The Carbon Trust Standards are independent certifications recognising organisations that successfully measure, manage and reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use and waste — demonstrating leadership within their sector by making year-on-year progress.

Since the launch of its Plan A eco and ethical program in 2006/07, the business has achieved zero-waste-to-landfill status, reduced energy use in stores, offices and warehouses by 31 percent, cut store refrigerant gas carbon emissions by 60 percent, used two billion fewer single-use carrier bags in its food halls, and become a carbon-neutral company.

“There’s a clear business case for managing and reducing our own impact on the environment,” said Clem Constantine, director of property at M&S. “It saves money, helps us become more efficient and better prepares M&S for the future.

“Working with the Carbon Trust gives us the knowledge and confidence to push ourselves further and supports us in achieving our ambitious Plan A goals.”

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, added that M&S has a “well-deserved reputation as a leading business when it comes to sustainability.” “By achieving independent certification the Carbon Trust Standard for each of carbon, water and waste then M&S is able to demonstrate year-on-year progress in achieving its Plan A goals.”

What do you need to know about the various standards?

• The Carbon Trust Standard certifies organisations that measure, manage and reduce GHG emissions year-on-year. To achieve it, companies need to demonstrate an absolute reduction in carbon footprint or equivalent relative efficiency improvement, as well as good carbon management, including governance, accounting and reduction methods and targets.
• The Carbon Trust Water Standard, certifies those that measure, manage and reduce water use year-on-year. To achieve the standard, companies need to demonstrate a reduction in water use either in absolute terms, or water intensity in relation to turnover or product, looking at both water inputs and trade effluent output, as well as passing a qualitative assessment on water governance, measurement and management.
• The Carbon Trust Waste Standard certifies companies that measure, manage and reduce their solid and hazardous waste. They need to show that waste streams are being reduced every year, or are being used more effectively, for example through increased reuse, recycling or energy recovery.

This post first appeared on the 2degrees blog on March 7, 2014.

A group of food, beverage and packaging giants has come together to collaborate with the Scottish government to help boost packaging recycling and provide partnership support for waste reduction and anti-littering programs. 

The Packaging Recycling Group Scotland (PRGS) aims to assist Scotland in raising recycling awareness while increasing recycling rates and quality. Supporters include Coca-Cola Enterprises, TetraPak, Britvic, Red Bull and the British Plastics Foundation.

 “We have strong support — almost 30 organizations now — with a collective desire to work more closely with key bodies on these objectives,” said PRGS coordinator Ian Shearer. “PRGS is well-positioned to harness the expertise and enthusiasm for progress presented by an unprecedented coalition of market-leading manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and trade organizations — representing businesses large and small — with a proven track record of supporting Scottish recycling.

“With its Zero-Waste ambitions and 2025 recycling targets, the Scottish government is sending out a clear message that this is a priority,” Shearer added. “There is now an opportunity for government and Zero Waste Scotland to forge a distinctly Scottish new partnership model to help leave a sustainable legacy for future generations, building on the significant progress and innovation in recycling of the last 10 years. PRGS is committed to supporting such an approach.” 

In other packaging news, Carlsberg announced in January that it had joined a group of global suppliers to develop the next generation of packaging products that are optimized for recycling and reuse, otherwise known as “upcycling.” With this initiative, Carlsberg aims to have new products undergo an assessment for upcycling potential using a Cradle-to-Cradle® analysis, which will reveal if the products contain any chemicals or additives that would reduce the value and quality of the materials. The targets are to include 15 partners and to have a minimum of three products Cradle-to-Cradle® certified by 2016.

And last week, HP announced it 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. Benefits of the new packaging include:

• 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;
• Since the packaging is lighter than wood-based molded pulp, it will cost less to ship.
• The initiative has created 383 new jobs at YFYs China facility.

For more examples of game-changing multi-sector and -industry #collaboration to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, check out our editorial channel.

For more examples of innovations in sustainable #packaging, check out our Issue in Focus.

While I won’t say which company makes my smart phone, I will say that my phone breaks… a lot. I’ve had problems with the headphone jack, the vibrate setting, and currently, the touch screen will occasionally start to malfunction by pressing buttons at will, only ceasing when I restart my phone. Problems like these, which are frustrating at best and costly at worst, are one reason Phonebloks plans to step in to save the day.

Building a sturdy and sustainably made phone isn’t a new idea, but David Hakkens, who founded Phonebloks in 2013, is looking at phone production in a different way. While trying to repair his camera, he realized there was only one small part that was actually broken. However, this small part was impossible to find and he instead had to replace the entire camera. As he began to look at the inherent waste involved in replacing a device because of a single broken component, he decided to translate this idea into a more common piece of technology.

The fundamental innovation behind Phonebloks divides the structure of the phone into separate modules, or Bloks, that — along with a base and a screen — form all of the components of today’s modern smartphones and are designed for easy disassembly. The combinations and capabilities of the Bloks are endless, but the main benefit is that if there is a problem with, for example, the memory Blok, you can detach it and get it repaired or replaced without having to scrap the entire phone.

In a recent interview, Phonebloks’ editor-in-chief Tomas Halberstad said he was excited about the sustainability advantages in creating a durable and easily repairable phone. “E-waste streams are among the fastest growing waste streams in the world right now,” he highlighted. “Mobile phones are a large part of these waste streams and that part gets larger every year.” According to the EPA, in 2009 Americans disposed of 129 million mobile devices. Of these, a shockingly low 8 percent were collected for recycling. As these numbers increase, so does the need for an e-waste intervention.

Not only does the Phonebloks team hope to revolutionize the mobile phone industry with phones truly made to last for years, it wants to create them on an open platform, through a collaborative effort between as many phone companies as want to take part. Thanks to a wildly successful Thunderclap campaign last fall, the idea of “a phone worth keeping” gained over 960,000 supporters in less than two months, demonstrating the demand that Phonebloks hoped would show the tech giants that there is indeed demand.

It worked: Motorola, maker of the first cellular telephone in the ‘80s, has partnered with Phonebloks to help create the first modular phone — with your help.

An interactive section of the Phonebloks website is focused on Project Ara, the Motorola-sponsored initiative to create a module-based phone. By registering on the site, users can share ideas, join discussions, give feedback and respond to regularly posted challenges for which the Project Ara team will choose the best solution.

Motorola says that, through Project Ara, it hopes to “create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.” While this might sound ambitious, things are moving forward swiftly. After a series of hack-a-thons, Motorola is providing the base of the phone, while Phonebloks will supply the Bloks. Motorola hopes that the DIY nature of the phones will create a more powerful and customizable experience.

Phonebloks is happy to capitalize on the demand for a modular-based phone system: With the outpouring of public support and the fact that Motorola isn’t the only company working on this idea, expect to see these customizable, built-to-last phones in the not-too-distant future.

