John R. Ehrenfeld, author of Flourishing: A Frank Conversation About Sustainability, contends that the world is more unsustainable now than in 1972 in spite of the sustainability programs of firms worldwide.

In his recent post, Ehrenfeld argues that sustainability strategies and programs fail to address the fundamental causes of unsustainability, because most economies and companies still pursue growth beyond the capacity of our planet to support it.

He says, “Ironically, the underlying goal of 'sustainability' as used in this fashion is to keep growing indefinitely — assuming, as economists do, that the role of business is to provide more and more material wealth, thereby (presumably) increasing aggregate well-being. This goal has been maintained in the shadow of clear signals that this road to sustainability is self-defeating, and against evidence of growing human suffering and environmental degradation.”

Ehrenfeld questions the current definitions of sustainability, proposing that sustainability is in fact a series of questions in need of answering. “Can we sustain growth? Can we sustain our population? Can we sustain our lifestyle?”

“As currently used, sustainability refers to all of these things: growth, population, and lifestyle. There is a hidden teleology in how the word is used: Just keep on innovating and growing, and life will become better and better. Given any reasonable forecast of future eco-efficiency gains, growth will have to stop, leaving us mired along the way, if we are to avoid the depletion of all ecosystems on this planet.”

“It’s clear that we have to stop growing at some point — but what point?”

Ehrenfeld and his colleague, Andrew Hoffman, argue that it is “imperative to pick something other than growth to sustain. Growth is, ultimately, a measure of quantity; we suggest instead a measure of quality. For us, that something is flourishing — a measure of the fullness of life, not some material metric. Flourishing … comes when one can say that life’s cares are being attended to — when every human being is successfully caring for themselves, other humans, and the non-human world that is vital to our maintenance.”

“This concept of sustainability as the creation and maintenance of flourishing would require the corporate world to think of its businesses in a fundamentally different way. In this model of economic interactions, business’s primary role would be to enable people to flourish — that is, take care of the world around them. Such a world would be very different from what we see today. Eco-efficiency and CSR would still be on the agenda, but the creation of flourishing would come first.”

”It’s obvious this would require radical change. Corporations’ basic strategies would move from satisfying needs (or wants) to enabling care. Sustainability practices as understood today would still be important for managers, but would be completely intertwined with and inseparable from whatever basic strategy is driving a firm. … While profit would continue to be important to a firm’s success, it would take a backseat to the firm’s contribution to flourishing.”

”Today, we are very far from the creation, much less the sustaining, of a flourishing world. Even more than the challenge of being first to market new revolutionary Internet devices will be the offering of the first products designed to enable people to care for themselves and others. When enough such offerings hit the market, then and only then will we be able to talk about sustainability and both understand and mean what we say."

This post first appeared in MIT Sloan Review on February 26, 2014.

With its "Know what you eat" website, French organic yogurt brand The 2 Cows (Stonyfield France) is demonstrate commendable transparency regarding the composition of its products and traceability of its ingredients. It also presents its continuous improvement on the different sectors as well as challenges still to be addressed in the coming years.

Certainly, The 2 Cows has many strengths:

1. Its products taste good. (the basics!).
2. It is firmly committed to being more transparent in a meaningful and fun way (as explained by its CEO in this interview, in French).
3. The brand does not hesitate to communicate in a transparent and honest manner, with a touch of humor, its commitments towards sustainability (example: its 2013 campaign on animal welfare).

Consumers want to know what they're eating

According to recent surveys, 89 percent of French consumers state it is essential for them to better understand what are their products are made of, and 60 percent find that there is insufficient information.

“There was a need for a tool to explain our approach and explain the origin of our ingredients,” says Daniel Tirat, The 2 Cows’ general manager.

The website Savoircequonmange.com ("Know What You Eat"), launched February 28^th, reveals an impressive amount of data about the nature of the company's ingredients and their origins, along with information about the sustainability commitments, choices and challenges lying ahead:

• The detailed composition of dairy products: For each product, the list of ingredients and their proportion are presented, including those present in small quantities and which are often hidden (such as milk powder, fiber, starch, carrageenan...).
• Geographic location of all ingredients: An interactive map lets you know the geographical origin of each ingredient: sugarcane from Brazil, 80 percent of the milk from Normandy in France, vanilla flavor from Germany, etc. The map also shows the different storage areas or workmanship as the storage of sugar cane in Normandy, the development of the preparation strawberry mixed in the Paris Region...
• Explanation of the nature and role of each ingredient: Why Brazil to source organic sugar cane? Why add milk powder and starch? What is Xanthan gum? The site provides clear answers to inform consumers about the yogurt’s composition and the role of each ingredient. In addition, the company's commitments are detailed, starting with the conditions of breeding, feeding dairy cows, etc.
• The challenges ahead: The brand also communicates openly about the challenges that lay ahead:
  
  • To ensure that 100 percent of its organic milk comes from Normandy
  • To buy milk powder from a factory closer to Normandy (currently in Germany)
  • To publish data about packaging sources, etc.

  An innovative and courageous approach

  This approach is courageous for the brand. Indeed, it gives a little dizzy at the number of ingredients in each pot of yogurt and the kilometers each travels, though this is relatively minor compared with conventional food products.

  Also, explaining that you add a non-organic seaweed extract, sourced from the other side of the world, to thicken the preparation of the custard is a bold revelation to make to sustainability-conscious consumers.

  Having such traceability of the ingredients and agreeing to deliver the data to the public is a first for a French food brand. In another sector, textile for example, Patagonia publishes a map of all its suppliers (surely there are other examples, but they are still rare).

  The launch of the "Know what you eat" website clearly puts The 2 Cows among the most advanced food brands in terms of responsibility and CSR communication. The statement: "We’re not telling you we are perfect, but what we're doing!" perfectly illustrates this bold and thoughtful positioning.

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

Singapore-based palm oil trader Golden Agri Resources (GAR) announced Friday it will extend its forest conservation policy across all of its third-party suppliers — pledging that all palm oil it produces, sources and trades will now be deforestation-free. GAR’s commitment, combined with the similarly sweeping commitment made by the world’s largest palm oil trader, Wilmar International, in December, means that over half of the world's palm oil is now covered by zero-deforestation pledges. 

“GAR followed Wilmar’s lead and has committed to removing forest destruction from all the palm oil it trades. With additional commitments from consumer companies like Nestlé, Unilever, L’Oréal, Ferrero and Delhaize, the pressure is on for other palm oil producers and consumers to clean up their act and commit to forest protection,” said Annisa Rahmawati, forest campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Rolf Skar, Forests Campaign Director at Greenpeace,
speaker at
SB'14 San Diego

Greenpeace recently released findings from a 12-month investigation into deforestation and orangutan habitat clearance in Procter & Gamble’s supply chain, which implicated operations within Musim Mas, KLK and BW Plantation in widespread forest destruction and orangutan habitat clearance. Greenpeace urges all palm oil traders to map their supply chain, identify risks and ensure that problematic suppliers are dealt with.

