EC Environmental Policy

Hilton Worldwide will cease serving shark fin and stop accepting new orders for shark fin dishes by April 1, 2014. The ban covers all restaurants and facilities operated by its 96 owned and managed properties across Asia Pacific.

Over the last 50 years, human diets around the world have grown ever more similar and the trend shows no signs of slowing, with major consequences for human nutrition and global food security, according to research carried out at International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Bear Republic is taking things a step farther: In January, it was the first brewery to buy Cambrian's EcoVolt system, which uses electrically active organisms to clean wastewater for reuse while creating a high-quality biogas that helps offset the heat and electricity needed for Bear's production process

A group of 140 California firms have reiterated calls for legislators to deliver ambitious action on climate change with the release of a new declaration signaling their support for policies that serve to cut emissions and drive investment in clean tech.

Japanese scientists are preparing to launch a satellite that will use a 300-meter electromagnetic tether to snag orbiting trash left over from past satellites and space missions. The magnetic field will slow the trash, causing it to gradually fall closer to Earth and eventually burn up in the atmosphere. It's thought there are tens of millions of trash fragments in orbit around the Earth.

With companies producing increasingly transparent sustainability reports, each with extensive metrics, a bourgeoning industry of rating agencies has emerged to help stakeholders identify industry leadership.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BiIAoGGIAAAYHDb.png

Fashion marketing is predicated on the assumption that clothes fall out of fashion from season to season and that consumers must keep buying to stay hip, writes Ceri Heathcote. Sustainable brands should make a stand and encourage consumers to dress for their personal style rather than for marketer-created fashion trends, Heathcote argues.

For sustainable fishing businesses to succeed and proliferate, a green, ethical approach has to spread throughout the supply chain, writes Monica Jain. "It is also important that businesses that value sustainability demonstrate that they are successfully carving out market share from traditional sources, providing investors with confidence in these businesses' ability to succeed and grow," she writes.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the US totaled 6,501,000 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2012, a 3.3 percent reduction from the previous year, according to an annual draft report by the EPA.

Family-owned firms are helping to drive sustainability forward in Asia, experts say, in part because family ownership allows younger generations to influence a company's values and to drive change. "In the face of mounting resource and climate-related business challenges, there is a real opportunity right now to groom a pool of environmentally aware next-generation leaders," says Jie Hui Kia, a Singapore futures adviser.

Ikea has reportedly had its certificate suspended by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) after the discovery that the furniture chain has been cutting 600-year-old trees in Russia.

The Harvester system doesn't just help grocers collect scraps and compostables, it helps them understand where waste occurs.

A major initiative has been launched this week under the banner Global Forest Watch, promising to use advanced satellite and analytics technology to lead a new crackdown on illegal deforestation.

More businesses accept that they should account for water, fertile soil, forests, air and more. Far fewer are naming a price for these resources.

Walmart is ahead of its self-imposed pace to convert to renewable energy and cut energy use, the company said as it held its annual Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting on Feb. 17.

Novo Nordisk became the world's first pharmaceutical company to publish an environmental profit and loss account, which places a financial value on the company's environmental impacts. The analysis revealed that Novo Nordisk caused over $305 million in environmental damage during 2011, with the company's supply chain accounting for 75% its impact.

Levi Strauss has created a process for using 100% recycled water in parts of its garment production, Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability at the company, has told the Guardian.

Boston-based startup Cambrian Innovation has come up with water-cleaning technology that uses microbes to turn dirty water into clean energy. Cambrian has federal and private equity funding, including $365,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency. "It's where we will go in the future, where waste is a resource and we don't just want to get rid of it, we want to get energy out of it," said April Richards of the EPA's small-business innovation-research program

The Green Building Initiative (GBI) launched its Guiding Principles Compliance for New Construction (GPC NC) of federal buildings.