EC Environmental Policy

"Green Game-Changers: Insights for Mainstreaming Business Innovation" (World Wildlife Fund and Verdantix) features 16 case studies that demonstrate how sustainable business innovations are flowing between regions of the globe. The report also details the types of green innovations that could potentially disrupt established companies.

Coca-Cola, Ford, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever are among the 9 founding members of the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance, which seeks to encourage the use of sustainable materials to make bio-plastics.

DHL, IHS, and Patagonia were among the companies that were awarded Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine's 2013 Green Supply Chain award, which honors companies that are integrating sustainability into their supply chain strategies.

Industry leaders convened last week in Istanbul at the Textile Exchange's 2013 Textile Sustainability Conference to share solutions to enhance the integrity of products and practices in apparel and textiles.

Clean-technology accelerator the Cleantech Open has awarded PowWow Energy (pictured) the Grand Prize Cleanie award worth $200,000 for the Top Cleantech Entrepreneur of the year. PowWow Energy has developed technology that enables farmers and ranchers to quickly detect water leaks that can destroy an entire crop or cause thousands of dollars of damage.

nability programs are producing cost savings, revenue growth, competitive advantage and environmental benefits across corporate America, writes Harold L. Sirkin, a senior partner of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in a Businessweek management blog.

Sainsbury's supermarket in Leicester, which opens today, is one of two "triple-zero" stores the retailer has just opened. It emits zero CO2 from all operational energy used, zero waste goes to landfill, and the store has zero impact on the water usage of the local catchment area because of its "water-neutral" status, the UK grocery chain says.

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has launched its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, intended to help the beef industry produce beef sustainably.

Lego Group today pledged to work with its suppliers to reduce total carbon emissions as it joins the World Wildlife Federation's Climate Savers program. If Lego reduced CO2 emissions directly related to toy production at Lego factories by a minimum of 10 percent - the target - this would remove about 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the toy manufacturer says.

The League of Conservation Voters is spending $1 million on a TV ad campaign in support of five lawmakers with strong track records on clean-energy issues. The lawmakers, all Democrats, deserve recognition for their efforts, the group says.

Facebook and eBay are among companies spending to make their data centers more eco-friendly and energy efficient. New software tools helped Facebook reduce energy use at one server farm by 38%, yielding cost reductions of about 24%.

Waste from snack food production, such as potato peels, corn kernels and other ingredients, is used to generate 35% of the electricity needed to power two PepsiCo plants in Turkey, thanks to an investment the company made in anaerobic digestion technology at the plants two years ago as part of its zero-waste commitment. The nutrient-rich digestate is also used as a fertilizer that the company supplies to 350 contract farmers

The iPhone maker's master plan features extensive green space, aggressive water conservation and one of the largest corporate solar arrays in the world.

The briefing is a very clear explanation of the fundamental difference in terms of climate change between the carbon stored in fossil fuels and the carbon stored in trees. REDD as a carbon trading mechanism assumes that a ton of carbon not released from forests is the same in terms of the climate as ton of carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels. As Greenpeace explains, this assumption is wrong.

Activists are planning a rally at Kellogg Co. headquarters in Battle Creek to urge the cereal giant to stop using palm oil in its products.

The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), as the group is known, unveiled its standards during the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry's main certification body. The standards build on criteria set by the RSPO by adding stricter requirements "to ensure that there is a supply of traceable palm oil free from forest and peatland destruction and human rights abuses," according to a statement from Greenpeace, one of POIG's charter members.  Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1118-poig-palm-oil.html#wlI8Y8ZEEyKQzKTU.99

At this years, annual Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council's gathering dedicated to green bulding in the world, one this was clear. The momentum around materials transparency and health in tthe built environment is becoming more important then ever.

The CDP Global Water Report 2013 was launched at the CDP Global WatA pair er Forum on Oct. 31. The report was produced for 530 institutional investors representing about $57 trillion in assets, and is based on information submitted to CDP by 180 Global 500 companies. It notes that "companies are more aware of the breadth and significance of water-related risk, such as business interruption due to inadequate infrastructure, supply chain disruption due to water scarcity and reputational damage."