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Hilton Worldwide launched a 3-year commitment to develop a water stewardship strategy, expand its global sustainable seafood efforts, reduce food waste within its operations and supply chain, and accelerate the integration of renewable energy. The company has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to help facilitate this commitment.

Conscious Commerce, founded by actress Olivia Wilde, partnered with H&M to launch a Conscious Exclusive shop in New York City's Times Square, which houses clothing made from sustainable materials

the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, WRI announced the launch of a process to develop a global standard for measuring food loss and waste. This standard, known as the Global Food Loss and Waste Protocol, will enable countries and companies to measure and monitor the food loss and waste that occur within their boundaries and value chains in a credible, practical and consistent manner.

UPS has launched its route optimization software called ORION - this stands for on-road integrated optimization and navigation - which the company expects to save more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 14,000 metric tons by the end of the year. A reduction of just one mile each day per driver over the course of a year saves UPS up to $50 million annually.

Knowing how conventional cotton is grown and denim is made, Patagonia has set out to change the industry. The company has partnered with Archroma on a new denim collection, launched this week, which is said to use 84% less water, 30% less energy and 25% less CO2 compared to conventional denim dyeing processes - as well as a campaign telling us all about it.

Nike identified water inadequacy and resource cost volatility among the risks, opportunities and challenges surrounding its business. This became the driving force behind the forging of the relationship between Nike and Dutch award-winning startup DyeCoo, a Dutch company that launched the world's first ever industrial dyeing machine that uses high pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) as a replacement for water to dye polyester.

Today, Rainforest Action Network released a new progress report ranking the relative strength of palm oil commitments made since the launch of its Snack Food 20 campaign two years ago. The 2015 progress report shines a spotlight on the laggards in the Snack Food 20 and outlines the actions that these companies - as well as the frontrunners who are pushing ahead on their commitments - can and must take to rapidly cut Conflict Palm Oil from our food system.

California legislators are considering tough emissions proposals that would double buildings' energy efficiency, require 50% renewable energy use by state utilities and halve gasoline consumption by 2030. The oil industry is launching a major PR offensive to derail the effort, but Gov. Jerry Brown says he's determined to implement the policies. "It's absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system," he said. 

Household and personal care company Seventh Generation launched its Energy Smart laundry and dishwasher detergent product line, which is designed to give the same performance in all water temperatures so consumers can use low energy settings on their appliances. The products will be exclusive to Target's "Made to Matter" line.

Unilever launched Me to We-an initiative that enables consumers to collectively facilitate clean water provision in developing communities through their everyday purchases, in partnership with Walgreens. Customers can contribute to the cause by purchasing select Unilever TRESemmé, Suave or Caress products at their local Walgreens through September 30, 2015.

Knowing how conventional cotton is grown and denim is made, always-a-better-way outdoor apparel brand Patagonia has set out to change the industry. The company has partnered with chemical company Archroma on a new denim collection, launched this week - which is Fair Trade certified and said to use 84 percent less water, 30 percent less energy and 25 percent less CO2 compared to conventional denim dyeing processes - as well as a campaign telling us all about it.

PepsiCo launched a new supply chain land policy characterized by zero tolerance for illegal activities and landowner displacements. The policy commits the company to negotiating land acquisitions in accordance with international standards and mapping its agricultural supply chain.

The US Green Building Council joined the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, a membership initiative with the goal to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. The program was launched during the UN Climate Summit two months ago under UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

Greenpeace is launching a new ClickClean ad campaign aimed at persuading tech companies such as Amazon and Twitter to buy more of their energy from renewable sources. A previous campaign persuaded Google, Facebook and Apple to boost their green-energy purchases

Today, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched LEED Proven Provider, a new designation that streamlines the LEED project review process for experienced organizations that demonstrate consistent excellence in administering LEED projects. "LEED Proven Provider makes the LEED review process faster and more seamless," said Doug Gatlin, vice president of program delivery, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and GBCI. "It allows GBCI to deliver faster reviews of LEED projects while still maintaining the integrity of the LEED certification process."

China expects to launch a national carbon market in 2016, drawing together regional pilot projects into a single unified marketplace. The new carbon trading system will be the world's biggest emissions market

The North Face and Patagonia have launched rival standards for animal welfare, with a particular focus on the way the ducks and geese used to produce down are treated. Now the two companies are sparring over which set of standards actually does more to protect the birds.

The environmental activist group SumOfUs has stolen some of the thunder from PepsiCo's crowdsourced "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign by launching a parody Doritos ad criticizing PepsiCo's palm-oil policies. PepsiCo said the ad, which racked up almost a million views on YouTube, was "focused on fiction rather than facts."

As 2014 comes to a close and we launch into the new year with new ambitions challenged by changing operating realities, we share our most important lessons of the past year for the sustainable business community. The implications extend far beyond, of course.

Walmart launched its Sustainability Leaders shop, an online shopping portal that enables customers to identify and purchase products from suppliers that have integrated organizational changes to manufacture goods in a manner that surpasses the efforts of their competitors.