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After four years of development, the first international standard for sustainable procurement was launched late last week by the International Standards Organisation (ISO). The first standard of its kind in the world, ISO 20400 aims to help companies make better purchasing choices throughout their supply chains by establishing guidelines for companies to judge suppliers on ethical and sustainability issues.

CVS Health has joined GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition to advance efforts around reducing product packaging waste in collaboration with its suppliers. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition has more than 190 members, including Amazon, BASF, Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, and more.

Packaging remains a considerable challenge for businesses looking to reduce their impacts, but innovators such as food-service supplier Eco-Products and Finnish startup Sulpac are helping to accelerate the transition to lower-impact models through cross-industry partnerships and sustainable packaging solutions.

Two years ago, Apple embarked on an ambitious plan to help its biggest suppliers switch to clean power sources. As of early June, the tech giant has managed to get eight partners on board.

Social media giant Facebook has switched all electric accounts at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters to participate in a 100% renewable energy program created by a newly established California electricity supplier. 

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.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has suspended its certification for Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Group amid concerns that the company has failed to live up to its obligation to tackle deforestation. The decision has already had a big impact on IOI, which has lost business with Unilever, Kellogg and Mars. "If IOI wishes to regain its customers, it must take immediate and significant action," says Greenpeace Indonesia campaigner Annisa Rahmawati.

The clock for corporates looking to get a handle on supply chain conflict minerals is starting to tick much louder. With just one year to go before stricter reporting is required by the Securities and Exchange Commission, many companies are still struggling to trace their sources for metals such as gold, tungsten, tantalum and tin, according to an analysis of reports submitted for the most recent reporting period.

Wilmar International Ltd. , the world's largest palm oil processor, opened its supply chains to outside scrutiny on Thursday in what environmentalists called an unprecedented step to help safeguard tropical forests. Singapore-based Wilmar said it would give outsiders, from customers to environmentalists worried about deforestation, access to online maps showing where it buys palm oil at more than 800 mills in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Nestlé will use the How2Recycle logo on select products to help keep its recoverable packaging out of the landfill. The program currently has more than 40 member companies including The Clorox Company, Kimberly-Clark, Sealed Air, and others.

A coalition of major corporations including Walmart, Target, Kellogg, Dell, The LEGO Group and more than 100 others reduced the combined carbon emissions of their supply chains by 633 million tons of carbon dioxide and saved $19.3 billion for their companies in 2018, according to a new report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)