EC Environmental Policy

Threatened with expulsion from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Indonesian pulp and paper company Asia Pacific Resources International re-committed to an earlier pledge to stop clearing forests for new plantations by the end of 2014. The company also pledged to double its forest restoration program to 40,000 hectares and use 100% plantation fiber by the end of 2019.

On Wednesday, The North Face announced the completion of its Responsible Down Standard, a tool that will provide a global standard through which the outdoor-gear retailer says any organization can evaluate and certify its full down supply chain.

Organic dairy producer Stonyfield Farm, Inc. announced this week that it will utilize a new tool to manage its supply chain: SupplyShift™ - a new, cloud-based, supply chain management platform focused on sustainability, but flexible enough to assess any procurement need or supply chain risks.

What do tech giants Apple, Google, Intel and Microsoft, retailers Kohl's, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart, the U.S. Energy and Veteran Affairs Departments, and the cities of Houston and Washington, D.C. have in common? According to recently updated data in the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership, they are the most prolific users of renewable energy in the United States.

Global waterways, especially in developing countries, are set to benefit as the Tide manufacturer aims to cut phosphates from all its laundry soaps within two years.

Between August 2012 and June 2013, 1,855 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon were lost, a yearly increase of 103%. Degradation, where the forest appears intact but has been stripped of many commercial woods, increased 1,078%, albeit over a much smaller area. 

The Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Needham Heights, Mass., has removed about 98 percent of influent biological oxygen demand (BOD) after installing a BioprocessH2O membrane biological reactor (MBR) system, according to a Bioprocess H2O case study.

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI), whose members include Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson and Seventh Generation among other major brands, has launched a voluntary initiative to improve the sustainability of cleaning products.

Canada's two largest west coast ports are offering financial incentives to the most efficient vessels that enter the ports. Port Metro Vancouver's Eco-Action program and Prince Rupert Port Authority's (PRPA's) Green Wave program will reward ship owners based on the Carbon War Room's A to G Greenhouse Gas Emissions rating, which benchmarks the energy efficiency of shipping fleets.

Members of UK retail industry body the British Retail Consortium including McDonald's, Asda and Sainsbury's have pledged to reduce their absolute carbon emissions from retail operations 25 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels as part of a raft of environmental targets covering waste, transport, resource efficiency in buildings, water and refrigeration.

Recycling of plastics - one of the best ways to reduce carbon footprint - offers two major benefits: recycling reduces the amount of oil required to produce more plastic, and also takes material out of landfills.

Burberry has committed to eliminating hazardous chemicals from its supply chain by Jan. 1, 2020, following weeks of Greenpeace-led protests at its stores and consumer pressure on its social media channels.

Pulp Green Tech (PGT), which owns Thai Gorilla Pulp in Thailand, says it has made high-grade quality paper pulp from 100 percent palm oil waste material, called empty fruit bunches or EFBs (pictured).

Pet care products company Hartz Mountain has redesigned its pet shampoo bottles to save 220,000 pounds of polymer across 10 million bottles, the company's director of packaging engineering tells Packaging Digest.

Chemical transport company NTP Logistics has signed the Chemical and Allied Industries' Association's Responsible Care commitment, a chemical industry environmental, health, safety and security performance initiative.

Laws, oversight and guidelines are necessary to ensure we provide solutions to pressing environmental issues. From fracking regulations to carbon-pollution rules to a toxic chemicals act, here are three business policy items the American Sustainable Business Council is working on in conjunction with many other organizations - and information on how you can join the cause.

The consumer goods giant wants to remove the harmful chemical from leading detergent brands within two years.

Wal-Mart, Target and other major retailers have discovered that greener chemicals and concerned citizens create a potent formula for change.

Toyota Motor is getting set to defy naysayers once more. This time, Toyota's initiative is the first commercial hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car, which the Japanese automaker said it will sell starting next year.