The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not adequately addressed the climate disclosure deficiencies of publicly traded corporations, despite four-year-old formal guidance requiring companies to disclose material climate change risks, according to a report published Thursday by Ceres.

The report, Cool Response: The SEC and Climate Change Reporting, is based on a survey of more than 40,000 SEC comment letters sent to companies in the last four years and an analysis of the state of S&P 500 company reporting on climate disclosure through the end of 2013. It finds that the majority of financial reporting on climate change is too brief and largely superficial, and most companies are failing to meet SEC requirements.

“Investors want greater transparency on the business risks of climate change as a means to protect and increase shareholder value,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres. “Yet the SEC is not adequately enforcing its own requirements.”

The SEC requires material climate change disclosure related to domestic and international regulatory risks; indirect effects of regulation or business trends; and physical risks, and evaluates companies’ filings to ensure compliance. Where a filing is not in compliance, the SEC discusses the issue in a comment letter sent to the company.

However, despite the low quality of corporate reporting on climate risk, the SEC sent climate-related comment letters to just three companies in 2012 and did not send any letters in 2013. Following the issuance of the guidelines in 2010-2011, some 49 comment letters were sent by the SEC.

“The fact that the SEC is slipping backward rather than driving progress on climate risk disclosure is troubling, especially since a large number of companies failed to say anything at all about climate change in their annual filings last year,” said Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp. “Climate risks and opportunities are greater than ever before, yet it seems the Commission is paying less attention than when formal guidance was issued. It is my hope that the Commission will once again demonstrate leadership on this critical issue.”

Over 100 institutional investors around the world representing $7.6 trillion in assets formally supported the SEC’s issuance of guidance on climate risk disclosure in 2010, seeking to understand the material risks and opportunities for companies in various sectors. The report calls on the SEC to prioritize the disclosure of material climate risks, focusing on companies in the most at-risk sectors and on recent regulatory developments.

Last October, a coalition of 70 global investors managing more than $3 trillion in collective assets launched the first-ever coordinated effort to spur 45 of the world’s top oil and gas, coal and electric power companies to assess the financial risks that climate change poses to their business plans. The investors made up the Carbon Asset Risk (CAR) initiative, coordinated by Ceres and the Carbon Tracker initiative, with support from the Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change.

The SEC ought to pay more attention to climate change. Extreme weather events cost the United States $100 billion in 2012, most of which went towards federal crop, flood, wildfire and disaster relief, according to Ceres.

“Given that carbon footprinting is predicated on climate science, why doesn't the Greenhouse Gas Protocol include guidance on setting science-based emissions goals and targets?” That's the question I asked Janet Ranganathan, Vice President for Science and Research at the World Resources Institute (and founding director of the GHG Protocol at its outset), at the 2012 Ceres Conference (she's a Ceres boardmember). Her response has unfolded in words and actions over time, first by introducing me to Pankaj Bhatia, the current director of the GHG Protocol, at lunch in Washington, DC in the fall of 2012, where we discussed this gap and potential ways to fill it.

I next ran into Pankaj at the Global Reporting Initiative Conference in May 2013, where he announced that the GHG Protocol is “creating guidance on setting science-based GHG reduction targets,” and we've been in dialogue since then. As part of the #SustyGoals series on the #NewMetrics channel, here's a deeper view of this ongoing dialogue that points toward the future of sustainability goal-setting on the carbon front.

Bill Baue: What's the next frontier in terms of goal-setting for GHG emissions?

Pankaj Bhatia: The next frontier for goal-setting is bringing GHG reduction goals in alignment with the scale required by the climate challenge, and goals which will lead to transformative change in the economy. This is relevant for all entities that generate GHG emissions but for now we are focusing on national, city and local governments and companies.

Baue: What gaps in current best practice need to get filled, and what are some of the promising ideas emerging for filling those gaps?

Bhatia: Historically, many companies have set modest absolute GHG reduction goals or intensity goals. In many cases, intensity goals allow the company to increase their production and their emissions, while making some efficiency improvements that reduce the GHG emissions emitted per unit of production or revenue. The total amount of GHG emissions may still increase. Both of these types of goals are often designed to be a slight stretch, and be mostly achievable with relatively small changes and investments required to meet the target. Climate change demands something more. Part of the scale-alignment could mean targets based on or consistent with science, since climate science is what will tell us what the total, global levels of greenhouse gases should be to maintain climate stability.

Some companies, such as Autodesk and Mars, are recognizing the importance of reducing emissions to the levels called for by science and have taken an important first step in committing to use science to inform their long term goals. Autodesk's goal is to align their GHG reduction target with the IPCC science and have a fiscal year 2014 target of 23.4% absolute reduction from a 2009 baseline. Mars has committed to selecting reduction targets based on the best science, with their current goal to reduce emissions from their direct operations by 2015 by 25% from a 2007 baseline and a long term goal of 100% below that same baseline by 2040. This is a step in the right direction and it is important that companies continue to implement effective and ambitious GHG-reduction goals. When companies take risks and set aggressive reduction targets, it often spurs high levels of innovation and investment that causes them to not only meet, but even exceed their targets.

Various levels of governments are also beginning to align their reduction goals with climate science. These include the UK government who committed to an 80% reduction of GHG emissions by 2050 and a carbon budget approach that caps emissions levels for multiple years in the shorter term. Several cities including Chicago, Berlin, and Melbourne have set similar targets. The GHG Protocol is developing a Mitigation Goals Accounting Standard, which can assist governments and organizations in setting these goals.

What is missing is a clear way to translate the global "cap" on emissions that science tells us is necessary into individual targets for companies, organizations, and governments based on their individual GHG inventories, and to specify the right time frame in which these need to occur. Even if individual companies were to entirely transform their value chains and achieve "zero emissions," would this mean we are on track globally? Probably not, unless all sectors of the economy in major emitting countries were covered by such goals and they were effectively implemented. It is important to translate the global target into country targets as well as other kinds of targets — cities, residents, organizations, etc that together serve to ensure we are all on a level playing field and provide a common transformative signal to the market.

Bill Baue, speaker at Sustainable Brands 2014 San Diego

Baue: You stated at the GRI Conference in May that the GHG Protocol is “creating guidance on setting science-based GHG reduction targets,” and I understand that this guidance will tackle the issue you just mentioned of translating global targets to the organizational level. Can you tell us more about this initiative, and how it's addressing these challenges?

Bhatia: WRI is collaborating with CDP to develop a working paper that will make the case for increased ambition on corporate target setting. With no widely accepted method available to set ambitious GHG targets and an uncertain future legislative environment, companies lack incentives to achieve significant reductions in line with current climate science. The aim of the working paper is to provide recommended approaches to goal setting to raise the ambition on target setting levels, drive more bold business solutions, and increase the level of reductions achieved by companies worldwide.

Once the working paper is complete, WRI and CDP will collect input on it from stakeholders through workshops and a survey. WRI will use the input to determine the next steps for GHG Protocol, which could include case studies or launching a multi-stakeholder process to develop a GHG Protocol Guidance.

