New Campaign Encouraging Brits to 'Smart Swap' Healthier Food Criticized for Shortsightedness

January 6, 2014, 4:52 pm

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Last week, Public Health England unveiled its latest Change4Life campaign, which this year focuses on getting people throughout England and Wales to “Smart Swap” fatty or sugary foods for healthier alternatives.

The campaign recognizes that it’s unrealistic to expect people to immediately switch from chocolate to fruit, for example, so it is hoping to incentivize making smarter food choices by offering participants money-saving vouchers for healthier foods and drinks and in-store offers from partner retailers such as Asda, Co-operative Food, Lidl and Aldi.

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Intel CEO Challenges Entire Electronics Industry to Become 'Conflict-Free'

January 7, 2014, 11:02 am

≫ Next: 25% of Small UK Businesses Prioritizing Sustainability in 2014

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In his pre-show keynote at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas yesterday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich outlined a range of the company’s new products, initiatives and strategic relationships aimed at accelerating innovation across a range of mobile and wearable devices, and challenged the entire electronics industry to join Intel in becoming “conflict-free.”

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25% of Small UK Businesses Prioritizing Sustainability in 2014

January 6, 2014, 10:33 pm

≫ Next: New Mac Pro Consumes 68% Less Power

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One in four small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK consider sustainability one of their highest concerns for the coming year, according to a new survey by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking (LBCB).

While sustainability is becoming an integral part of the business landscape, it has traditionally been much more difficult for smaller firms, who may lack the resources to make changes to company administration practices, LBCB says.

Encouragingly, the survey found that three out of ten SMEs plan to invest more in sustainable business practices over the next five years, although another 42 percent said that spending on sustainability is likely to remain flat.

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New Mac Pro Consumes 68% Less Power

January 6, 2014, 11:15 pm

≫ Next: D&AD's White Pencil Teams Up with TIE to Create New League of 'Social Intrepreneurs'

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The latest iteration of the Mac Pro desktop consumes 68 percent less power in idle mode and its packaging consumes 82 percent less volume than the previous-generation computer, according to Apple’s recent Mac Pro Environmental Report.

In the report, Apple highlights the computer’s sustainability performance in relation to climate change, energy efficiency, material efficiency and restricted substances.

Most (65 percent) of the Mac Pro’s greenhouse gas emissions come from its production process, while the second highest percentage (33 percent) comes from customer use. The Mac Pro’s emissions total 940 kg CO2e, the company says.

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D&AD's White Pencil Teams Up with TIE to Create New League of 'Social Intrepreneurs'

January 7, 2014, 2:43 pm

≫ Next: Generating Buzz: BioLite's Co-Founder on Building a Company Around Parallel Innovation

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The D&AD White Pencil, an award that highlights excellent creative ideas with a social purpose — now in its third year — is the world’s top prize for design, advertising or digital work that addresses key social, political or ethical issues.

In order to demonstrate its increasing commitment to supporting positive change through creativity, D&AD is now collaborating with The International Exchange (TIE) — a leadership development programme that combines the expertise within agencies and studios with the needs of NGOs to create positive, sustainable change — to offer two TIE placements to this year’s White Pencil nominees.

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Generating Buzz: BioLite's Co-Founder on Building a Company Around Parallel Innovation

January 7, 2014, 3:46 pm

≫ Next: Study: Full-Service Restaurants Just as Unhealthy as Fast-Food

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BioLite is one of Brooklyn’s most innovative startups with far-reaching impact. Selling energy products such as the CampStove for camping and outdoor adventure, the company uses revenues to incubate products for emerging markets, most prominently the HomeStove. BioLite’s technology is a market-based approach to poverty, one that generates self-sustaining energy access as well as health- and time-saving benefits. We spoke with co-founder Jonathan Cedar to learn about the company’s pilot programs in Uganda, Ghana and India and the impacts HomeStove is having in those markets.

