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Next year's World Cup in Brazil will cause the emission of 2.72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to a FIFA report -- nearly twice as much as the 2010 tournament. The organization plans to offset all of the emissions it causes directly, plus a portion of the emissions caused by fans' flights to the games

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition has turned its groundbreaking Higg Index, which exposes sustainable business metrics from across the fashion and apparel industry supply chain, into a dynamic Web portal.

*Saved 50 million liters of water in 2013 through the use of DryDye fabric. *Introduced heel inserts for shoes that will divert 1,500 metric tons of polystyrene waste from landfills. *Incorporated sustainable components into 100% of Sport Performance footwear created for 2013. *Obtained over 23% of cotton from Better Cotton-certified sources.

Sainsbury's became the first UK retailer to offer in-store recycling for Easter egg packaging waste, which accounts for 3,000 metric tons of waste in the UK per year.

Switching to LED fixtures will reduce energy use by more than 5 percent per store in the U.S. alone and will save an expected 340,000 kWh per store. That equals $34,000 in savings per year in each store - or removing 327,360 metric tons of carbon emissions from the atmosphere. The LED fixtures are expected to save a total of 620 million kWh over the next 10 years.

British Airways and biofuel producer Solena Fuels selected a site east of London for building the world's first plant for converting landfill waste to aviation biofuel. British Airways will purchase 50,000 metric tons of jet fuel per year from the facility when it comes online in 2017.

Staples Canada has set a goal to divert 100,000 kilograms of batteries from landfills in 2014 and says it, with partner Call2Recycle, has collected and diverted 30,295 kg of batteries in the first quarter this year. The company also says, in the first two months of 2014 alone, it reduced emissions by 3,572 metric tons of CO².

Staples earned the World Packaging Organization's Gold Award for implementing packaging that reduced the company's carbon footprint by 25,000 metric tons per year and cut corrugated cardboard consumption 20%. Staples worked with Packsize International to develop and implement the new packaging.

Internal carbon prices used range from $6-60 per metric ton, according to the report. In their 2013 CDP filings, the Walt Disney Company notes a price of $10-20, Google $14 and Xcel Energy $20. Other companies included in the report include: Wal-mart Stores Inc, Delta Airlines, Microsoft and PG&E Corporation.

Coca-Cola and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment expect SeaWorld's switch to PlantBottle plastic in its refillable cups to remove 35 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, the companies say. The recyclable cup, using Coke's sustainable packaging technology, is now available in all SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks across the US.

Microsoft's internal carbon pricing has helped the company recoup $10 million a year in energy savings and has reduced companywide emissions by the equivalent of 7.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. "Microsoft has been a pioneer in facing the facts, which are that climate change is happening and is going to mean a certain amount of change in the economy," said Paula DiPerna, a special adviser to the Carbon Disclosure Project. "Companies need to know what the hidden costs are."

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.

Marriott is avoiding over 816 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year after installing energy-efficient televisions from LG at U.S. properties. The company also expects to save almost $700,000 in electricity costs over the lifetime of the products.

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.

Del Monte Foods is using detailed metrics to measure the effectiveness of everything from energy to water to waste.

Based on entries from 2014 alone, Hormel Foods documented the following annual savings from the 52 Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best projects: 82 million gallons in water use; 8,100 MMBtu of natural gas; 2,700,000 kWh of electricity; 1,500 tons of solid waste; and 2,570 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Comcast, DirecTV, Cisco, AT&T and other consumer electronics and pay-TV companies, along with the Energy Department and other organizations, have developed standards for cable TV boxes expected to avoid more than 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The fifth edition of the Newsweek Green Rankings is out today, although it might as well be the first. It's an entirely new exercise with entirely new analysts, metrics and methodologies - and an entirely new set of winners and losers.

The report, Power Forward 2.0: How American Companies are Setting Clean Energy Targets and Capturing Greater Business Value, shows that clean energy is becoming mainstream for U.S. corporations - with 60 percent of the Fortune 100 having goals for renewable energy or greenhouse gas reductions. Through these initiatives, the 53 Fortune 100 companies reporting on climate and energy targets have collectively saved $1.1 billion annually and decreased their annual CO2 emissions by approximately 58.3 million metric tons - the equivalent of retiring 15 coal-fired power plants.

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.