Baue: GHG Protocol released its Scope 3 guidance before making strides on setting science-based targets. What are the challenges of applying science-based targets up and down the value chain, and what's your preliminary sense of solutions?

Bhatia: The same principles would apply in implementing science-based targets in scope 3 as it would in scope 1 or 2. While there are currently no standardized approaches for setting science-based scope 3 targets, it is important that companies identify opportunities within scope 3 and set ambitious scope 3 targets accordingly. A truly ambitious target would include the full value chain (scopes 1, 2, and 3).

Setting scope 3 targets could pose new challenges in data availability and quality, but since this is often where the majority of emissions are located for a company there could be significant opportunities for identifying hot spots for emissions reductions. Focusing reduction targets on scope 3 could help companies collaborate with their value chain partners on GHG reduction efforts as well as help companies focus their attention and efforts most strategically. However a key challenge in including scope 3 targets could be around how to design allocation and how to determine accountability of emissions and emissions reductions in the value chain.

Baue: You mentioned the gap of translating the global "cap" on emissions that science tells us is necessary into individual targets for companies, which echoes what WBCSD has been saying. What are some of the promising emerging solutions on this front?

Bhatia: The IPCC fifth assessment report provides a good framing for the discussion of the need to translate the global “cap” on emissions to individual targets for companies and countries. Allocating these targets to specific companies, however, is challenging; solutions for doing so vary widely and have not yet reached consensus from companies. Obtaining consensus around these methodologies is essential. Some of the solutions that are currently discussed include looking at historical emissions, allocating emissions amongst industries, or allocating based on revenue.

WBCSD has begun to address this challenge through Action2020, which defines Societal Must-Have for Climate Change i.e with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the world must, by 2020, have energy, industry, agriculture and forestry systems that, simultaneously meet societal development needs and implement the necessary structural transformation to ensure that cumulative net emissions[1] ;do not exceed one trillion tonnes of carbon. Peaking global emissions by 2020 keeps this goal in a feasible range, and are becoming resilient to expected changes in climate.

GHG Protocol and CDP in partnership with other leading experts and institutions including the Center for Sustainable Organizations and WWF are beginning to work on creating a methodology for more ambitious goal setting. In some respects, providing methodologies that demonstrate potential cost-savings and benefits of both reducing emissions and minimizing the corporation’s resource consumption could be more successful than allocating reductions from the global cap. Convening will be a key element of this work stream and will include working with companies to determine the approaches and methodologies that can be rapidly adopted.

[1] Anthropogenic CO2 emissions from preindustrial levels as outlined in the IPCC Working Group I Fifth Assessment Report. One trillion tonnes carbon = 3.76 trillion tons of CO2.

Once considered strange bedfellows, sustainability and human resource management are being increasingly recognized as an ideal match. Andrew Savitz’s book Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line: How Companies Can Leverage Human Resources to Achieve Sustainable Growthcompelling demonstrates why HR leaders are uniquely well-positioned to aid in sustainability efforts and why they need to be included in any brand’s successful transition to embedded sustainability. Here are a few of Savitz’s reasons why:

• Sustainability begins at home.An overwhelming number of customers links treatment of employees with a brand’s sustainability … and a core HR function is employee advocacy. The 2011 Do Well Do Good Public Opinion Survey showed average Americans considered treatment of employees more important than any other sustainability responsibility. GlobalScan Radar 2010 survey asked participants to name the “most important thing a company can do to be seen as socially responsible” and the most popular response was “treat employees well.” HR plays an obvious role in protecting employees, advocating for fair treatment, and designing favorable compensation and benefits.
• Many companies are being flooded with job applicants who expect to find sustainability-related opportunities at work. Research by Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Reputation Institute (2009) found that 2/3 of people polled in 25 countries prefer to work for a company known for its social responsibility. A poll of Monster Worldwide job website users found 80% want a job with a positive impact on the environment and 92% want to work for an environmentally friendly organization while 8 out of 10 Ipsos MORI [a British market research company] poll respondents want to work for “environmentally ethical” organization. Savitz describes an interview with a hiring manager who said, “If I don’t mention ‘sustainability’ in the first five minutes, I run the risk of losing the candidate.”
• Virtually every organization will need to add environmental responsibilities to existing jobs in the years to come — even companies that once assumed that such challenges were foreign to them. In a 2011 survey and report by the Society for Human Resource Management, HR professionals reported a series of environmentally driven changes to their workforces. 80% said their companies had added new environmental duties to existing positions at their organization, and 23% reported creating completely new green positions or specifying green duties as part of newly created jobs.
• Almost 1/3 of GRI indicators (26 out of 84) are directly relevant to HR, including employee wellness, privacy, human rights, labor issues, wages and benefits, training and career development, and diversity.
• Alternative working conditions are becoming increasingly popular.Working from home and office hoteling offer triple bottom line benefits in the form of lower carbon emissions from not commuting, better work-life balance for employees, and savings in infrastructure. HR plays an important role in setting guidelines so that these new working conditions will work effectively.
  
  Example: At Family Mutual Health and Life Insurance, the VP of HR and the VP of the claims adjustment department worked together to create clearly defined work-from-home guidelines. Cost of implementing program: $991,680. Benefits in improved productivity, office expense, and employee turnover reduction: almost $4 million.

Andrew Savitz, keynote speaker at Sustainable Brands 2014 San Diego

• Human Resource leaders are change agents. HR can encourage a company culture that supports sustainability by embracing stakeholder engagement, supporting the development of long-term thinking, and fostering interdependent thinking. They can also facilitate innovation programs by promoting a shared language for sustainability, creating mechanisms to encourage innovation, and providing tools to measure results. The HR role is also a natural choice for facilitating collaboration across silos, helping to select the right people from cross-functional groups to focus on a specific sustainability initiative.
• Sustainability is not a skill that can be mastered or knowledge that can be codified. Sustainability is a complex collection of ideas and practices that needs to be constantly upgraded, modernized and developed as circumstances evolve. Thus individual employees, working teams, and entire organizations need to be prepared to learn unceasingly. HR plays an important role in hiring good learners and upgrading learning capability of current leaders.
• Behavior from HR sets the tone and helps the company “walk the walk.” More and more brands are listing sustainability as a priority, but only 9% have built it into mandatory training programs. When HR leaders design policies rewarding sustainability-related behavior and penalizing non-compliant behavior, they show employees that the brand’s commitment to sustainability is not just lip service.

According to Savitz, the profound transformation companies must undergo to meet the demands of the age of sustainability require specific skills to reshape business cultures, values, systems, policies and processes — specific skills that HR leaders have. Sustainability managers should take note that HRM can be vital allies and HR managers can look forward to emerging trends in sustainability dramatically reshaping and expanding HR’s role in a company in exciting new ways.

In Part 2, I will examine Savitz’s ideas about what Sustainable HR looks like, using specific examples from top brands whose Human Resource teams are integrating sustainability throughout the entire workforce life cycle. 