Along with Phonebloks’ plan to create the first phone that wasn’t designed for obsolescence, its open innovation development model is setting a new bar for forward-thinking startups. Stop by the website and join in on the discussion — maybe you can help design the best phone the world has ever seen. 

For more examples of companies disrupting industries with breakthrough #BusinessModels, check out our editorial channel.

For more examples of #startups increasing social and environmental sustainability through disruptive innovation, check out our editorial channel.

San Francisco-based cleaning products company Method has announced that it will build in Chicago one of the few LEED-Platinum factories in the US, where it will produce its eco-friendly cleaning products such as soaps and laundry detergent.

Designed by William McDonough + Partners, the state-of-the-art facility will be built in Chicago's historic Pullman district, where Pullman railroad cars were once built. Before beginning construction next year, Method says it will first clean up its 22-acre site, which used to be a Ryerson steel mill was and is now a brownfield.

Method says the factory, which will include manufacturing and bottling operations and serve as a distribution center for both Method and its Belgian parent company, Ecover, will eventually be run entirely on renewable power. Solar photovoltaic tree-like structures will generate energy and provide shade for cars parked underneath while solar thermal panels will provide hot water for factory processes.

The project will utilize materials that are safe for human and ecological health using the Cradle to Cradle Certified^CM protocol, which Method says will enable the building to help restore, heal and support the surrounding habitat while also stimulating the neighborhood's economy by bringing in an estimated 100 manufacturing jobs. The building's integration with the surrounding environment will extend well into the community, with its emphasis on pedestrian connectivity and proximity to mass transit options. The building also features a transparent south wall to provide an abundance of daylight and visual exposure to the outdoors, and a rooftop greenhouse that will provide food to the local community.

"So often, in the first industrial revolution, factories were dirty," said architect and sustainability leader William McDonough. "We have these images of factories as gritty buildings with smokestacks — facilities that no families would want in or near their neighborhoods. This factory is a clean factory. The energy will be clean. The production will be clean. The products are designed to meet the standards of the Cradle to Cradle Certified^CM Program, which means that they are as clean as Method can make them. The products themselves help consumers have beautiful, clean homes.”

Cradle to Cradle principles increasingly are being applied to several facets of business. In January, beer brewer Carlsberg joined a group of global suppliers to develop the next generation of packaging products that are optimized for recycling and reuse, otherwise known as “upcycling.” The term, popularized by McDonough & Michael Braungart in 2013’s The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability — Designing for Abundance, espouses the idea that through proper design, humans can have a positive net impact on the social and ecological world. The Upcycle rejects the idea of merely being ‘less bad’ and proposes that we focus more on creating a positive footprint for future generations — all while generating profit.

In December, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute released a list of its top Cradle to Cradle Certified product case studies of 2013. The Institute says the companies and products presented in the collection are redefining traditional notions of quality in ways that meet new expectations of 21st-century customers.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars have more than three times the standard range of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs), can be refueled in minutes rather than hours and look and handle more like traditional cars — so why are there still only a few hundred hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road? The answer is a lack of hydrogen refueling stations, according to a new segment released today by QUEST, an Emmy Award-winning multimedia series with a new focus on exploring the science of sustainability. See the segment below:

Like many nascent technologies, there is a classic chicken-or-egg problem. To make hydrogen vehicles viable, there needs to be an adequate number of hydrogen fueling stations, but more stations will not be built until more people start driving hydrogen cars. As is often the case with such eco-techno dilemmas, governments are stepping in to try to break the stalemate.

In 2013, California, Oregon and six other states pledged to put over 3 million zero-emission vehicles on their roads by 2025. With the nation’s largest car market and tough air quality standards, California is critical to the success of fuel cell cars and the infrastructure required for the cars to take off. That same year, California Governor Jerry Brown also signed a new law that provides $20 million a year to build at least 100 hydrogen refueling stations in California by 2024. Some 19 new stations are already in development. This is good timing, as this year Hyundai will release a new fuel cell-powered SUV in California, followed by new fuel cell models from Toyota and Honda in 2015.

Some argue that the government is making a mistake in investing so much money in a technology that is not guaranteed to catch on. After all, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bid to build 100 hydrogen fueling stations by 2010 failed.

But this time things could be different, as the technology has dramatically improved over the past decade.

“What’s very different now than several years ago is that we are able to store a lot more hydrogen onboard the vehicle because we have gone to higher storage pressures that are now giving us a driving range of 250 or even 300 miles," Tim Lipman, co-director at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley, explains in the QUEST segment.

Hydrogen cars contain fuel cell stacks similar to those found in EVs. Each cell has a special membrane in the middle that splits the hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons. The charged particles are now called ions that can go through the membrane material but the electrons cannot. The electrons go around the membrane and generate electricity. Oxygen from the air flows in and binds with the electrons and ions to produce water and heat — the only tailpipe emissions.

On a per-mile basis, hydrogen costs roughly the same as gasoline. While hydrogen is flammable, it disperses quickly because it is lighter than air, and tanks are located in the middle of the vehicle, reducing likelihood of combustion. At the pump, filling up is similar to doing so at a regular gas station and only takes 4-5 minutes.

Fuel cell cars are called zero-emission vehicles since they emit not pollutants or carbon dioxide. However, as QUEST notes, they can only truly be zero emissions if renewable sources of hydrogen are used, such as from solar or wind. Currently, most hydrogen in the US is made with methane, which emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide than regular gasoline.

Hydrogen fuel cell and EVs are not the only route to a sustainable transportation future. Rethinking how we utilize vehicles and improving on designs with existing technology can also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Elio Motors last week unveiled a compact, 3-wheeled commuter vehicle capable of achieving 84 mpg fuel efficiency and engineered for an anticipated 5-Star Crash Test Safety Rating. Walmart also recently showcased a prototype tractor designed to increase airflow and cut fuel consumption to dramatically increase the efficiency of one of the largest commercial truck fleets in the world.

A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that only 32 percent of American millennials (also known as "Generation Y," those born after 1980) see themselves as environmentalists. This is in stark contrast to 42 percent of Americans born between 1965 and 1980 and 44 percent of those born after 1945.

Given what is known about the generation’s attitudes, it is likely that millennials simply reject the label of "environmentalist," not that they care less for the environment. On the contrary: 2011 Pew survey had found that Gen Yers were more supportive of stricter environmental laws, more likely to attribute global warming to human activity, and more likely to favor environmentally friendly policies such as green energy development and tax incentives for hybrid vehicles. Other characteristics of these young adults, according to various studies, include:

• They are most likely to pay more for responsibly made products
• Roughly 80 percent want to work for companies that care about their impacts
• Many of them are choosing buses and bikes over cars.

For a millennial’s perspective, hear Teens Turning Green co-founder Erin Schrode’s presentation from SB ‘11.

