The Nigerian Government has spoken of its plans to seriously scale-up its green finance initiatives over the coming year.

Levi Strauss & Co. is piloting a new operating model that replaces labor-intensive manual finishing techniques with an automated digital laser-based system. Called Project Future-Led Execution or Project FLX, Levi's model shortens the time to market, and cuts chemicals from the finishing process.

Dunkin' Donuts plans to begin phasing out polystyrene foam cups beginning this spring, planning to have completely eliminated polystyrene cups from its global supply chain by 2020. While the majority of Dunkin' Donuts' international markets are currently using paper cups, the company will work to replace foam cups with a new, double-walled paper cup throughout its US stores as quickly as manufacturing capabilities can get up to speed. Dunkin' Donuts has been searching for a suitable - and affordable - replacement for polystyrene cups since 2011.

McDonald's announced Tuesday that it has set two ambitious environmental goals that it wants to achieve by 2025. The fast food giant wants to have 100% of its customer packaging come from renewable, recycled, or certified sources and have recycling available in all its restaurants. Currently, 50% of its guest packaging comes from sustainable sources and only 10% of its restaurants are recycling.

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.

This morning, UPS announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase up to 11.5 million gallon equivalents of renewable biogas a year well into the next decade. This gas, which is also known as renewable natural gas (RNG) or biomethane, is interchangeable with conventional natural gas, by which much of UPS' fleet has long been fueled.

According to a report issued today by CDP, deforestation is leaving as much as $941 billion in assets worldwide at risk as they are linked to commodities tied to deforestation.

Representatives from across the apparel industry recently came together at the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute of Texas Tech University, where Wrangler, Lee, the Walmart Foundation and Indigo Mill Designs unveiled a disruptive new dyeing process for producing denim. In a radical departure from water-based dyeing, IndigoZERO™ uses a foam-based process to reduce water and energy use by more than 90 percent

According to the report, rising environmental concerns and growing public awareness about eco-friendly products are expected to drive the rapid growth of sustainable packaging market over the forecast period. In particular, consumer demand for sustainable food product packaging is projected to be a large driver.

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.

The Carlsberg Group's brewery in Falkenberg, Sweden, is now using entirely renewable energy. The move comes after Carlsberg announced its goal to reach carbon-neutral status as part of its Together Towards Zero initiative earlier this year.

Latin America and the Caribbean are due for an ecological makeover. The World Resources Institute (WRI) says it already has the funding committed to restore some 131 million degraded lands across the region. The project has 16 investors so far. Another 19 investors are already hard and work funding the restoration of more than 24 million acres.