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After getting two stores LEED-certified since 2008, they used the experience to create their own certification program for franchisees. Dunkin is rolling out the program for new construction, with a goal of building 100 certified restaurants by the end of 2016. And they also want to extend the program to retrofits at some point.

Thanks to the enormous utility-scale solar plants that now dot the west, solar should be supplying 1% of US electricity by the end of this year, says Pete Danko at Breaking Energy.

Unilever partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to expand access to the Global Forest Watch Commodities platform, which enables companies to monitor changes in forest cover associated with their supply chains. Unilever and its suppliers will begin using the platform and working with WRI to improve it.

As 2014 ends and 2015 begins, we asked members of the GreenBiz Executive Network, our member-based, peer-to-peer learning forum for sustainability professionals, to look ahead and share what they think will be exciting in the new year.

China's latest clean air provision includes the outright banning of all usage and sales of coal in Beijing by the end of 2020.

General Motors began composting food scraps at its global headquarters, working with a local company to transform the waste into gardening soil. The company expects to collect 51,000 tons of food scraps by the end of 2014.

Nearly all ocean dead zones will increase by the end of the century because of climate change, according to a new Smithsonian-led study. But the work also recommends how to limit risks to coastal communities of fish, crabs and other species no matter how much the water warms.

PepsiCo is committed to working to increase the U.S. beverage recycling rate, with a goal of reaching 50 percent by 2018. Such a shift would capture billions of containers that otherwise would end up in landfill, streets, parks and waterways. PepsiCo and The Nature Conservancy forged a new initiative to "Recycle for Nature." By recycling any plastic bottle or aluminum can, consumers are directly helping support The Nature Conservancy's efforts to save and restore 1 billion gallons of water over the next five years.

Nearly every piece of plastic still exists on Earth, regardless of whether it's been recycled, broken down into microscopic bits or discarded in the ocean. And the world keeps producing more of the material -- creating 288 million metric tons of it in 2012. About 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of it end up in the oceans in 2010, according to a new estimate published in the journal Science.

H&M, Eddie Bauer, The North Face, Marmot, Mammut, Helly Hansen, Outdoor Research, DownLinens, Down & Feather Co. and other leading international fashion, bedding and outdoor brands have adopted the Textile Exchange's Responsible Down Standard, a third-party certification standard that can be applied to any waterfowl-based supply chain to help ensure humane treatment of animals from gosling to end product.

More than five years after the formal end of the "Kleercut" campaign, Kimberly-Clark and Greenpeace are still hanging out. Why? Well, first of all, Kimberly-Clark has delivered on its commitments.

Panera Bread will transition to 100% cage-free eggs over the next five years, the company said Thursday. Panera will also stop sourcing pork from pigs raised with gestation crates and roasted turkey from birds raised with antibiotics, and boost the amount of beef that comes from grass-fed, free-range sources by the end of this year

MetLife will achieve carbon neutrality by the end of 2016, becoming the first US-based insurer to do so.

The Christmas gifts have been delivered, and Secret Santa is done. Now, the work begins for Optoro, a start-up company that aims to reduce the financial and environmental costs of another great holiday tradition: returns. Little known to shoppers, however, is that a majority of returned items never make it back to retailers' shelves. Instead, the items wind their way through liquidators, wholesalers and resellers, many of the purchases ending up in landfills. According to some estimates, as much as two million tons of returned items - most of it undamaged merchandise - are thrown away each year, enough to fill over 200,000 garbage trucks.

Food company John West Australia pledged to help end unsustainable fishing practices within the Australian canned tuna industry, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Nestlé has committed to achieve zero waste to landfill status in all US factories by 2020 and pledged to expand its use of recycled content to by the end of 2016.

Hilton Worldwide is taking advantage of a partnership with General Electric by installing electric-vehicle, or EV, chargers at 100 of its hotels by the end of 2016. Some other hotels are using green-energy storage systems, which can reduce charges on about 30% to 50% of a property's energy bill, according to a GreenBiz report

A new report by Greenpeace finds that palm oil suppliers to the world's largest brands have cleared more than 1,300 square kilometres of rainforest - an area the size of the city of Los Angeles - since the end of 2015.

Launched by two leather rookies, Billy Tannery is the first ever entirely British goat leather brand. Shocked at learning that almost all goat hides end up in the trash, Jack Millington and Rory Harker, two friends, decided to create a sustainable goat leather brand at home in the UK.