Some of the other findings of the Pew report were that 50 percent of this generation describe themselves as political independents even though they are more likely to vote Democratic; 29 percent say that they are not affiliated with any religion; and 51 percent described themselves as supporters of gay rights; they are also the most racially diverse generation (43 percent of adults are non-white), the best educated generation (a third of them possess a college degree or more) and are the 'digital natives,' with 81 percent of them having a Facebook presence with a median of 250 friends.

As such, it stands to reason that sustainability communications from companies such as Coke, Unilever, Levi’s and AT&T resonate strongly with social media-savvy millennials (“environmentalists” or not), as these and the rest of the Top 10 companies on this year’s Social Media Sustainability Index made the list for their success at bringing sustainability into the mainstream by winning over consumers, customers and their own employees with stories about products and services that are useful, interesting and relevant.

Ericsson, leading provider of communications technology and services, has joined forces with Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, to launch a new connected LED street lighting model. Ericsson says the partnership will solve two major issues that cities are facing today: improving network performance in dense urban areas while providing high-quality, energy-efficient public lighting.

Philips and Ericsson combine the benefits of mobile connectivity and LED lighting in a ''lighting-as-a-service'' model for cities. It allows city authorities to offer space within their connected lightpoles to network service providers for mobile broadband infrastructure.

Through the Zero Site initiative, unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Philips will now offer cities LED street lighting that can include mobile telecoms equipment from Ericsson; mobile operators working with Ericsson for broadband infrastructure will be able to rent space inside the poles. This will enable mobile network operators to improve data coverage and capacity for citizens, resulting in enhanced mobile broadband services. The model also accelerates the payback time for city infrastructure, by reducing the up-front costs of installing and managing these systems, thereby reducing the strain on city budgets.

"This is a tremendous solution using ICT and partnerships to address the megatrend of urbanization," said Ericsson president and CEO Hans Vestberg. "City populations are increasing at the rate of 7,500 people per hour, but our world is not geographically expanding. Meanwhile, our ConsumerLab research shows that Internet connectivity is one of the top five factors for satisfaction in city life. This Zero Site solution is the kind of innovation that offers a way for people to succeed in the Networked Society."

Philips’ LED street lighting can generate energy savings of 50 to 70 percent, with savings reaching 80 percent when coupled with smart controls, according to a study conducted by The Climate Group in 12 of the world's largest cities. The study also showed that citizens prefer the white light of LED lighting, citing a greater sense of safety and improved visibility compared to the orange glow of traditional high-pressure sodium systems.

Frans van Houten, president and CEO of Philips, says: "This new connected LED street lighting model is another example of us bringing the Internet of Things to life and demonstrates the capabilities of light beyond illumination. We are offering lighting as a service that scales with a city's needs and enables city officials to offer their citizens a more connected, energy efficient and safer urban environment, while preserving existing budgets and resources to improve the livability of their city."

To meet the demand for coverage and capacity, mobile operators need to improve, densify and add many more radio cell sites in dense areas. The new connected street light pole, designed to house Ericsson's suite of small cell products, offers network operators new possibilities to find the right site location. It will also help to scale the deployment of mobile broadband technology beyond traditional sites — a key enabler for evolving heterogeneous networks.

At SB '13 last June, Philips Lighting's Natasha Davidson detailed the company's initiative to create "community light centers," which illuminate 1,000 square miles of parts of rural Africa without electricity via high-powered LED lamps powered by solar panels and batteries, providing evening lighting some 560 million African citizens who live in these off-grid areas.

Speaking of the Internet of Things — in January, German electronics giant Bosch announced it has expanded its offering beyond the design of home appliances to form a new company, Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions GmbH, for the Internet of Things and services. The company said it will supply compact electronic products and software expertise designed to make devices and objects intelligent and web-enabled across a broad range of applications. It will initially focus on sensor-based applications for intelligently networked homes, or “smart homes,” as well as for activities in the fields of traffic, transportation and logistics.

To learn more about the potential forv#ICT and #BigData to drive sustainable innovations, check out our editorial channel.

A New Way of Thinking

We all know the plight of the typical industrial designer: make (more) stuff; repeat. But with the nexus of vast technical abilities and support systems to deliver ideas, where does responsibility and "design sensitivity" come into play? How will we be able to design with an understanding that every design decision is connected in some way to everything else (either directly or indirectly) and will inevitably have a social and environmental impact (intended or not)? Is it even our responsibility as designers to think about the impact of our designs? Do we need to worry about what happens up or downstream of our products, or is that someone else's job?

Where I Was

In 2009, armed with a traditional industrial design degree, I entered the workforce and immediately began to struggle with the paradox of wanting to use my newly honed design skills yet feeling like I needed to make crap to get paid. At the time, I did not grasp my role as a young designer, but I did know that continuing to design harmful, and sometimes pointless, products was not going to fulfill me. I decided I did not want to participate in a cycle that turns everything into a consumable or everyone into a consumer.

Following my undergrad, I initially tried to get my foot in the door, only to question why I was trying to get in the door in the first place. I ended up not taking the prescribed path of working for a conventional design firm, taking on freelance projects instead, ranging from corporate product design and branding to gritty consulting for startups and training dogs on the side. I wondered if could I turn my (perceived) inability to get a "real job" into an opportunity to engage in a career path that makes me happy? Luckily, I found that the answer was "yes," and that sustainability-focused design has filled this void for me, both personally and professionally.

Where I Went

As one of the first graduates of the online Master of Arts in Sustainable Design (MASD) from Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), I learned that it is not always easy to understand the impact of front-end product design choices until confronted with the back end of a product's life.

In and after leaving the MA program, I experienced growth personally and professionally once I started actively incorporating sustainability into my work, growth that was catalyzed by the knowledge, skills and understanding of how to use design to address the needs around us. Now I feel relentlessly optimistic about a designer's ability to solve humanity's most pressing global challenges. Although I knew I wanted to rethink the way I made things, the amount of high-quality, freely available information is impressive but overwhelming. With access to thousands of online resources for this quickly emerging field, how could I be confident that this information is what a designer really needed?

During my two years in the MASD program, I had carefully curated experiences that helped me to discover a new way of thinking and designing — from essential frameworks in systems thinking and impact measurement to adaptive leadership (core courses) — while providing opportunities to dive deeply into specific areas of interest (electives, field practicum, thesis research). The 100 percent online platform enabled me to pursue a credible degree while moving around North America (from Michigan to Nebraska to Minnesota to Canada to Oregon), as I worked on projects that have proven useful in landing new clients and educating others.

Increasing awareness, learning to practice new ways of thinking, and embedding these into my daily habits has enabled me to bring a sustainability focus into my design solutions.

How My Thinking Evolved

My thinking has radically changed now that I have integrated a sustainability focus into my work and life. I've gone from...

