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Agribusiness giant Olam International has for the first time published a list of the firms it buys palm oil from, part of the company's response to allegations that it is driving forest destruction in Southeast Asia and, more dangerously, perhaps, in West Africa. Almost all of the world's palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, but as those countries run out of available land, companies like Olam are turning to Africa to expand. In defending itself against the NGOs' allegations, Olam points to the "right to develop" of nations like Gabon, where a third of people live below the poverty line and a fifth are unemployed.

Logging emissions is an important step in securing the transparency that China needs to solve its pollution problems, Mr. Ma argues. Among the harmful pollutants are air particles known as PM2.5, which can enter deep into the lungs and even into the bloodstream. In an interview, he talked about the considerable progress he sees in the Chinese government's approach to air pollution, but also how concerns about social unrest continued to constrain discussion of pollution's damage to public health. Before 2013, levels of PM2.5 [the finest and deadliest particulate matter] were not monitored or made public in a single city. Now it's monitored and released in more than 400 cities. China has entered an era when air quality information is released. It's much more transparent. The 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans only referred to "emission reduction targets," so local governments could play games by claiming they had reduced emissions. Now, by saying by what year the PM2.5 must be below a certain amount, it's much harder to fake. The 13th Five-Year Plan is a progressive plan because it says that the public has the right to participate, to monitor, and that it's the public's right to know.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey is ending more than a century where elephant acts were a defining mark of the circus. It is a smart business and political move, one that reflects a deeper change in cultural preferences. Even if animal rights activists motivated the change, in the long run it will likely attract more people more frequently to the circus, and reduce political and reputational risks to the company.

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.

The latest effort, the Out of Fashion campaign for forest-friendly fabrics - led by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) - is calling on the "Fashion 15" group of companies - Ralph Lauren, Prada, LVMH, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Vince, Guess, Velvet, L Brands, Forever 21, Under Armour, Footlocker, Abercrombie and Fitch, GAIAM and Beyond Yoga - to take responsibility for their supply chains and develop strong, time bound commitments to protect forests and human rights. With proven connections from human rights violations and forest destruction all the way to our store shelves, fashion companies can no longer ignore this critical issue.

Rainforest Action Network continues to pressure PepsiCo about palm oil sourcing and its links to deforestation and human rights abuses. This time, the NGO culled export data to connect the company to what it calls "conflict palm oil."

Apple has released its annual Supplier Responsibility report, detailing its monitoring of supply partner labor practices, compliance with regulations and Apple's standards of business, the environmental impact of its product components and more. Apple highlighted its ongoing education investments in the report, detailing the growth in its worker rights and skills training up top.

There are several long-term threats to the global chocolate industry, not the least of which is climate change. Concerns over human rights have also convinced more consumers to be discerning about the choices they make when purchasing chocolate. Companies have responded in kind, as many have started to partner with nonprofits on projects ranging from mapping tools to supply chain transparency.

Every Fall, college and universities across the country welcome companies on their campuses to provide networking opportunities for students. These events can include career fairs, interviews, and industry specific networking gatherings. One such company is PepsiCo, major user of Conflict Palm Oil and top corporate laggard in Rainforest Action Network's Snack Food 20. "Pepsi's palm oil supply chain is saturated with rainforest destruction, human rights and labor abuses, and species extinction," said Adam Stackable, an Oklahoma student, "I won't work for a company that uses Conflict Palm Oil." Adam and several other students confronted a Pepsi recruiter at Oklahoma State University and delivered a letter urging the company to take action to address the egregious practices in its supply chain.

As the Arctic melts, oil companies are moving in to drill for more oil. Next year, the Norwegian owned oil company Statoil will drill further north than ever - unless we stop them. An unprecedented case was filed this morning that could do just that. This case is about holding back the oil industry at this final frontier, it is about protecting the beautiful Arctic, and it is about people stepping up to hold governments to account. If we win, millions of barrels of oil could be kept in the ground. We will argue in court that we must take action to keep the Paris climate agreement on track, and we will invoke Norway's constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for future generations.

