EC Environmental Policy

In addition to putting programs into place to reduce waste, smart companies are identifying ways to repurpose waste into useful raw materials.

What must be done and why consumer goods companies must step up their efforts to meet the 2020 goal of zero deforestation

Climate change is already hitting America hard, according to a new study, leading to water shortages in dry regions, heavy rains in wet regions, more frequent and severe heat waves, worse wildfires, and forests die-offs. "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the National Climate Assessment warns

Administration released the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, the most authoritative and comprehensive source of scientific information to date about climate-change impacts across all U.S. regions and on critical sectors of the economy.

Most companies believe water challenges will significantly worsen in the next five years, according to a survey of major US corporations by the Pacific Institute and VOX Global.

McDonald's launched its first Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability framework alongside a new sustainability report. The framework sets new goals of purchasing beef from sustainable-certified sources by 2016, procuring 100% of fiber-based packaging from certified or recycled sources, and increasing energy efficiency 20% in company-owned restaurants in 7 markets

For the first time in human history and likely for the first time in at least 800,000 years, the average level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth's atmosphere topped 400 parts per million for an entire month.

Asia Pulp and Paper will restore and conserve 1 million hectares of Indonesian rainforest, targeting threatened species like orangutans, elephants, and tigers. The plan was developed with input from Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, and other environmental groups.

The airline expects that across the lifetime of the new trays, they will see a 45% reduction in greenhouse gasses (and associated fuel costs) compared with the old trays

After months of consultation with stakeholders, the Natural Capital Coalition has published the first draft of a suggested framework to help businesses account for the value of natural resources such as water, soil, forests and even clean air in strategic decision-making.

The savings, in both energy and carbon pollution, can be considerable. At the city's St. Mary's recreation center in the South Bronx, where a solar hot water system provides hot water for showers and the pool, the city is saving $39,000 a year on energy and cutting the complex's carbon footprint by 141 tons a year-the equivalent of taking 27 cars off the roads.

A California athletic club has reduced water usage for laundry washed with a machine using Xeros laundry system by nearly 50 percent.

CONTROVERSIAL £20million wildlife reserve at the mouth of the River Parrett has been dubbed "environmental vandalism". The Environment Agency and the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust were granted planning permission two years ago to create the wetlands at Steart.

The International Energy Agency estimates that to stay within 2 degrees Celsius of atmospheric warming, the global economy will have to avert emitting the carbon from roughly 80 percent of world's proven reserves of fossil fuels. This is called unburnable carbon.

Product sustainability cuts costs for companies including Coke and General Mills, according to a report by consulting firm Pure Strategies.

Companies that own as-yet-unextracted fossil-fuel reserves could be left with stranded assets if the regulatory atmosphere changes, experts say. Expensive fossil-fuel sources, such as Alberta's oil sands, could be among the first to become uneconomic to extract. "I don't see this discussion going away. If anything, it's gaining momentum," says Ceres analyst Ryan Salmon.

For the seventh year in a row, Intel is at the top of the heap when it comes to commercial buyers of clean energy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's annual Green Power Partnership report. Kohl's, Microsoft, Whole Foods and Google round out the top five in this year's ranking.

Waste Management's compressed natural gas trucks cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent and reduce particulate matter by 90 percent, Automotive Fleet reports.

Imagine a toothpaste tube that may be fully recyclable. That possibility is laid out in a series of sustainability commitments personal care products maker Colgate-Palmolive made to environmental nonprofit As You Sow.

Conservative estimates of the savings associated with retention project more than $5,000 per year in savings for the foundation.