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Study: Full-Service Restaurants Just as Unhealthy as Fast-Food

January 8, 2014, 7:37 am

≫ Next: Recyclebank Announces Grant Recipients of 8th Annual Green Schools Program

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Food served in full-service restaurants often is just as unhealthy as, or even unhealthier than, food served in fast-food restaurants, despite consumer perceptions that full-service restaurants are healthier, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Food prepared away from home is typically higher in calories and lower in nutrition than food prepared at home, and now makes up more than one-third of all calories purchased in the United States, the study says.

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Recyclebank Announces Grant Recipients of 8th Annual Green Schools Program

January 8, 2014, 12:31 pm

≫ Next: NYC Now Heating Thousands of Homes with Food Waste

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Recyclebank® — the company that rewards its members with discounts and deals for making more conscious daily actions — today announced the schools selected for its 2014 Green Schools Program. Each year, the program grants money to schools to bring to life unique projects that will lead to greater sustainability in their classroom and community.

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NYC Now Heating Thousands of Homes with Food Waste

January 8, 2014, 4:39 pm

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Just before the turn of the new year, when many of us were enjoying our annual season of gluttony, New York City Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway announced a pilot program that will convert the thousands of pounds of food waste currently shipped to out-of-state landfills into biogas, which will heat up to 5,200 homes throughout the city and help curb roughly 90,000 metric tons of the state’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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South America's Largest Solar-Thermal Plant Planned for Chile

January 9, 2014, 7:38 am

≫ Next: McDonald's Beginning Journey to 100% 'Verified Sustainable Beef'— But Is That an Oxymoron?

≪ Previous: NYC Now Heating Thousands of Homes with Food Waste

Abengoa, an international company that applies technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, has been selected by the Ministry of Energy of the Chilean Government and Corfo (Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion) to develop a 110 MW solar plant using tower technology with 17.5 hours of thermal energy storage using molten salts.

Located in the Atacama Desert, the region with the highest solar radiation concentrations in the world, the project will be the first solar-thermal plant for direct electricity production in South America.

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McDonald's Beginning Journey to 100% 'Verified Sustainable Beef'— But Is That an Oxymoron?

January 9, 2014, 12:16 pm

≫ Next: Dispelling the Dissonance: How Conscious Brands Can Turn Customer Beliefs Into Actions

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McDonald’s announced this week that, by 2016, it will source only “verified sustainable beef.” The pledge is an effort to reduce the environmental impact of the fast-food chain’s meat production, as well as to be kinder to the animals on which its livelihood rests. Though there is, of course, plenty of debate over just what “sustainable beef” is, or whether it is achievable.

In its pledge, McDonald’s vows, rather vaguely, “to improve environmental practices in the way beef is produced, support positive workplaces in the beef industry, and drive continuous improvement in animal health and welfare.”

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Dispelling the Dissonance: How Conscious Brands Can Turn Customer Beliefs Into Actions

January 9, 2014, 2:23 pm

≫ Next: Embracing Conscious Consumerism Helping Brands Win Loyalty

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In the 2010 UN Global Compact-Accenture Global CEO Study, 49% of CEOs said that the sustainability agenda can only move forward if driven by greater consumer demand; government and corporate initiatives will not be enough. While sustainability advocates fret that companies are interested in sustainability initiatives only to sell more stuff, CEOs are frustrated by the dissonance between what consumers say they want and the values that their spending reflects. To quote a CEO from the survey:

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Embracing Conscious Consumerism Helping Brands Win Loyalty

January 9, 2014, 3:08 pm

≫ Next: H&M Backs Civil Rights Defenders

≪ Previous: Dispelling the Dissonance: How Conscious Brands Can Turn Customer Beliefs Into Actions

This post is part of a series written by MBA and MPA candidates in Presidio Graduate School’s Managerial Marketing course, examining the role of marketing in advancing sustainability across all sectors.

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H&M Backs Civil Rights Defenders

January 9, 2014, 4:20 pm

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H&M has announced a partnership with Civil Rights Defenders (CRD), a Swedish non-profit organization that works to support human rights around the world. The fashion retail giant says it will donate 4 million SEK (~US$609k) to support their work for human rights.

