Group items tagged

This new scenario modeling system helps planners in Latin America and the Caribbean make more informed infrastructure investments.

The commitment is one of several new sustainability initiatives, part of a 500 million Swiss francs ($547 million) program called The Positive Cup. Nespresso says it will invest the money over the next six years to shrink its environmental footprint. Part of this investment will be used to establish a new Sustainable Development Fund.

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.

The Boeing ecoDemonstrator 787 has begun flight testing more than 25 new technologies aimed at improving aviation's environmental performance through every phase of flight, according to a recent announcement. The Boeing ecoDemonstrator Program accelerates the testing, refinement and use of new technologies and methods that can improve efficiency and reduce noise.

Commercial wind and solar developers looking to sign up for New Mexico's Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (REPTC) in the near future will have to take a number and get in line. The program has been so popular that production tax credits for solar are maxed out through 2022. All of the available credits for wind are claimed from 2016-2020.

Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) released a new set of standards that will guide the organization's certification practices through 2019. SFI claims that its standards include policies and guidelines that will help protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife, endangered species and old-growth forests in the United States and Canada.

Walmart launched a new sustainable agriculture strategy emphasizing locally sourced produce, sustainability training for farmers, and supply-chain environmental assessments. The company will also seek to reduce food waste in stores, purchase sustainable palm oil, and avoid Brazilian beef linked to Amazon deforestation.

Under a new order from the state's Public Service Commission, utility companies will soon be barred from owning "distributed" power systems-that means rooftop solar, small wind turbines, and basically anything else that isn't a big power plant. "By restricting utilities from owning local power generation and other energy resources, customers will benefit from a more competitive market, with utilities working and partnering with other companies and service providers," the commission said in a statement.

Sixteen hotels, including the Waldorf and Pierre, have joined the NYC Carbon Challenge -- a city program aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% over the next decade.

While so much of our lives have veered toward the digital, many organizations' operations still rely to some degree on paper. Innovative solutions to help minimize the impact of continued paper use include print-optimization technologies and more "sustainable" fonts. Now, Seiko Epson Corporation has developed what it believes to be the world's first compact office paper-making system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded waste paper with minimal use of water.

n 2016 and beyond, building owners and key decision makers will invest in an array of smart building solutions that embody the technology foundation of Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, according to a new white paper from Navigant Research.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) new report takes stock of the most recent literature on the carbon budget. The bottom line? We're on track to blow through it over the next decade.

Lawmakers in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont aim to introduce carbon pricing legislation, including carbon taxes and market-based carbon cap-and-trade measures,

This month BNP Paribas, the world's seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people. It also requires companies to adhere to strict human rights and labor standards, end the use of hazardous pesticides, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other significant measures. The move charts a new path for responsible financing that all major financial institutions should follow - or else face the growing consumer backlash against environmentally destructive institutions.

Existing buildings in New York will now face higher standards for the emissions of greenhouse gases by upgrading water heaters, boilers and roofs, among other changes. The goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the city by 7% by 2035.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) today announced a new goal to achieve carbon neutrality for global operations by 2022. Underpinning this goal is a long-standing commitment to reducing energy consumption, improving energy efficiency and procuring renewable energy. As part of this goal, Morgan Stanley will source 100 percent of its global energy needs from renewable energy. Since 2006, the Firm has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 36 percent and has achieved its two previous emissions reductions goals ahead of schedule.

Polls show that four-fifths of the country's registered voters support a Green New Deal - including, incredibly, two-thirds of Republican voters, which helps explain why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the surprise announcement on 12 February that he would allow the GND measure to come before the Senate for a vote.

By the fall of 2020, REI will sever its business relationships with any of its 1,000-plus suppliers that don't meet stringent new requirements in areas including environmental impact, chemical usage, animal welfare, and labor safety and fairness. The move is among the most comprehensive efforts to advance sustainability in the retail sector. The outdoors-equipment retailer has already supplied to its vendors a 12-page document detailing the new sustainability standards. Some go into effect immediately, while others are more ambitious and aspirational and won't be mandatory for a couple of years.

The EU's Plastics Strategy aims to cut out non-recyclable plastics by 2030, while cutting down on single-use plastics and restricting microplastics, all by establishing a new circular economy around the material. The strategy lays out a few key steps to achieve this. The first is to introduce new rules on packaging that improve their recyclability and increase the demand for recycled plastics, thereby making recycling profitable for businesses.