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All of these high-profile technology companies are harvesting new revenue out of discarded and end-of-life gadgets, rather than looking at them just as liabilities that require responsible recycling. What's more, all three are among the roughly 100 organizations using Hong Kong's Li Tong Group (aka LTG) to get the job done.

WWF and Unilever have announced a one-year, international partnership to engage consumers in the fight against deforestation - one of the key drivers of climate change - with the goal of protecting a million trees. The partnership between the world's leading conservation organization and the consumer goods giant aims to raise awareness of the importance of forests to life on earth as well as the threats our forests face.

Public relations firm Edelman, in an internal note, says it will no longer do business with producers of coal or organizations that seek to discredit climate change. "When you are trying in some way to obfuscate the truth or use misinformation and half-truths, that is what we would consider getting into the work of greenwashing, and that is something we would never propose or work we would support our client doing," said Michael Stewart, president and CEO for Europe. 

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.

Keurig Green Mountain has committed $11 million to support nonprofit organizations working domestically and internationally to promote water security.

Starbucks, Nestle and the University of Cincinnati are among the organizations turning spent coffee grounds into bioplastics, laundry detergents and biodiesel, The Guardian reports.

Whole Foods, Bon Appétit and Dickinson College are among the organizations saving money by recycling food waste, the New York Times reports.

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.

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."

a campaign called Behind the Brands, led by Oxfam International, an advocacy organization dedicated to fighting poverty, is trying to make the inner workings of the 10 biggest food companies in the world more visible. Oxfam's goal is to nudge them by scoring them on a scale of 1 to 10 on a whole host of fronts, from worker rights to climate change.

Global atmospheric greenhouse-gas levels surged last year at the fastest rate yet recorded, sparking concerns that climate change could be happening faster than expected, according to a new report from the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization. "We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme. ... Time is not on our side, for sure," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud

According to a study by researchers with Dartmouth College that was published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy last September, however, the carbon stored in mineral soils, which lie underneath the organic soil layer, is released for decades after a forest is cut down.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has terminated or suspended more than 100 of its members for failing to file annual reports on their sustainability practices. Environmentalists praised the association for holding its members accountable. "The duty to continuously improve performance is central to the founding vision of the RSPO, and this applies not only to the organization as a whole but, more importantly, to its individual members," said Adam Harris of the World Wildlife Fund.

U.S. Drought Monitor shows other regions of the country parched and longing for more water. The organization releases weekly maps tracking the extent of drought in the U.S., ranking regions on five levels: "abnormally dry," "moderate drought," "severe drought," "extreme drought" and "exceptional drought."

Rocky Mountain Institute launched the Business Renewables Center (BRC), a platform to advance corporate renewable energy procurement. The organization plans to use the platform to add 60 GW of solar and wind energy in the United States by 2025, which will nearly double current installed renewable energy capacity.

A growing number of organizations from Google to the federal government are incorporating homages to nature into their office blueprints, not just to earn more green building certification points but to reduce employee stress, improve cognitive function and encourage creativity.

This month, shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow released its 10th annual Proxy Preview report, detailing the record-breaking 433 social and environmental shareholder resolutions filed so far this proxy season, with political spending and climate change driving most of the activity.

The industry has resisted pressure for years from environmental groups to warn investors of the risks that stricter limits on carbon emissions could have on their businesses, although that appears to be changing. Energy experts said prosecutors may decide to investigate companies that chose to fund or join organizations that questioned climate science or policies designed to address the problem, such as the Global Climate Coalition and the American Legislative Exchange Council, to see if discrepancies exist between the companies' public and private statements.

The atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases hit a record last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The concentration of carbon dioxide climbed to 397.7 parts per million, and the warming effect of greenhouse gases rose 36% between 1990 and 2014, the group said

Corporate sustainability is evolving. In its early days, sustainability was tantamount to reducing harm by making products and processes "less bad." With a glimpse of the competitive advantage that could be achieved, companies began to embed sustainability principles at the core of decision-making. Sustainability today goes beyond the walls of the organization - it's now about using brand, purchasing and political power to influence stakeholders and create positive change.