Study: 90 Companies Responsible for Two-Thirds of GHG Emissions

November 25, 2013, 12:05 am

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Only 90 companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and BP, are responsible for causing nearly two-thirds of all man-made global emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution, according to research by the Climate Accountability Institute.

The research, titled Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854-2010, found the top emitters include 50 investor-owned companies, 31 state-owned companies, and nine government-run industries in the former Soviet Union, China and other countries. Some 83 of the 90 are coal, oil and gas producers and the remaining seven are cement manufacturers.

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Beef Sector Collaborates on New Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming

November 25, 2013, 1:15 pm

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The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, a group helping food and drink companies to achieve sustainable production and sourcing of agricultural raw materials whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has announced the development of its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, what it is calling the most complete guidelines developed for beef production to date.

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#SustyGoals 3: GE's Gretchen Hancock on Context-Based Goal-Setting (Part 1)

November 25, 2013, 2:39 pm

≫ Next: Effective Sustainability Strategies Case Study #2: Soma Water

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At SB's third annual #NewMetrics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania in September, the need for next-generation sustainability goals — which measure progress toward real-world goal-lines such as carbon budgets, water tables, and living wages — emerged as a key theme.

Judy Sandford

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Effective Sustainability Strategies Case Study #2: Soma Water

November 25, 2013, 3:23 pm

≫ Next: America's Best Organics Offers Holiday Gift Boxes Filled with B Corporation Products

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In the first post of our multi-part series on proven sustainability strategies, we saw how Pret a Manger applied the “style & substance” sustainability strategy to create a £450 million a year sandwich business. In this post, we are excited to profile Soma, a company sending ripples through the water filtration industry by placing sustainability at the heart of its offering.

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America's Best Organics Offers Holiday Gift Boxes Filled with B Corporation Products

November 25, 2013, 10:09 pm

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America's Best Organics, a certified B Corporation that provides hand-curated, eco-friendly gift box collections, has partnered with several other B Corporations to launch a special holiday offering for individual and corporate gifting.

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UN Negotiators Agree to Tackle Deforestation with Funding for REDD

November 25, 2013, 11:37 pm

≫ Next: Sainsbury's Ups the Zero-Waste Ante with First 'Triple Zero' Stores

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UN negotiators last week agreed to rules on financing forest projects in developing nations, paving the way for multibillion-dollar investments from governments, funding agencies and private firms in schemes to halt deforestation, according to Reuters.

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Sainsbury's Ups the Zero-Waste Ante with First 'Triple Zero' Stores

November 26, 2013, 1:04 pm

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Sainsbury’s new supermarket in Leicester, opening Wednesday, November 27, is one of the British retailer’s two new “triple zero” stores. The 81,700 sq ft store will produce zero carbon emissions from all on-site energy used, send zero waste to landfill and have zero impact on the water usage of the local catchment area because of its water-neutral status.

Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s Property Director, said: "We aim to be the UK’s greenest grocer and achieve our 20x20 target to reduce our operational carbon emissions by 30 percent absolute. To do this we’re now building and running highly sustainable, low-carbon stores.

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Detroit Renewable Energy Steaming Up GM Assembly Plant

November 26, 2013, 2:17 pm

≫ Next: BBMG-SHFT Partnership Helping Brands Engage Savvy, Values-Driven Consumers

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General Motors and Detroit Renewable Energy have announced a renewable energy project to turn solid municipal waste from the city of Detroit into process steam that will be used to heat and cool portions of GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

When the project is operational, 58 percent of the plant’s energy needs will come from renewable energy, making Detroit-Hamtramck the top GM facility in the world by percentage of renewable energy used.

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BBMG-SHFT Partnership Helping Brands Engage Savvy, Values-Driven Consumers

November 26, 2013, 7:19 pm

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Last month, brand innovation consultancy BBMG and sustainable-lifestyle platform SHFT announced they are joining forces on a new branded content offering for organizations aiming to reach and engage Aspirational consumers, a fast-growing consumer segment that cares about looking good, feeling good and doing good.

Combining BBMG’s consumer insights and brand-building expertise with SHFT’s creative and production capacity and the SHFT.com lifestyle platform, the partnership offers a new approach to developing and delivering original branded content designed to disrupt and delight.

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#SustyGoals 3: GE's Gretchen Hancock on Context-Based Goal-Setting (Part 2)

November 26, 2013, 11:08 pm

≫ Next: H&M Plans to Pay All Textile Workers ‘Living Wage’ by 2018

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Judy Sandford

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H&M Plans to Pay All Textile Workers ‘Living Wage’ by 2018

November 26, 2013, 11:56 pm

≫ Next: Safeway, Oakley Adopt Tool to Better Understand Social Impact of Giving Programs

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H&M, the world's second-largest clothing retailer, established a roadmap this week to pay a fair “living wage” to 850,000 textile workers by 2018, citing that governments were not acting fast enough. But some are arguing that H&M should move faster, as well.

