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But for ice cream super brand Ben & Jerry's, carbon pricing is already a reality, allowing the scheme to pay U.S. dairy farmers to invest in onsite renewable energy generation and other clean technologies as it looks to slash its supply chain emissions.

An organic activist group and a subsequent article in The New York Times said testing has shown small amounts of the weed killer glyphosate in some Ben & Jerry's ice cream samples. Traces of the widely used pesticide can be found in many food products, and the company says it is working to determine how amounts from 0 to 1.74 parts per billion got into its supply chain.

The final straw: Ben & Jerry's announces plan to eliminate single-use plastic in Scoop Shops worldwide

The iconic ice cream brand's chief executive Jostein Solheim speaks about its efforts to combat climate change. 

By April of this year, its 600-plus Scoop Shops around the world will only offer wooden spoons, rather than plastic ones. Paper straws will also only be available upon request.

At a congressional briefing last week, top executives from Ben & Jerry's, Clif Bar, Kellogg Company, Mars Incorporated, PepsiCo, Stonyfield and Unilever discussed how climate change is disrupting global food supplies and their own supply chains. They called on lawmakers to acknowledge the ways in which rising temperatures are impacting their businesses and to act swiftly to reach bipartisan solutions to tackle this threat.

A dozen major retailers have joined a push for tougher restrictions on trucking emissions and are asking regulators to push for swifter and steeper reductions in fuel use by the freight sector. The firms, which include General Mills, Ben & Jerry's, Stonyfield Farm, and Patagonia, say stronger standards would help reduce their operating costs and make it easier to pass savings along to consumers.

Ben & Jerry's, Stonyfield Farm, and over 200 other companies and organizations signed a letter urging President Obama to institute a national labeling system for genetically engineered foods.

Ben & Jerry's, eBay, Gap, Levi Strauss & Co., and The North Face are among 24 companies that announced support of SB-350-a California bill to set benchmarks for increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency, while decreasing petroleum use by 2030.

State and local leaders announced Monday a bill that would ban polystyrene food containers, such as styrofoam cups, in California by 2020. State Sen. Ben Allen, whose district includes UCLA, introduced Senate Bill 705, or the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act, at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. Allen said he wanted to introduce this bill at UCLA to highlight the fact that a major institution like UCLA could make the change with positive results. UCLA eliminated polystyrene containers from its campus dining facilities in 2009 as part of a plan to have zero waste to landfill by 2020.

Shell plans to link executive bonuses to greenhouse gas emissions and take other actions to reduce its carbon footprint. In an interview with Reuters, Shell CEO CEO Ben van Beurden said the oil and gas company has "to be at the forefront of the transition" to a low-carbon economy and that means focusing on renewable energy, especially wind and solar, as well as low-carbon biofuels and hydrogen as key growth areas beyond 2020.

Shell plans to link executive bonuses to greenhouse gas emissions and take other actions to reduce its carbon footprint.

Brands in Unilever's sustainable living lineup, which include Hellmann's and Ben & Jerry's, fueled 60% of the company's growth last year, and are growing 50% faster than Unilever's other brands. "Our results show that sustainability is good for business, with increasing evidence that our 'sustainable living brands' do better," said CEO Paul Polman.