Group items tagged

Caesars Entertainment and Heinz are among the companies with stellar environmental records, exceeding their sustainability goals. Heinz is consuming 23% less water, creating 23.8% less greenhouse gas emissions and sending 51.2% less solid waste to landfills, while Caesars has reduced greenhouse gases 28 percent, already surpassed its target for reducing water consumption, and achieved LEED certification on every expansion or new building since 2007.

Plastic Soup Foundation (PSF), a Dutch nonprofit, and New York-based Parley for the Oceans announced Tuesday a partnership to tackle the issue of microfiber pollution and to create a global alliance of companies, governments, NGOs and scientists. Microfibers - tiny, often synthetic threads shed from laundry, industrial clothing manufacturing and fishing nets - have been found in alarming numbers in recent studies of microplastic pollution.

Drone boats will soon hit the famous, rusty bike-filled canals of Amsterdam. The ambitious "ROBOAT" project, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), will start a five-year trial of the vessels from 2017 to give the multi-purpose boats all sorts of interesting tasks for the busy waterways. The boats will support an array of sensors that can measure water pollution and quality, making assessments about how best to improve the environment. "Water is the bearer of life," says Arjan van Timmeren, professor and scientific director at AMS. "By focusing on the water system of the city, ROBOAT can create opportunities for new environmental sensing methods and climate adaptation."

BP, Shell, and other global oil and gas companies created OGCI Climate Investments, a 10-year, $1 billion dollar investment fund to "accelerate the development of innovative technologies that, once commercialized, have the potential to reduce GHG emissions on a significant scale." The combined operations of the OGCI member companies account for more than one-fifth of global oil and gas production and more than 10% of the global energy supply.

(World Green Building Council) showcases the actions businesses are taking to improve their workspaces and highlights the business value created from providing healthy, green office space for employees.

A plan launched by Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke and backed by the Philadelphia Energy Authority will use $1 billion on energy efficiency projects in municipal buildings, schools, small businesses and low- to middle-income homes with the goals of creating 10,000 green jobs over the next decade and reducing energy consumption. PEA's executive director, Emily Schapira, says green energy is a growing industry, and the project will spur its development in the city.

The Rockefeller Foundation will collaborate with the USDA, EPA, and 10 private sector and non-profit organizations to create "Further With Food: Center for Food Loss and Waste Solutions," an online information exchange that aims to provide best practices for preventing, recovering, and recycling food loss and waste. The website will officially launch later this month (January 2017).

A company created by Stanford University is developing a self-sustaining community in the Netherlands. The 25-home neighborhood will produce its own energy from biogas, solar and geothermal sources and will grow its own food. ReGen Villages describes its focus as "[d]esirable, off-grid-capable neighborhoods comprised of power positive homes, renewable energy, water management, and waste-to-resource systems that are based upon on-going resiliency research -- for thriving families and reduced burdens on local and national governments."

The World Green Building Council launched an initiative to create an enabling environment that allows all buildings to generate clean power and produce zero net emissions worldwide by 2050. The Council and its partners will collaborate to develop regionally specific net zero certifications and standards, and training programs for practitioners.

Unhappy with how regional authorities have failed to protect fish stocks in the Western Pacific, Palau has launched its own bold initiatives - creating a vast marine sanctuary and conducting an experiment designed to reduce bycatch in its once-thriving tuna fishery.

General Motors has created revenue streams worth $1 billion through its waste-reduction and recycling programs while also reducing its risk exposure, says Mari Kay Scott, GM's executive director of global environmental compliance and sustainability. "Sustainability is good for the environment -- it's also really good for business," she says.

Apple seems to be embedding its renewable energy commitments into its corporate structure. The company recently created a new wholly-owned subsidiary known as Apple Energy LLC and filed an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which regulates power companies, to be able to sell electricity and other power grid services to non-utility customers. The move is a strong sign that Apple will not only fulfill its plans to operate on 100 percent renewable energy through net-metering, but plans to generate and sell renewable energy back to the grid.

China could use wind to create more than 25% of its electricity by 2030, according to new Nature Energy study. China added 145 gigawatts of installed wind capacity in 2015 -- more than anywhere else, including the US and Europe.

Independent charity Sustainable Shipping Initiative launched its Roadmap to 2040, which outlines 6 criteria that chart a path toward the development of a sustainable shipping industry by 2040. The criteria call on the industry to collectively create financial solutions that accelerate sustainability performance, diversify energy and fuel supply, increase transparency and accountability, and more. 

BASF has joined a national effort to help monarch butterfly populations by building habitats at several of its chemical complexes in the US, and most recently in Geismar, La. "From our standpoint as a company, sustainability and environmental stewardship are at the core of our operations," said BASF Geismar External Communications Manager Blythe Lamonica.

World Wildlife Fund is encouraging Climate Saver companies to help reduce global carbon emissions by 1.2 gigatons by 2020. WWF created the Climate Savers program in 1999 to give companies a way to partner to achieve environmental and sustainability goals.

Recycling of plastics - one of the best ways to reduce carbon footprint - offers two major benefits: recycling reduces the amount of oil required to produce more plastic, and also takes material out of landfills.

National Geographic has long been in the business of creating what environmental economists call 'existence value' - getting people to care about the survival of places they know they will never visit in their lifetimes. Now, they're using carbon offsets as part of their strategy to reduce operational emissions while investing in some of the gorgeous landscapes that appear in their pages.

Fashion marketing is predicated on the assumption that clothes fall out of fashion from season to season and that consumers must keep buying to stay hip, writes Ceri Heathcote. Sustainable brands should make a stand and encourage consumers to dress for their personal style rather than for marketer-created fashion trends, Heathcote argues.

Levi Strauss has created a process for using 100% recycled water in parts of its garment production, Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability at the company, has told the Guardian.