During the last year, H&M says it has worked on the problem of how to best address wages, both short and long term, on several levels from purchasing practices, supplier practices, workers’ rights to government responsibility.

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Safeway, Oakley Adopt Tool to Better Understand Social Impact of Giving Programs

November 26, 2013, 11:23 pm

≫ Next: This Black Friday, Patagonia Invites You to Celebrate the Stuff You Already Own

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Safeway, Oakley, Frontier Airlines and Family Dollar are among those that have adopted a new tool that helps to measure the social impact of giving programs.

The Impact Reporting tool, developed by Versaic, a San Mateo, Calif.-based online CSR and sustainability program management provider, enables users to track the impact of their donations by automatically requesting follow up information from approved non-profits after the contribution is made or the event is held.

Many companies consider reporting on impact a must-have component of a comprehensive giving program, Versaic says. However, often this is easier said than done.

Impact Reporting streamlines this process by collecting data and reporting it automatically, which requires no additional work from users.

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This Black Friday, Patagonia Invites You to Celebrate the Stuff You Already Own

November 27, 2013, 2:21 pm

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Socially conscious outdoor apparel company Patagonia has made its feelings about mass consumption clear in a number of ways — last month, it launched its Responsible Economy campaign, which calls on consumers and businesses alike to rethink disposability for more effective resource allocation; its Common Threads Partnership urges customers to only buy what they need and to recycle their worn-out Patagonia gear through the company’s take-back program; and, perhaps most famously, with its full-page New York Times ad on B

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Luxury Most Poised for Instigating Positive Change Within Fashion Industry, Says Eco-Age

November 27, 2013, 3:03 pm

≫ Next: For Those Who’d Rather Give Than Receive, #GivingTuesday Marks True Start to Holiday Season

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In a sector where social and environmental commitments have traditionally focused on philanthropic efforts, luxury is perhaps the most poised for instigating positive change within the fashion industry, argues Nicola Giuggiolo, CEO of Eco-Age. According to Giuggiolo, the luxury industry’s intimate knowledge and appreciation of high-quality materials, manufacturing and notions of provenance, alongside its smaller scale in comparison to mass fashion, position it to become a leader in the sustainability space.

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For Those Who’d Rather Give Than Receive, #GivingTuesday Marks True Start to Holiday Season

November 27, 2013, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Peruvian Stevia Farm Becomes World's First to Achieve Rainforest Alliance Certification

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While thousands of retailers across the U.S. and cyberspace are dusting their shelves and crossing their fingers for lucrative Black Friday and Cyber Monday takes, respectively, thousands of organizations around the world are gearing up for an event that represents the true spirit of the holiday season, #GivingTuesday.

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Peruvian Stevia Farm Becomes World's First to Achieve Rainforest Alliance Certification

November 19, 2013, 5:12 pm

≫ Next: SB London Day One: Purpose, Innovation and the Ever-Confounding Consumer Behavior

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The Stevia One Perú SAC farm in northern Peru has earned Rainforest Alliance certification, becoming the world’s first stevia farm to earn the distinction, according to an announcement today by Rainforest Alliance. The farm met the rigorous standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), conserving natural resources, protecting wildlife and ensuring the well-being of farm families to earn the certification, which marks an important milestone in increasing the sustainability of the industry.

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SB London Day One: Purpose, Innovation and the Ever-Confounding Consumer Behavior

November 19, 2013, 5:09 pm

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On Monday afternoon at SB London ‘13, breakout sessions featuring a variety of brand and thought leaders explored everything from purposeful brands and European consumer research to engaging in innovation and reprogramming culture.

David Harding-Brown

Veronica Recanati

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Peruvian Stevia Farm Becomes World's First to Achieve Rainforest Alliance Certification

November 19, 2013, 5:12 pm

≫ Next: Breakouts Echo Key Themes of Engagement, Shared Value, Net Positivity on SB London Day Two

≪ Previous: SB London Day One: Purpose, Innovation and the Ever-Confounding Consumer Behavior

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Breakouts Echo Key Themes of Engagement, Shared Value, Net Positivity on SB London Day Two

November 21, 2013, 7:16 pm

≫ Next: SASB Standards for Tech & Communications Sector Now Open for Public Comment

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After another morning of inspiring plenary sessions, the afternoon breakout sessions on SB London day two began with BBMG’s Raphael Bemporad, Lonesome George‘s Eduardo Balarezo, and Telefonica‘s Mark McGinn continued the thread by discussing corporate initiatives aimed at “Delivering Trust Through Shared Value.”

David Harding-Brown

Adam Tassle

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SASB Standards for Tech & Communications Sector Now Open for Public Comment

December 1, 2013, 10:55 pm

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Innovation in the Technology and Communications sector is playing a powerful role in improving the sustainability performance of companies, governments and individuals across the economy. Disruptive sector trends such as cloud computing, expansion of mobile device usage, machine learning and big data analytics present new risks and opportunities for companies in the sector. This year SASB conducted research and convened industry working groups to identify and refine a minimum set of material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and related accounting metrics for six industries.

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