Irish retail giant Primark, which operates across the UK and across Western Europe, today joined the growing number of brands committing to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from its supply chain as part of Greenpeace’s global Detox campaign.

Primark, the UK counterpart to JC Penney in the US, joins Burberry to become the second clothing company to sign a Detox commitment in the past two weeks. This news follows the release of Greenpeace’s latest report, A Little Story About the Monsters in Your Closet, revealing the presence of hazardous chemicals in children’s clothes made by 12 major brands.

“Primark’s commitment shows that it refuses to be left behind as toxic-free clothing becomes a fashion trend in the industry. From budget retailers like Primark, to luxury houses like Burberry, brands are helping put an end to this toxic nightmare,” said Ilze Smit, Detox Campaigner at Greenpeace International.

As part of its commitment, Primark agreed to eliminate all hazardous chemicals in all its products and across its production processes by 2020. Primark will also ensure supply chain transparency by requiring manufacturing facilities to upload data on hazardous chemical discharges via a publicly accessible platform. This will give the public and people living near these facilities in manufacturing centers like China the right to know what is being discharged into their environment.

“This commitment is great news for Primark’s customers, its workers and the local communities affected by toxic-water pollution. It is now up to Primark to ensure these promises are translated into concrete actions so children everywhere can grow up in the toxic-free future they deserve,” said Smit.

While the Detox campaign is calling for major clothing brands to create toxic-free fashion, Greenpeace is also urging Primark to credibly resolve outstanding social and labor issues related to the well-being of those working to produce its products.

Subway announced late last week that it is removing a curious ingredient from its bread — a compound known as azodicarbonamide (or E927), whose other common uses include increasing the elasticity of items such as shoe soles and yoga mats, according to CNN. Though Subway insists the compound is safe and it is commonly added to all types of breads, the company’s decision to remove it comes after pressure from blogger Vani Hari, otherwise known as “Food Babe,” who started a petition to have Subway eliminate the chemical.

Since Subway’s announcement last week, it has been revealed that a number of major U.S. chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, Arby’s and Dunkin’ Donuts also use the ingredient, which is banned from use in food in Europe and Australia, since the FDA has deemed it safe for use in the States (to put that into context, see Take Part’s handy, recent list of 5 flame retardants, hormones and drugs that the FDA has also deemed safe for us in the US that are banned around the world). According to the CNN report, the Center for Science in the Public Interest says E927 was found to be carcinogenic in lab mice but that its cancer-causing potential in humans is “negligible.” Still, something I’d rather not be eating.

Other recent instances of the public pushing for (and getting) big changes from brands include:

• 5 Gyres’ consumer campaign, "Get Plastic Off My Face and Out of My Water Now!,"which it launched after finding large amounts of microbeads, commonly found in beauty products, polluting the Great Lakes. The organization presented its results to Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, which prompted J&J’s pledge to eliminate the material from its products. P&G says it will phase out microbeads in products by 2017;

• the Raise the Bar, Hershey campaign, which pressured Hershey to improve its policies around child labor.

• The latest victory in Greenpeace’s Detox campaign, fresh after the release of its “Little Monsters” report that revealed toxic chemicals found in children’s clothing from a number of prominent brands — one of which, Burberry, rather promptly committed to a sweeping elimination of all such chemicals from its products by 2020.

In other Subway news, last month the sandwich chain  joined the Partnership for a Healthier America and Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative in a three-year commitment to promote healthier food choices to kids. As part of its commitment, Subway said it will:

• launch a series of fun, engaging campaigns aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children;

• set and implement new marketing standards to kids;

• and only offer items on its kids menu — now dubbed Fresh Fit for Kids™ — that meet strong nutritional guidelines informed by federal standards for the national school lunch program, including offering apples as a side and low-fat or non-fat milk or water as a default beverage.

For more examples of how consumers are helping to drive #BehaviorChange in companies around the world, check out the editorial channel.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Tiffany & Co., Target and over 100 of the world’s leading jewelers and retailers have committed to more responsible metals sourcing by agreeing to abide by Earthworks' No Dirty Gold (NDG) campaign’s Golden Rules.

As part of the initiative, the companies will study their metals supply chains, revise their supplier sourcing criteria to include the Golden Rules, increase recycled gold content and seek more responsibly produced metals.

“Dirty gold just isn’t romantic,” said Payal Sampat of the No Dirty Gold campaign. “Retailers don’t want consumers to associate gold jewelry with polluted rivers and child labor, and they are joining us in calling on the mining industry to clean up its act.”

The Golden Rules are based on broadly accepted international human rights laws and basic principles of sustainable development, including respect for workers’ rights and protection of ecologically sensitive areas.

“We believe that socially and environmentally responsible jewelry should be widely available to consumers,” said Brilliant Earth co-founder Beth Gerstein. “We want to reduce the need for dirty mining of precious metals. That’s why we signed the No Dirty Gold campaign’s Golden Rules. And that’s why we use only recycled and ethically produced metals.”

In the United States, Valentine’s Day is one of the largest jewelry purchasing holidays of the year — nearly 20 percent of Valentine’s gift givers will buy jewelry, spending more than $4 billion, NDG says. Which is a lovely gesture, except that gold mining is one of the most polluting industries on earth; according to NDG, producing a single gold ring creates at least 20 tons of mine waste.

Jewelers are in a unique position to influence mining industry behavior because jewelry accounts for the majority of gold demand in the US and a plurality of gold demand around the world.

EPA data show that metal mining is the largest toxic polluter in the US, and has been linked to human rights abuses, perpetual water pollution, destroyed wildlands and long-term health impacts.

Gold is one of the four primary “conflict minerals,” which also includes tin, tungsten and tantalum. The category also includes copper, neodymium, dysprosium, coltan (a dense, black mineral from which tantalum is extracted) and terbium. A significant concentration exists in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) near the Rwanda border that has seen years of violence, largely financed by demand for these rare minerals.

Last month at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich challenged the entire electronics industry to join Intel in becoming “conflict-free.” Separately, the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative, of which Intel is a member, has validated conflict-free smelters or refiners of all four conflict minerals for the first time in the initiative’s five-year history, and last month called for more businesses to join over 120 companies from seven different industries to already become conflict-free.

Last week,the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the launch of the WaterSense H2Otel Challenge to encourage hotels to use best management practices that will save water and money, while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change.

“Hotels that reduce their water use will not only help their community save precious resources, but can gain a competitive edge in today’s green marketplace,” said Nancy Stoner, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “Since 2006, WaterSense has helped Americans save more than 487 billion gallons of water, and now we’re building on that success to help hotels take their sustainability efforts to the next level.”

Caesars Entertainment has become the first hotel chain to take a pledge to “ACT”— assess, change and track its water use in the following ways:

• Assess water use and savings opportunities throughout its hotels.
• Change products and processes to more water-efficient models and methods.
• Track water reduction progress before and after incorporating best management practices.

In December, Caesars released its fourth CSR and Sustainability Report, which details the company’s progress in enhancing employee well-being, guest experience and economic development, and reducing energy use — including a savings of roughly 750 million kWh since its benchmark year in 2007, representing an 8.5 percent absolute reduction in electricity and gas — but makes no mention of the company’s attention to water use.

