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* We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Patagonia's landmark decision to donate 100 percent of its global Black Friday sales to nonprofits benefiting the planet. The campaign was so popular, the company beat its goal of $2 million dollars in sales by five times that amount - resulting in $10 million in donations to hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations.

The sales of electric vehicles and other alternatively-powered cars are on the rise, according to several industry reports released this summer.

Corporate spending on sustainability and circular economy initiatives is on the rise - and yielding increased sales and cost savings, according to consulting firm Pure Strategies, which says its latest survey found more than 80 percent of companies expect a sustainability budget increase from 2016 to 2017 with a third anticipating double-digit growth.

Global sales for fuel cell vehicles are projected to exceed 228,000 annually by 2024, according to a Navigant Research report

Chipotle is attempting to win back consumer trust and increase sales with its "Ingredients Reign" campaign. The spots emphasize the brand's commitment to sourcing the best, most sustainable ingredients.

Patagonia saw an astounding $10 million in Black Friday sales  ― five times its own expectations ― and, as promised, will donate every cent toward helping save the environment. The high-end outdoor apparel and gear retailer announced the record-breaking haul Monday, saying the "enormous love" its customers showed to the planet will benefit hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations around the world.

China's latest clean air provision includes the outright banning of all usage and sales of coal in Beijing by the end of 2020.

On January 31, The Hong Kong Legislative Council voted 49 to 4 to phase out the sale of antique ivory. As Tiffany May at The New York Times reports, the city will ban all sale of ivory, new and antique, by 2021, closing a system that poachers have previously exploited. The move will help staunch a significant player in the ivory market, which drives the destruction of elephant populations. In recent years, the United Nations estimates that poachers kill up to 100 elephants each day, which has devastated their populations.

Furniture retailer IKEA sold its development and supply chain division to a group set up by founder Ingvar Kamprad, and it will invest $1.06 billion of the $5.5 billion sale proceeds in forests and recycling ventures, the company said. IKEA owns forests in the Baltic region and Romania, and it uses recyclable packaging.

Currently, SCE customers lease or own more than 12,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), which represent about 10 percent of national EV sales. Because California leads the nation in EV adoption, other utilities and stakeholders in the auto industry may find the information from the white paper useful.

Ireland Completes divestment worth €68m from 38 companies involved in oil, gas and other fossil fuels

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.

Corporations interested in sustainability have become a major driver in the renewable energy industry, said experts at the North American Energy Markets Association meeting in Florida last month. "There is about 15 GW of latent demand for renewables that wants to be built by 2020 in order to meet the targets of Fortune 500 companies that have committed to some degree of renewable energy in their supply portfolios," said Invenergy Vice President of Sales and Marketing Craig Gordon. 3M, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are among the companies seeking power purchase agreements with renewables in the US.

Over the past few years, so-called ugly fruit and vegetables have been gaining a host of admirers. Now, Wal-Mart has officially joined the bandwagon. Starting this week, America's largest grocer says it is piloting sales of weather-dented apples at a discount in 300 of its stores in Florida.

The Coca-Cola Company has achieved its goal to replenish 100% of the water used in its global sales volume and production by the end of 2020, five years ahead of schedule. The company also made progress against another water-related goal by increasing its water use efficiency by 2.5% from 2014 to 2015.

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.

Cotton is planted on 2.4 percent of the world's crop land and yet it accounts for 24 percent and 11 percent of the global sales of insecticide and pesticides, respectively. Organic cotton represents less than 1 percent of the global total annual crop, but National Geographic, international clothing brand C&A, and activist and filmmaker Alexandra Cousteau believe that needs to change. A new 60-minute documentary, For the Love of Fashion, emphasizes "the need for a paradigm shift in the cotton value chain."

What's the best way to protect elephants? One way is refusing to buy ivory-demand for the material stokes poaching, which has demolished elephant populations in Africa. Now, the United States is taking an even stronger stance on ivory in a bid to protect the majestic creatures. As Jada F. Smith reports for The New York Times, the United States will now almost totally ban the sale of African elephant ivory.