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Clean energy has become a driving force in the US marketplace as costs have declined and major companies have unveiled investments in wind and other renewables, writes Chris Brown, Vestas' president of sales and service operations in the US and Canada. Wind, in particular, can provide the nation with a winning combination of affordable yet reliable electricity. "Whatever the courts rule on the CPP, there's no turning back or stopping this economic trend. Clean energy makes good sense for business, good sense for consumers, and good sense for the country," he writes.

Clean Edge recently released a new benchmarking index of corporations that take the lead in clean energy. The list of Corporate Clean Energy Leaders includes more than a dozen members of RMI's BRC, who make up nearly half Clean Edge's inaugural list.

Kimberly-Clark will feature the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) logo on its Forest Stewardship Council- certified products to raise consumer awareness about the importance of choosing products made from responsibly sourced fiber. As part of the partnership, the company will contribute $4 million to WWF's forest and ecosystem protection programs.

The U.K. government miscalculated the costs of renewable-energy support and is likely to overshoot its 7.6 billion-pound ($9.2 billion) annual budget by about a fifth in 2020 and 2021, according to auditors.

Major established companies from AT&T to Walmart are finding financial gain in offering eco-friendly products. "Consumers are looking for companies to be more and more environmentally and socially conscious," said Roman Smith, AT&T's director of sustainability integration.

Retailers including J.C. Penney, H&M and Target are promoting clothing made from recycled water bottles and other waste materials for back-to-school this year in a push to appeal to parents and kids concerned about environmental sustainability. Price is still top-of-mind as consumers shop for green products and secondhand goods, industry experts say.

Italian meat processor and producer Inalca SpA's projects to reduce water and energy use at its plant in Rieti, Italy, resulted in annual savings of 3.7 million gallons of water and more than $72,000.

MillerCoors used new tools and irrigation initiatives, along with increased brewing efficiencies, that helped the brewing giant reduce its water consumption by 15 billion gallons in 2016, the company announced today. Wet weather also contributed to the 2016 reduction, the company acknowledged. MillerCoors used 16.9% less water compared to 2015 - equivalent to more than 500 million kegs of beer.

Consumer goods giant says 70 per cent of its revenue growth last year came from its 'sustainable living' brands

Brands in Unilever's sustainable living lineup, which include Hellmann's and Ben & Jerry's, fueled 60% of the company's growth last year, and are growing 50% faster than Unilever's other brands. "Our results show that sustainability is good for business, with increasing evidence that our 'sustainable living brands' do better," said CEO Paul Polman.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Better Building Challenge partners have reduced their cumulative energy use by 240 trillion BTUs and saved $1.9 billion through energy efficiency measures since the launch of the program in 2011, according to the Better Building Challenge's 2017 progress report.

In his groundbreaking 1962 opus Capitalism and Freedom, economist Milton Friedman famously claimed that the "one social responsibility of business [is] to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game."

Equinix announced plans to install on-site fuel cells, with a total capacity of more than 37MW, at 12 of its data centers across the United States, marking what the company claims is the largest deployment of fuel cells in the colocation data center industry to date. The fuel cells are projected to avoid 660,000 tons of carbon emissions and save 87 billion gallons of water over the course of 15 years.

The Congressional Budget Office says the government's spending on disasters could rise from today's $28 billion to $39 billion in current dollars by 2075, when 10 million US residents will be "substantially affected" by climate change. The CBO suggests requiring coastal residents to carry more of the financial burden of their risk, as curtailing emissions might not go far enough to address the problem.

In 2016, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts had environmental achievements that included saving 12.2 million gallons of water, recycling more than 17,000 pounds of paper for charity, and recycling over 23,000 gallons of cooking oil, according to the company's latest CSR report.

Walmart has saved over $1 billion in fuel costs by upgrading its fleet, and plans to continue to cut consumption and emissions through an effort called Project Gigaton. The plan, announced in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund, will reduce emissions from Walmart suppliers by a gigaton by 2030.