• Linear to circular and whole-systems thinking
• Burden to a tool for innovation
• Efficiency to effectiveness
• Changing materials to changing all aspects of the business
• Consuming less to consuming wisely
• Confused to equipped in identifying needs
• Incremental to radical change
• Hopelessness to pragmatic and relentless optimism
• Clever design to smart design
• An eco-groovy trend to a life-enriching career direction

I went on to use design competitions to continue to evolve my thinking and to put sustainability theories into practice. More about this is my next article. Stay tuned!

This is part one of a three-part Core77 miniseries about a young industrial designer's experiences bringing a sustainability focus to her work. Part one first appeared on the Core77 blog on March 3, 2014.

According to global tire manufacturer Michelin, British motorists could be spending over £1B a year and needlessly emitting more than 2B tons of CO2 per year due to under-inflated tires.

Michelin’s research suggests that three-quarters of Britain’s 31.5 million cars could have under-inflated tires, leading to unnecessary fuel consumption and excess greenhouse gas emissions.

As an averagely under-inflated tire results in roughly 3 percent less fuel efficiency, the company says an average driver could be wasting in the region of £65 a year solely due to the increased rolling resistance. Potentially, more than one billion liters of fuel could also be wasted every year because drivers are not checking tire pressures regularly enough.

Jamie McWhir, technical manager for car, van and 4x4 for Michelin in the UK, said: “Many drivers don’t relate fuel economy to their tires, when in fact 20 percent of a car’s fuel consumption is used to overcome rolling resistance. If motorists consume less fuel by having the correct tire pressure, then they produce fewer CO2 emissions and save money. In an ideal world, drivers should be checking their tire pressures every month and before each long journey. They should familiarize themselves with the tire pressures for their vehicle, which can be found in their handbook. This will ensure not only a smoother drive and peace of mind, but more pennies in the pocket.”

Last year, Michelin also found that 47 percent of drivers don’t know the correct tire pressure for their car and a whopping 60 percent rely on their partners or a mechanic to check the pressure, rather than doing it for themselves.

Several of Michelin’s competitors are also finding ways to reduce driver footprints — by building tires from more sustainable materials: Bridgestone is collaborating with biomaterials company Yulex to test the viability of a perennial shrub called guayule, which could prove to be a renewable source of natural rubber latex that could replace petroleum-based synthetics and lessen reliance on imported tropical rubber. And Goodyear is experimenting with making tires from soybean oil, which the company says could increase tread life by 10 percent and replace seven million gallons of petroleum-based oil each year.

For more examples of how brands are driving #BehaviorChange, check out the editorial channel.

Duke Energy, American Electric Power and Hoosier Energy are the first buyers of interstate credits for water nutrients in the United States' new pilot program. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on Tuesday officially launched the program for water-quality trades in the Ohio River Basin. The initiative tests water-quality improvement strategies in the world’s only interstate water quality trading program.

Water quality trading is a market-based approach that could enable facilities to meet permit limits using nutrient-reduction credits from farmers who implement conservation practices, EPRI says.

Several parties, such as industrial sources, farmers and the general public, contribute to nutrient loading, which may lead to serious ecological problems. EPRI says the transactions will produce cleaner watersheds, advance sustainability practices, and test more cost-effective regulatory compliance options.

Collectively, the companies purchased 9000 stewardship credits, agreeing to retire the associated nutrient and ecosystem benefits, rather than apply them towards possible future permit requirements. The buyers can use the credits to meet corporate sustainability goals and may also be considered for future flexible permit compliance schedules by the participating states.

“These early credit transactions will immediately improve watershed and farm health, and will serve as a foundation for ongoing discussions on the potential for water quality trading to meet regulatory compliance obligations in the future,” said Jessica Fox, an EPRI technical executive and director of the water quality trading program.

Because the affected watersheds cross state lines, working on an interstate basis is essential, according to EPRI. In August 2012, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio signed a first interstate trading plan where the states can operate under the same rules so that a water quality credit generated in one state can be applied in another. This framework set the stage for the pilot trades. At full scale, the project could include up to eight states in the Ohio River Basin and potentially create credit markets for 46 power plants, thousands of wastewater facilities and other industries, and around 230,000 farmers.

Stewardship credit trades will continue through 2014 and 2015 to test critical programmatic features such as an online credit registry and live trading auction.

In related news, a new report by sustainability specialists Anthesis in association with the Water Footprint Network found that businesses and governments must tackle energy and water use in tandem or risk major disruption. Consequently, 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.

In California, widespread drought is forcing the issue of water conservation, but many companies have turned to innovation to save water. Targeting data centers, which are some of the largest water hogs, several Silicon Valley firms are implementing water-conservation programs. For instance, eBay has installed cooling fans among the rows of computer servers while switching to passive cooling systems. In 2013, the company began using recycled water on part of its Mountain View campus landscaping, saving 9 million gallons of water. The company already employs smart irrigation systems that respond to changes in the weather.

On Tuesday at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie announced the launch of TOMS Roasting Company, and the grand opening of its first location, in Austin.

“We’re super excited about it. It allows us to enter a totally new industry and allows us to really work on economic development impact, as well as being able to give water to people around the world — something I’ve been passionate about for a long time,” Mycoskie told USA Today.

This is TOMS’ third “one for one” product — already making impacts with its shoes (of which TOMS expects to have donated 20 million pairs by the end of 2014) and eyewear (300,000 pairs donated), sales of TOMS Coffee will help improve access to clean water in the countries from which the company sources its beans: Every cup purchased will provide a day’s worth of clean water; for every bag, a week’s worth.

Mycoskie said using the blue and white motif from the TOMS logo for the coffee cups was more than just about brand recognition.

“I really wanted to focus on the blue for the water. So when someone’s walking around … and they say, ‘wow, TOMS is doing coffee,’ they’ll be reminded to tell the story that, it’s not that we’re just doing coffee and creating economic development — we’re actually investing in clean water systems in the countries where the coffee comes from. So the blue cup is a really important part of the messaging for the brand.”

While all of the beans are roasted Stateside, the inaugural blends come from Rwanda, Malawi, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru, as well as a “Carpe Diem” espresso made from a blend of beans from both Rwanda and Guatemala.

TOMS plans to work with Water For People, a nonprofit group that works to develop sustainable water systems around the world, according to the New York Times. The group could use financing from TOMS coffee to build tanks to collect rainwater or develop piping systems to get water from faraway places to people in need. TOMS Roasting Company shops will initially appear in South Korea, Dubai, Amsterdam and other international locations, with the first shops in the US in Austin, New York City and Portland, Ore., the paper said.

TOMS is just the latest brand to direct its efforts and resources to increasing access to clean water for those in need around the world — last spring, the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation joined forces 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. And last month, H&M announced it will donate $9.3 million toward its own global partnership with WaterAid 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.

In November, Mycoskie launched the TOMS Marketplace, which features a curated collection of over 200 socially conscious products from 30 different companies, each with a meaningful story and an ethos and commitment matching TOMS’ to giving to those in need, spanning a wide range of causes and geographic areas of impact.

