The UN Environment Program and other partners launched the Sustainable Public Procurement Program, a project to redirect public spending towards goods and services with environmental and social benefits. The initiative is part of the UN's 10-Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

Today, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and the Well Building Institute (IWBI) announced a new partnership that strives to make health and wellness a more fundamental building block of green building design.

Home improvement retailer Lowe's Home Centers will pay $18.1 million to settle claims that more than 100 of its stores in California illegally dumped hazardous waste in landfills.

BMW, Ford, GM, Honda and 10 other leading automakers have agreed a set of expectations for suppliers, relating to the environment, working conditions, human rights and business ethics.

Green is upping its fashion game. In the latest move linking the young and chic to sustainability, the world's two largest fashion brands -- H&M and Zara -- have agreed to partner with nonprofit Canopy, backing its "Fashion Loved By Forest" campaign, an effort to rid rayon and viscose clothing of all traces of ancient and endangered forests.

Some of the Internet's biggest names are making impressive strides to reduce the carbon footprint of the cloud, says Greenpeace. Yet as the world's appetite for data expands, Twitter and Amazon Web Services are bringing up the rear.

There is increasing recognition among both travel professionals and consumers of the importance of responsible travel and "strong evidence" that responsible travel is good for the economic bottom line, according to analysis by Center for Responsible Travel.

TripAdvisor is extending its GreenLeaders program, which highlights hotels and B&Bs engaging in environmentally friendly practices, into 19 new markets.

It may be hard for chocolate makers to guarantee that their entire supply comes from a sustainable source by the 2020 target many of them have set, according to a sustainable sourcing auditing firm has told Confectionery News.

Electronic recycling is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of nearly 24 percent through the rest of the decade, according to a new report.

Renewable diesel fuel blend made from sugar did not impact ship engine performance or operation, according to a study by the Maritime Administration.

To help ensure our purchases do not contribute to deforestation of the world's rainforests or negatively impact the communities that depend on them, we will source 100 percent of our palm oil from responsible and sustainable sources by 2015 (a commitment we first made in 2010).

A study recently published by researchers at the University of Indiana points out that Americans seem to have a "slippery grasp" of the amount of water consumed for and by different activities. In addition, they are often confused as to ways to conserve water.

Southern Co.'s coal plants are among the biggest carbon emitters in the U.S., but the company is about to build a new carbon-capture plant that could play a vital role in slowing climate change. The Mississippi plant, along with another in Canada, will capture carbon emissions and pump them into depleted oil reservoirs

At plants in Wisconsin and Holland, SC Johnson -- maker of cleaning products such as Mr Muscle and Pledge -- is using on-site wind turbines and advanced waste-reduction strategies to reduce its footprint. The aim is to develop a network of zero-waste, 100%-renewable facilities around the world. "Every place should be a better place because we are there," says CEO Sam Johnson.

The White House has announced a new plan to reduce America's methane emissions, which are thought to account for up to 14% of the country's total greenhouse emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency will monitor methane emissions from the fossil-fuel sector, and the Interior Department will develop a plan to capture and sell methane emitted by coal mines on federal land. The effort will depend on "cost-effective, voluntary actions and common-sense standards," said Dan Utech, special assistant to the president for energy and climate change

Climate change is already taking a serious toll on the planet, leading to heat waves, water shortages, melting ice caps, dying coral reefs and the extinction or migration of fish stocks, according to a report from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Decisions made -- or left unmade -- by policymakers in the immediate future will shape global society for the rest of the century, the panel's report warns. "Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change," said Rajendra K. Pachauri, the panel's chairman

Siemens will invest $264 million to build production facilities for its 6MW offshore wind turbines in the UK. The facilities are expected to create over 1,000 jobs and begin producing rotor blades by 2016.

Colgate-Palmolive issued a new Policy on No Deforestation, which commits the company to sustainably sourcing pulp, paper, palm oil, soy, and beef tallow. The company also pledged to achieve full traceability of its palm oil supply chain by 2015 under the policy.

Carbon permit prices slumped 29% in a single day's trading this week, the biggest decline in nearly a year. The move wiped out price gains stemming from the European Union's efforts to address a permit glut, raising fresh questions about the carbon market's potential to reduce greenhouse emissions