“At Caesars Entertainment's resorts throughout the country, we know that sustaining our local water supply is as important as providing the best entertainment experience we can to our guests,” said Eric Dominguez, Caesars’ Corporate Director of Engineering, Utilities and Environmental Affairs. “Over the last few years we successfully implemented several water-saving projects, such as adding low-flow showerheads and sink aerators at our Las Vegas resorts. We are excited to participate in the WaterSense H2Otel Challenge and to identify where we can make even greater improvement to our operations."

“Here in Las Vegas, the hospitality industry is critical to our local economy. Fortunately, our hotel and resort industry has long been a valuable partner in our successful efforts to improve water efficiency in the hospitality sector,” said Doug Bennett, Conservation Manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “We are excited that some of our largest resorts will share their knowledge and participate in the H₂Otel Challenge.”

The EPA is calling on hotel chains across the country to join the H2Otel Challenge. To help hotels make operational changes and meet growing customer demand for green lodging, EPA will begin a series of educational webinars on February 13 and provide free tools based on the online guide, WaterSense at Work: Best Management Practices for Commercial and Institutional Facilities. WaterSense will also offer outreach materials for hotels to publicize their efforts and celebrate their successes with guests and employees.

Last year, Marriott International reported in its 2013 Sustainability Report update that it had reduced its global water usage by 12 percent in 2012, while rival Hilton Worldwide reported it exceeded its five-year goal to reduce water consumption by 10 percent a year early.

Japanese mulinational corporation Sumitomo has developed and installed the world's first large-scale power storage system that utilizes used electric-vehicle (EV) batteries. Built on Yume-shima Island, Osaka, the commercial scale storage system will begin operating later this month.

Over the next three years, the system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the nearby Hikari-no-mori solar farm, and will aim to establish a large-scale power storage technology by safely and effectively utilizing the huge quantities of discarded used EV batteries which will become available in the future.

End-of-life uses, or disposal options, for EV batteries — which are highly toxic — is a major sustainability issue in the EV space. To address this, in 2010 Sumitomo created the joint venture company, "4R Energy Corporation," in collaboration with Nissan. The used EV batteries that will be recycled into this large-scale storage system have been recovered and have gone through thorough inspection and maintenance at 4R, to confirm safety and performance. The 600kW/400kW prototype system consists of sixteen used EV batteries.

Sumitomo says it will seek new business opportunities that can make use of the highly economical storage system, as well as work on developing new applications for used EV batteries. The company also aims to actively promote this approach, which can both contribute to expanding the use of EV and encourage the use of renewable energy. 

Last year was a big year for EVs. The Tesla Model S received a five-star safety rating in every subcategory from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), making it part of the one percent of all vehicles tested by the federal government to achieve a perfect score. While NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5, safety levels better than five stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.

Tesla also introduced a new system that allows battery packs in electric vehicles to be swapped in roughly 90 seconds. The battery pack swaps will cost between $60 and $80. Based on current gasoline prices, this is about the same a 15-gallon gas tank. The stations will each cost about $500,000 to build and will be placed alongside Tesla’s fast-charging stations. The free fast-charge stations can charge a battery in about 30 minutes.

Wrinkled veggies. Rotting fruit. Containers that you wouldn’t dare open because of the smells that might escape. How many times have you cleaned out your refrigerator and been dismayed at how much food has spoiled?

Every year, billions of dollars are wasted because of food spoilage. In fact, the EPA notes that “in 2011 alone, more than 36 million tons of food waste was generated, with only four percent of food waste generated diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting.” Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) paints a wider picture by noting that one-third of food produced for human consumption is wasted, which translates into 1.3 billion metric tons of food per year.

Food waste not only depletes money from our pockets but also our natural resources. The FAO notes that the global result of food waste is the addition of 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases to the planet’s atmosphere.

Luckily, a handful of social entrepreneurs have realized the possibilities of extending the life of food, from saving consumer dollars, and reducing industrial agricultural costs, to potentially alleviating global poverty. Interestingly enough, these lofty goals all come from fairly simple solutions.

For example, earlier this year, Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) 2013 winner Fenugreen, impressed our expert judges with its product, FreshPaper— a biodegradable square of paper that can keep food fresh up to 2-3 times longer due to a mix of organic spices that inhibit bacterial growth in fruits and vegetables. Fenugreen has gone on to win several more accolades since SBIO, including being named one of Sustainia’s top 10 sustainability innovations for 2013, and Freshpaper inventor Kavita Shukla being named as one of Forbes’ “30 under 30”.

Speaking of game-changing innovations, does your startup have a sustainable solution that could help make a difference? Enter the 2014 SB Innovation Open! Now accepting entries through March 17.

The young company now has some competitors, among them BerryBreeze and Freshkeeper. Similar to FreshPaper, BerryBreeze promises to slow down the spoilage of food by 2-3 days. However, its approach is different in that BerryBreeze tackles bacterial growth within refrigerators. In fact, the company calls its product “the cure for the refrigerator.”

Priced at $50, BerryBreeze is a compact, battery-operated device to be placed on a refrigerator shelf and release oxygen to combat decomposition caused by bacteria. The goal is to ”eliminate, neutralize and sanitize undesirable microorganisms, germs, mold, yeast, fungus, bacteria, viruses and odors in the refrigerator.” The company states that reduction of these unwanted bacteria in the fridge is the key to maintaining food for 2-3 times longer.

According to the company, BerryBreeze generates activated oxygen for the initial 60 minutes of operation, then automatically switches to standby mode (170 minutes), after which it reactivates for ten minutes and repeats the cycle for 230 minutes until the batteries need replacement (usually five to six months).  

The company estimates that BerryBreeze has the potential to save the average family of four up to $2,200 per year by avoiding common food spoilage. 

“Our team developed BerryBreeze so that families, institutions, businesses and charities around the world can preserve their food, protect their health and manage their expenses while also benefiting the environment,” says Russ Karlen, CEO and father of BerryBreeze’s creator and USC Entrepreneur of the Year honoree Brittany Karlen Messmer.

The company has no set timeline on when to replace the device, but they mention that they have devices in their company’s headquarters which are five years old and still chugging along. The batteries, however, need to be replaced usually every five to six months.

The other contender, Freshkeeper, has its eyes set on reducing ethylene damage.

Why ethylene? The company, MWH Agro, says that ethylene, which is produced naturally by plants, kickstarts the ripening process in fresh produce when it builds up in the air. In fact, MWH Agro points out that ethylene is used within the agricultural industry to force-ripen fruits and vegetables so that they are perfect for point of sale.

Freshkeeper comes in various forms of ethylene filters for both industrial and consumer uses. The company states that its filters can keep shipping containers free of ethlyene for up to 65 days, where as its home device, which lasts for three months, can keep fruits and vegetables fresh in refrigerators for more than 10 days.