Keurig Green Mountain's ninth annual Sustainability Report, released today, reveals progress on the company’s 2013 initiatives, and also announces the company's ambitious new 2020 targets with a focus on three main practice areas: Resilient Supply Chain, Sustainable Products, and Thriving People and Communities.

The new targets were established based on a materiality assessment conducted in 2012, which engaged more than 120 of the company's internal and external stakeholders. The company says the 2020 targets take a long-term, strategic outlook to proactively address the biggest sustainability challenges facing the company as well as the planet. The company is trying to address some long-standing issues faced by the industry such as disposable K-cupsand fair-trade practices.

Resilient Supply Chain:

• Significantly improve the livelihoods of one million people in the manufacturing and agriculture supply chains
• Source all primary agricultural and manufactured products according to the Company's responsible sourcing guidelines

Sustainable Products:

• Making all K-Cup® packs 100 percent recyclable
• Reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of brewed beverages by 25 percent vs. 2012 baseline
• Achieve zero waste-to-landfill at all owned and operated manufacturing and distribution facilities

Thriving People & Communities:

• Engage all employees to understand Keurig Green Mountain's vision and values and present opportunities that allow them to contribute to the Company's targets
• Provide access to clean water to one million people worldwide

"Our new targets demonstrate our need to tackle pressing issues both inside and well beyond our own corporate walls," says T.J. Whalen, Chief of Strategy and Sustainability at Keurig Green Mountain.

President & CEO Brian Kelley adds that the report “demonstrates our company values of partnering for mutual success, and using the power of business to make the world a better place."

In other mission-driven coffee news, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie announced the launch of TOMS Roasting Company on Tuesday in Austin. The latest venture and third “one for one” product from TOMS was formed around Mycoskie’s goal of providing clean water to the countries from which it sources its coffee beans – Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Malawi and Rwanda.

Engaging people in sustainability remains one of the cause’s biggest challenges – ensuring their behavior reflects their engagement is another. A number of studies have been devoted to bridging the gap between people’s attitudes and their actions, and it remains a conundrum for many organizations on a mission to promote positive behavior.

Luckily, tools such as myActions are helping companies not only engage certain groups on the merit of more conscious behaviors but motivate them to follow through.

myActions builds and designs online communities and social tools that track the digital sharing of real-world actions. For every action taken, a donation is made to the cause of the user's choice. The company partners with organizations from municipalities (Ohio Valley) to nonprofits (Net Impact) to brands (EKOCYCLE) that provide the greatest opportunity for impact through their networks.

For instance, in partnership with zoos, city government and regional business across the Ohio Valley and sponsored by Johnson & Johnson’s Care to Recycle initiative, the platform is driving a challenge to inspire one million “green” shared actions by Earth Day in April (with over 250,000 achieved since the challenge began six months ago). Net Impact’s most recent Small Steps, Big Wins Campus Challenge— launched in September — which empowers undergraduate leaders who care about sustainability to take action, utilized myActions’ platform for the first time this year.

"myActions brought us expertise and best practices developed to increase millennial engagement across both digital and real-world experiences,” said Net Impact CEO Liz Maw. “Our Small Steps Big Wins Challenge leverages their platform, engagement methodology and real-time insights, most recently driving a 300 percent increase in program performance." According to myActions, the Small Steps Challenge has inspired 67,000 shared actions in less than four months.

myActions is quickly picking up steam, with two high-profile initiatives launched in the last week alone. On March 6, animal conservationist Bindi Irwin — daughter of the late Steve Irwin, aka “The Crocodile Hunter” — announced a new parternship with SeaWorld Kids aimed at inspiring the more than 74 million kids, tweens and teens in the US and change the way they understand and prioritize conservation.

Irwin, 15, is the new youth ambassador for SeaWorld Kids’ new Generation Nature™ (GenN), a multimedia engagement platform where kids can participate in environmentally responsible activities and monthly conservation challenges, learn and share their actions. The platform includes a website, apps, video blogs, games and activities that highlight a new animal each month. Kids and their families are issued a monthly conservation challenge and can log their actions online to earn badges and points — for each point earned, SeaWorld gives to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, and kids can choose which programs that money supports.

“Millennials and kids are social natives,” said Bridget Croke, VP of Business Development at myActions. “Providing them an environment to share their impact socially, view the actions of their peers, and get recognized for it, drives more real-world action and creates new environmental norms.”

And just this week, EKOCYCLE and Global Citizen launched #ADayWithoutWaste, a recycling awareness campaign that aims to inspire and educate people to understand how individual actions can amount to change. Users can register at ADayWithoutWaste.org and make a one-day commitment to zero waste, and share and measure the impact of their actions on the myActions platform.

Through their participation, users can enter for the chance to win free concert tickets through the Global Citizen Tickets Initiative and the Global Citizen Nights concert series. EKOCYCLE and Global Citizen hope to inspire 150,000 actions from participants around the world beginning today through Earth Day, April 22.

"Inviting every citizen to support sustainability is powerful and #ADayWithoutWaste will encourage everyone to take a closer look at how lifestyle choices can help achieve the mission of a world with zero waste," said recording artist and EKOCYCLE spokesperson will.i.am. "Each of us has the power to make better choices every day. EKOCYCLE is proud to team with Global Citizen to encourage every person to make more sustainable choices, including seeking out and using products that contain recycled materials."

“Across our audiences, we find that teens and millennials share the highest barrier actions, like volunteering, in addition to daily environmental behaviors at home and in the world. Further, they are sharing images of those actions, often with friends,” Croke said. “With debate around clictivism, our members are proving that online action is evidence of offline participation and peer motivation.”

We are at a point in our species’ history when the need for change has never been stronger. Therefore it is with some frustration that the change we require remains ever out of reach, trampled by business as usual.

At every sustainability or CSR conference a plethora of gurus will tell you that sustainability and CSR types use the wrong language, are too techy, are too interested in the difference between GRI G4 and G3.1 or are too immersed in the internecine antics of the IIRC and SASB.

This is, of course, true. Few consumers will prioritise a company’s use of ISO26000 over the design, performance and desirability of the products it sells.

However, the lack of mainstream acceptance of sustainability is not down to the choice of words that sustainability practitioners use. The reasons are more fundamental, more willful, more concerning and occasionally more ludicrous.

Natural philosophy for the 21^st century

We have entered a period which has strong echoes of the European Enlightenment period. Natural philosophers such as Newton, Leibnitz and Hooke, just as others had before and did after them, applied curiosity and investigation to their examinations of the world. They then held their thinking up against the orthodox world views of the day — thereby exploring the dissonance.

Eventually the approach they developed, and the “truths” they uncovered, became the foundations of the scientific approach.

Today, many groups are nagging at the gulf between what orthodoxy preaches and what “reality” suggests. For instance, rebellious students enraged by being taught economic theory rendered obsolete by the financial crash are lobbying for the development of courses of “post-crash economics.” Similarly, calls for the consideration of Natural Capital as the source of all human value have their arguments founded in an article of physical truth (humans need to eat, drink and breathe) aligned against the social science conception of economic theory (economic growth can be infinite and disregard the parameters of the planet).

