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Darden Restaurants has plenty of problems, but it's doing well with its sustainability goals, writes Mike Hower. The Olive Garden parent company has successfully curbed per-restaurant energy and water use, saving the company $25 million since 2008

Private equity firm KKR announced that Del Monte, Dollar General, Sealy, and the 24 other companies in its Green Portfolio Program have collectively avoided more than 2.3 million metric tons of GHG emissions from 2008 to 2013, generating $1.2 billion in new savings and revenues. Companies in the Green Portfolio Program agree to assess, measure, and optimize their environmental performance in ways that improve their businesses.

Efficiency measures are set to cut fuel consumption by a whopping billion gallons, significantly cutting the cruise operator's carbon footprint.

Ford Motor Company has begun installing 25,000 new LED fixtures to replace traditional high-intensity discharge and fluorescent lights, at its manufacturing facilities across the globe. The new fixtures, valued at over $25 million, are expected to reduce Ford's energy use at manufacturing facilities by 56 million kilowatt-hours annually - enough to power more than 6,000 average-sized homes per year.

Two studies by the Climate Policy Initiative released yesterday indicate that with the right policies in place, a low-carbon energy system could free up trillions of dollars over the next 20 years.

General Motors' Kokomo Operations - which is landfill-free and has achieved a water reduction of 4 million gallons annually - is now a member of the Indiana Environmental Stewardship Program.

The Christmas gifts have been delivered, and Secret Santa is done. Now, the work begins for Optoro, a start-up company that aims to reduce the financial and environmental costs of another great holiday tradition: returns. Little known to shoppers, however, is that a majority of returned items never make it back to retailers' shelves. Instead, the items wind their way through liquidators, wholesalers and resellers, many of the purchases ending up in landfills. According to some estimates, as much as two million tons of returned items - most of it undamaged merchandise - are thrown away each year, enough to fill over 200,000 garbage trucks.

A growing number of billion-dollar companies are showing that sustainability can be a real driver of profits, writes Freya Williams. Companies such as Tesla, Chipotle Mexican Grill, IKEA, Nike and Whole Foods Market are making serious money through eco-friendly business models. "The green giants are turning a strategy of sustainability or social good into a billion-dollar business proposition, and profiting in the process," Williams explains

Hilton Worldwide's environmental management has saved the hotel chain $550 million since 2009, according to the company's latest sustainability report.

Four years after launching its corporate responsibility strategy, Travel with Purpose, Hilton Worldwide says its investments in global partnerships and sustainability programs is not only driving positive social impact, but also supporting long-term business success. Hilton discusses its strategy and provides updates on its global impact in its fourth annual corporate responsibility report.

This UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study report reveals that the UN climate summit (COP21) is critical to supporting private sector investment and that executives see climate change action as an opportunity for growth and innovation. Among the world's largest companies, those with annual revenues in excess of US$1 billion, 70 percent see opportunities for growth within the next 5 years and 69 percent see investment in climate solutions as essential to competitive advantage.

A vacuum distillation system by H2O GmbH has reduced the amount of wastewater produced and saved more than €100,000 ($108,280) annually for thermofin, a German metalworking company.

Texas Wesleyan University has installed a co-generation system called the Combined Heat and Power Plant that can produce its own energy. Powered by natural gas, the system captures waste heat from the engine and exhaust and converts that to power. The project is projected to save the university $377,000 a year and is part of a $6.2 million energy project.

Washington, D.C., is on track to obtain 40% of the electricity used by its city government from wind and solar sources. Part of the electricity will come from a wind farm in Pennsylvania. The city signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the project in August. Mayor Muriel Bowser says the city will also source electricity from solar panels, with a plan to install panels at 34 government-owned sites. 

Procter & Gamble has saved almost $2 billion through waste and energy savings since 2007, according to P&G vice president of sustainability Len Sauers, who announced the cost savings as the company released its latest sustainability report today.

Six major industries can save 7.6 gigatons (GT) of carbon emissions by digitizing business processes, according to a report by SAP.

The water, energy, packaging and waste-reduction initiatives have been tallied up, and PepsiCo, Inc. asserts that its environmental sustainability initiatives have saved the company more than $375 million since its goals were established in 2010.

Increasing the recycling rate to 100 percent industry-wide could generate an estimated $10 billion in cost savings and natural capital benefits, according to Trucost. For example, creating better closed-loop processes for reusing gold would have a bottom-line benefit of almost $100 million compared with $14.6 million at current recovery levels, according to the Trucost data.

Green roofs can save lots of money for building owners thanks to energy cost savings of up to 50%, longer life spans and financial incentives in various cities. However, a lack of awareness of green roofs' benefits may be limiting their market reach, experts say. "And I think there's been some negative information out there about the difficulty of maintaining, the cost of maintaining and the cost of installing them," said environmental adviser John-Patrick Curran. 

Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data released its roadmap for cutting food waste in the United States.