Overall, these three products are distinct, varying by application and price point but have the same goal. The most interesting aspect is that all three of these startups have ensured that their products are scalable, so that they can tackle the food waste problem in the home and at the industrial level.

Have you tried any of these products? Let us know what you think.

Mowing the grass results in a lot of wasted biomass that could probably be put to better use. EcoMow is a small, self-fueled mower and grass pellet harvester that uses freshly cut grass as fuel and processes the biomass that it doesn’t use into a dried pellet form that can be used for other applications such as heating or power generation.

Even though Jason Force, the company’s founder, has tested the robot and discovered that consumers love the idea, investors aren’t so keen. They think it’s too far from what consumers are used to, which put simply, means there is a risk it won’t make enough money. In an interview with Gigaom, Force explained further:

“A lot of work would have to go into this product to make it safe; don’t run over your pets or children, don’t run into the street and cause an accident. The concern was we would get to the end of the $2 million development cycle and the customers would just decide they didn’t like it.”

In the meantime, EcoMow will produce a larger mower that will harvest hay fields for fuel pellets, something investors are willing to back. He hasn’t forgotten about the consumer mower, though, with plans to develop it from the beginning of 2016. A small model designed to manicure lawns less than an acre in size might cost $500 and weigh less than 10 pounds.

Beyond simple garden aesthetics, Force also sees the EcoMow as a potentially powerful tool for developing nations. Instead of building a power plant and biomass processor, plus buying a harvester to collect biomass, communities could use a version of the EcoMow for all three.

“An application I’m pursuing is having little micro grids set up in East Africa where the units would go harvest during the night and then come back and plug themselves in to a power unit during the day and supply power to the local region during the day,” he told Gigaom.

This post first appeared on PSFK on February 3, 2014.

The IKEA Foundation has launched a two-month campaign to raise funds to provide solar-powered lighting and other renewable energy technologies to UN refugee camps run through the sale of light bulbs in its stores around the world.

For every LEDARE model LED bulb sold at IKEA from February 3 until March 29, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The funds raised through the “Brighter Lives for Refugees” campaign will help to provide solar-powered street lights, indoor solar lanterns, and other renewable energy technologies such as fuel-efficient cooking stoves in camps in countries such as Bangladesh, Chad, Ethiopia and Jordan.

“In 2013, over 2 million people became refugees – a near 20-year record. With each new humanitarian emergency, the support of the private sector becomes more vital and more urgent,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a news release on the initiative.

“This campaign represents a new, unique chapter in our relationship with the IKEA Foundation, UNHCR’s largest private sector partner. Together, we hope to be able to transform the lives of many refugees.”

Today, there are nearly 10.5 million refugees globally, around half of which are children, according to UNHCR. Some refugees have no choice but to live in refugee camps, where an absence of light after sunset can have a devastating effect on safety and security.

“Simple activities such as going to the toilet, collecting water or returning to the shelter can become difficult and dangerous, particularly for women and girls,” the agency pointed out.

“The improvements funded by the campaign will make each refugee camp a safer and more suitable home for refugee children and their families,” it noted, adding that the campaign will also fund improved primary education.

The IKEA Foundation has partnered with UNHCR since 2010, helping to provide shelter, care and education to families and children within refugee camps and surrounding communities. The Foundation has to date committed €73 million in support to the UN agency.

The Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Per Heggenes, said the campaign “will help bring lights and renewable energy into the streets and homes of refugee camps, so UNHCR can help build a better everyday life for refugee children and families.”

Last summer, the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR announced a pilot program in which IKEA designed temporary housing structures for UN refugee camps, designed to facilitate ‘a feeling of normality’ for the families living there. The project is one of three finalists for the World Impact Design Prize 2013-2014; winner will be honored at the World Design Capital® (WDC) International Design Gala on 28 February 28 in Cape Town, South Africa.

In other IKEA LED news, the Swedish retailer launched a new marketing campaign in the UK last weekend called “The Wonderful Everyday,” which the company says will explain the brand’s values and sustainability ethos to consumers. The first ads will focus on touting LEDs as an energy-saving alternative to incandescent lightbulbs, which IKEA has committed to phasing out by 2016.

For more examples of groundbreaking cross-sector partnerships driving social and environmental change, check out our editorial channel highlighting #Collaboration.

Yerdle, the online marketplace where shoppers in the greater San Francisco and New York City areas can give and get things for free, today becomes available across the country by providing low-cost, flat rate shipping for $2-4 nationwide. Yerdle has also updated its iPhone app to offer enhanced discovery browsing, a re-designed home screen, a new social “activity feed,” and a simplified shopping cart.

Now the first national sharing retailer for gently used things, yerdle members give away items that they no longer need, and in turn, they earn credits to spend on things that they want. Yerdle uses an auction model and “Get It Now” feature, making it easy to shop for anything imaginable, from kitchenware and electronics to camping gear and clothing. With nationwide shipping, yerdle aims to make it as easy for to someone to get a blender on yerdle for the $4 shipping price as it is to buy a new one on Amazon.

"We want people to rethink the way they shop,” said yerdle co-founder Adam Werbach. “We’ve spent the last few months testing our credits and auction-style sharing system with members in San Francisco. Adding low-cost, simple nationwide shipping is the final step to making using yerdle easier than buying new.” 

How yerdle works

Yerdle is easy for users on both sides of equation:

• Download the yerdle app on your iOS device or sign up for the daily email over the web, to see the new items available each day. Sign in through Facebook or GooglePlus and become part of the yerdle community.
• Everyone gets 250 credits to start bidding; get more credits for giving things away. Yerdle is a community experience powered by generosity.
• Start sharing by posting a photo and writing a short description.
• Items are posted on yerdle for 5-7 days and the highest bid wins (or can be won immediately through “Get It Now” for a set amount). 
• Getters can pay $2-4 for flat-rate shipping or pick their items up locally. If shipping items, givers now get a pre-paid shipping label from yerdle, enabling them to ship from their doorstep via USPS. 

“Yerdle is creating inventory from closets and garages across the country,” said Adam Lowry, co-founder of Method Products and yerdle angel investor. “It's taking collaborative consumption to the masses by helping people reevaluate their relationships with their things, enabling a liquidity previously unfathomable. People can easily let go of the things they don't need, and receive something they do. That's a whole new line of thinking that is going to reshape the way the retail industry works." 

H&M and WaterAid on Tuesday launched a new global partnership aimed at improving the health, education and future prospects of students by delivering safe water, sanitation and hygiene education programs in schools throughout the developing world.

The initiative will not only transform the lives of students by delivering immediate and long-term improvements to health and education, but also influence national and international policies around the right to safe water and sanitation, H&M says.

To make this happen H&M, through its philanthropic arm the H&M Conscious Foundation, will donate $9.3 million.

In 2013, H&M asked its customers and employees to decide which three development issues the H&M Conscious Foundation should support over the coming years. The result was clear: 'clean water' was one of the issues of most concern.

Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing more than 660,000 children every year, according to the World Health Organization. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, each day nearly 2,000 children under the age of 5 perish from the preventable (and treatable) illness

"When it comes to ensuring that both girls and boys have an equal chance to grow up healthy and reach their greatest potential, safe water, toilets and hygiene education at school can make all the difference in the world,” said WaterAid America CEO David Winder. “The generous support of the H&M Conscious Foundation will go a long way in helping WaterAid achieve the goal of making safe water and sanitation available to everyone, everywhere by the year 2030."

H&M, which has been working with WaterAid on clean water and safe sanitation since 2002, isn’t the only company working with the nonprofit to improve access to clean water. Last year, Coca Cola partnered with WaterAid to increase accessibility to safe drinking water for one of the poorest suburbs of Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou and in two rural communities in southern Ethiopia.

Australian startup Who Gives a Crap, which sells eco-friendly toilet paper, gives half of its profits to WaterAid to build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. And WaterAid says it is closely involved with Unilever's Project Laser Beam initiative, part of the company's Sustainable Living Plan, which aims to bring safe drinking water to 500 million people (and end the roughly two million annual preventable deaths of children under five related to diarrhoeal illness by changing hand-washing behaviors of one billion people) by 2020.

Finding the right media partners for your advertising dollars is a critical part of any brand’s market success. It’s a competitive landscape with new and traditional advertising mediums vying for consumer attention as well as your coveted marketing dollars. And for any brand that is a leader in sustainability, partnering with media outlets that complement your values and sustainability positioning is important.

Some automatically discount newspapers as a suitable advertising partner for a sustainable brand. After all, global newspapers consume massive volumes of paper — enough to circle the equator 30 times — and much of that fiber comes from ancient or endangered forests. However, more than 100 million Americans still read a daily newspaper — a slice of the market most brands can’t afford to miss. So how can leading brands balance the need to advertise to those millions of consumers who love the daily paper on their doorstep with the reality that newspaper consumption can be fuelling forest loss and potentially at odds with their brand’s own sustainability goals?

Place Your Ad Here, a report we recently released that profiles environmental leadership in the newspaper industry, can help solve that conundrum. It enables advertisers to identify newspaper partners that complement their sustainability goals and equips brands with clear criteria of what to look for in their media partners.

Of course, assessing demographics, circulation and cost are important when evaluating where your ad dollars should go. However, by adding sustainability criteria, print advertising dollars can advance your brand’s CSR goals while having a positive impact on forest conservation. For example, when we at Canopy, a Canadian environmental not-for-profit, recently placed campaign ads in the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, we did so with the knowledge that we were reinforcing, in a small way, their notable efforts for sustainability leadership.

Choosing the right newspaper for an ad buy secures more than just brand profile, demographic targets and column inches. It can help secure a future for the world’s most endangered forests and reinforce your own sustainability position.

Report helps advertisers find the balance

Canopy’s 2013 Place Your Ad Here report on the newspaper industry records and recognizes sustainability leaders and provides valuable insights for socially conscious brands.

Canopy reached out to the top 50 newspapers by circulation in Canada and the United States, as well as select local and international papers. The report highlights newspapers that have taken a leading role in developing and implementing environmental paper purchasing policies and acknowledges other leading-edge sustainability initiatives within the sector.

The report finds that although newspapers may be consumers of forests, they also can be champions for change. Visionary publishers are addressing the role newspapers can have in fostering forest conservation and catalyzing sustainable supply chains. In turn, their efforts provide you, the advertiser, with a more sustainable platform to get your message out.

In 2013, five major global newspaper companies updated and finalised their newsprint purchasing policy commitments. The Guardian, Torstar, The New York Times and the Tampa Bay Times joined industry leaders such as The Globe and Mail to implement change within their companies and advocate for change in our forests. Examples of noteworthy leadership include:

• Torstar launched its new corporate-wide environmental principles in 2013, which covers diverse business divisions including the Toronto Star and Harlequin. Prominent is the company’s renewed commitment to post-consumer recycled fiber — with 65 percent of its purchase commitments for 2013 containing an average of 40 percent recycled fiber.
• The Globe and Mail, with its long-standing sustainable paper mandate, engages its suppliers on conservation initiatives, supporting solutions in critical forest hotspots such as the Broadback Forest, a Boreal gem, and British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. The company’s chief executive officer is active in Canopy Club, a leading forum of CEOs supporting leadership on forest conservation.
• The Guardian Newspaper and Media Group included a commitment in its policy to source a high proportion of recycled paper from mills in the UK to support the national recycling infrastructure.
• The New York Times will avoid purchasing paper from intact, old-growth forests and controversial sources, including forests that form the habitat of threatened, endangered or imperilled species.
• Hearst Newspapers is supporting the development of paper made from agricultural residue. While straw-based paper isn’t available in North America yet, the company’s encouragement will inevitably help speed the commercialisation of these papers.

Each company’s sustainability initiative is structured differently. But regardless of emphasis, all are helping to catalyze large-scale conservation initiatives and all have elements in common.

7 defining acts of leadership by global newspapers

1. Setting the direction — Has a paper purchasing policy with Canopy that sets the newspaper on a path to greater sustainability

2. Protecting forests — Is engaging their suppliers to advance conservation solutions for endangered forests

3. Raising fecycled — Is prioritizing the incorporation of recycled fiber into their papers and facilitating the collection of high quality recycled newspaper fiber via closed loop partnerships

4. Advancing sustainable forest management — Supports suppliers to adopt Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for their on the ground operations and if buying newsprint with virgin wood fibre, gives preference to FSC

5. Supporting eco-innovation — Helps drive R&D and commercial production of papers made with straw

6. Encouraging peers — Engages other publishers and supply chain partners to develop their own sustainability initiatives.

7. Accountability and transparency — Sets time bound milestones and publicly reports on progress each year.

Good ads showcase many things about the brands that place them. They creatively hook consumers. They sell product and they build brand capital. Advertising with like-minded publications ensures you are reaching like-minded customers in the most responsible way possible. Find out how your media partners are performing today.

Memes, as defined by Culture2 (formerly DarwinSF) founders Joe Brewer and Lazlo Karafiath, are “the units of culture that reproduce themselves through people’s thoughts and behaviors.” The word meme has recently been appropriated by Internet culture to have a quick image with some funny text overlaid on it, but a meme can be any idea or concept that gets passed around and takes hold.

Nearly a year ago, Brewer and Karafiath started the Climate Meme project. By studying the spread of memes and ideas surrounding climate change, they found that a surprisingly small 5 percent of Americans think about and digest global warming as an idea. This means a whopping 95 percent of the US population are somehow able to avoid thinking about climate change, even when prompted to do so by mass weather events. Using the analogy of a virus, it seems that most people are able to immunize themselves from thinking about the global warming “virus.”

If you are reading Sustainable Brands, chances are that you are part of the 5 percent. The original Climate Meme project studied the way that memes and ideas spread between the 5 percent who do engage with the ideas. The research found that there were approximately 5,000 unique thought constructs concerning global warming. These different ideas were then shown to hit on five different resonance points ranging from the survival aspect of a climate-warmed future to the worry over finding unity over the many issues.