Truth just doesn’t cut it anymore

A strange aspect of our current orthodoxies is that for some reason they have only needed to be “truthy” or have “truthiness” to have the feeling or appearance of truth in order to be accepted or responded to.

So, economic theories only have to work with certain baked-in assumptions, or in certain contexts, to be considered capable of applying globally; regardless of whether they work in all cases and at all scales. Likewise, theories about how the world works, or whether certain environmental issues represent threats or are the result of human activity, tend to be reliant for their success not upon the level of verifiable facts at their disposal, but whether they appeal to what we would like to believe.

Of course, even the term “truth” is a difficult one, as people can share many different conceptions of the word. Scientific method remains the only really reliable way humans have to obtain agreement on what is “true.” Sustainability advocates stray from the scientific method at their peril.

The idea that it is only “the truth will set you free” — that people faced with a strong body of evidence would choose to change their minds and their behaviour — is clearly not often the case. However, this does not mean that we can afford to move away from facts; otherwise we become untethered from any defensible position.

Divided by a common language

The challenge for those of us seeking to achieve a sustainable world is that our means of persuasion — which must acknowledge uncertainty and be rooted in the scientific method — are not always those which appeal to the majority. We should also recognise that those who do not share our belief in the need for change may use very different means to convey their message.

This produces an asymmetric situation — each side plays by different rules.

A stunning example of this is the conception of the “reality-based community” — a phrase coined by a neo-con advisor to the G. W. Bush administration. This was used as a term of pity and abuse and essentially said: “You scientific empiricists are slaves to ‘reality’ and are hidebound by your commitment to scientific method. We, on the other hand, are history’s actors; we make our own reality through our actions and will have created a new world while you are struggling to keep up.”

Comfort with familiarity

We also have a strong disposition to the familiar, the status quo, despite the fact that the familiar may be impermanent and itself the product of radical change. As humans we don’t tend to perceive cumulatively significant but incremental change and we also actively welcome certain other types of change — those that we consider to be “progress.”

In addition, there is some fascinating emerging psychological analysis which suggests (broadly) that progressives (perhaps most likely to be sustainability advocates) tend towards considering themselves distinct or different from others with similar views (they overstate this difference) whilst conservatives (more likely to be distrustful of sustainability) tend towards considering themselves as more aligned with those holding similar views.

In essence one side leans away from like minds and the other leans towards! This means that sustainability advocates are less cohesive and aligned than those that “reject” it — perhaps a significant reason why we find it hard to develop a collective voice for the our species’ future on the planet.

Speaking truth to power

Of course, the means and modes of communication that we need to employ must be varied, and capable of appealing to the different dimensions of what it means to be human: rationality, desire, empathy, emotion, reason, aspiration and gut feeling.

To date, we haven’t done too well. But it is worth remembering that for every dollar spent espousing greater sustainability, there are many thousands, if not millions, spent encouraging a world that is profoundly unsustainable.

It is hardly surprising that, as a species, we haven’t made much progress towards being sustainable. We haven’t actually tried yet!

Global bath and body brand LUSH Cosmetics has committed to removing all traces of mica from its products over concerns that it is unable to guarantee that the mines that extract the product are free from child labor, the Guardian reports.

The company made the announcement after being contacted by the Guardian, which was investigating how cosmetics producers are trying to clean up the mica supply chain. An earlier story by the Guardian found that many consumers have switched to mineral cosmetics as a natural beauty alternative after media reports linked cosmetic makeup with diseases such as cancer. It is common for these mineral products to contain mica, a glittery substance used in blusher, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick and foundation.

The main source of this material is India, which accounts for 60 percent of global production and possesses an industry that is estimated to have grown by 8.5 percent during the last two years. Child labor is a major problem in India's mica mining business and 86 percent of the country's mica exports in 2010-2011 were unregulated.

Mark Constantine, a co-founder of LUSH, told the Guardian his company usually requests spot checks on its suppliers to be assured about local practice, but the area in which mica is mined is too dangerous for visitors to arrive unaccompanied. This means that LUSH is unable to independently guarantee that child labor is not used at the sites that supply the mineral to the company.

These concerns had first been raised years ago, Constantine said, but LUSH had thought assurances by audit would be enough. In light of recent events, it has now reconsidered its policy.

"It made us all run around and ask, what are we going to do then? Why are we using it?" Constantine told the Guardian. While LUSH has not set an official date for eliminating the minerals, it already is using synthetic replacements where possible.

"We have been moving across to synthetic mica on things like the bath bombs. Really, we would like to be able to get a mica that was mined correctly. At some stage, the whole industry should take responsibility for that," Constantine added.

Child labor also is a major problem in the cotton supply chain, and brands have been taking action to eliminate it. Last fall, 136 brands and companies representing an estimated $1.024 trillion signed the Company Pledge Against Forced Child and Adult Labor in Uzbek Cotton.

One of the companies, IKEA, announced in February that it has expanded the use of sustainably sourced cotton in its products to 72 percent, up from 34 percent in 2012. The furniture company uses around 0.6 percent of all cotton grown around the world, and in 2013 sourced 79,000 tons of cotton from more sustainable sources; it used a total of 110,000 tons of cotton in 2013.

As part of our ongoing series of conversations with interesting people making the world a better place, BBMG welcomed to our studio Jared Koch, the author and co-founder of Clean Plates: A Guide to the Healthiest, Tastiest and Most Sustainable Restaurants. Following Deepak Chopra’s remark that “Jared’s nutritional advice has the power to transform your individual health and our collective well-being,” we were eager to hear what Jared had to say about his personal journey, as well as the steps we can take to eat better and take better care of our minds and bodies. Here are excerpts from our chat:

How did you become involved in nutrition? What were your eating habits like before?

A few converging factors led to my involvement with nutrition. When I graduated from college, I sold my event entertainment business I’d developed with my brother, which was 11 years old at the time. I considered going to medical school because I had already been accepted and I thought it would be a good idea to go back to school. Since I had chronic digestive issues someone suggested I take a course in nutrition, which seemed like a reasonable suggestion. My eating habits at the time were pretty poor. I ate out or ordered in from restaurants all the time and my only context for choosing what to eat was what I was in the mood for.  

What is Clean Plates and what is its mission?  

Clean Plates is the only nutritionist- and food critic-approved guide to the healthiest, tastiest and most sustainable restaurants. We discover and recommend the best of better-for-you eating including recipes, advice, products, restaurants and inspiring people and companies. Our mission is to make it easy and enjoyable for people to eat better. 

One of the major takeaways from our discussion here was the importance of bio-individuality. Can you talk a little bit about what that means?

