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The Volkswagen Group has joined the Clean Shipping Network, an association of cargo owners, and will use the Clean Shipping Index (CSI) assessment tool to analyze and reduce the environmental impact of marine shipment.

Green cleaning products are no longer a niche interest, with many consumers willing to pay a little extra to pick up chemical-free or otherwise eco-friendly cleaning products, writes Stephen Ashkin. That shift is partly due to the rise of eco-labels and certification programs, which helped cleaning companies slice through the complexities of green chemistry. "With the advent of certification, standards and ecolabels, buyers have been given more tools to choose appropriate products," Ashkin explains.

Real estate firm Peabody Properties is saving $1 million and avoiding 5 million KW-h of electricity consumption annually by implementing web-based tools from utility analytics company WegoWise to track and benchmark consumption.

Facebook and eBay are among companies spending to make their data centers more eco-friendly and energy efficient. New software tools helped Facebook reduce energy use at one server farm by 38%, yielding cost reductions of about 24%.

US commercial buildings can collectively save up to 28 billion gallons of water annually by using a suit of tools produced by AT&T and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the organizations say.

Some scientists and analysts are touting carbon capture and storage as a necessary tool for avoiding catastrophic climate change. But critics of the technology regard it as simply another way of perpetuating a reliance on fossil fuels.

"Water is the ultimate shared resource," according to WWF's Lindsay Bass, and collaborative solutions to its depletion are crucial. WWF is working with companies to manage their water use through its Water Risk Filter tool and its strategic alliances with the private sector. I spoke with Bass about the opportunities for companies to improve their water management and become "positive actors" in shared watersheds. 

The Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative today announced that it has published its new Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT 4.0). The leading multi-industry tool to facilitate transfer of information throughout the supply chain in support of conflict-free sourcing, CMRT 4.0 includes an updated Standard Smelter List and numerous translation improvements.

The goal of the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance is to raise awareness about wildlife trafficking and reduce Americans' demand for products that promote poaching. The Alliance also aims to give companies the tools they need to make sure they're not selling, shipping, or otherwise enabling the sales of illegal wildlife-related products.

Click Clean Scorecard" empowers internet users to see which popular websites are powered by renewable energy, call out those that still rely on coal and other polluting energy sources

This new scenario modeling system helps planners in Latin America and the Caribbean make more informed infrastructure investments.

A group of companies united in the Roundtable for Product Social Metrics today announces the publication of the Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment, a practical tool for assessing a product's social impacts throughout its life cycle. The handbook is the result of a unique collaborative effort of market leaders including AkzoNobel, BASF, L'Oréal, Marks & Spencer and Philips.

Natural capital valuation offers water companies a powerful tool to identify sustainability challenges, engage stakeholders such as the chief financial officer and drive innovation in low-carbon technologies, a recent meeting of water industry executives concluded.

InterContinental Hotels Group announced that its 4,700 hotel properties will begin using the IHG Green Engage online sustainability tool to track energy use, GHG emissions, water consumption, and waste management. The company stated that the system has already enabled a portion of their hotels save $73 million in energy costs during 2013.

A new Google-powered tool called Google Earth Engine is helping environmental groups and researchers to keep tabs on problems including Amazonian deforestation, overfishing, sea-ice melt and the spread of diseases. The tool's real-time data trove and mapping features make it easier to stay on top of the wealth of data now available, researchers say. "When you visualize it, you can get it at the gut level. ... You can see it happening," says Randy Sargent of Carnegie Mellon University.

Ninety-one percent of companies in the S&P Global 100 Index see extreme weather and climate change impacts as current or future risks to their business, but many struggle to translate long-term, global climate data into short-term and local risks, according to a new report by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Despite growing access to climate-related data and tools, companies say they need "actionable science" that helps them understand locally-specific risks or risk scenarios.

Stand For Trees, a collaboration led by non-profit CodeREDD, is running a first-of-its kind consumer campaign that enables everyone - as opposed to just companies - to purchase verified carbon offsets. What's most remarkable about this is the unprecedented success of the main engagement tool the campaign is relying on - a video by social media celebrity Prince Ea, entitled Dear Future Generations: Sorry. It broke the record for most viral environmental campaign to date with more than 20 million views in its first 24 hours and over 50 million views in the first week. There could hardly be a better example of mainstreaming an important sustainability message. 

On Thursday, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced changes to EU financial tools to help circular economy projects and businesses secure funding and support the realization of EU climate goals. The changes open €24 billion (~US$26.4B) in funding for businesses looking to transition to a circular economy model.

In an effort to help companies use safer chemicals, the Clean Production Action (CPA), has released the next version of the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals Hazard Assessment Guidance, adding information for using the GreenScreen List Translator as a first step in identifying hazardous chemicals in products.

ExxonMobil and other major oil companies, as well as several multinational firms in other sectors, are set to announce support for a tax on carbon emissions as a practical tool for fighting global warming. The firms argue that if energy produced from fossil fuels costs more, it will accelerate the market-driven transition to renewable energy and other sources that produce low carbon emissions.