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Out of Fashion campaign for forest-friendly fabrics - led by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) - is calling on the "Fashion 15" group of companies - to take responsibility for their supply chains and develop strong, time bound commitments to protect forests and human rights.

The latest effort, the Out of Fashion campaign for forest-friendly fabrics - led by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) - is calling on the "Fashion 15" group of companies - Ralph Lauren, Prada, LVMH, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Vince, Guess, Velvet, L Brands, Forever 21, Under Armour, Footlocker, Abercrombie and Fitch, GAIAM and Beyond Yoga - to take responsibility for their supply chains and develop strong, time bound commitments to protect forests and human rights. With proven connections from human rights violations and forest destruction all the way to our store shelves, fashion companies can no longer ignore this critical issue.

Gamesa announced plans to build a 40 MW wind farm in India for renewable energy developer ReNew Power.

The mixed messages over the last few weeks alone - not to mention many other less-than-stellar environmental developments in recent years (hello, fracking) - raise one big question for 2016: which way from here on climate change? Here are five key areas to watch in the year ahead.

MGM Resorts is making water conservation a top priority in developing its Park promenade in Las Vegas -- even though there's a relative paucity of water-conservation technologies compared with the number of energy-efficiency technologies now available, says Chief Sustainability Officer Cindy Ortega. MGM also launched a social app to raise employee awareness about water conservation.

HVAC producers, working jointly with design professionals, are in the forefront of the war on climate change," writes Alex Carrick, chief economist for CanaData, part of Construction Market Data Group. The industry has been instrumental in helping to develop innovative plumbing, lighting, glazing and roofing products to increase sustainability, reduce water consumption and improve air quality.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been developing these rules for several years as part of its multifaceted strategy to achieve the goals of AB 32, California's landmark greenhouse gas emission reduction program.  Read more: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/02/11/california-leads-on-reducing-methane-emissions-from-oil-gas-operations/#ixzz40U7HsATq

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.

Efforts are underway to develop plans for cleaning up the world's marine garbage patches, but the scale of the problem makes conventional cleanup technologies impractical. What's really needed is a change in attitude among the people producing the waste in the first place, writes Anja Krieger. "Redefining what kinds of plastic products we really need, and how to regulate, use and dispose of them, will be at the core of the answer," she argues.

Spending on offshore wind energy development in Europe reached $14.45 billion last year. That was a record amount and double 2014's number. The rate is expected to decline this year but increase in the future. "Offshore wind power produces roughly one and a half times the energy of onshore wind power," said Toni Sulameri, who works for wind power production company Suomen Hyotytuuli Oy. Europe has 84 offshore wind farms.

This month, General Electric announced that it is developing a desalination technology that freezes seawater to separate salt crystals from water, at a 20 percent lower cost compared to conventional thermal evaporation approaches. Meanwhile, Veolia and Masdar unveiled a new renewable energy-powered pilot facility that also reduces the costs of desalination.

Corporate sustainability reporting desperately needs to up its game in order to align company-level sustainability performance with the broader systems-level ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and COP21, the UN climate change conference, according to a new report from the UNEP. For example, while 95% of the 108 companies researched in the report disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, only a mere 8% set GHG emissions reduction goals in the context of the science-based target of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius - the central goal of COP21.

Saskatchewan, Canada, has set a goal to source 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The province currently sources about 5% of its total electricity from wind, but experts say that total could double by 2020. The Canadian Solar Industries Association said Saskatchewan also has a huge potential for solar development. "Saskatchewan's potential for solar power generation is significantly superior to Germany's -- the country with over 50% of the world's operating solar technology," it said. 

The political outcomes of COP21, the UN climate conference, may still be unknown, but at least we can expect substantial investment in clean energy following two initiatives announced earlier this week: Mission Innovation, a commitment from 20 participating countries to double their governmental and/or state-directed clean energy research and development investment over five years; and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a global group of private investors who will support the commercialization of clean energy ideas

While so much of our lives have veered toward the digital, many organizations' operations still rely to some degree on paper. Innovative solutions to help minimize the impact of continued paper use include print-optimization technologies and more "sustainable" fonts. Now, Seiko Epson Corporation has developed what it believes to be the world's first compact office paper-making system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded waste paper with minimal use of water.

DuPont launched its 2020 Sustainability goals, which include investing $10 billion in research and development to enhance global food security, cutting GHG emissions intensity by 7% from a 2015 baseline, reducing non-renewable energy use by 10% from a 2010 baseline, and more.

Walmart entered a 10-year agreement to purchase 58% of the expected output from renewable energy developer Pattern Energy Group's 200 MW wind farm in Texas.

Sustainable food startup Impossible Foods received $108 million in series D financing, which expands its total funding to $183 million. The company is developing meat and dairy alternatives from plant ingredients.

The Chinese and Israeli governments plan to partner on "Water City" in Shouguang, China, where Israeli-developed water technologies will be implemented to rehabilitate polluted aquifers and provide clean water, sewage treatment, desalination and irrigation. The city could become a model for how to bring such tech to large areas. 

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.