However, it seems that the ideas truly have stopped spreading beyond this 5 percent of the population. Now Brewe and Karafiath have joined with San Francisco design and strategy consultant Ting Kelly to expand the project with Climate Meme 2. Instead of examining what causes ideas to spread, this project will focus on what is stopping the 95 percent from engaging with the ideas. If the study is able to pinpoint the psychological reason that prevents further interaction, it is possible that these memes or ideas can be adapted to break down these defenses and infect the cultural ethos even further.

With so much focus on internal debates, it is refreshing to see a project that wants to expand the population pool and reach a wider target. Only through involving a larger community on a personal level will the meme of global warming take root and connect. But with just a few days remaining in Climate Meme 2’s crowdfunding campaign on Rocket Hub, this incredibly promising project, based on complex systems and ideas that aims to reshape the way we think about spreading information, is poised to be underfunded and undervalued. Help Climate Meme spread the climate change virus! 

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), with the help of dozens of prominent retailers, designers and NGOs from the UK clothing industry, on Tuesday launched a new campaign aimed at reducing encouraging Brits to find new appreciation for their unwanted clothes.

According to research conducted by WRAP, the UK has a staggering £30 billion worth of clothes in wardrobes that haven’t been worn in the last year, and UK consumers annually throw away clothing that is still worth at least £140 million. So, with the cooperation of retailers M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and John Lewis, fashion brands including Stella McCartney and Ted Baker, and the support of over 30 suppliers, NGOs and recyclers, WRAP has launched the “Love Your Clothes” campaign to help UK shoppers reconnect to those lost billions languishing in their wardrobes. 

The campaign is the latest by WRAP, the organization behind the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which helps consumers waste less food and save money in the process. With Love Your Clothes, WRAP is looking to combine its reuse and recycling know-how with tips shared by armchair experts in homes across the country, who WRAP is hoping will share their own experiences.

The campaign website has advice on choosing clothing designed to last longer; buying pre-owned clothes; using gentler laundry methods; repairing and altering clothes; and donating, swapping or selling on unwanted garments, and is looking for more tips and tricks from the community. The site also explains how clothes that are too damaged or worn for reuse can still be donated for textile recycling rather than ending up in the bin.

WRAP Chief Executive Liz Goodwin said: “Clothes cost money. Not getting the most out of them by mixing and matching garments, repairing favoured items, selling them on, or giving to charity shops means we’re not getting the most out of that hard-earned money and wasting scarce resources.”

So far, 53 organizations throughout the British clothing sector – those mentioned above and dozens more – are showing their support for the campaign or committing to taking action themselves by signing on to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) and its 2020 Commitment. Also coordinated by WRAP and announced on Tuesday, the 53 signatories and supporters of the Commitment have all pledged a 15 percent reduction in carbon, water and in waste going to landfill, plus a 3.5 percent reduction in waste arising per ton of clothing by 2020. The goal is to help reduce the environmental impact of clothing from the design stage, through to manufacture, sale and end of use.

WRAP says if these targets are met, it could amount to an annual carbon saving equivalent to removing 250,000 cars from the road, a water saving equivalent to 170,000 Olympic sized swimming pools, and 16,000 tons less waste being created in the first place.

“SCAP has excellent industry buy-in with signatories representing 40 percent of UK clothing sales and many leading charities and recyclers on board,” Goodwin said. “By agreeing to these stretching targets they are demonstrating their commitment to reducing the environmental footprint of the sector.

UK shoppers should begin to spot the Love Your Clothes logo appearing in shops, on recycling banks, in charity shops and on waste-collection vehicles.

On Black Friday 2013 here in the States, socially conscious outdoor apparel company Patagonia continued to tout more sustainable consumption with its latest campaign, Worn Wear— “an invitation to celebrate the stuff you already own.” The company hosted Black Friday Worn Wear parties at 15 of its retail locations nationwide and released a 30-min short film that tells the stories of eight people and the well-loved, well-used pieces of Patagonia clothing that have become part of their lives.

To learn more about innovative ways companies worldwide are eliminating waste, check out our #WasteNot editorial channel.

For more examples of how organizations are using #Communications to share their values with consumers, check out our editorial channel.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation organization based in the US, will take full advantage of the love in the air this Valentine’s Day by disseminating 4,000 free Endangered Species Condoms to eight of the most romantic getaway cities in North America. From Bar Harbor, Maine, to Santa Fe, N.M., the condoms will be given away by volunteers to playfully raise awareness about how runaway human population growth is affecting endangered species around the globe.

“Valentine's Day is the perfect time to spread a message of love by speaking out about human population growth and endangered species protection,” said Taralynn Reynolds, population and sustainability organizer at the Center. “Endangered Species Condoms are a great way to start the conversation about how our actions have impacts on polar bears, panthers and other critically endangered species.”

The condoms — wrapped in colorful packages featuring six different endangered species — will be distributed in bars, cafes, yoga studios, farmers' markets, college campuses and more by volunteers in places recently ranked by USA TODAY as the most romantic getaway cities in the US: Bar Harbor; Santa Fe; Honolulu; St. Paul, Minn.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; New Orleans; and Naples, Fla. The Center says more than a half-million Endangered Species Condoms have been given away since 2009.

“The Center’s condoms are a great way to protect yourself and the planet this Valentine’s Day,” said Reynolds. “They’re also a fun way to get people talking about how our growing human population — which now tops 7 billion — isn’t leaving much room for other species.”

In addition to the condoms, the Center has created a series of cheeky “Endangered Love” e-cards that people can share with their loved ones on Valentine’s Day with slogans such as "Ménage à Wildlife" and “Harold, do you remember when we were wild?”

In 2013, the Center expanded its population program to encompass overconsumption and sustainability, which are intimately tied to the impact that human population size has on endangered species. The Center is the only environmental organization with a full-time campaign dedicated to addressing rampant human population growth and overconsumption and their link to the current extinction crisis.

For more examples of how organizations are using #Communications to share their values with consumers, check out our editorial channel.

Music producer and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams announced last weekend at New York Fashion Week a new partnership with denim label G-Star Raw to create a line of jeans made with plastic collected from the oceans.

"The oceans need us now," Williams said as he announced the collaboration between G-Star and his textile company, Bionic Yarn, which Williams co-founded in 2010 to produce fabric from recycled plastic. The new collection, "Raw for the Oceans," which will be the first denim collection to incorporate marine plastic, will debut in stores and online on August 15.

“Working with G-Star was an obvious choice, because they have a legacy of pushing the boundaries of fashion and denim forward,” Williams said at the event. “Bionic Yarn is a company built around performance, and denim is the perfect category to show the world what Bionic Yarn can do. Everyone has jeans in their closet.”

According to Forbes, G-Star had to turn its entire supply chain upside down in order to make “Raw for the Oceans” possible, going all the way back to the raw materials. That meant working with Bionic Yarn and organizations such as Parley for the Oceans and the Sea Shepherd’s newly launched Vortex Project, aimed at finding new ways to extract the plastic from the water. G-Star says it is planning to incorporate Bionic Yarn into all of its future product lines.