Greenpeace applauded GAR’s announcement but now says it will be watching to make sure the company follows through.

“GAR’s announcement to implement an ambitious Forest Conservation Policy for its downstream operations is a sign that the company takes its commitment seriously and is trying to minimize the impact it has on forests. The next step means putting this commitment into practice: GAR must now ensure that all the palm oil it refines and trades is not contributing to deforestation, climate change and social conflicts,” said Rahmawati.

GAR committed to a Forest Conservation Policy in 2009 following global campaigning by Greenpeace. Indonesia loses 620,000 hectares of forest each year, with palm oil the biggest driver, contributing to wildlife habitat loss, social conflict and climate change.

In October, Greenpeace released the report A Licence to Kill, which linked a host of companies, including P&G, to the destruction of critical Sumatran tiger and orangutan habitats through their association to Wilmar International, which finally committed to a No-Deforestation Policy in December following years of pressure. Similar recent commitments from Hershey and Kellogg continue to highlight the importance of a comprehensive approach to responsible sourcing of this ubiquitous ingredient.

To learn more about how companies worldwide are cleaning up their #SupplyChains, check out the editorial channel.

For more examples of how NGOs such as Greenpeace are driving #BehaviorChange, check out the editorial channel.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center has released a 10-page briefing calling on information and communications technology (ICT) companies around the world to maximize their positive contribution to human rights, and to avoid abuses.

Since 2005, Business & Human Rights Resource Center has invited companies to respond publicly to human rights concerns raised by civil society. Over 220 of these approaches have been to ICT firms, which have a response rate of 70 percent. In 2005-2006, only four percent of the companies invited to respond to concerns were from the ICT sector — by 2012-2013, this figure increased to 13 percent.

Over three-quarters of the Resource Centre’s approaches to ICT companies for responses have related to concerns in four countries/regions:

• China (32 percent of the invitations to respond, many in relation to working conditions in ICT firms’ supply chains);
• Middle East & North Africa (23 percent, largely relating to surveillance, censorship and Internet shut-downs);
• South Asia (12 percent, regarding working conditions and censorship issues);
• USA (10 percent, which includes lobbying by US business associations against the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act on the sourcing of conflict minerals — some firms distanced themselves from the business associations on this).

“Technology is a powerful tool for human rights,” Business & Human Rights Resource Center said in a statement. “With the ever-increasing scrutiny of ICT companies’ conduct — much of this enabled by the Internet itself — and the growing availability of practical guidance on how to do the right thing, there is little excuse for inaction.”

Several ICT companies have followed a learning curve towards a leadership stance. For example, Yahoo! which, following criticism for handing user details of the journalist Shi Tao to the Chinese authorities that led to his arrest, later became a founding member (along with Google and Microsoft) of the Global Network Initiative, a multi-stakeholder initiative to address privacy and freedom of expression.

The briefing illustrates the human rights dimensions of ICT in six areas:

• Combating censorship
• Curbing surveillance and repression
• Protecting privacy
• Broadening access
• Engaging the supply chain
• Respecting children’s rights

It concludes with recommendations to companies and also to governments — given that action by both is needed for change.

Last December, the UN Global Compact (UNGC) released a new guide aimed at helping businesses understand the rights of indigenous peoples, and recommends practical actions to respect and support these rights. The guide grew out of dialogue among a group of Global Compact LEAD companies and is the product of an 18-month collaborative process.

In January, the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI), a leading industry initiative on conflict minerals, called on more companies to join over 120 from seven different industries to already become conflict-free. The CFSI provides vital sourcing information that enables companies to make informed choices about minerals they use in their products — including helping companies meet their upcoming reporting deadline related to U.S. conflict minerals regulations.

Last year, investors filed a record-breaking 417 social and environmental shareholder resolutions — up from 365 in 2012— with the majority addressing political spending and climate change, according to a report released today by As You Sow, the Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2) and Proxy Impact. Sustainability reporting, diversity and human rights also figure prominently in the rich mix of resolutions.  

Last year, a growing number of shareholders demanded more transparency on companies’ political spending, with 30 percent of proposals reflecting that expectation. Others on climate change, energy and related risks— as well as sustainability reporting on strategy and performance — account for almost another 40 percent of all resolutions, roughly the same as the previous year. Socially conscious investors also made their feelings known in the areas of human rights (9 percent) and diversity of boards and in the workplace (11 percent).

Resolutions on climate change and environmental issues are the second largest category of proposals filed.

"There is a big increase in proposals asking companies to take more aggressive action to combat climate change," says Michael Passoff, CEO of Proxy Impact. "Investors are demanding greenhouse gas emissions reductions and disclosure. New carbon asset risk resolutions are asking companies if they are prepared to succeed in an increasingly carbon-constrained world, amid fears of stranded carbon assets and the potential of a carbon bubble. And the exploding shale energy business has intensified concerns about methane emissions, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide."

Proxy Preview 2014 provides a comprehensive overview of the 417 social and environmental shareholder resolutions. It also offers insider details from shareholder advocates and issue experts, as well as resources for how institutional investors with a social mission can better align their values with their votes, with a sharp eye on the financial bottom line.

Highlights of 2013 Shareholder Resolutions:

• Political Spending: More than 700,000 members of the public have told the SEC they want mandatory political spending disclosure and a continuing slew of proposals underscore this demand. Fully 30 percent of the resolutions covered in the report ask for more oversight and data on corporate spending on elections and lobbying; a few want companies to stop spending in elections altogether but the main theme is disclosure.
• Environment and Sustainability:While the climate change conversation increasingly is about stranded carbon assets, investors have filed more proposals than ever asking for carbon accounting, goal-setting, and risk assessments. Domestic shale energy expansion has also prompted new inquiries about methane emissions, alongside those about the use of hydraulic fracturing. Past issues such as sustainable palm oil and asking banks to consider GHG emissions in financing decisions are back as well.

  Other new questions about environmental issues include large-scale land acquisitions in the supply chains of food companies and related human rights problems. Dunkin’ Brands shareholders also may vote on whether the company should tell its donut buyers they are consuming nanomaterials, in a new twist. Further concerns relate to recycling, toxic materials, and global deforestation.

• Diversity: The country’s largest institutional investors are articulating the Thirty Percent Coalition’s demand for more diverse boards with more than a dozen proposals. Meanwhile, the growing acceptance of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees means there are a healthy number of resolutions about them this year.
• Human rights: Investors are pressing for corporate risk assessments regarding human rights and decent working conditions in the global supply chains for clothing companies, reputational and business risks following cooperation with government surveillance, and health information privacy in our digital age.