CRD says the support is a welcome addition that will enhance the organization’s long-term commitment to human rights.  

“We are delighted that H&M has decided to support us in this way. The donation will allow us to fund our ongoing human rights work and in particular to ensure assistance is available for vulnerable human rights defenders who operate in some of the world’s most repressive states,” says Civil Rights Defenders executive director Robert Hårdh.  

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New Partnership Streamlines Environmental Reporting in Sea Freight Supply Chain

January 10, 2014, 8:44 am

≫ Next: Nomadista's Design-Cause-Effect Model Making Shopping More Meaningful

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Sustainable supply-chain management company EcoVadis and BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) have announced a partnership aimed at standardizing sustainability reporting requests for the sea freight supply chain.

Under this partnership EcoVadis will align its environmental assessment questionnaires for sea carriers with the Clean Cargo Environmental Performance Survey framework. Clean Cargo members also will have the opportunity to leverage the EcoVadis online collaboration platform to access sustainability scorecards on their partners’ performance.

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Nomadista's Design-Cause-Effect Model Making Shopping More Meaningful

January 10, 2014, 3:10 pm

≫ Next: Upskilling for Post Growth Futures, Together

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What started as a conversation amongst three friends in 2012 soon evolved into a new online retail concept founded on a shared passion to make a difference.

Nomadista, a term coined by co-founders Irina Bezsonoff, Marisol Gomez and Luisa Echeverry meaning an open-minded, stylish and socially-conscious wanderer, launched in September with a mission to provide shoppers with beautifully designed products that are responsibly sourced and made, while helping to improve conditions and create opportunities for underserved children in Colombia.

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Upskilling for Post Growth Futures, Together

January 10, 2014, 5:21 pm

≫ Next: Nestlé Partners with Stem Cell Tech Company to Study Link Between Nutrition and Disease

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When I was seven, I was given an Apple Macintosh in the hope that Mavis Beacon would teach me how to touch type. It was an unreasonable expectation, for I was actually more interested in escaping to the fantasy lands of Dungeons and Dragons and Lode Runner. Yet, these games had a lasting, unexpected impact on my thirst for learning. In playing Dungeons and Dragons, I remember being particularly excited each time my archetypal characters would gain ‘experience points’ that enabled them to upgrade their abilities.

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Nestlé Partners with Stem Cell Tech Company to Study Link Between Nutrition and Disease

January 10, 2014, 4:27 pm

≫ Next: Walmart, Costco Top 2013 Solar Capacity Rankings

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The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) has signed a long-term research agreement with Wisconsin-based Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a leading developer of stem cell technologies for in vitro drug development, stem cell banking and in vivo cellular therapeutic research.

The agreement gives Nestlé access to certain types of CDI’s cell products to support nutrition-research programs on maintaining health and helping to prevent conditions such as diabetes and obesity.

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Walmart, Costco Top 2013 Solar Capacity Rankings

January 12, 2014, 10:08 pm

≫ Next: Nestlé, Campbell's, Coke Among Companies That Eliminated 6.4T Calories from U.S. Marketplace

≪ Previous: Nestlé Partners with Stem Cell Tech Company to Study Link Between Nutrition and Disease

Walmart, Costco and Kohl's topped the 2013 Solar Capacity Rankings, which ranks companies by the total installed capacity of their systems and the number of operating installations, as well as showing the geographic diversity of their solar deployment.

Apple, IKEA, Macy’s, Johnson & Johnson, McGraw-Hill, Staples and Campbell’s round out the top 10.

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Nestlé, Campbell's, Coke Among Companies That Eliminated 6.4T Calories from U.S. Marketplace

January 13, 2014, 12:00 pm

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16 of the nation’s leading food and beverage companies sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories in the United States in 2012 than they did in 2007, according to the findings released last week by theRobert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The companies, acting together as part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), pledged to remove 1 trillion calories from the marketplace by 2012, and 1.5 trillion by 2015. The independent evaluation found that the companies have so far exceeded their 2015 pledge by more than 400 percent.

The 16 companies committed to the HWCF calorie-reduction pledge are:

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