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A group of six companies - including Dell and Kimberly-Clark - have signed on to the WRI- and WWF-led Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles. The Buyers' Principles now have 70 corporate signatories, representing over 53 million MWh of annual demand by 2020.

The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) has announced that its membership has overwhelmingly approved global Principles and Criteria for defining sustainable beef and beef production practices. More than 96 percent of the GRSB General Assembly members voted in favor of the definition, principles and criteria. Every one of the five constituencies - producer, commerce, processing, retail and roundtables - voted to approve the definition.

The Green Building Initiative (GBI) launched its Guiding Principles Compliance for New Construction (GPC NC) of federal buildings.

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, a group helping food and drink companies to achieve sustainable production and sourcing of agricultural raw materials whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has announced the development of its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, what it is calling the most complete guidelines developed for beef production to date.

Today, in São Paulo, a group representing the global beef industry is taking a big step forward in the quest for sustainable beef. The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is formally approving the "principles and criteria" that will drive sustainable beef standards around the world.

BSR launched the Sustainable Fuel Buyers' Principles, a guiding framework created by the members of BSR's Future of Fuels initiative to "build the market for low-carbon fuels, ensure progress toward a sustainable set of fuel options, and create opportunities for partnership and collaboration." The inaugural corporate signatories include Amazon, HP, IKEA, PepsiCo, UPS, and Walmart.

the creator of the sports-nutrition snacks began executing his commitment to organic agriculture and a sustainable supply chain. One of Erickson's first moves was to hire Elysa Hammond, a former classmate with whom he worked on issues involving hunger, agriculture and the environment during their college days. As the vision of sustainable food production came into focus, Hammond assumed the title of director of environmental sustainability.In May, 24 years after Clif bars, gels, trail mixes and other products first appeared, the company had a palette with which to paint a picture of sustainable manufacturing. The central design principle was biophilia - literally love of life, the concept of humanity's connection with nature and love of other living organisms.

Protection of the natural world has been an integral part of Indian culture and heritage. The Constitution of India places responsibilities on the State as well as citizens for protection of nature and the living beings therein. The following two Articles of the Indian Constitution are noteworthy: Article 48A: The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country; and Article 51A (g): Fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. In the face of rapid industrial development, the environmental effects were not given much importance. However, with environmental impacts becoming detrimental for wildlife, biodiversity and people, the Indian Parliament has passed legislation to keep pace with changing demands. The British had passed the Indian Forest Act, 1927, mainly to regulate timber extraction for construction purposes. From production forestry, protection forestry principles were also considered. Later, wildlife (both flora and fauna) were considered essential for sustainable forest management. The Wildlife Act was passed in 1972. The Environment Protection Act was passed in 1986 as an umbrella act to consider environment in its totality. Since then, biological wealth started to be considered as an asset of the country just as other productive assets.

The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has announced the winners of the third Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge. 138 design professionals and students in 19 countries worked to submit 79 entries for this third round of the contest, which challenges design students and professionals to apply Cradle to Cradle principles to conceptualize and develop product solutions that can help drive the circular economy. More than 230 designers from 30 countries have participated in the Challenges to date.

Target updated its Made to Matter product standards, which now require the 20 participating brands to meet at least one of its sustainability-driven criteria. The criteria include reducing waste and packaging, integrating circularity principles into production processes, eliminating the use of additives and "harsh" chemicals, and more.

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has launched its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, intended to help the beef industry produce beef sustainably.

Thousands of researchers will descend on Boston this fall for an event billed as the world's largest gathering of synthetic biologists. The field is evolving so rapidly that even scientists working in it don't agree on a definition, but at its core synthetic biology involves bringing engineering principles to biotechnology.

The Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR) has released the 12 core principles it will use for accrediting sustainability ratings worldwide.

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.

It started as a dialogue about "ingredients of concern" in cosmetics and other personal care products, orchestrated by rival retailers Target and Walmart. Three years later, that ongoing conversation - facilitated by the Sustainability Consortium and Forum for the Future, and representing 18 industry stakeholders - has produced an ambitious series of recommendations that guide principles of sustainability for this class of consumer goods and how these metrics should be disclosed.

This year's World Economic Forum's Global Risk Report lists water as the number one risk in terms of impact. The impact of water can already be seen and felt across different parts of society, especially recent droughts in the western United States and Brazil, which have made international headlines, and are evidence of an underlying problem.