APRIL Group said today it has joined the effort to set industry standards for conserving carbon-rich forests. The pulp and paper manufacturer added that it will adopt those standards in future forestry planning.

The nation's largest companies are rapidly embracing renewable energy sourcing and greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts, according to a new report from Calvert Investments, Ceres, David Gardiner & Associates, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

President Barack Obama today announced a major expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, rendering large areas of the central Pacific off-limits to fishing and energy exploration. The move will expand the marine sanctuary to more than 780,000 square miles.

Staples earned the World Packaging Organization's Gold Award for implementing packaging that reduced the company's carbon footprint by 25,000 metric tons per year and cut corrugated cardboard consumption 20%. Staples worked with Packsize International to develop and implement the new packaging.

Ford and H.J. Heinz are working to incorporate bioplastics made from dried tomato skins into various vehicle components. The plant-based materials are expected to replace traditional plastics derived from petroleum.

The processes developed by AirDye, ColorZen and DyeCoo - the latter's process is being used by Adidas - differ greatly, but their results are similar: water use is cut to near zero sharply cutting pollution, the quantity of chemicals used is greatly reduced and faster drying cycles cut energy consumption.

The adidas Group, whose brands include adidas, Reebok and TaylorMade, has partnered with bluesign technologies and committed to being 90 percent perfluorinated compound (PFC) free by June 15 and 99 percent PFC free by Dec. 31, 2017. The company has already committed to phase out the use of long-chain PFCs by no later than Jan. 1, 2015.

Staples Canada has set a goal to divert 100,000 kilograms of batteries from landfills in 2014 and says it, with partner Call2Recycle, has collected and diverted 30,295 kg of batteries in the first quarter this year. The company also says, in the first two months of 2014 alone, it reduced emissions by 3,572 metric tons of CO².

A 19-year-old Dutch student had a bright idea for ridding the sea of floating trash -- and now he's built a team of 100 people and is raising $2 million to fund his invention. The system uses long, floating barriers to passively guide floating trash to collection areas and is said to be capable of eliminating all waste larger than 1 millimeter

One good place to start when deciding which program to look into is the comprehensive list of sustainability-focused masters programs from The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. It includes some 450 programs that offer training in sustainability, providing an excellent portal to get started. The list is also helpful for those looking to drill deeper into specific fields of sustainable study, with programs that hone in on design, entrepreneurship, policy, sustainable agriculture and more.

Mondelēz International released a sustainable palm oil action plan that requires its suppliers to achieve full traceability by the end of 2015. The policy also requires suppliers to publish their sustainable sourcing practices and implementation timelines.

A new form of green cement developed in France has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by as much as 40 per cent.

We Mean Business describes itself as "a coalition of the world's most influential businesses calling for ambitious climate policy and bold climate action." The new group - a coalition of coalitions, really - aims to fill a void to counter well-heeled trade groups, think tanks and corporate lobbyists aimed at maintaining the status quo.

Coca-Cola and its bottling partners are on track to meet their 2020 water replenishment goal by balancing an estimated 68 percent of the water used in their finished beverages based on 2013 sales volume. To date, the soft drink company has replenished an estimated 108.5 billion liters of water back to communities and nature through 509 community water projects in more than 100 countries

The Green Parking Council (GPC), an affiliate of the International Parking Institute (IPI), has launched the Green Garage Certification program. The program is the parking industry equivalent of the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and recognizes and inspires high standards in sustainable parking facility design, technology, operations and management.

, it is making a bold pledge to remove all artificial additives - including coloring and preservatives - from its café menus by the end of 2016.

China is planning to put an absolute cap on its carbon emissions, according to He Jiankun, the chairman of China's Advisory Committee on Climate Change. The cap -- the first of its kind -- will be announced in China's next five-year plan and will come into force in 2016, He said. 

Conopco, a Unilever subsidiary and the consumer goods company's US business, has agreed to settle two cases and pay $362,500 for air pollution violations related to the sale of hair styling products in California.

Leaders of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and 16 other organizations sent an open letter urging the Green Building Initiative (GBI) to strengthen its Green Globes standard or state more explicitly that their standard is less rigorous than LEED or Living Building Challenge ones. The letter also urged GBI to stop attacking the credibility of LEED standards.

China plans to remove over 5 million vehicles from roads this year for failing to meet new fuel standards designed to reduce smog. The plan calls for removing 330,000 cars from Beijing and 660,000 from the surrounding Hebei province.