Joining the ranks of other companies such as Levi’s and Dirtball — which are also producing denim made from recycled plastic — and Thread, which creates fabric made from plastic waste collected from Haiti, “Raw for the Oceans” also joins a diverse and growing list of initiatives aimed specifically at finding ways to upcycle marine plastic:

• The Healthy Seas Initiative has partnered with companies, including Aquafil, Star Sock and now Interface, to collect marine plastic for reuse in products ranging from carpet to socks to swimwear.
• A startup called Bureo is using marine waste collected from Chile to make skateboards.
• In 2012, cleaning company Method launched a limited-edition soap bottle made from a blend of marine plastic and post-consumer recycled plastic.
• Ecover, maker of non-toxic cleaning products, began collaborating in March with Closed Loop Recycling, a UK plastic recycler, to develop a new type of plastic for packaging using waste plastic collected from the seas around the UK by EU fishermen. 

To learn more about innovative ways companies worldwide are turning waste into resources, check out the #WasteNot editorial channel.

For more examples of groundbreaking cross-sector partnerships driving social and environmental change, check out our editorial channel highlighting #Collaboration.

Chevrolet has helped develop a formula where US colleges and universities can earn money for certain upgrades that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as part of a new voluntary carbon-reduction initiative.

Through this initiative, Chevy will buy and retire carbon credits resulting from some campuses’ GHG reductions from either their LEED-certified buildings or other campus-wide energy-saving initiatives. The program is part of the company’s voluntary goal set in 2010 to prevent up to 8 million metric tons of carbon emissions from entering the earth’s atmosphere.

This marks the first time college campuses can use carbon performance methodologies to make money via GHG reductions that result from energy efficiency, Chevy says. As carbon emissions continue to contribute to global warming, such funding enables universities to reduce their impact and save money on utility bills while engaging and educating students in their efforts. Some 675 campuses have already pledged to reduce their carbon emissions.

To develop the new methodologies, Chevy worked with an advisory team led by the Climate Neutral Business Network with support from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the US Green Building Council and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The methodologies have been approved through the Verified Carbon Standard.

While historically, campuses purchased other organizations’ carbon credits to help achieve carbon neutrality, they now are earning revenues for the carbon reductions achieved on their own sites, which provides long-term clean-energy benefits for campus and community. More and more campuses are pursuing aggressive clean-energy efficiency efforts from installing more efficient building equipment to using renewable energy to help power operations.

“The Chevrolet carbon-reduction initiative is about supporting the ingenious ways people are reducing their carbon emissions, like the efforts of leaders driving the higher education sustainability movement,” said David Tulauskas, GM's director of sustainability.

For the last two years, Chevrolet has been the largest US corporate buyer of voluntary carbon credits by volume, according to the nonprofit Forest Trends Ecosystem Marketplace. The brand has supported several projects, from helping a landfill heat a hospital with methane gas to helping truckers avoid idling their engines at rest stops.

Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. and Valencia College in Orlando, Fla. are among the first to apply these new methodologies with pilot projects, confirming that funding such as Chevy’s is strategic to their other efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Chevrolet’s funds will be used for additional energy efficiency retrofits at Valencia. Ball State’s pilot involves selling some of the carbon reductions from installing the largest geothermal system at a U.S. college.

“Without such third-party financing of this type, most colleges and universities would not be able to capitalize on the more significant investments needed to bring down their carbon load on the atmosphere,” said Robert Koester, professor of architecture and chair of the Ball State University Council on the Environment.

Finding innovative ways to combat climate change is becoming increasingly more important. In a recent report, Ceres argues that the SEC has not adequately addressed the climate disclosure deficiencies of publicly traded corporations, despite four-year-old formal guidance requiring companies to disclose material climate change risks. Last year, a coalition of 70 global investors managing more than $3 trillion in collective assets launched the first-ever coordinated effort to spur 45 of the world’s top oil and gas, coal and electric power companies to assess the financial risks that climate change poses to their business plans. The investors made up the Carbon Asset Risk (CAR) initiative, coordinated by Ceres and the Carbon Tracker initiative, with support from the Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change.

Today, Apple released its latest Supplier Responsibility report, covering a range of social and environmental issues, according to Apple Insider. 

Of note, the company says it will reveal the names and certification status of all minerals suppliers in an effort to eliminate the use of "conflict minerals."

In the tech giant’s eighth annual report, Apple says it enforced its strict Supplier Code of Conduct through 451 audits, training and education throughout 2013. According to the report, the company’s suppliers achieved an average 95 percent compliance rate with the maximum 60-hour work week, often a bone of contention for human rights groups that come down hard on Chinese labor practices. That number is up from 92 percent a year ago.

Apple also pledges to increase its vigilance in the area of minerals sourcing, particularly the four "conflict minerals"— gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum — minerals native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the sale of which has helped fund fighting in the region for years. Already making headway, Apple reveals it has newly validated its tantalum supply chain as "conflict-free.”

From the report:

“In January 2014 we confirmed that all active, identified tantalum smelters in our supply chain were verified as conflict-free by third-party auditors, and we're pushing our suppliers of tin, tungsten, and gold just as hard to use verified sources. To heighten smelter accountability and help stakeholders follow our progress, we are releasing, for the first time, a list of the smelters and refiners in our supply chain along with their verification status.”

Apple SVP of Operations Jeff Williams told the Financial Times last month that January was the first time the company was able to verify that all of the tantalum used in its devices — for capacitors and resistors — came from non-conflict zones.

While the electronics industry is responsible for over half of the world's tantalum consumption, it is not a major player in the use of tin, tungsten and gold, meaning actions from companies like Apple will have little impact on smelters of those minerals. Apple will instead use its high-profile brand to spotlight suppliers' smelters in a quarterly report (PDF download), noting which firms do or do not comply with "ethical sourcing guidelines."

The first list shows 59 compliant smelters to date, and another 23 that are part of the Conflict-Free Smelter Program, which leaves 104 left to verify.

"We think it has the chance to make a difference," Williams said. "The smelters are a choke point where all this flows through. If we can get as many smelters verified [as possible] through this pressure, then we have a real chance of influencing the various activities on the ground."

In response to the release of Apple's report, Greenpeace Energy Campaigner Tom Dowdall said: "Apple's increased transparency about its suppliers is becoming a hallmark of Tim Cook's leadership at the company. Apple has flexed its muscles in the past to push suppliers to remove hazardous substances from products and provide more renewable energy for data centers, and it is proving the same model can work to reduce the use of conflict minerals. Samsung and other consumer electronics companies should follow Apple's example and map its suppliers, so the industry can exert its collective influence to build devices that are better for people and the planet."

In his pre-show keynote at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said Intel had achieved a critical milestone and the minerals used in its microprocessor silicon and packages are "conflict-free" as concluded by third-party audits or direct validation. On the heels of that announcement, Krzanich extended a challenge to the entire electronics industry to join Intel in becoming “conflict-free.”