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Two reports released this week examine the increasingly urgent risks to which major corporations around the world are vulnerable thanks to climate change, along with their own part in exacerbating those risks and how they could act to mitigate them.

A sewage recycling system pioneered by Applied CleanTech (ACT) is reducing a Dutch water board's operational costs by around $1 million a year while reducing sludge by up to 30%. ACT's technology is designed to help industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment plants transform wastewater into raw materials for plastics, insulation, pulp and paper, construction, bio-fuels production, nano-cellulose, and other industries.

The American Business Act on Climate Pledge has been signed by a number of leaders in the biofuel industry, including Abengoa Bioenergy, DSM North America, Novozymes, Pacific Ethanol and Poet. A total of 81 companies, of which at least 11 have biofuel industry connections, signed the document to show their dedication to the fight against climate change. Other biofuel companies that signed the pledge were Aemetis, Cargill, Fulcrum BioEnergy, Schneider Electric, Siemens and Syngenta/Quad County Corn Processors

The House is expected to vote on a pair of Congressional Review Act resolutions that would stop the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and a separate rule for new power plants. The Senate approved its own resolutions before the Thanksgiving break

As the UN climate talks in Paris near, 68 additional companies have joined the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge.

The world's largest canned tuna company, Thai Union Group (TU), has been connected to forced labor, human rights abuses, and environmental devastation. This week, Greenpeace launched a global campaign demanding that TU take urgent and far-reaching steps to clean up its act. To press the issue, Greenpeace's #JustTuna campaign asks consumers to sign a petition to tell brands that they will not buy unsustainable or unjust tuna.

The Coalition for Higher Ambition issued a statement calling on EU officials to "act on the Paris Agreement and ensure that EU climate policies are coherent with its goals." The Coalition for Higher Ambition is an informal group of businesses, investors, NGOs, and others working together to promote leadership on climate change mitigation in the EU.

Mondelez International, Inc. is further pushing for its goal of 100 percent sustainability and complete transparency in its palm oil supply chain, challenging suppliers to commit to concession mapping and act faster to eliminate deforestation, according to the CPG company.

Environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday accused Nestle of not doing enough to reduce single-use plastics polluting landfills and oceans.

India turned their hosting of this year's World Environment Day into far more than a symbolic act when it announced plans Tuesday to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2022, UN Environment reported.

State and local leaders announced Monday a bill that would ban polystyrene food containers, such as styrofoam cups, in California by 2020. State Sen. Ben Allen, whose district includes UCLA, introduced Senate Bill 705, or the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act, at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. Allen said he wanted to introduce this bill at UCLA to highlight the fAct that a major institution like UCLA could make the change with positive results. UCLA eliminated polystyrene containers from its campus dining facilities in 2009 as part of a plan to have zero waste to landfill by 2020.

To counter the impact of unsustainable palm oil production, such as deforestation and habitat degradation, the European Parliament has approved a resolution to develop a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the EU market and phase out the use of vegetable oils that drive deforestation by 2020. It is Parliament's first resolution on the issue, but it is now up to the European Commission to act upon it.

These celebrities suck but you probably do too. We use 500 million plastic straws every day in the U.S. Many of those plastic straws end up in our oceans, polluting the water and harming sea life. If we don't act now, by 2050 plastics in the ocean will outweigh the fish. One small change can have a big impact: #stopsucking on plastic straws.

On Tuesday, the Humane Society of the United States introduced a ballot initiative called the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act, which calls for a requirement that all pork and veal sold in California be produced without restrictive crates, and that all eggs produced and sold in the state be cage-free. It would make California the only state other than Massachusetts, which passed similar legislation last year, to have such regulations on farm animal welfare.

General Mills, Unilever and the Food Waste Reduction Alliance have joined the USDA's Food Waste Challenge as founding partners.

GRI, the UN Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development have launched a new tool to help companies navigate and contribute to a new set of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations last week. The SDG Compass is a guide that companies can use to align their strategies with the relevant SDGs, and measure and manage their impacts. It is supported by a live and constantly updated inventory of business indicators.

Vegas still prides itself on selling unfettered indulgence. Round-the-clock gambling, high-end nightclubs and decadent restaurants are not going away. Yet the opening of the Strip's first green space last month is further evidence that, regarding its relationship to the environment, Sin City is turning a new leaf. Featuring native Southwestern plants, recycled metal furniture and fountains built with locally sourced quartz, The Park, as it's called, is designed to create a sustainable microcosm of the surrounding desert landscape and provide a leafy path away from the Strip's tourist-choked sidewalks. It's a bold move away from fabulist themes that ignore the local ecosystem.

VF Corporation has released its first-ever Forest Derived Materials Policy. The company joins over 65 other apparel brands and producers supporting the CanopyStyle initiative, which aims to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in the production of forest derived fabrics such as rayon and viscose from the apparel and fashion industries by the end of 2017.

As evidence mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet

mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be elephant-free by 2018, with the troupe's 13 performing pachyderms sent into retirement at a Florida conservation center. The move is a response to growing consumer concerns about the animals' welfare, coupled with the prospect of local bans on elephant performances. "It's a shame this took so long, but it's a creditable step toward treating animals with respect and dignity," writes Andrew Revkin