I explain bio-individuality in a couple of ways. It means there is more than one right way to eat. Or said differently, the foods that are right (or not right) for my body are different than the foods that are right (or not right) for your body. There is no particular way of eating that works for everyone. There are many factors that influence which foods are right for our particular bodies (genetics, gender, age, sensitivities, cultural background, current environment, etc) and our particular needs can also change over time. The good news is we don’t need to continue chasing every popular diet. The bad news is it puts the responsibility on each of us to become more aware of what we are eating and what’s working well. Eventually, I think there will be better testing to help us more easily determine what is best for us but for now that doesn't exist so there is no simple way. It's a journey of experimentation and exploration.

What do you think the biggest obstacle is in making healthy, nutritious eating the American norm?

More people are becoming aware that food is the most important thing you can do to be healthy, which is a great thing. But of course, there are a lot of flaws in the food system that need to be addressed over time. To me, making it easier for people to have access to better (and affordable) choices will play a major role in making nutritious eating the norm. The good news is that is starting to happen — people are becoming more conscious of what they’re putting into their bodies, given that issues like obesity and the cost of healthcare have come to the forefront.

What's next for Clean Plates?  

We are starting a blog to expand our email offering — we think it is a great way to stay in touch with our community and share everything we are discovering. And we’re going to be rolling out nationwide guides (not just local) giving you advice, tricks and tips. This is really exciting because currently our guides are centered on New York City and Los Angeles, but we really want to bring the mission to a larger audience.

For more examples of people and companies using sustainability as an innovation imperative, check out our editorial channel on #BrandInnovation.

Food Lion, one of America’s largest supermarket chains with more than 1,100 stores across the eastern and southeastern US, has announced the adoption of a sustainable seafood policy that will cover approximately 1,000 fresh, frozen, canned or packaged seafood products sold at its stores. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute will help Food Lion assess its suppliers.

Highlights of the policy include:

• Suppliers will provide full traceability of their products back to the source fishery or farm.
•  Wild-caught seafood will be sourced from fisheries that are governed by credible, enforceable and science-based management plans.
• Farm-raised seafood must be reviewed and certified to ensure that its production does not harm communities, workers, the environment or human health.
• Monitoring and compliance measures are in place to ensure harvest levels are maintained within appropriate limits.

Karen Fernald, SVP of Merchandising at Food Lion, said that through the policy "customers can trust that the seafood products they buy in our stores today are responsibly harvested. Our seafood products have been documented as meeting important criteria around sustainability, adding Food Lion to an elite list of grocers in the US to accomplish this goal.”

Lauding Food Lion's efforts, Jen Levin, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said: “Food Lion has been resolute in following through with its policy’s commitments, which has required a great deal of investment on their part.”

More details of the policy are available on their website. To celebrate the launch, Food Lion donated sustainable seafood products to local food banks in North and South Carolina.

With over 75 percent of the world’s fish fully exploited or overexploited, and 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the world’s oceans, there is significant concern that such rapid extinction will lead to broader collapses of ecosystems at a global scale, threatening food supplies and livelihoods. With this new policy, Food Lion joins the efforts of fellow retail giants Whole Foods, Safeway, Trader Joe’s and Target, along with those of other industry players from grocery suppliers to restaurant chains to help mitigate overfishing and other irresponsible seafood sourcing practices. While sustainable seafood remains a work in progress, the outlook is promising. 

On Thursday, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) challenged manufacturers to make their products safer and dramatically change the way consumers are protected from potential toxic harm.

As a key step in its Safer Consumer Products regulations, DTSC is announcing three draft “priority products” — consumer goods sold in California that each contain at least one toxic chemical — and asking manufacturers to find a safer alternative.

The three products are:

• Children’s foam padded sleeping products and furniture containing TDCPP (chlorinated TRIS), a flame retardant and probable carcinogen that can also cause chronic health effects.
• Spray Polyurethane foam systems containing unreacted di-isocyanates (dg). SPF systems are used for home and building insulation, weatherization, sealing and roofing. Di-isocyanates can irritate the respiratory tract, cause asthma and cancer and are known skin irritants.
• Paint stripper containing Methylene Chloride, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin.

DTSC selected these priority products because they contain at least one of more than 1,100 toxic chemicals that the Department identified as having the potential to cause significant harm to people or the environment. The products also are widely used and create the potential for significant public exposure to these chemicals. 

The Department said it is not banning these products — it is starting a process, requiring manufacturers who want to sell them in California to conduct an “Alternatives Analysis” to determine if feasible safer ingredients are available. The final list of Priority Products won’t be official until a rule-making process is complete, which could take up to a year. After that, manufacturers will begin the Alternative Analysis process.

“People want safer consumer products, and this innovative program establishes a process by which government and businesses can work together to meet this public demand," said Matt Rodriquez, California Secretary for Environmental Protection. "Many companies already understand that looking for product alternatives to reduce consumer risk is a sound business practice. The eyes of the world will be watching us as we progress in this new, collective effort to protect public health and preserve our environment."

DTSC’s landmark Safer Consumer Products regulations, which took effect Oct.1, 2013, represent a significant shift toward a more protective, economically viable approach to how California ensures the safety of consumer products. The regulations provide an opportunity for innovative industries to capitalize on the growing consumer demand for products that are safer and better for the environment.

“The impact of this initiative will be significant,” said DTSC Director Debbie Raphael. “Not only is DTSC asking that these three products be made safer, it is signaling to manufacturers to examine their products and find safer alternative ingredients whenever any of the more than 1,100 chemicals identified by this program are used.”

“This approach will also protect California workers, who can be exposed to high levels of hazardous chemicals in paint stripping and insulating products, especially when the products are used in confined spaces," said Christine Baker, Director of California's Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees the state's worker safety program, Cal/OSHA. "DTSC's new regulations will motivate investment in safer alternatives; we see that as a smart strategy to prevent on-the-job injuries and illnesses." 

For more information, including video, visit the DTSC website. 

The public can learn more about the selection of the priority products at DTSC’s quarterly meeting March 17 at 9 am in Byron Sher Auditorium in the Cal EPA building, 1001 I St., Sacramento, Calif.

Earlier this month, Walmart informed dozens of product manufacturers throughout its supply chain that it is now implementing its new Policy on Sustainable Chemistry in Consumables, announced late last year. The policy to phase out "priority chemicals" that can affect human health and/or the environment covers consumer products such as health and beauty aids, pet supplies, cosmetics and skincare, baby care products and household laundry and cleaning products.

Unilever is using the new Greenlight Assessments iPad app from Muddy Boots Software to gain immediate access to sustainability progress from its agricultural suppliers, according to Muddy Boots. Greenlight offers a portable data-collection solution and enables companies to collaborate with its suppliers on any type of audit or assessment, allowing information to be shared both up and down the supply chain. 