This is the 10th edition of the report hailed as the “Bible for socially progressive foundations, religious groups, pension funds, and tax-exempt organizations” by the Chicago Tribune. It is a collaboration between shareholder advocacy group As You Sow; Si2, which conducts impartial research on social and environmental shareholder proposals and emerging sustainability issues for institutional investors; and Proxy Impact, a proxy voting service designed specifically to meet the needs of foundations and socially responsible investors.  

The Hershey Company today announced it has surpassed its water consumption target three years early and its zero waste to landfill (ZWL) and recycling targets two years early. Last year, the chocolate maker announced that it was on track to do just that.

The company says that by the end of 2013, it had converted six of its manufacturing facilities to ZWL, surpassing its 2015 goal of five; achieved a recycling rate of 86.6 percent, beating its 2015 goal of 85 percent; and reduced water consumption per pound of product by 58 percent by the end of 2012, far exceeding its 2015 goal of 10 percent.

Hershey says its progress on water was partly attributable to “Project Next Century,” which included the expansion of its West Hershey manufacturing facility and the closure of its legacy 19 East Chocolate Ave. plant. The transfer of operations to the modern, more efficient West Hershey facility produced significant water reductions. Hershey expects to decrease water consumption even further and will have more detailed results available in its third CSR report, available this spring.

In addition to six manufacturing plants, five other Hershey facilities have achieved ZWL status, the company says. Three Hershey facilities that achieved ZWL status in the first week of January 2014 are: The Hershey Company Technical Center, Hershey Flight Operations and the Western Distribution Center. Hershey’s combined ZWL plants and facilities as of February 2014 are: Hazleton Plant (Hazleton, Pa.); Reese’s Plant (Hershey, Pa.); West Hershey Plant (Hershey, Pa.); Y&S Plant (Lancaster, Pa.); Robinson Plant (Robinson, Ill.); Stuarts Draft Plant (Stuarts Draft, Va.); Hershey’s Chocolate World Attraction (Hershey, Pa.); Eastern Distribution Center III (Palmyra, Pa.); Hershey Company Technical Center (Hershey, Pa.); Hershey Flight Operations (Middletown, Pa.); Western Distribution Center (Ogden, UT).

The six ZWL manufacturing plants represent 97 percent of Hershey’s U.S. production, 75 percent of all North American production and 67 percent of production globally.

“Given our faster-than-expected progress, we are pushing ourselves even harder and will set new environmental goals in our next CSR report using our 2013 numbers as our baseline,” said Terry O’Day, SVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Hershey. “Environmental sustainability is not a destination but a journey and one which our employees are passionate about. It’s their efforts that have allowed us to exceed our goals.”

On the human rights front, in February Hershey achieved its commitment to source 100 percent mass-balanced RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil)-certified palm oil more than a year ahead of its original 2015 commitment. The company now says it will also work with its suppliers to achieve 100 percent traceable and sustainably sourced palm oil by the end of 2014.

Palm oil certainly is a hot topic right now: NGOs including Greenpeace and WWF have continued to raise awareness of the destructive nature of the palm oil industry and the devastating effects it has had on wildlife and their rainforest habitats, mostly across Indonesia — not to mention the effect that deforestation has on climate change. The campaigning is working — global brands from the food and cosmetics industries, along with their suppliers, have responded with sweeping commitments to ensure their palm oil is sourced without further destruction of rainforests and threats to already endangered wildlife; as of palm oil trader GAR’s zero-deforestation commitment last week, over half of the world's palm oil is now covered by zero-deforestation pledges. 

The urgency behind the palm oil situation is that it is used in thousands of products that Americans eat and use daily, including deodorants, toothpaste, ice cream and face creams, and the amount sourced per year has skyrocketed to match demand. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says it’s critical that companies producing these products make strong commitments to sourcing palm oil that prevents deforestation. Palm oil production often relies on clearing forests or carbon-rich peatlands, areas of decayed vegetation, for plantations. All told, tropical deforestation accounts for roughly 10 percent of all climate change emissions.

So today, UCS has released a scorecard grading the palm oil sourcing commitments of 30 top companies in the packaged food, fast food and personal care sectors, which shows 24 of these household brands have inadequate commitments or lack commitments altogether.

Donuts, Deodorant and Deforestation: Scoring America’s Top Brands on Their Palm Oil Commitments rated the 10 largest US companies in each of the three sectors and found that the majority do not have commitments in place to fully protect forests or peatlands (the fast food sector scored the worst by far). Only two fast food companies, McDonald’s and Subway, had strong enough commitments to receive points, though their commitments are vague and outdated. The personal care sector scores were mixed as many of these companies rely on Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification to meet their commitments. This certification is an improvement over status quo production methods, but is not strong enough to protect all forests and peatlands. All of the packaged food companies aside from Kraft Foods have commitments; some were high achievers, but most have more work to do.

“Multinational companies really hold the world’s tropical forests in their hands,” said Calen May-Tobin, lead analyst for UCS’s Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative. “If these companies demand deforestation-free, peat-free palm oil, the producers on the ground would be forced to change their palm oil practices.”

Some companies are demanding better for their consumers. Six companies on the scorecard have already committed to purchasing palm oil that is deforestation-free, peat-free, and can be traced in a transparent way. Personal care companies L’Oréal and Reckitt Benckiser, as well as CPG giants Mondelēz, Nestlé, Unilever and Kellogg (Kellogg updated its commitment after the scores were tallied), all have strong commitments.

Momentum is building as more companies recognize the importance of protecting tropical forests. If other major companies follow the lead of the forward-thinking companies above, UCS says pressure would build on the palm oil industry to adopt sustainable standards.

The Scorecard is designed to challenge the producers of these iconic American foods and products to demand a higher standard for palm oil: Colgate-Palmolive, Dunkin’ Brands, General Mills, McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble (against which Greenpeace launched a massive campaign last week, demanding the company end its role in deforestation through its careless sourcing of palm oil). If these companies committed to transparently sourcing traceable, deforestation-free and peat-free palm oil it would create a tipping point that could transform the industry.

“The scorecard shows a mere half dozen companies leading the charge, with most of the others lagging behind,” said May-Tobin. “These corporations should live up to their ‘wholesome’ branding by demanding sustainable palm oil. To do so would save tropical forests, rich with biodiversity, and help limit the severity of climate change.”

As 2014 gets underway, I have been privileged to participate in a wide range of forward-looking discussions taking place within the global Sustainable Brands community, and especially within our membership group. My takeaway going into the year is that there is a good deal of reimagining and redesign for a regenerative future going on in the world today, much of which may yet be unseen by those not fully focused on keeping a whole systems’ eye on things as we are at SB, and we are quite excited to be sharing with you what we’re seeing as the year unfolds.

