EC Environmental Policy

Outdoor retailer REI is saving 1.8 million KW-h per year after installing energy-efficient cooling systems at its Seattle datacenter. The project reduced energy consumption tied to cooling by 93% and had a payback period of less than 1 year.

Tyson Foods urged its pork suppliers to stop using manual blunt force to euthanize sick or injured piglets, use anesthetic for tail docking and castration, and improve housing for pregnant sows. The company also announced that it will increase the frequency of third-party audits that monitor animal well-being.

Major institutional investors are increasingly mindful of the risk that carbon-intensive assets could lose their value if climate regulations become tougher, Tim McDonnell argues. That could be good news for clean energy investment, even though spending on that sector declined in 2013.

Drawing on a key example of successful stakeholder engagement between Rainforest Action Network and Mitsubishi Electric, Erik Wohlgemuth, Future 500's COO, draws important connections and breaks down how NGOs and corporations must continue to work together to confront irresponsible forest management and illegal deforestation across the globe.

New research reveals burgeoning private sector involvement in watershed protection and restoration.

Carnival, docked in the spotlight when it received the New Economy's Clean Tech Award for Best Marine Solutions Company. The award recognized Carnival's decision to install a new exhaust filtration system on its North American ships, at an estimated cost of $180m

Post Foods, which will roll out a non-GMO verified Grape Nuts in January 2014, has become the second food company this month to cave to pressure from an environmental group and the public and stop using genetically modified ingredients in a cereal.

for the first time, emerging countries are throwing out even more electronics than we are in the U.S. Actually, the trend started in 2012.

Pacific Northwest shellfish producers are the first harbingers of a trend that may have wide ranging implications for the broader fishing industry: ocean acidification. By proactively seeking out adaptation solutions early on, the Northwest shellfish industry is attempting a self-rescue that may provide important lessons as other commercial species begin feeling the impacts of increasing acidification.

A chemical spill along the Elk River in West Virginia has left close to 300,000 people without access to tap water for the past 5 days. The spill originated from a facility run by chemical company Freedom Industries.

Utility FirstEnergy, one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the US, has responded to shareholder demands and agreed to reduce its carbon emissions, the New York Times reports. The company - the eighth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the US according to the Greenhouse 100 index - says it will study and report on what it can do to meet President Barack Obama's goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Americans are being exposed to significantly lower levels of some phthalates - chemicals often referred to as plasticizers - that were banned from children's products in 2008, but exposures to other forms of these chemicals are rising steeply, according to a study led by researchers at University of California, San Francisco.

The Humane Eating Project is an app that helps those concerned by animal cruelty to make conscientious choices while eating out.

Super Bowl XLVIII dining will be the "greenest in history," say MetLife Stadium and foodservice partner Delaware North Companies Sportservice.

Foodservice packaging company Pactiv has added a new line of foam cups to its EarthChoice portfolio. The new foam cup is made with up to 25 percent post-consumer recycled content material, the company says.

ug Power will develop hydrogen fuel cell range extenders for 20 FedEx Express electric delivery trucks.

Collaboration on rainforest protection can improve transparency, empower communities and boost regulation standards

"Conscious brands" that are aware of their societal and environmental impact will move into the mainstream in 2014, predicts FutureBrand strategy chief Tom Adams. "No more hair shirts or specialist brands, just products and services across categories that work with the grain of human nature, take sustainability for granted and position themselves around it," he writes

The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Kraft Foods and the other 300-plus food companies that are members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association will soon lobby the US food safety regulator and Congress for a single federal standard covering oversight and labeling of new genetically modified foods, Reuters reports.

A searchable website that allows the public to see which cosmetic products have been reported to contain toxic chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm is now online. Users can search the California Safe Cosmetics Program (CSCP) Product Database by product name, company name or chemical ingredient. As of November 2013, about 475 companies had submitted product information on roughly 30,000 products to the California Department of Public Health-run program.