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GreenBiz NGO report assed 30 of the largets environmental NGOs on tehir credibility and influenced. More than 200 companies and their sustainability exccutives reviewed the NGOs.

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.

news broke of a pending decision by the RSPO Complaints Panel to lift the suspension of IOI Group's certification under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification system. If successful this move would do irreparable harm to the RSPO's credibility. Less than five months after the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) suspended Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Group's certification, that suspension has been lifted - much to the dismay of NGO campaigners. While the RSPO's Complaints Panel has said it is "satisfied that IOI has met the conditions set out in its letter to IOI," Greenpeace Indonesia and the Center for International Policy says they have yet to see any real action on the ground. This was the second time a suspension has been placed on an IOI subsidiary. A coalition of NGOs has rapidly issued an appeal, urging the RSPO to maintain its suspension of IOI Group stating that it is far too premature to lift the suspension given that the company has not come into full compliance with the RSPO Certification Systems nor resolved outstanding complaints. There are fears that any change at this stage would seriously hinder the resolution process between the complainant and the company.

The Roundtable on Responsible Palm Oil (RSPO), despite its success in convincing palm oil suppliers and buyers to commit to a more responsible supply chain, still has much work to do if this sector will truly become one that respects human rights and sustainable development. After NGO investigations suggested that reforms in the industry were not going far enough, the RSPO suspended dozens of companies from the organization last year for alleged non-compliance.

Drawing on a key example of successful stakeholder engagement between Rainforest Action Network and Mitsubishi Electric, Erik Wohlgemuth, Future 500's COO, draws important connections and breaks down how NGOs and corporations must continue to work together to confront irresponsible forest management and illegal deforestation across the globe.

Rainforest Action Network continues to pressure PepsiCo about palm oil sourcing and its links to deforestation and human rights abuses. This time, the NGO culled export data to connect the company to what it calls "conflict palm oil."

Nestlé announced a pledge to improve the welfare of the farm animals in its supply chain, following the signature of a partnership agreement with NGO World Animal Protection.The agreement means that the hundreds of thousands of farms that supply Nestlé with their dairy, meat, poultry and eggs will have to comply with tighter animal welfare standards. Nestlé, with its global purchasing footprint, also becomes the first major food company to form an international partnership with an animal welfare NGO.

According to a report issued this week by the NGO Mighty Earth, the U.S. meat industry is largely responsible for what has become the largest "dead zone" ever in the Gulf of Mexico. While past studies have showcased the meat and poultry sectors' impact on both the environment and public health, Mighty's study sheds light on the large agribusiness companies the NGO says contribute to the Gulf's ongoing environmental degradation attributed to algae blooms.

Plastic Soup Foundation (PSF), a Dutch nonprofit, and New York-based Parley for the Oceans announced Tuesday a partnership to tackle the issue of microfiber pollution and to create a global alliance of companies, governments, NGOs and scientists. Microfibers - tiny, often synthetic threads shed from laundry, industrial clothing manufacturing and fishing nets - have been found in alarming numbers in recent studies of microplastic pollution.

It's been almost 10 years since the Coca-Cola Company (PDF) vowed to "safely return to communities and nature an amount of water equal to what we use in our finished beverages and their production," with a deadline of 2020 for doing so. To get there, it teamed up with a broad array of NGOs and government aid agencies, who established clear rules for "replenishing" the aquifers and waterways that make up a watershed, and in 2015 the company announced it not only had reached its target five years early, but even surpassed it by putting 15 percent more water into the system than it took out. This tiny pack, however, is dwarfed by a massive herd of corporates that have made similar promises without offering any indication of how they'll deliver or whether they're making progress - and it's not just a water problem.

ainforest Action Network (RAN) claims it has found many Japanese companies are either 'systematically misreporting compliance' under Japan's Corporate Governance Code, or have a 'fundamental lack of understanding as to what constitutes meaningful sustainability reporting.' RAN evaluated ten major Japanese companies' Code reports and asserts that none of the companies are sufficiently disclosing their risks. The NGO advises shareholders take heed.

Collaboration on rainforest protection can improve transparency, empower communities and boost regulation standards

At the World Travel & Tourism Council 2015 Global Summit in Madrid this week, the NGO Sustainable Travel International unveiled an industry-wide campaign entitled "10 Million Better," to monitor and scale up social and environmental benefits from travel and tourism

One of the world's largest hotel and resort chains is partnering with the massive NGO to dig into water conservation, supply chain and other issues.

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.

The Coalition for Higher Ambition issued a statement calling on EU officials to "act on the Paris Agreement and ensure that EU climate policies are coherent with its goals." The Coalition for Higher Ambition is an informal group of businesses, investors, NGOs, and others working together to promote leadership on climate change mitigation in the EU.

Samsung IT says its subsidiary will not pursue any business with the Korean-Indonesian conglomerate Korindo, a company linked to rainforest destruction practices. A petition, launched by SumOfUs.org and delivered by Mighty Earth directly to Samsung's Corporate Social Responsibility team, was part of an extensive two-month campaign, calling on Samsung to drop the joint venture or any business partnership with Korindo. But Samsung IT still needs to clean up its palm oil practices, the groups say.

As part of its CanopyStyle initiative, environmental NGO Canopy has released an updated and expanded edition of its Hot Button Report, a ranking of eleven viscose and rayon producers that represent 70 percent of global viscose production. The report is the first tool of its kind to enable fashion brands and retailers to robustly assess producers' impacts on the world's forests, as well as their leadership in forging solutions to eliminate endangered forest fiber from the rayon and viscose supply chain.

An estimated 3,300 acres on oat farms that supply oats for Honey Nut Cheerios will soon provide new dedicated, flower-rich habitat for pollinators. General Mills is partnering with the Xerces Society, a pollinator and wildlife conservation organization, to plant wildflowers on the supplier farms. Meanwhile, The Wildlife Habitat Council released a white paper explaining the issue of pollinators' decline and actions corporations can take to help.

Agribusiness giant Olam International has for the first time published a list of the firms it buys palm oil from, part of the company's response to allegations that it is driving forest destruction in Southeast Asia and, more dangerously, perhaps, in West Africa. Almost all of the world's palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, but as those countries run out of available land, companies like Olam are turning to Africa to expand. In defending itself against the NGOs' allegations, Olam points to the "right to develop" of nations like Gabon, where a third of people live below the poverty line and a fifth are unemployed.