Earlier this month, for example, I had the chance to share perspectives with Rainforest Alliance president Tensie Whelan and Patagonia’s VP of Environmental Initiatives, Rick Ridgeway, on the front end of sustainable business leadership and its corresponding benefits with the top 250 global leaders at Avery Dennison, a global leader in labeling and packaging materials. Thanks to CEO Dean Scarborough's strong commitment, their strategic operating theme, Sustainable Momentum, has taken on a new and deeper meaning for the company as of late. Dean and others at Avery have realized this past year that they have the power to use their scale and buying power to move the paper market to more sustainable sources that are cost-neutral, offering Dean the path he needed to connect purpose-driven value creation with his goal to continue to deliver exemplary business performance.

Dean Scarborough, CEO of Avery Dennison, keynote speaker at SB '14 San Diego

Avery Dennison is not alone in finding new intersections between smart sustainability strategy and smart business strategy. New SB corporate member Novelis, led by Chief Sustainability Officer John Gardner, has embarked on a journey toward sourcing 80 percent (from 20 percent just a few short years ago) of the resource material for its aluminum manufacturing operations from recaptured stock, significantly reducing both carbon emissions and costs, and creating a huge disruption in the dynamics of turning waste aluminum into a valuable resource. We look forward to watching, and helping our community leverage this commitment and others like it to help further our collective efforts to move closer to closing the loop on aluminum and many other ‘technical nutrients.’

In the food sector, Chipotle and Panera Bread continue to lead disruptive supply chain innovation and drive shift in consumer expectations surrounding the food they eat. Both companies continue to experience strong growth and market performance, while companies such as Carlson Restaurants and others struggle under the burden of operating from old market paradigms and models which they either refuse to or are unable to innovate around. We see big moves in the tech sector supply too, with Intel taking a leadership position around "conflict-free" minerals and Apple sharply ramping up its efforts toward the same end.

Eileen Howard Boone, SVP of CSR & Philanthropy at CVS Caremark, keynote speaker at SB '14 San Diego

Apple CEO Tim Cook also just took a surprising stand alongside Unilever’s Paul Polman, and a small but growing group of other courageous leaders, to suggest that investors who do not support their companies’ goals beyond traditional single-bottom-line profit should move their money elsewhere. This comes just a couple of weeks after CVS announced it is ending the sale of tobacco products in all 7,600 CVS/pharmacy locations across the US (it’s not every day that a company willingly “calls it quits” on $2 billion in annual revenue). Both of these moves are evidence of a growing commitment to leadership in the shift to a healthier future.

Our continued growth is just another signpost indicating where the world is headed. Market signals across many sectors — signals that seem like outliers until looked at in aggregate — continue to indicate the future will be led by those businesses and brands that base their strategies and operations on what Dean Scarborough rightly calls "value creation" as opposed to value extraction. We at Sustainable Brands see this trend as inevitable and remain grateful to be able to support those companies making the shift toward healthy, intentional business practices. These are just a few of the many examples of leadership and innovation taking place within our global network. We look forward to sharing more on market-leading activities of the highest caliber in the coming months. Do continue to send us pointers to the signposts you see so we can help craft a bigger picture for you of the real shift that is happening in the fabric of society, economy and business in the 21^st century.

Walmart has developed a prototype tractor designed to increase airflow and cut fuel consumption, which could dramatically increase the efficiency of one of the largest commercial truck fleets in the world.

The Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience (WAVE) is 20 percent more aerodynamic than the company’s current trucks and has a micro-turbine hybrid powertrain that can run on diesel, natural gas and biodiesel. The vehicle pulls the world’s first 53-foot carbon fiber trailer, saving close to 4,000 pounds that can then be used to carry more freight.

Inside the cabin, the driver sits in the middle and is surrounded by LCD displays. When the driver gets sleepy, he or she can rest in a sleek sleeper cabin in the back.

Walmart designed the vehicle in partnership with Peterbilt, Great Dane Trailers and Capstone Turbine.

Trucking is an industry in need of major disruption, but don’t get too excited — the prototype might never make it to mass production.

“It may never make it to the road, but it will allow us to test new technologies and new approaches,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart president and CEO.

Earlier this week Walmart informed dozens of product manufacturers throughout its supply chain that it is now implementing its new policy to phase out hazardous chemicals from its consumer products, announced late last year. The Policy on Sustainable Chemistry in Consumables provides a description of what it calls "priority chemicals"— substances with certain hazardous properties that can affect human health, and/or the environment.

In other vehicle innovation news, SAP AG and BMW Group Research and Technology announced last month they have co-developed a personalized technology infrastructure for in-vehicle mobility services as part of a joint innovation project. The prototype utilizes the SAP HANA® Cloud Platform and will provide personalized services to drivers based on their location and route. The collaboration was announced at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Just over 60 percent of Americans are convinced that human actions can cause significant changes to global climate over a long period of time, with the occurrence of natural weather disasters wielding considerable influence on their opinions, according to the fifth annual Sense & Sustainability Study released this week.

30 percent of US adults are skeptical while 10 percent are unsure as to the impact of human activity on significant changes in temperature or precipitation over an extended period of time.

Natural weather disasters are cited by more than half (57 percent) of Americans as highly influencing their opinions on climate change. Media coverage of scientific research is also highly influential, cited by 46 percent of Americans. Among skeptics, a small yet substantial number (27 percent) say the opinions of family and trusted acquaintances are significantly influential.

The study found water scarcity to be a significant cause of heightened concern for Americans (48 percent), as compared to five years ago. In isolating subgroups according to their attitudes about climate change, water scarcity is among the top three issues for believers (56 percent), skeptics (40 percent) and the unsure (22 percent). Among skeptics, a small yet substantial number (16 percent) point to climate change among issues that cause more concern now as compared to five years ago.

“The results speak to the importance of making big issues like climate change more personal and relatable,” said Ron Loch, SVP and managing director of sustainability consulting at Gibbs & Soell. “Even for those people not affected by an extreme weather event, news of hurricanes, droughts and blizzards evoke fear, concern and empathy.”

“That’s why storytelling is so important when discussing issues of sustainability and social responsibility. It makes the larger problem more relevant and helps gain the kind of attention that can lead to understanding and meaningful action,” he added.

But companies evidently are not doing a good enough job relating their sustainability and social responsibility efforts to the public. Only one in five (21 percent) of those surveyed said they believe the majority of businesses are committed to “going green” — a mere 5 percent increase from the study’s first result five years ago.

The survey was fielded online between January 9 and 13, 2014 among 2,039 U.S. adults. The timeframe of the research coincided with the U.S. National Weather Service’s report of the initial occurrence this year of the North American cold wave, popularly known as the “polar vortex,” from January 2 to 11, 2014.

