The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has launched its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, intended to help the beef industry produce beef sustainably.

Lego Group today pledged to work with its suppliers to reduce total carbon emissions as it joins the World Wildlife Federation's Climate Savers program. If Lego reduced CO2 emissions directly related to toy production at Lego factories by a minimum of 10 percent - the target - this would remove about 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the toy manufacturer says.

The League of Conservation Voters is spending $1 million on a TV ad campaign in support of five lawmakers with strong track records on clean-energy issues. The lawmakers, all Democrats, deserve recognition for their efforts, the group says.

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%.

Waste from snack food production, such as potato peels, corn kernels and other ingredients, is used to generate 35% of the electricity needed to power two PepsiCo plants in Turkey, thanks to an investment the company made in anaerobic digestion technology at the plants two years ago as part of its zero-waste commitment. The nutrient-rich digestate is also used as a fertilizer that the company supplies to 350 contract farmers

Activists are planning a rally at Kellogg Co. headquarters in Battle Creek to urge the cereal giant to stop using palm oil in its products.

The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), as the group is known, unveiled its standards during the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry's main certification body. The standards build on criteria set by the RSPO by adding stricter requirements "to ensure that there is a supply of traceable palm oil free from forest and peatland destruction and human rights abuses," according to a statement from Greenpeace, one of POIG's charter members.  Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1118-poig-palm-oil.html#wlI8Y8ZEEyKQzKTU.99

At this years, annual Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council's gathering dedicated to green bulding in the world, one this was clear. The momentum around materials transparency and health in tthe built environment is becoming more important then ever.

The iPhone maker's master plan features extensive green space, aggressive water conservation and one of the largest corporate solar arrays in the world.

The CDP Global Water Report 2013 was launched at the CDP Global WatA pair er Forum on Oct. 31. The report was produced for 530 institutional investors representing about $57 trillion in assets, and is based on information submitted to CDP by 180 Global 500 companies. It notes that "companies are more aware of the breadth and significance of water-related risk, such as business interruption due to inadequate infrastructure, supply chain disruption due to water scarcity and reputational damage."

North American Electric Reliability Corp. reported that California's power generation from wind and solar energy sources will reach 18,700 megawatts by 2020. The state targets 33% renewable energy generation within the next seven years. NERC added that the state needs to keep gas-fired power facilities to fill the gap in energy availability.

New innovations from the tech giants will allow businesses to make their cloud computing more environmentally sound.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), which counts more than 100 major companies among its members (including clothing brands such as Adidas and Hanes, as well as retail giants such as Target, H&M, and JCPenney), is working to create stronger standards for sustainable products

Palm oil shipments from Indonesia, the world's largest producer, climbed to the highest level in eight months in October as a decline in supplies of substitute oils in India and China spurred demand from the biggest buyers.

Looks like Fox News and Congress are becoming ever more intellectually isolated from the American people, perched together on a sinking island of climate denialism.

China may lead the renewable energy race and is projected to add more renewable energy facilities than the combined efforts from the U.S., EU and Japan through 2035, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. The report also projected that the share of hydropower, biomass, wind and solar energy in the world's supply will surpass 30% in two decades. Advances in solar and wind power technology will help increase output in these sectors by 45%.

Some amateur ranchers use free-ranging cattle as part of land management, and they are finding they can make money by selling grass-fed beef. TomKat Ranch aims to emulate the migratory patterns followed by wild herd animals, allowing land time to recover between grazings. "Ranches can be working landscapes if people understand how animals and land work together," says Wendy Millet, a ranch director who once worked at the Nature Conservancy.

IKEA soon will become the first major retail chain to offer electric-car charge points at all of its U.K. stores.

South Africa, where gas and oil company, Sasol, has partnered with GE Power & Water to develop a new system for providing a high level of treatment for industrial wastewater that also recovers biogas for power generation. The new system, called Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Technology (AnMBR), is transferrable to other industries

Look for Portland State University students climbing on the Walmart roof, the green roof, that is. Under a two-year research partnership between the Oregon school and the retail giant, PSU is building a green roof research site on Walmart's new North Portland store.