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Business leaders from the global non-profit initiative The B Team issued a call to action urging world leaders to formally commit to a global goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. The B Team leaders include Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Dr. Mo Ibrahim (Celtel), Guilherme Leal (Natura), François-Henri Pinault (Kering), Paul Polman (Unilever), and Ratan Tata (Tata Group).

Carnival, Kimberly-Clark, Intel, PG&E and Xerox are among 34 companies named to the Natural Capital Leaders Index, which recognizes companies that have grown their revenue between 2008 and 2012 while reducing their environmental impacts during that same period.

World leaders have agreed to double the clean energy research funding they pledged in December as part of an international push to reduce carbon emissions, the White House announced on Thursday.  During the first meeting of the 21 countries involved in the Mission Innovation project this week, international members said they would increase the clean energy research and development funding the project is designed to facilitate.  According to the White House, member countries will now spend $30 billion per year by 2021 on clean energy research. 

An ensemble of Global Business Leaders NGO'S and academics has joined forces to call for a, sustainable global economic model to be adopted by Governments and Businesses alike.

EU leaders have agreed to a legally binding commitment to reduce the region's greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2030 from 1990 levels. The EU also committed to increase energy efficiency and the share of energy generated from renewables. "We managed to reach a fair decision. It sets Europe on an ambitious yet cost-effective energy path," said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

State and local leaders announced Monday a bill that would ban polystyrene food containers, such as styrofoam cups, in California by 2020. State Sen. Ben Allen, whose district includes UCLA, introduced Senate Bill 705, or the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act, at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. Allen said he wanted to introduce this bill at UCLA to highlight the fact that a major institution like UCLA could make the change with positive results. UCLA eliminated polystyrene containers from its campus dining facilities in 2009 as part of a plan to have zero waste to landfill by 2020.

Despite all of the hubbub and calls to action from business leaders around Climate Week NYC and the release of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), corporate minds at large may not be drinking the Kool-Aid: Survey results released this week reveal that even in companies with sustainability commitments, about one-third of business leaders believe that a new agreement from COP21 in December will have little to no significance for their business, and only one-third believe their company will use the SDGs to set goals.

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.

A survey released this week of expert stakeholders from business, government, NGOs and academia across 87 countries shows that Unilever, Patagonia, Interface and M&S are viewed as leaders in corporate sustainability.

A group of companies united in the Roundtable for Product Social Metrics today announces the publication of the Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment, a practical tool for assessing a product's social impacts throughout its life cycle. The handbook is the result of a unique collaborative effort of market leaders including AkzoNobel, BASF, L'Oréal, Marks & Spencer and Philips.

State leaders, delegates, business leaders, and other stakeholders have convened in Paris for the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP 21). Here are a few highlights from last week: 

The Climate Summit for Local Leaders-hosted by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change-is the largest-ever convening of mayors, governors, and local leaders focused on fighting climate change. 

State leaders, delegates, business leaders, and other stakeholders convened in Paris for the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP 21). Here are a few highlights from the final week: 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial leaders met Thursday and pledged to double clean energy investment and meet or exceed Canada's international emissions-reduction commitments. "We are moving toward a pan-Canadian framework for clean growth and climate change," the leaders said in a joint statement.

Now Google, the longtime business leader, is taking lessons from behavioral economics and becoming a sustainability leader. For almost a year, the company has been nudging its employees to eat less meat, and it's working. Google has teamed up with the Better Buying Lab, a division of the World Resources Institute, which uses the nudge theory to "enable consumers to buy and consume more sustainable foods."

2017 Sustainability Leaders Survey" (GlobeScan, SustainAbility, and Sustainable Brands) asked more than 1,000 experts to list companies that are leaders in integrating sustainability into their business strategy. The most frequently cited companies included the following: * Unilever * Patagonia * Interface * IKEA * Marks and Spencer (M&S) * Natura * Tesla * Nestlé * BASF * General Electric * Nike

Lesson learned: The power of engaging a supplier or other partner hand-in-hand with an NGO partner is unbelievably impactful. It sends a message to internal and external stakeholders that this is not PR. It is real and sincere. You have to work with NGOs. NGOs are the sustainability thermometer for the consumer. Fortunately, there are lots of good choices for you to make.

The American electorate just picked one of the most powerful climate change deniers on the planet as the steward of U.S. environmental strategy for at least the next four years. The good news is that sustainable business leaders have more clarity about what to expect from the next administration. It's now time to prioritize what comes next.

This year, the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards have been opened for corporations to submit projects they have implemented that helped improve sustainability metrics (or for consultants to submit projects they have implemented for corporate partners). Here are a few ideas, examples of successful projects that have come across our desks in recent months. These are the types of projects that would be strong submissions to win a Top Project of the Year Award.

Leaders of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and 16 other organizations sent an open letter urging the Green Building Initiative (GBI) to strengthen its Green Globes standard or state more explicitly that their standard is less rigorous than LEED or Living Building Challenge ones. The letter also urged GBI to stop attacking the credibility of LEED standards.