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The Madhya Pradesh government in India spearheaded an environmental campaign last weekend in which some 1.5 million volunteers planted 66 million trees in 12 hours along the banks of the Narmada River. India, the world's third-largest generator of carbon emissions, has committed under the Paris Agreement to increase its forests by 12% by 2030.

Three new goals to enhance the circular economy for plastics and reduce packaging waste have been announced by leading U.S. plastic producers including BASF, Dow, DuPont and Braskem. Together as part of the American Chemistry Council (ACC)'s Plastics Division, 15 leading resin manufacturers and an affiliated trade association have strengthened their commitments to capturing, recycling and recovering plastics.

Two Asian nations are on track to exceed their climate goals by 2030, according to the Climate Action Tracker, an analysis produced by a consortium of nonprofits and consulting groups. China and India both have made renewable energy investments and have committed to burning less coal.

SAP has committed to achieving carbon neutrality in its operations by 2025. The company is currently purchasing renewable energy certificates to cover 100% of the electricity used in its data centers.

California Governor Jerry Brown and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have signed a joint agreement to work together to tackle climate change and "capitalise on the huge potential of the Under2 MoU, the ambitious commitment to bold and decisive climate action covering over one billion people and over a third of the global economy to which both jurisdictions are signatories."

France's government has unveiled a law to ban all production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on the country's mainland and overseas territories. The move is largely symbolic, however, as France's oil and gas production represents just 1 percent of national consumption - the rest is imported. The ban, which the government claims is a world first, is part of a larger plan to wean the country's economy from fossil fuels, encourage clean energy and fulfill France's commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement to curb global warming.

Announced today at Climate Week NYC 2017 in New York, global financial institutions Citi and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have joined The Climate Group's RE100 campaign with CDP, committing to source 100% renewable power across their global operations by 2020. Other companies joining the RE100 initiative are one of the fastest-growing beverage companies, Califia Farms, and UK investment management company Jupiter Asset Management. The announcements follow news last week that The Estée Lauder Companies, Kellogg Company, DBS Bank and Clif Bar & Company have also joined RE100. 110 of the world's most influential companies are now generating demand for over 150 TWh renewable energy annually - more than enough to power New York State.

Last week, Nestlé announced that it will commit to sourcing only cage-free eggs across its entire global supply chain by 2025. This pledge comes almost two years after its U.S. division said it would switch to cage-free eggs for its food brands by 2020.

In an unprecedented move for the industry, Clarins Fragrance Group is blazing new transparency trails, with brands MUGLER and AZZARO committing to produce perfume alcohol in a way that meets rigorous environmental and social requirements under a groundbreaking "made in France" program. The key aim of the "responsible alcohol" project is to promote biodiversity in agricultural practices. Other benefits of the program include local production, which will create a short circuit between harvest and transformation sites.

As an ever-expanding group of U.S. businesses commit to using more renewable energy to power their operations, a new study has found that for many companies, cost savings is the single most important reason for doing so. This is according to results of the first major survey of large electricity users since President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, conducted by SED Research. The Sept. 13 report, "Post-Paris: the State of Corporate Renewable Energy Sourcing," analyzes responses from executives at 94 companies and institutions, more than 40 of which are in the Fortune 500.

A group of companies - including General Mills, The Hershey Company, and Nestlé - have committed to working with the governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana to end cocoa-related deforestation, protect national parks from illegal cocoa production, and improve the livelihoods of smallholder cocoa farmers. The initiative is led by IDH - the Sustainable Trade Initiative, the Prince of Wales's International Sustainability Unit, and the World Cocoa Foundation, in partnership with the governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

On Thursday, Asia Pulp & Paper Group announced it is committing to retire roughly 7,000 hectares (~17,300 acres) of commercial plantation areas to protect threatened carbon-rich peatlands - the first time that plantations on tropical peatland have been retired for conservation purposes worldwide.

Microbeads are bad news, but fortunately most of us know that by now. There has been growing resistance to the miniscule pieces of plastic, added to personal care products for their ability to exfoliate skin, or sometimes just to look pretty in a see-through bottle. These microbeads, however, wreak environmental havoc as soon as they're washed down the drain. The outcome is described here by campaign group 'Beat the Microbead':

Seafood company Thai Union Group will ensure 100% of its tuna is sustainably sourced and plans to reach at least 75% sustainability by 2020. The company will invest $90 million in efforts to increase their supply of sustainable tuna and open 11 Fishery Improvement Projects.

Food company Dannon has pledged to work with its dairy farmer partners and their suppliers to improve sustainable agriculture practices, increase the use of natural and non-GMO ingredients across its 3 flagship products, and more.

Nestlé has introduced new 2020 sustainability and development targets, building on its first set of 2020 goals announced in 2013. The company also announced long-term ambitions in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including helping 50 million children lead healthier lives, helping to improve 30 million livelihoods in communities directly connected to its business activities, and striving for zero environmental impact in its operations

In its new position paper, Halting Deforestation and Achieving Sustainability, the Rainforest Alliance addresses the recent surge in deforestation-free pledges. The paper argues the deforestation-free trend is an exciting development, but it needs definition, focus, and accountability to deliver lasting benefits for forests, people and the planet.

Many companies have taken extensive steps internally to reduce their risk of deforestation; often, though, the efforts are disjointed in relation to supply chain activity and consequently do not easily ladder up to meet an umbrella goal like that of CGF. TSC's KPIs provide a much-needed solution for this.

Procter & Gamble generated $1.6 billion in cost savings and revenue through its zero waste manufacturing facilities between 2007-2014.

InterContinental Hotels Group announced that its 4,700 hotel properties will begin using the IHG Green Engage online sustainability tool to track energy use, GHG emissions, water consumption, and waste management. The company stated that the system has already enabled a portion of their hotels save $73 million in energy costs during 2013.