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Environmentalists would prefer that everyone drank tap water -- but with consumers still clamoring for bottled beverages, water companies are trying to find ways to make their products more eco-friendly. Just Water uses bottles made from "green" plant-derived plastics, while other companies offer water in cardboard or easy-to-recycle aluminum packaging.

The industry group Sustainable Apparel Coalition has opened use of its Higg Index suite of tools for measuring and evaluating supply chain impact to non-member small and medium-sized (SME) brands and retailers. SMEs may now take advantage of a special licence for full access to the Higg Index. The coalition, which has over 180 apparel, footwear and home textile company members, expects that increasing the number of SMEs participating in the Index will bolster reporting and impact a wider spectrum of the supply chain.

Ford Motor Company announced intentions to deliver a fully autonomous vehicle For ride sharing by 2021. The company also announced 4 new investments and collaborations that expand its autonomous vehicle research, and set out plans to double its Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Center team by the end of 2017.

Lesson learned: The power of engaging a supplier or other partner hand-in-hand with an NGO partner is unbelievably impactful. It sends a message to internal and external stakeholders that this is not PR. It is real and sincere. You have to work with NGOs. NGOs are the sustainability thermometer for the consumer. fortunately, there are lots of good choices for you to make.

PepsiCo's Frito-Lay snacks facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, treats and recycles about 648,000 gallons per day of process water from the potato chip and snack manufacturing process for rinse and wash water and for landscape irrigation.

Obama (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) President Barack Obama unveiled a multimillion-dollar plan Wednesday that would help Western states cut carbon emissions and deal with climate change. The plan would ramp up renewables in Southern California, make a $230 million investment in stormwater management and provide up to $29 million for a pair of geothermal projects in Nevada and Utah. The Hill (8/31)

It's been almost 10 years since the Coca-Cola Company (PDF) vowed to "safely return to communities and nature an amount of water equal to what we use in our finished beverages and their production," with a deadline of 2020 for doing so. To get there, it teamed up with a broad array of NGOs and government aid agencies, who established clear rules for "replenishing" the aquifers and waterways that make up a watershed, and in 2015 the company announced it not only had reached its target five years early, but even surpassed it by putting 15 percent more water into the system than it took out. This tiny pack, however, is dwarfed by a massive herd of corporates that have made similar promises without offering any indication of how they'll deliver or whether they're making progress - and it's not just a water problem.

Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have surged past an important threshold and may not dip below it for "many generations." The 400 parts per million benchmark was broken globally for the first time in recorded history in 2015. But according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2016 will likely be the first full year to exceed the mark.

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is present at 400 parts per million for the first time ever -- a level that's 44% greater than CO2 levels prior to the Industrial Revolution, says a World Meteorological Organization report. Improvements in the near future could reduce CO2 levels by the 2060s, says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

Four mechanical engineering students from Nashik have invented a device which is an indicator for the vehicle driver about excessive pollutant levels, while driving. When the engine of the vehicle starts, the sensor fitted in the silencer will sense the exhaust particles and check the limit value. If it exceeds the prescribed limit then a red light will blink as the first indicator, for two hours. Even after the first warning, if there is no change in the limit then there are two more indicators that will blink within a gap of two hours after which the engine will automatically turn off. According to the four inventors, the device will help in tackling the pollution issue, especially in densely-populated and polluted areas.

President Barack Obama announced a new ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling across broad areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, using part of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that would make it hard for his successor to reverse the decision. "They'll be arguing about this for years in the courts," said environmental lawyer Patrick Parenteau.

The U.S. Government collaborated with India and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to launch a $20 million initiative that aims to increase funding opportunities for renewable energy projects - such as distributed solar - across India.

India is delaying a decision on asking for a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organisation against domestic content regulations in renewable energy programmes run by eight states in the US as it is hoping to work out a "mutually beneficial'' solution with the new regime under Republican leader Donald Trump. "New Delhi is still hopeful that it could work out a compromise with Washington on the flexible implementation of the WTO verdict against it in the solar power programme dispute. It may decide not to ask for a panel against US renewable energy programmes if it gets an assurance from the Trump administration on leniency in the solar case," a government official told BusinessLine.

Air pollution in London is now so severe that it has surpassed levels normally found in Beijing, a city famed for its incessant smog. After authorities issued a 'very high' air pollution alert for the first time in the capital's history on Monday, the toxic air currently blanketing the city has shown little sign of abating. London mayor Sadiq Khan has described the situation as a "health crisis," the Telegraph reports, and warnings to take caution have been displayed at various tube stations, bus stops, and roadsides across the city.

New analysis reveals troubling evidence of tree cover loss within Alliance for Zero Extinction sites (AZE sites), areas that house species that are endangered and endemic. From 2001 to 2013, AZE sites lost 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of tree cover, an area roughly the size of Connecticut. While this is a relatively small amount of tree cover loss compared to global averages, for species in AZE sites, losing even a small area of tree cover can mean life or death.

What's the best way to protect elephants? One way is refusing to buy ivory-demand for the material stokes poaching, which has demolished elephant populations in Africa. Now, the United States is taking an even stronger stance on ivory in a bid to protect the majestic creatures. As Jada F. Smith reports for The New York Times, the United States will now almost totally ban the sale of African elephant ivory.

A Brazilian Senate Commission is quickly, and surreptitiously, moving forward a constitutional amendment (PEC 65) that would end the need for environmental assessment approvals for public works projects in Brazil ranging from Amazon dams to roads and canals, and oil infrastructure.

Since the "Detox My Fashion" campaign launched in 2011, 76 fashion brands, retailers and suppliers have committed to remove toxic chemicals from their supply chains by 2020, accounting for a combined 15 percent of global textile production. for its 2016 Detox Catwalk, Greenpeace evaluated 19 of the committed fashion and sportswear companies to see which are on track to follow through.

General Motors has created revenue streams worth $1 billion through its waste-reduction and recycling programs while also reducing its risk exposure, says Mari Kay Scott, GM's executive director of global environmental compliance and sustainability. "Sustainability is good for the environment -- it's also really good for business," she says.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has partnered with the Climate Bonds Initiative to help scale up the corporate green bond market.

Global carbon dioxide emissions were flat for the second consecutive year in 2015 due, in part, to renewables, according to the International Energy Agency. The report said that renewables accounted for about 90% new installed capacity last year, and wind represented at least half of that total. Meanwhile, the world's economy jumped about 3% last year, "offering further evidence that the link between economic growth and emissions growth is weakening," said the report.