18 countries. Through its Wave of Change movement, Iberostar Group is taking action to deliver measurable improvements by reducing plastic consumption, improving coastal health and promoting responsible seafood consumption.

Two years after Greenpeace launched a campaign demanding Thai Union, the world's largest tuna company, take action to eliminate exploitative and unsustainable practices from its supply chains, the two organizations have finally put their long-running conflict to rest.