The increase in climate change awareness is encouraging, but is not as high as it should be. The climate change debate is over, despite what some pundits would like us to believe. Last fall, leading scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced they are 95 percent confident that human influence is the dominant cause of global warming. Statistically speaking, this is a resounding “yes” — climate change is occurring due to human action. As a result of past, present and expected future emissions of carbon dioxide, the effects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if carbon dioxideemissions stop.

Since the 1950s, there has been an unmistakable warming in the climate system and many observed changes are unprecedented over decades and even millennia. Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850, IPPC says.

H&M has announced its commitment to the Business Call to Action (BCtA), a global initiative that aims to accelerate progress towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals. The global clothing company will invest in skills training for an estimated 5,000 people in Bangladesh’s garment industry by 2016.

Through a “Skill Development Centre of Excellence,” the company hopes to raise the levels of vocational training and provide certificates to garment workers. The training is designed to help increase productivity, as well as the long-term employability of industry workers. If the initiative is successful, H&M says it also plans to establish a certified and replicable model for training and support for skilled labor within the export readymade garment industry.

Speaking on the initiative, Helena Helmersson, Global Head of Sustainability at H&M said, “We are pleased to announce our partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) at the BCtA platform as another step in our commitment to support long-term social development in Bangladesh. The training will raise the workers’ level of education, provide them with skills required for development of the industry and increase their employability.”

Welcoming the move, Sahba Sobhani, Program Manager at BCtA said: “Through its expertise and focus on long-term sustainability, H&M’s focus on skills and development training, ensuring better workplace conditions and social dialogue in countries like Bangladesh is a win-win for all.”

As the world's second-largest clothing retailer, H&M plays an important role in Bangladesh’s economy. Recent catastrophes and exposés of working conditions for the country's garment workers have forced clothing companies to address the rampant safety and human rights issues in their supply chain. This new skills training initiative follows recent announcements about H&M’s other efforts to improve conditions throughout its Bangladeshi supply chain, including its commitment to pay textile workers a 'living wage' by 2018 and its support of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangaldesh.

Hewlett-Packard has teamed up with global packaging company YFY Jupiter for a new initiative that will use straw waste to create packaging material for its products. The program will create multifold benefits for HP — reduced costs, better protection for its products and reduced long-term environmental impacts to cite a few.

YFY Jupiter, the creators of Npulp, use straw waste from Chinese farms to manufacture corrugated cardboard and molded pulp packaging. According to Linda Chau, Director of Packaging & Media for HP Central Direct Procurement & Services, the process to create this packaging uses up to 40 percent less energy, 90 percent less water, emits 25 percent less CO2 than traditional methods and helps reduce the Company's supply chain footprint. Moreover, since the packaging is lighter than wood-based molded pulp, it will cost less to ship. The stiffer fibers make it stronger and more humidity resistant, thereby offering better protection for products during transportation. The Chinese farmers who were hitherto burning the straw to make way for the next harvest now see it as a cash crop. Chau adds that the initiative has also created 383 new jobs at YFYs China facility, thereby contributing to economic growth.

The sustainable packaging market is predicted to hit a whopping $244 billion by 2018. This new initiative is part of HP’s Supply Chain Social and Environmental Responsibility program. Last year the company reduced packaging for its consumer and commercial notebooks and pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 as compared to 2010 levels. While HP is the first company to market with this new packaging solution, it is not the first to upcycle straw waste — Woody Harrelson’s company Prairie Paper Ventures, tissue giant Kimberly-Clark and several Canadian book and magazine publishers are turning to straw paper to reduce the impact of their products on virgin forests.

For more examples of innovations in sustainable #packaging, check out the editorial channel.

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

Marriott is among the first tourism companies to partner with a new global campaign aimed at raising awareness about the most common illicit goods and services that tourists might be exposed to while traveling.

The “Your Actions Count — Be a Responsible Traveler” campaign provides guidance for travelers to recognize possible situations of trafficking in persons, wildlife, cultural artifacts, illicit drugs and counterfeit goods, and invites them to take action through responsible consumer choices, such as alerting the proper authorities to situations. A central focus of the initiative will be reaching out to young people, spreading the anti-trafficking message to future generations of travelers, Marriott says.

“We know that our industry can play an important role in helping to stop trafficking by delivering this campaign message to the traveling public,” said Kathleen Matthews, Marriott’s Executive Vice President and Chief Global Communications and Public Affairs Officer. “Marriott will share it with more than 80 million customers annually through reservation confirmation emails and our workforce in more than 70 countries worldwide.”

The campaign was developed by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and officially launched this week in Berlin during the International Tourism Bourse (ITB).

Marriott says it has taken a firm stance against human trafficking and the exploitation of children for decades. The company publishes its human rights policy and provides training on human rights, including the protection of children, for all associates worldwide.

The Global Slavery Index 2013 estimates that there are now as many as 29.8 million people in modern slavery globally, including those forced to work through trafficking, debt bondage, forced marriage or intimidation. The Index estimates that there are at least 4,200 modern slaves in the UK alone, with particular prevalence in the agricultural/food and construction sectors. In October, the Co-operative Food, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose joined forces with the "Stronger Together" initiative to tackle the issue of modern-day slavery, human trafficking, forced labor and other hidden migrant worker exploitation in the food and agriculture industries. The program is designed to equip UK employers with the knowledge and resources to recognize and tackle exploitation.

In other Marriott news, last fall the hotel chain joined more than a dozen corporations and NGOs in a five-year commitment to expand its engagement with female-owned businesses outside the United States, especially in emerging economies. Working with WEConnect International and Vital Voices, two prominent NGOs that support and promote the economic potential of women, Marriott will help to train 15,000 female business owners and spend $1.5 billion with their companies by 2018.

In its 2013 Sustainability Report update, Marriott said it is looking to move beyond mitigating its current global footprint and focus on providing sustainable economic activity and local employment. In coming years, more than half of its new hotels will be located in emerging markets, where tourism is a major driver of new jobs and economic development.

Elio Motors on Thursday unveiled a compact 3-wheeled commuter vehicle capable of achieving 84 miles per gallon fuel efficiency and engineered for an anticipated 5-Star Crash Test Safety Rating.

With a sticker price of just $6,800, the high-mileage Eli Motors 3-wheeled vehicle was designed to make people rethink how we approach transportation in the United States.

"Many consumers buy vehicles based on the premise that they need to haul their entire family around,” said Paul Elio, the company’s founder. “But, on a typical commute to work, look at how many big, inefficient vehicles have just one person — the driver — onboard. For those trips where you drive solo — and that's probably the majority of trips — why not have a vehicle that is affordable and highly fuel efficient?"

Despite its low cost, the vehicle boasts amenities such as power windows and air-conditioning, plusthe safety of multiple air bags and an aerodynamic, enclosed vehicle body.

The vehicle is perfect for individual commuters looking for an inexpensive and fuel-efficient mode of transportation but who also yearn for a unique expression of their passion for driving, the carmaker says.