More than 70 different technologies are available to improve the efficiency of a trucking fleet. These include changes to powertrains and chassis, low-rolling-resistance tires, and enhanced tractor aerodynamics. Finding the right mix to improve a specific fleet can be daunting. Carbon War Room partnered with the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) to publish a series of Confidence Reports-objective assessments of the fuel efficiency savings of these technologies. The reports were cited by U.S. EPA in its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Prevention rule-making proposal. 

British shoppers could be unknowingly buying wooden furniture, flooring and even food items that are byproducts of destructive illegal logging in the Amazon, environmental campaigners are warning. Friends of the Earth is calling on ministers to make companies reveal the source of their products in order to stop the black market trade. Last week human rights watchdog Global Witness revealed that 185 environmental activists were killed in 2015, many of whom had been trying to stop illegal logging in the Amazon. An estimated 80% of Brazilian hardwood is illegally logged.

the Council of Canadians, one of Canada's most respected social advocacy organizations, did the unthinkable: It called for a boycott of Nestlé Water. The group accused the long-embattled water bottling giant of exploiting its access to Canadian aquifers. In Ontario and British Columbia, the company pays as little as $2.25 per 1 million liters while residents struggle to find safe water supplies.

One is an eyesore and a health hazard, the other one is plain dirty. So what do you get when you combine processed scrap tires with diesel fuel? In what might be a case of two wrongs making a right, Australian startup Green Distillation Technologies (GDT) has shown that it is possible to get a cleaner blend of fuel by combining oil derived from old tires with diesel.

It is a great day for big cats who have long being bought and sold as pets and status symbols - but only for some of them. A newly enacted law in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has finally put a long-awaited ban on the ownership and sale of big cats like tigers, cheetahs, leopards, and more as pets. This is a huge victory for big cats who have long been mistreated and neglected by owners who do not have the capacity to care for an animal whose rightful home is the wild.

Brazil's conservative National Congress has rushed to pass a wave of legislative initiatives, which taken all together, would dismantle much of the nation's body of law protecting the environment and indigenous people - an effort likely to escalate in 2017. The latest attempt occurred last week, just before the parliamentary recess. The agricultural lobby unexpectedly put forward three bills, known as Decretos Legislativos (PDCs), which are laws promulgated by the President of the Senate over which the country's President does not have the right of veto. If eventually passed, as seems likely, the bills will allow industrial waterways (requiring many dozens of new dams) to be built without the proper assessment of environmental and social impacts. The waterways would be used by agribusiness as a cheap means of exporting soy and other commodities.

WWF's Living Planet Report 2016 shows the scale of the challenges we face regarding the future of our planet - and what we can do about it. The Living Planet Index reveals that global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles declined by 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012. But if humans can change the planet so profoundly, then it's also in our power to put things right. This report provides possible solutions - including the fundamental changes required in the global food, energy and finance systems to meet the needs of current and future generations.

Serious labour rights violations have taken place at Brazilian farms linked to some of the largest international coffee certification systems, including Rainforest Alliance and UTZ, according to an investigation by Repórter Brasil. Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world, with about one-third of all coffee consumed planted in the country. These violations include workers' pay packets being falsely docked resulting in some receiving less than half Brazil's minimum wage, and workers being hired informally and without mandatory medical tests. One farm even promoted its output with a Fairtrade certificate it was not entitled to use.

Ralph Lauren Corporation has developed sustainable sourcing guidelines on wood-based fabrics to ensure its raw materials are not connected to deforestation or human rights abuses. The guidelines were developed in collaboration with the Rainforest Action Network.

The Roundtable on Responsible Palm Oil (RSPO), despite its success in convincing palm oil suppliers and buyers to commit to a more responsible supply chain, still has much work to do if this sector will truly become one that respects human rights and sustainable development. After NGO investigations suggested that reforms in the industry were not going far enough, the RSPO suspended dozens of companies from the organization last year for alleged non-compliance.