“The complex nature of the food industry dictates that many of our customers across the supply chain are required to complete lengthy assessments in order to satisfy their customers’ requirements,” explained Josh Snook, business development manager at Muddy Boots. “It is our job to simplify this process whilst maintaining rigour and data integrity.”

The new app works with and boosts Muddy Boots’ Quickfire system, a self-assessment system adopted by Unilever across its fresh produce supply chain in 2007. The system tracks and monitors progress against Unilever's Sustainable Agriculture Code and helps to create evidence-based improvement plans.

“It provides another simple and flexible way for Unilever suppliers to collect data,” said David Pendlington, Procurement Operations Director at Unilever. “Assessments can now be completed when travelling or during farm visits, making data collection and submission a more efficient and streamlined process. This means that Unilever can view supplier sustainability achievements without delay. Partnerships with our suppliers are key to us delivering the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and this is another step in the right direction.”

The app was released in early February and is available for free at the iTunes App Store. “We have been delighted with the positive feedback so far,” said Snook said.

In January, Unilever, PepsiCo, Heineken, M&S and other members of The Cool Farm Institute (CFI) launched The Cool Farm Tool, a new carbon-management web app to help farmers assess and improve the environmental and economic performance of their businesses. The CFI, a project of the Sustainable Food Lab, used the launch of the Tool to also call for greater industry collaboration on agricultural sustainability, saying that, due to the scale and complexity of the challenge, more cooperation is essential to secure an environmentally responsible, climate resilient and economically sustainable food system.

Apps and mobile technology are being employed by brands in a number of industries to provide greater supply chain visibility. Last year, Nike unveiled its Making app, which helps designers assess the environmental impact of the materials they use. 

New research released Thursday reveals Americans are willing to sacrifice variety and dollars in order to eat more consciously. Although family satisfaction reigns supreme (97 percent), health and nutrition (93 percent) and sustainability (77 percent) are now also important factors when deciding which foods to buy, according to the 2014 Cone Communications Food Issues Trend Tracker.

A number of health and sustainability issues are top of mind for the food shoppers surveyed, including food safety (93 percent) and nutritional value (92 percent). But at least two-thirds of Americans say they prioritize a variety of other issues weigh into their food-shopping decisions, including:

• locally produced (74 percent)
• sustainable packaging (69 percent)
• animal welfare (69 percent)
• non-GMO (67 percent)
• protects and renews natural resources (65 percent)

Consumers Willing to Pay More to Eat Local

Nearly nine-out-of-10 Americans (89 percent) say they consider where a product is produced when making food-purchasing decisions, and two-thirds (66 percent) would pay more for food that is produced close to home. Although locally sourced food provides environmental, economic and health benefits, respondents said supporting local businesses (64 percent) is the primary reason for buying local. Other motives include:

• taste and quality of the product is better (39 percent)
• standards for locally produced foods than other regions or countries are higher (31 percent)
• products are healthier (28 percent)
• it’s better for the environment when food doesn’t travel as far (26 percent)

Americans’ convictions are so strong in their commitment to purchase locally produced foods that nearly half (46 percent) would sacrifice variety to do so.

“As the local food movement goes mainstream, it’s not just about the ‘mom and pop shop’ or farm stand. Even large companies have a role to talk about where they source food and the respective impacts on local communities,” says Alison DaSilva, EVP of Cone Communications. “Using local as a broader value proposition helps companies of all sizes talk about the social and environmental benefits of responsible sourcing.”

Many Reasons for Seeking Sustainable Food Options

More than eight-in-10 Americans (83 percent) consider sustainability when buying food and would like to see more options available that protect the environment (81 percent). Their motivations span from the altruistic to the self-serving, including:

• 43 percent of Americans want to do their part to protect and preserve the environment
• 39 percent believes the quality/taste is better
• 38 percent wants to show their support for companies who are doing the right thing
• 27 percent believes the products are healthier

Consumers look to companies to help them understand the broader implications of their food purchasing decisions, with nearly three-quarters (74 percent) stating they want companies to do a better job explaining how their purchases impact the environment.

“Although consumers are shopping with an eye toward sustainability, they are equally motivated by personal needs and a desire to improve society,” says Liz Gorman, SVP of Sustainable Business Practices at Cone. “Messaging must be two-fold. Companies must clearly demonstrate the impact consumers’ purchases are having on the environment, while reinforcing health, taste and quality attributes.”

GMO Confusion Persists — Consumers Look to Companies for Info

Eighty-four percent of consumers want companies to disclose information and educate them on GMOs in products because more than half (55 percent) say they don’t know whether GMOs are good or bad for them. Despite this confusion, three-in-five Americans are on the lookout for non-GMO-labeled foods when shopping. Reasons include:

• 39 percent believes non-GMO foods are healthier
• 32 percent worries about the effects on the environment
• 24 percent questions the ethics behind the use of GMOs

“The GMO debate is dominating media and social channels,” says Gorman. “Consumers are confused and the onus is on companies to help them understand GMOs and be transparent about if and how GMOs are used in the products they are buying.”

Friends, Family Guide Food-Purchase Decisions

It’s no surprise Americans are most influenced by those closest to them when it comes to food-purchasing decisions, with spouse or partner (45 percent), friends (27 percent) and kids (19 percent) topping the list. Yet, food companies and healthcare providers (16 percent) are close behind as the next most influential sources of information. Americans are not only choosing who they listen to but also when they access information, with 43 percent of consumers accessing information online throughout the day.

“Today’s food and beverage companies have an opportunity to connect with consumers on the issues they care about, with the people they trust, in the channels where they are,” DaSilva says. “The days of empty claims and blanketed approaches to marketing to consumers are over; consumers want to know their favorite food brands understand their unique needs and what matters most to them.”

Women, Millennials Take Stance on Food Issues

There’s no question women are the most thoughtful and empathetic consumers on a variety of health and sustainability issues, and although both men and women are shopping with sustainability and local in mind, women are more likely to do so for selfless reasons:

• Women are more likely to consider sustainability because they want to do their part to protect the environment (50 percent vs. 36 percent of men), while men are more motivated by taste and quality (41 percent vs. 38 percent of women).
• Women are more passionate about local food options. They are more likely to pay more (73 percent vs. 60 percent of men) and will sacrifice variety to eat local (52 percent vs. 38 percent of men).

Millennials, ages 18-24, have a somewhat different take on the most important health and sustainability food issues. Beyond food safety and nutrition, other priorities include:

• 72 percent protect and renew natural resources (vs. 65 percent U.S. average)
• 66 percent organic (vs. 52 percent U.S. average)
• 66 percent supports a social issue and/or charity (vs. 49 percent U.S. average)
• 61 percent locally produced (vs. 74 percent U.S. average)

“Grocery-shopping decisions no longer hinge on price and taste alone. Consumers worry about where their food is made, what’s in it and how it affects the environment,” says DaSilva. “The stakes are higher for companies to not only provide food options that meet consumers’ modern needs but communicate attributes in a clear and transparent way.”