"In addition to the practical message of affordability and high fuel efficiency, this is an eye-catching design that will turn heads," Elio said. "There's no reason drivers can't have a practical vehicle and still have some fun, too."

The Elio Motors 3-wheeled vehicle is slated for production in 2015, and is expected to create more than 1,500 US jobs.

Consumers are showing significant interest in Elio Motors. The company has taken nearly 11,000 reservations at its web site ranging from $100 to $1,000. A non-refundable reservation provides customers with an additional discount worth 50 percent of the initial deposit (a $1,000 deposit would receive an additional $500 toward the price of a vehicle at the time of purchase). Refundable deposits can be made, but more than 80 percent of customers have opted for the non-refundable reservation.

Other automakers are finding more eco-friendly alternative to materials commonly used in vehicle production. Late last year, Coke and Ford collaborated on a first-ever interior fabric made from the same renewable material used to produce Coke’s PlantBottle packaging. And the Lincoln Motor Company announced that a three-year collaboration with timber giant Weyerhaeuser and auto parts supplier Johnson Controls led to the development of a tree-based, renewable alternative to fiberglass for use in auto parts. Using tree-harvested natural fibers in place of traditional glass-based fibers, Weyerhaeuser created Cellulose Reinforced Polypropylene (CRP), which is lighter and more eco-friendly than fiberglass. The compound is featured on the 2014 Lincoln MKX.

In other vehicle innovation news, Walmart recently showcased a prototype tractor designed to increase airflow and cut fuel consumption, which could dramatically increase the efficiency of one of the largest commercial truck fleets in the world. The Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience (WAVE) is 20 percent more aerodynamic than the company’s current trucks and has a micro-turbine hybrid powertrain that can run on diesel, natural gas and biodiesel. The vehicle pulls the world’s first 53-foot carbon fiber trailer, saving close to 4,000 pounds that can then be used to carry more freight.

Five major brands have just made news for decisions that buck the bottom-line mantra. Could this be momentum for the "CVS Effect"? Take a look and see if you agree. And note too how brands are joining with allies on these issues, while one brand — Chipotle — is potentially breaking major new ground.

Feb. 28: Apple CEO defends doing the right thing — not just the bottom line

Last week at a shareholder meeting, CEO Tim Cook said that investors who don’t agree with the company’s commitments to renewable energy among other sustainability issues should divest.

Cook knew that he was on safe ground with this issue. A related shareholder proposal against pursuing renewable energy investment got less than 3 percent of the vote. And just two days earlier, Apple had announced that it had signed the Climate Declaration along with more than 120 other California companies.

I don’t know if these two issues occurred to or mattered to Cook before he spoke. But as a high-profile, profitable CEO, his stance creates more “safe ground” for other brand leaders to publicly talk about doing things because they are just and right, not just to make money.

Mar. 2: Disney stops Boy Scouts of America funding because of gay troop leader policy

According to CNN, Disney joins Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Major League Soccer, Merck, Intel, Alcoa, AT&T and UPS as companies that have ended partnerships with the Scouts because of its anti-gay policy. So, Disney wasn’t the first to make this move, but this is a noteworthy step because of Disney’s close brand identification with childhood and families.

Mar. 3: Kroger and Safeway say no to GMO salmon

This one is interesting because it’s about something that doesn’t exist yet. The FDA is currently considering whether to allow genetically modified salmon to be sold.

The US’s two largest grocery store brands — Safeway and Kroger — have joined other leading national retailers in saying they won’t carry the product if approved, which include Target, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. Sure, this isn’t as big as CVS pulling tobacco off the shelf. But it still matters because it shows big companies saying "no" to a product that some customers might want, even if peremptorily.

Mar. 5: Chipotle names climate change as a material risk in its 10-K. As reported by Climate Progress’ Emily Atkins, last month Chipotle listed climate change as a risk for the company in its SEC filing and then downplayed it.

Atkins countered that it is a big deal, because, “The fact that Chipotle openly acknowledges climate change, even as a ‘routine risk,’ is news — as there are likely companies that wouldn’t mention the words ‘climate change’ if their business depended on it. And they do.”

Which leads to another reason why this is potentially a big deal.

It’s no secret that SEC disclosure requirements leave room for companies to be opaque about climate change risks.

Bill Russell, of Transitioning to Green (and a Green Accounting professor), noted that, “Chipotle taking this leading position on climate-change risk disclosure could allow shareholders of any competitor company to ‘demand’ that their company explain how climate change is not a material risk to their company. At any time in the future, should it turn out to be material and they had ‘demanded’ the question be addressed, they could potentially be set up for a shareholder lawsuit.”

While climate-change risk might still be a hard thing for some people to grasp, litigation risk sure isn’t. This is something that corporations are finely attuned to — and take action to prevent.

So with this move, Chipotle may have blown a transparency hole in climate-change risk disclosure for shareholders of other companies to climb on through.

I wrote earlier that I’m betting that forward-looking brands that make bold pro-health and pro-environmental choices will be rewarded by investors and consumers — and others will follow.

It’s just the “Diffusion of Innovations” theory in action. Innovators take the risk and go way out on the limb. Early adopters see it and spread the news. Then others follow it and it becomes normal.

As a whole, these announcements — as signs of changing times — were met at worst neutrally (Disney) and at best positively (Apple) in the press. I’m betting on more to come. 

The story of the hedgehog and the fox, originally conceived in ancient Greece and popularized in the 1950s by philosopher Isaiah Berlin, figures prominently in the business canon as a parable of depth vs. breadth. The most popular version of the tale involves a hungry, wily fox and a slow, simple hedgehog. One expects the fox to devour his prey. But the hedgehog regularly evades death by freezing in place, forming into a ball of unappetizing spikes, too painful a prospect for even the hungriest of foxes. The hedgehog's ability to "know one thing well" prevails over the fox's assiduous advances.

The hedgehog/fox imagery figures prominently in Jim Collins' renowned book, Good to Great, in which Collins gives us The Hedgehog Principle, the notion that great leaders have the ability to discern and relentlessly pursue the one thing that they can be "best in the world at." Adopted in boardrooms and C-suites far and wide, the "What's our Hedgehog" question became a defining agenda item for a generation of corporate leaders pursuing the Grail of Greatness. In hindsight, this was a one-dimensional take on greatness, lacking as it did elements of social responsibility, corporate citizenship and ecological stewardship. Collins' greatness mainly served as a proxy for the other G-word: Growth ... unchecked, metastatic shareholder growth. Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, the furry mammals glorified for their "principles" remained sidelined and left to struggle with the consequences.

