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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.

On Friday, General Mills announced that it will "soon" start labeling its products that contain genetically modified organism (GMO) ingredients nationwide. With the rationale that it is impractical to label its products for just one state, the company plans to disclose GMO ingredients according to the law set to go into effect in Vermont on July 1.

Leahy-IFP's Space Saver bag-in-a-box beverage packaging uses 50 percent less energy during production, generates 22 percent less post-consumer solid waste and 7 percent less process greenhouse gases, compared to 64-oz. plastic bottles, the company says.

Family-owned firms are helping to drive sustainability forward in Asia, experts say, in part because family ownership allows younger generations to influence a company's values and to drive change. "In the face of mounting resource and climate-related business challenges, there is a real opportunity right now to groom a pool of environmentally aware next-generation leaders," says Jie Hui Kia, a Singapore futures adviser.

North American Electric Reliability Corp. reported that California's power generation from wind and solar energy sources will reach 18,700 megawatts by 2020. The state targets 33% renewable energy generation within the next seven years. NERC added that the state needs to keep gas-fired power facilities to fill the gap in energy availability.

The first item on the long list of issues to be addressed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week: Climate change. On Tuesday President Barack Obama will address a group of world leaders at the U.N. Climate Summit, a one-day meeting hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and open to leaders of all 193 U.N. member states, though not all will attend, plus members of the private sector.

General Mills has committed to reducing absolute GHG emissions by 28% across its entire value chain over the next 10 years.

  General Mills announced plans to source 100% of its eggs from cage-free operations in the United States

General Electric has launched an up to CAD$1 million ecomagination open challenge to help accelerate emissions-reducing technology development in Canada's oil sands. The Innovation Challenge will target two of the biggest opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands: new uses for waste heat and improved efficiency of steam generation.

Private equity firm KKR announced that Del Monte, Dollar General, Sealy, and the 24 other companies in its Green Portfolio Program have collectively avoided more than 2.3 million metric tons of GHG emissions from 2008 to 2013, generating $1.2 billion in new savings and revenues. Companies in the Green Portfolio Program agree to assess, measure, and optimize their environmental performance in ways that improve their businesses.

A coalition of companies with skin in the game - food and beverage giants General Mills, Driscoll's and Coca-Cola North America, Gap Inc., Symantec and home builder KB Home - are coming together to launch a new campaign urging companies to enact more aggressive measures to maximize California's local and state water resources.

Consulting firm Ecofys entered a 3-year partnership with advocacy initiative The Generation Foundation to address the challenges of carbon pricing and identify the role of carbon pricing in achieving the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.

India's renewable energy (wind and solar) sector's contribution to the overall power generation mix is expected to cross 10% in FY20 as the country will add 10 giga-watt (GW) generation capacity during the period.

In a recent GreenBiz webcast, a panel of experts - including strategists from General MIlls, Kering and McDonald's - explained why going big on sustainability goals is increasingly a smart business strategy, as well as a good stewardship policy. They discussed the intersection of today's major frameworks, such as science-driven goal setting, the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTI), planetary boundaries, Sustainable Development Goals, and more, and provided concrete business cases from several organizations on how they are conducting this transition.

Net zero energy (NZE) buildings-responsible for the production of as much (or more) clean energy as they use annually-have been gaining global momentum. In our newly released Insight Brief, RMI presents an innovative business model for developing net zero energy or ultra-low energy districts in a way that creates significant business value. Net zero energy business models are financially attractive to investors because the large capital investments in solar PV, district heating and cooling, and energy efficiency are repaid over time on utility bills, generating a steady return that benefits from enhanced credit because of the utility-customer relationship.

Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have surged past an important threshold and may not dip below it for "many generations." The 400 parts per million benchmark was broken globally for the first time in recorded history in 2015. But according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2016 will likely be the first full year to exceed the mark.

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is present at 400 parts per million for the first time ever -- a level that's 44% greater than CO2 levels prior to the Industrial Revolution, says a World Meteorological Organization report. Improvements in the near future could reduce CO2 levels by the 2060s, says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

The global volume of e-waste generated is expected to reach 93.5 million tons in 2016 from 41.5 million tons in 2011 at a compound annual growth rate of 17.6 percent from 2011 to 2016, according to a new report from Marketsandmarkets.

As the Arctic melts, oil companies are moving in to drill for more oil. Next year, the Norwegian owned oil company Statoil will drill further north than ever - unless we stop them. An unprecedented case was filed this morning that could do just that. This case is about holding back the oil industry at this final frontier, it is about protecting the beautiful Arctic, and it is about people stepping up to hold governments to account. If we win, millions of barrels of oil could be kept in the ground. We will argue in court that we must take action to keep the Paris climate agreement on track, and we will invoke Norway's constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for future generations.

The country may be the world's largest carbon emitter, but China has the potential to become a clean energy leader. China is now the largest producer of renewable energy, generating 325 million tons of oil equivalent in 2013. Although renewables represented only 11 percent of the country's total energy production in 2014, this shift indicates the Chinese government's effort to transition its energy production mix.

A new energy market analysis shows the average cost of electricity from renewables is already lower than from fossil fuels, writes Alex Kirby. And as renewables eat deeper into the 'market share' of coal and gas power plants, so the entire economics of fossil fuel power generation will unravel.