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The California Assembly has passed a bill that would require the state to curb its greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. "With S.B. 32 we continue California's leadership on climate change," Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said.

Apple is making progress on its sustainable supply chain efforts. The tech giant says all 14 of its final assembly site in China are now compliant with UL's Zero Waste to Landfill validation.

Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals, benzene and n-hexane, during the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest commitment to protect the factory workers who build its trendy devices.

General Motors completed a storm water management infrastructure expansion at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, which is expected to save the company nearly $2 million annually and cut operational water intensity. The company estimates the cost savings will surpass the total project investment in about 1 year.

Apple's labor practices are under attack by China Labor Watch and Green America, who contend the company makes its iPhones with a hazardous mix of chemicals that threaten the health of factory workers assembling the devices in China

The first item on the long list of issues to be addressed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week: Climate change. On Tuesday President Barack Obama will address a group of world leaders at the U.N. Climate Summit, a one-day meeting hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and open to leaders of all 193 U.N. member states, though not all will attend, plus members of the private sector.

Plastic waste causes $13 billion in annual financial damage to marine ecosystems, though the actual cost of plastic waste to the overall environment may be much higher, according to two reports released at a meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly. One report, the UN Environment Programme Year Book, notes that when plastic material fouls fishing equipment and pollutes beaches it threatens tourism, fisheries and businesses in addition to marine life.

The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) has announced that its membership has overwhelmingly approved global Principles and Criteria for defining sustainable beef and beef production practices. More than 96 percent of the GRSB General Assembly members voted in favor of the definition, principles and criteria. Every one of the five constituencies - producer, commerce, processing, retail and roundtables - voted to approve the definition.

In a moving address at the opening session to the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), President Barack Obama called on world leaders and delegates assembled in the plenary hall at Le Bourget for resolve in the coming two weeks of negotiations, keeping in mind the long-term implications of the results.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven recently declared at the U.N. General Assembly that his nation of 10 million people would become "one of the first fossil-free welfare states in the world."

As FSC's highest decision making body, the General Assembly sets the direction for the organization for the coming years, with several important areas of responsible forest management, conservation and sustainability on the agenda. These include, among others, the protection of High Conservation Value areas such as Intact Forest Landscapes, ensuring the rights and participation of Indigenous Peoples in forest development, and the future directions for forest restoration and conservation, all while permitting forests to continue to supply the vital products the world depends on for many purposes.