In truth there is not a hedgehog on earth that wakes up and exclaims, "I'm going to be great at one thing today." And the hedgehog's purported nemesis, the fox, can hardly be reduced to an anthropomorphized version of the modern-day rapid prototyper. But this does not mean that these animals lack intelligence. To the contrary, plenty of applicable and relevant business counsel exists just outside the boardroom door, if we are willing and wise enough to look. But this requires a shift in orientation in how we view nature. In short, nature cannot be viewed as a warehouse, there for us to pilfer in life and parody in literature. It must be seen as a major wellspring of wisdom, a time-tested model for positive change, and a force that emerges because of, rather than in spite of, human intellect and instinct.

If we take the time to look, we realize that nature provides us with a time-tested R&D lab for re-imagined industry and its contributing forces. The natural world has already mastered renewable energy use, closed production cycles, collaborative networks, sustainable materials, and green chemistry. Underlying these proven successes are principles far more sophisticated than that of Collins' cartoon critter, including rampant resource efficiency, real-time responsiveness, and systems intelligence, among others.  These principles enable entire natural "economies" to be not merely productive but resilient and regenerative. In the natural world, the unbridled success trajectory loses relevance. There is no surge toward greatness, no single-minded "hockey stick." In its place, and thank goodness for it, is the slow, barely perceptible spiral of life returning life to itself.

Let's take a closer look at a real hedgehog and fox in order to evolve our business intelligence.  First we must expand our view beyond the predator-prey pairing upon which the famous parable is based. This antagonism is in fact a perilous over-simplification of how life works. In reality, the hedgehog and the fox are engaged players in a "food web" that involves not only our proverbial twosome but other characters as well: let's say sparrowhawks, thrushes, greenflies, snails, dandelions and earthworms. In a food web, organisms work together to manufacture, consume, dismantle and then redeploy forms of energy in repeating cycles.   

The hedgehog and the fox are competitors at times, just as we commonly see ourselves in business. But they are also intertwined and interdependent members of a wider generative system, just as we are beginning to imagine in the emerging economy. Within a food web, be it ecological or industrial, members of the system occupy different "trophic" levels, as producers, consumers and upcyclers of materials and energy. No food "chains" here, only interdependent and interactive networks. No "raw" materials either, but repurposed ones. And so, on our brief walk outside the office complex, into the habitat of actual hedgehogs and foxes, we dispel yet another myth and discover in its place an empowering truth: Natural production happens in clean cycles, not linear chains, and upcyclers — in collaboration with producers and consumers — play a fundamental role in the economy of life.

The stories that we tell ourselves have tremendous power. As long as we tell tales of one-trick hedgehogs, we will have myopic businesses. As long as we talk about one-way food chains, we will waste and exploit our resources. Our increasingly interdependent economy will require much more of us, and so should the metaphors, mentors and models for our inspiration. The authors and aspirants making claims on greatness would do well to approach our natural world with humility, curiosity, even awe. Only when we see nature for what it truly is — a complex, adaptive, interdependent system — and only when we step into our role as intentional, integrated members of that system, as connected to beehives as we are to business plans, will we fully realize our potential for greatness. Perhaps, in the process, we'll evolve beyond the notion entirely. 

Businesses and governments must tackle energy and water use in tandem or risk major disruption, according to research released this week by sustainability specialists Anthesis in association with the Water Footprint Network. And 15 leading businesses from 11 different sectors, including Sainsbury’s, Boots UK, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé and Nokia have committed to looking at their carbon-water management holistically.

The white paperEnergising the drops: Towards a Holistic Approach to Carbon and Water Footprint Assessments provides the first-ever guidance for governments and businesses on how to manage their climate and water impacts simultaneously, both locally and globally.

“Until today, water and energy use has been tackled separately,” said Paul McNeillis, Director of Anthesis and co-author of the report. “By considering them holistically, we are starting to clear the path towards sustainability.”

The research was conducted by sustainability consultants Best Foot Forward, part of the Anthesis Group, and the Water Footprint Network, and was released as the Nexus 2104: Water, Food Climate and Energy conference is set to convene at the University of North Carolina.

The white paper highlights the danger of considering water and carbon footprints in isolation as increasing demand for water places pressure on energy usage. Population increase, varying levels of precipitation and energy-intensive urbanization are all placing strain on water supplies. However, according to separate recent research by the CDP, only 63 percent of major companies have taken steps to manage the business risks.

Current solutions, including pumping water from lower groundwater tables and desalination, require vast amounts of energy. With their use likely to increase in the coming decades, managing the dynamic between carbon and water use will be essential.

15 leading businesses, representing 11 different sectors, have committed to looking at their carbon-water management holistically, including Baxter Healthcare, Buro Happold, Sainsbury’s, Boots UK, Crown Paints, C&A, CLS Holdings Plc, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Nokia and Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd.

Ruth Mathews, executive director of the Water Footprint Network, said: “This invaluable research is a win for the environment and a win for the economy. For the first time, businesses and governments can prioritise where to focus their investments in order to reduce their impacts and derive maximum returns.”

Pascal Gréverath of Nestlé commented: “This more holistic approach combining climate change and water impacts enhances the quality of the assessment and provides a more robust basis for decision-making; biodiversity impacts will have to be considered, too, in the future.

Art Gibson, Baxter’s vice president of environment, health and safety and sustainability said: “Baxter recognizes the strong connection between water consumption and energy use, and works to reduce both. Implementing projects that consider these elements holistically results in greater conservation of natural resources and improved operational performance.”

The white paper can be viewed at both the Anthesis and Water Footprint Network websites.

Managing carbon and water in tandem is part of a context-based approach to sustainability, which companies from GE and Autodesk to Biogen and Cabot Creamery have embraced by measuring their performance “in the context of the limits and demands placed on environmental or social resources at the sectoral, local, regional, or global level,” as defined by the Global Reporting Initiative.

Boeing has launched an initiative with South African Airways (SAA) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) to expand opportunities for “smallhold” farmers in Southern Africa to grow crops that produce sustainable fuels.

Boeing says the program builds on a global effort alongside RSB and other partners to help farmers with small plots of land gain access to markets for sustainable biofuels and biomaterials. In the coming months, Boeing and RSB will work with Southern African stakeholders to create pilot programs to build knowledge and skills among groups of farmers who want to certify their crops as sustainable.

As Southern Africa gains capacity in this area, Boeing says more farmers will be positioned to tap into demand for biofuel feedstocks certified to provide socioeconomic value to communities without adverse impact to food supplies, fresh water or land use.

“SAA seeks to drive development of sustainable biofuel supply chains in a way that enhances our region’s economic opportunity from local agriculture and energy production,” said Ian Cruickshank, SAA Group Environmental Affairs Specialist. “Our joint project with Boeing and RSB is a first step toward the goal of ensuring that our efforts benefit smallhold farmers, given their importance to our country’s rural economy.”

This initiative follows the announcement in October 2013 that Boeing and South African Airways would collaborate to develop a sustainable aviation biofuel supply chain in Southern Africa. It is also aligned with a similar effort by Boeing and RSB to expand biofuel crop opportunities for small farmers in Southeast Asia.

