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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."

Asia Pulp and Paper Group, one of the largest paper producers in the world, is serious about its pledge to end the clearing of natural forests, according to a progress review of the company's Forest Conservation Policy.Greenpeace International, a long-time critic of APP and the organization that conducted the progress review, is cautiously optimistic and warns that the company's commitments are likely to stand or fall by the quality of conservation and management recommendations to the company's senior management.

The Department of Defense is clear-eyed about the challenges climate change poses. "The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world," the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review, issued in 2014, states. "These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions-conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence."

A new peer-reviewed study shows that widespread use of algae in animal feed could help limit the rise in global temperature to 2°C by 2100 and possibly even turn back the clock, bringing atmospheric carbon concentrations down to pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Algae-based feeds have proven to be equal to or better than other feedstocks in nutritional value and digestibility, and could free large swaths of arable land and simultaneously address food security issues in an era of rising demand for animal proteins.

BCG's seventh sustainability report in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management Review found that 75% of senior executives in investment firms see a company's sustainability performance as materially important to their investment decisions-and nearly half would not invest in a company with a poor sustainability track record. However, only 60% of managers in publicly traded companies believe that good sustainability practices influence investment decisions.

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.

This blog tries to understand both sides of the issue on safety testing of GMOs or GEs. By law the testing is voluntary say critics of FDA, and FDA says even though voluntary by rule, ALL GMOs are tested for safety and reviewed by FDA before allowing it to go to market.

Genetically modified crops - that can feed 9 billion by 2050 and tolerate heat, drought and disease - are the future of sustainable agriculture, writes David Rotman, editor of MIT Technology Review.

Researchers from Northeastern University studied how concrete buildings would fare under "aggressive global warming projections." They found that by 2025, cities could face steep repair bills as the concrete begins to fail. The American Concrete Institute is reviewing its standards for the thickness of concrete as related to climate change.

EU countries will face tougher recycling targets and a ban on burying recyclable waste in landfills under plans presented by the European Commission. The proposals are part of the Commission's Waste Targets Review, which includes updated recycling targets of 70 percent of household waste and 80 percent of packaging waste by 2030.

The House passed legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline. President Barack Obama has vowed to veto the bill.The legislation, approved 270-152 by the GOP-controlled House, authorizes TransCanada Corp. , to construct the 1,179-mile pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. The Senate, also in Republicans' hands, passed the legislation late last month.

The House is expected to vote on a pair of Congressional Review Act resolutions that would stop the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and a separate rule for new power plants. The Senate approved its own resolutions before the Thanksgiving break

Stakeholders are yet again criticizing the European Commission's Circular Economy Package. The original policy, released in December of last year, was denounced as insufficiently ambitious, resulting in its dismissal and a review process over the course of 2015. The Commission adopted the revised package on December 2nd, but some claim the new policy is even weaker than the original.

The Fashion Transparency Index 2019 reviews and ranks 200 of the biggest global fashion and apparel brands and retailers according to how much information they disclose about their suppliers, supply chain policies and practices, and social and environmental impact.

The company became the first within the toy industry to adopt such an 'environmentally friendly' stance towards their packaging, which took approximately six years to develop. Adam Gendell, Sustainable Packaging Coalition Associate Director told Toy & Hobby Retailer, "Disney is rising to the challenge by reinventing its long-standing practices to set a new standard across its industry that is not only more sustainable but that will inform what generations of children will expect of packaging and its environmental impact."

CONTROVERSIAL £20million wildlife reserve at the mouth of the River Parrett has been dubbed "environmental vandalism". The Environment Agency and the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust were granted planning permission two years ago to create the wetlands at Steart.

From tomatoes and paper pulp to lignin and sugar beets, it seems like researchers played with just about every fauna they could find in the search for the next great bioplastic feedstock this year.

As 2014 comes to a close and we launch into the new year with new ambitions challenged by changing operating realities, we share our most important lessons of the past year for the sustainable business community. The implications extend far beyond, of course.

A cap-and-trade bill proposed last month by California state Sen. Bob Wieckowski also would set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for the California Climate and Clean Energy Research Fund. The bill is headed to a Senate committee hearing, which hasn't yet been scheduled.