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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.

Conan O'Brien is working with the state of California and the Natural Resources Defense Council to develop a series of video public service announcements aimed at encouraging state residents to save water. That could be a successful strategy, since it focuses on humorous and upbeat messages rather than shaming people into saving water, writes Alexis Petru.

A coalition of more than 20 public interest groups, sent a letter pressuring Kraft Foods to reduce its packaging waste. The group, calling themselves the Make It, Take It campaign, has asked Kraft to develop plans to design packaging from safe, sustainable materials using recycled content, while minimizing unnecessary packaging.

A report by Frost & Sullivan found that government funding is making zero-energy buildings possible, but the idea is not widely known. "While governmental or regional funding are the main drivers of NZEB technologies, public-private funding is the most effective in sustaining the application of the NZEB concept and advancing its development globally," said Technical Insights industry analyst Jennifer Tan.

Greenpeace is struggling to make the public impression it once did, in part because companies have realized that fighting back against activists -- by using high-pressure hoses to repel oil-rig invasions, for instance -- tends to backfire. Companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Procter & Gamble are now taking a nonconfrontational approach to dealing with activists' stunts. "To try and keep people's attention and keep them interested and engaged ... can be very challenging," admits campaigner Laura Kenyon

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.

The US Interior Department on Friday released final standards for hydraulic fracturing on public and American Indian lands.

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.

Use of treated wastewater is growing in California, with the "disinfected tertiary" water helping with irrigation and dust control. Demand is expected to grow -- partly because the treated water is 75% cheaper than potable water -- but meeting that demand will require infrastructure upgrades. "Moving recycled water requires separate infrastructure running to the various facilities, and that is very expensive," said Jennifer Allen, director of public affairs for the Contra Costa Water District.

It's not all about COP and the pope. Indeed, it's easy to forget how much can happen during a 12-month period. So here, as a public service - not to mention a brief moment of celebration - is my list of 10 notable themes and memes of the year just passed. What would you add to the list?

This 60-second video is intended to amp up fans for Super Bowl 50 "the Bay Area way." In promotion of the "Play Your Part" campaign, the ad encourages fans to take public transit to the big game, bring their own water bottle, conserve energy, reduce waste, and otherwise contribute to a socially- and environmentally-responsible event. The campaign is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee's larger efforts to make this year's Super Bowl "Net Positive."

TiE Silicon Valley, a not for profit organization dedicated to "fostering entrepreneurship in the Bay Area and globally," has announced an upcoming hackathon event focused on tackling three real-world issues within the "smart city" space: smart parking, waste disposal management and water access management. The event will begin in January 2016 and will last for two weeks. Winners will be invited to attend TiECon 2016, TiE's largest annual conference, and will also have an opportunity to win prizes and publicity.

Apple frequently uses debt rather than its flush cash coffers to finance corporate initiatives, such as stock repurchase programs - it makes sense to do so for tax reasons. But, the company's latest appeal to the public debt markets includes another "first" for Apple and the tech industry at large: Apple is issuing $1.5 billion in green bonds to pay for a wide range of environmental initiatives.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and China's Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs released the 2018 Green Supply Chain Corporate Information Transparency Index, which ranks companies across 15 industries on their supply chain transparency, compliance, energy conservation, and environmental protection practices. The top-3 ranked companies were Apple, Dell, and Levi Strauss & Company.

Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the U.S. and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) in China launched the IPE Green Supply Chain Map, the only tool in the world to openly link leading multinational corporations to their suppliers' environmental performance.

More than 4,800 fuel-cell electric vehicles were registered in California as of May, and 36 retail stations were open to the public with 28 more funded, according to a California Air Resources Board report released July 31. An estimated 47,000 fuel-cell electric vehicles are expected to be on the roads by 2024.

Dubai will spend millions of dirhams on incentives to have 42,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the emirate's streets by 2030. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and the Road Transport Authority (RTA) on Sunday announced four incentives to help increase the number of plug-in cars, from free public parking and charging to toll-fee exemption and discounts on the plug-in car's registration.

Panera Bread and Chipotle led the fast-food pack by earning A's on the new annual report card from a coalition of public interest groups that annually ranks corporate efforts to remove antibiotics from their poultry, beef and pork supplies. Twelve of the other 25 listed companies also made progress eliminating the drugs, but the report says they need to catch up with the A-listers and pay as much attention to beef and pork as to poultry.

As national parks face issues with unmanaged waste during the government shutdown, Keep America Beautiful, the largest community improvement organization in the United States, and Nestlé Waters North America, one of the leading beverage companies in North America, announced today that they are teaming up to help mobilize affiliate organizations and volunteers across the country to clean up these shared public spaces.

Climate change is the biggest threat to our national parks. It's not just a future threat -- we're seeing the impacts right now at national parks and other public lands across the country. We must #ActOnClimate to ensure that current and future generations can enjoy America's most treasured places. If we don't, we will have to say goodbye to these iconic views.