"We will work with partners from across the region to identify how we can join together to help small farmers improve their production and income," says Rolf Hogan, Executive Secretary of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials. "Certifying small farmers is the surest way to ensure sustainable biofuels that not only reduce carbon emissions but also improve the livelihoods of rural communities."

When produced sustainably, aviation biofuel emits 50 to 80 percent lower carbon emissions through its lifecycle (compared to petroleum fuel) because biofuel feedstocks absorb carbon dioxide during their growth cycle. Aviation biofuel refined to required standards has been approved for a blend of up to 50 percent with traditional jet fuel. Globally, more than 1,500 passenger flights using biofuel have been conducted since the fuel was approved.

In January, Boeing announced that it will join Etihad Airways, Takreer, Total and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology to collaborate on a new initiative to develop a sustainable aviation biofuel supply chain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The initiative, BIOjet Abu Dhabi: Flight Path to Sustainability, will engage a wide range of stakeholders to develop a comprehensive framework for a UAE biofuel supply chain by focusing on research and development and investments in feedstock production and refining capability in the UAE and globally.

The fact that palm oil production — as the biggest driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa and South America — is responsible for the rampant release of carbon emissions and the destruction of vital habitats for endangered species such as orangutans and the Sumatran tiger is more than enough cause to drive NGOs into action against the culprits. But now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CUB) have discovered yet another reason to be concerned about palm oil’s environmental impact.

A study published late last month in the journal Nature Climate Change revealed that the wastewater produced during the palm oil production process is a significant source of heat-trapping methane in the atmosphere. According to the analysis, the methane bubbling up from a single palm oil wastewater lagoon in a year is roughly equivalent to the emissions from 22,000 passenger vehicles. This year, global methane emissions from palm oil wastewater are expected to equal 30 percent of all fossil-fuel emissions from Indonesia.

According to the WWF: “A palm oil mill generates 2.5 metric tons of effluent for every metric ton of palm oil it produces. Direct release of this effluent can cause freshwater pollution, which affects downstream biodiversity and people. When POME [palm oil mill effluent] is not released directly into rivers it is often discarded into disposal ponds, its contaminants polluting the soil and groundwater and releasing methane gas into the atmosphere.”

The CUB report isn’t all doom and gloom — it also points out the potential for capturing the methane for energy use. The researchers estimate the amount of methane that went uncollected from palm oil wastewater lagoons last year alone could have been converted to biogas and met a quarter of Malaysia’s electricity needs.

“This is a largely overlooked dimension of palm oil’s environmental problems,” said lead author Philip Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at CUB’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). “The industry has become a poster child for agriculture’s downsides, but capturing wastewater methane leaks for energy would be a step in the right direction.”

Palm oil is used in thousands of products that Americans eat and use daily, including deodorants, toothpaste, ice cream and face creams. The global demand for palm oil has spiked in recent years as processed food manufacturers have sought an alternative to trans fats. For now, the carbon footprint of clearing forests to make way for palm plantations dwarfs the greenhouse gases coming from the wastewater lagoons. But even as the outlook continues to brighten for palm oil-related deforestation — as of GAR’s pledge last week, more than half of the world’s palm oil is now backed by zero-deforestation commitments — the CUB researchers say emissions from wastewater lagoons will continue unabated as long as palm oil is produced. The researchers point out that capturing methane at wastewater lagoons could be encouraged by making it a requirement before palm oil products can be certified as sustainable; current sustainability certifications do not address wastewater emissions.

In addition to its increasingly widespread application as a biofuel, enterprising companies continue to find new uses for methane: California-based startup Newlight Technologies, for example, is using captured methane gas from dairy farms and turning it into AirCarbon, a durable and versatile plastic that can be used in everything from furniture and food containers to auto parts.

Meanwhile, cities in places from New York to the Netherlands, and companies in industries ranging from energy to marijuana farming to beer brewing, are reaping an array of cost- and footprint-reducing benefits from wastewater treatment.

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How big is your firm’s carbon footprint? The answer to this question is becoming increasingly critical to business reputation and success. Mounting government carbon-reduction mandates and growing pressure from savvy consumers and investors means successful businesses must find a way to measure and mitigate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide also has become a business liability — it decreases firm value by $212,000 for every 1,000 metric tons produced, according to a 2013 KPMG report.

But understanding the carbon footprint of a supply chain often means hiring consultants, which can be costly, intrusive and time-consuming. For many firms, this isn’t a viable option, and until recently it’s been the only one.

What if there was an affordable way to easily and accurately measure your company’s carbon footprint — a sort of Brannock Device for GHG?

Enter Carbon Analytics (CA): The London-based company is developing an online platform that makes it quick and easy for companies to measure and manage the carbon footprint of their supply chains — where 75 percent of a typical organization's carbon footprint comes from.

The platform, currently in beta, uses a three-stage process to apply its environmental models to derive meaningful, actionable insight from purchasing data.

First, CA analyzes an organization’s purchase data and categorizes its suppliers.

Second, CA calculates the organization’s carbon footprint and creates a holistic emissions profile with visual data to help organizations understand the impact of their supply chain. The platform provides a tailored dashboard that allows companies to measure and track progress over time (CA says the quality of measurements will improve as more suppliers join the platform and contribute their data).

Third, CA matches an organization’s emissions profile against its database of relevant suppliers, matching them with the best suppliers to reduce carbon footprint, and give regular performance indicators to monitor current suppliers.

“Until now businesses have had to spend large sums of money on intrusive and time-consuming consulting engagements to understand the carbon footprint of their supply chain,” said James Tilbury, co-founder of Carbon Analytics. “Our system provides better information that is constantly updated in a seamless fashion at a fraction of the cost. Companies are increasingly concerned about their supply chain emissions from a financial risk perspective as well as to show their stakeholders that they take their carbon footprint seriously.”

Tilbury says he met his two co-founders, Michael Thornton and Greg FitzGerald, while studying at the University of Oxford. The trio was drawn together by a mutual interest in setting up a business to address climate change, and successfully applied to the Oxygen Accelerator Programme at Google Campus London last September.

“The Oxygen Accelerator at Google Campus was a fantastic experience that has benefited our business immensely,” said Tilberary. “The program has a wealth of mentors, contacts and potential investors that they introduced us to, and helped us navigate the process of setting up a business in the UK.”

CA received three rounds of seed funding from Oxygen Accelerator, as well as from Climate-KIC at Imperial College and UKTI's Sirius program. The company is in talks with investors for additional funding later in the year.

When asked about CA’s long-term vision, Tilbury said: “In five years' time we plan to have mapped how carbon flows through the global economy. In ten years' time we hope to have done the same with a range of other social and environmental impacts, such as water.”

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