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Signatories of the Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge (IPOP) will disband as a result of "recent ground-breaking policy developments" in Indonesia that have fulfilled the purpose of the IPOP consortium. The signatory companies - including Cargill, Golden Agri Resources, and Wilmar International - plan to continue their sustainability commitments independently.

By providing thousands of cases of Emerald sustainable products to their clients, Corporate Coffee Systems greatly reduced their environmental footprint and successfully saved 293 trees; 34,441 pounds of virgin fiber; 9,738 pounds of FSC Certified Paper; 79, 977 gallons of water; 10,565 pounds of plastic materials; and diverted 48,848 pounds of landfill waste.

A company created by Stanford University is developing a self-sustaining community in the Netherlands. The 25-home neighborhood will produce its own energy from biogas, solar and geothermal sources and will grow its own food. ReGen Villages describes its focus as "[d]esirable, off-grid-capable neighborhoods comprised of power positive homes, renewable energy, water management, and waste-to-resource systems that are based upon on-going resiliency research -- for thriving families and reduced burdens on local and national governments."

Using automatic analysis, Global Forest Watch's new PALM Risk Tool determines the level of risk that a particular mill is using palm oil from illegally deforested sources, making it a powerful platform for companies to not only better understand their supply chains, but figure out how to mitigate risk and allocate limited resources towards achieving zero-deforestation goals.

Marks & Spencer, Nestlé UK and Ireland, and Unilever were among a group of more than 25 stakeholders in the food and beverage industry to sign on to resource efficiency charity WRAP's Courtauld Commitment 2025. The Commitment aims to reduce food and drink waste by 20%, cut the GHG intensity of food and drink consumed in the UK by 20%, and reduce the impact of water use in the supply chain.

A new report by WRI and Waste & Resources Action Programme found that, on average, for every $1 a company invested in food loss and waste reduction-through training programs, providing equipment like scales to quantify food, and improving storage and packaging-they received a $14 return on investment.

Storebrand ASA (STB) ended its investment in most palm oil producers, apart from Golden Agri-Resources Ltd. (GGR), after Norway's second-largest insurer found the companies breached its environmental sustainability standards.

L'Oréal has pledged to use only renewable raw materials by the start of next decade as part of a "zero deforestation" strategy that will affect its sourcing of palm oil and other resources.

A group of industry associations representing a total of 15,000 businesses launched the Conflict Minerals Resource Center, a website with compliance tools for new conflict mineral regulations

Members of UK retail industry body the British Retail Consortium including McDonald's, Asda and Sainsbury's have pledged to reduce their absolute carbon emissions from retail operations 25 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels as part of a raft of environmental targets covering waste, transport, resource efficiency in buildings, water and refrigeration.

In the Delhi region alone, Indian project partners of the Sustainable Water Resources Management project implemented 85 different "low-hanging fruit" recommendations resulting in a 765 percent return on investment in one year and an average payback time of 11 days per project, SIWI says.

Threatened with expulsion from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Indonesian pulp and paper company Asia Pacific Resources International re-committed to an earlier pledge to stop clearing forests for new plantations by the end of 2014. The company also pledged to double its forest restoration program to 40,000 hectares and use 100% plantation fiber by the end of 2019.

General Electric did not mention environmental harm it caused by dumping chemicals into New York's Hudson River, according to federal officials.

Stricter regulations, the explosive growth of new hydraulic fracturing shale oil and gas wells and limited available water resources are driving the popularity of centralized wastewater management in North America, according to Pollution Engineering magazine

More businesses accept that they should account for water, fertile soil, forests, air and more. Far fewer are naming a price for these resources.

More businesses accept that they should account for water, fertile soil, forests, air and more. Far fewer are naming a price for these resources.

Family-owned firms are helping to drive sustainability forward in Asia, experts say, in part because family ownership allows younger generations to influence a company's values and to drive change. "In the face of mounting resource and climate-related business challenges, there is a real opportunity right now to groom a pool of environmentally aware next-generation leaders," says Jie Hui Kia, a Singapore futures adviser.

Boston-based startup Cambrian Innovation has come up with water-cleaning technology that uses microbes to turn dirty water into clean energy. Cambrian has federal and private equity funding, including $365,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency. "It's where we will go in the future, where waste is a resource and we don't just want to get rid of it, we want to get energy out of it," said April Richards of the EPA's small-business innovation-research program

Golden Agri Resources (GAR) which produces an estimated 5 percent of the world's palm oil, made a significant announcement in a filing to the Singapore Stock Exchange - confirming it is committed to zero deforestation throughout its entire supply chain

Unsustainable agricultural methods have caused the planet's soil to release up to 70% of its carbon into the atmosphere -- and scientists say that restoring soil conditions might help to reabsorb that carbon and slow climate change. "If we treat soil carbon as a renewable resource, we can change the dynamics," says carbon-cycle expert Thomas Goreau