BMW Offers 'Add-On Mobility' Option to Ease EV Range Anxiety

August 6, 2013, 11:31 pm

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BMW has introduced its new BMW i3 electric vehicle (EV) with an "add-on mobility" option, which is part of effort to win a “meaningful” portion of the EV market by helping owners bypass the traditional impediments to owning EVs.

To help curb “range anxiety,” or the fear of being stranded when the battery runs out of juice, BMW is allowing EV owners to borrow gas-powered BMW vehicles for longer drives outside of the current EV range. This comes as part of the company’s wider drive to expand the appeal of its i3 EV.

The projected range for its i3 standard model is around 80 to 100 miles on a single charge, BMW says. The company expects the EV market to grow between 150,000 and 160,000 vehicles globally this year, from 7,000 in 2010.

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Study: Setting Sustainability Goals Can Improve Financial and Environmental Performance

August 6, 2013, 11:54 pm

≫ Next: Start UK and Virgin Money Looking for Start-Ups That Could 'Be the Start' of Sustainable Solutions

≪ Previous: BMW Offers 'Add-On Mobility' Option to Ease EV Range Anxiety

Companies that set tangible sustainability goals do a better job of improving both their financial and environmental performance, according to a new white paper by CH2M HILL, a global consulting, design, construction and operations firm.

Sustainability Goals That Make an Impact focuses on the link between sustainability goal-setting, environmental and financial performance, and stakeholder recognition, making the case for setting more tangible goals.

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Start UK and Virgin Money Looking for Start-Ups That Could 'Be the Start' of Sustainable Solutions

August 7, 2013, 2:55 pm

≫ Next: GE Brings Big Data to the Masses with Web Series 'Datalandia'

≪ Previous: Study: Setting Sustainability Goals Can Improve Financial and Environmental Performance

Many of us have ideas for businesses, products or projects that we think could become something successful —possibly even change the world. But very few of us actually have the guts to actually make them happen.

So when Virgin Money and Start (a part of Business in the Community) put the call out for budding entrepreneurs and ideas people of all sorts to enter a sustainable start-up competition as part of May’s Be the Start campaign, they were thrilled when over 80 sustainable ideas were submitted from across the UK.

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GE Brings Big Data to the Masses with Web Series 'Datalandia'

August 7, 2013, 4:26 pm

≫ Next: Sustainable Investing Grows Quickly, Though Measuring ROI Remains a Challenge

≪ Previous: Start UK and Virgin Money Looking for Start-Ups That Could 'Be the Start' of Sustainable Solutions

GE’s imagination at work is going Hollywood with Datalandia, a web series created to help consumers understand the cumbersome world of the industrial Internet. Filmed at Miniatur Wunderland, an attraction featuring model trains and towns in Hamburg, Germany, the "summer blockbuster"-like series, replete with blood-sucking vampires and extraterrestrials, aims to show that the Internet as we know it infiltrates much more than what meets the eye.

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Sustainable Investing Grows Quickly, Though Measuring ROI Remains a Challenge

August 7, 2013, 4:20 pm

≫ Next: What Metrics Are You Using to Measure the Success of Sustainability Initiatives?

≪ Previous: GE Brings Big Data to the Masses with Web Series 'Datalandia'

As a growing slice of a larger corporate push to develop more creative solutions to sustainability challenges, impact investing encourages financial actors to consider social and environmental issues when making investment decisions.

These financial actors can range from first-generation entrepreneurs who have already integrated sustainability into their company DNA to foundations, family offices and institutions that invest in portfolios that align with their mission, as well as Fortune 500 companies.

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What Metrics Are You Using to Measure the Success of Sustainability Initiatives?

August 7, 2013, 9:32 pm

≫ Next: Johnson & Johnson, P&G to Halt Use of Microbeads in Beauty Products

≪ Previous: Sustainable Investing Grows Quickly, Though Measuring ROI Remains a Challenge

Calling all innovators & implementers! This month, Sustainable Brands will relaunch an Issue in Focus editorial channel dedicated to showcasing the New Metrics of sustainable business success (#NewMetrics).

With the help of our guest editors, corporate sustainability architect Bill Baue and Paul Herman of HIP Investor, the SB editorial team is seeking features, interviews, columns and case studies to publish throughout the year. This is a great opportunity to showcase the innovations you and your organization have pioneered — sustainable business metrics that strategically link to financial, ecological and social performance.

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Johnson & Johnson, P&G to Halt Use of Microbeads in Beauty Products

August 7, 2013, 11:09 pm

≫ Next: Nokia Joins O2 Campaign to Ship Cell Phones Without Chargers

≪ Previous: What Metrics Are You Using to Measure the Success of Sustainability Initiatives?

Johnson & Johnson has started to phase out the use of polyethylene microbeads in beauty products, and is working on an eco-friendly alternative, after activists from environmental group the 5 Gyres Institute found large amounts of the beads in the Great Lakes.

Microbeads are used in beauty products as a means of scrubbing away dead skin. After being washed down the drain, the plastic beads are too small to be adequately captured by wastewater treatment and end up in rivers, lakes and the ocean.

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Nokia Joins O2 Campaign to Ship Cell Phones Without Chargers

August 7, 2013, 11:56 pm

≫ Next: Biotech Companies Launch Campaign to Combat Anti-GMO Movement

≪ Previous: Johnson & Johnson, P&G to Halt Use of Microbeads in Beauty Products

Nokia has joined O2’s “Chargers Out of the Box” campaign, which makes the Nokia 301 the first mass-market handset to ship without a charger. The handset will come with just a USB cable, encouraging customers to use existing mains chargers acquired through the purchase of existing mobile phones. Those who want a conventional charger can get one from O2 at a discounted price.

While the Nokia 301 is the fifth phone to be included in the program, the other four have all been high-end smartphones. O2 claims that 82 percent of customers who have bought a charger-less phone have decided the USB cable is all they need.

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Biotech Companies Launch Campaign to Combat Anti-GMO Movement

August 8, 2013, 12:55 pm

≫ Next: Sustainable People, Part III: Making It Real

≪ Previous: Nokia Joins O2 Campaign to Ship Cell Phones Without Chargers

This week, a group of biotech seed companies including Monsanto, Dow and DuPont launched a website to combat mounting opposition to genetically modified foods among consumer groups and activists, according to Reuters.

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Sustainable People, Part III: Making It Real

August 8, 2013, 3:22 pm

≫ Next: Report Highlights Cleaning Industry’s Progress in Curbing Energy, Emissions, Water and Waste

≪ Previous: Biotech Companies Launch Campaign to Combat Anti-GMO Movement

Welcome back! Are you ready to leave excellence behind, with all its unsustainable feeders and costs? Ready to make the move to the entirely different and sustainable condition of mastery?

You’ve been patient for long enough, so let’s get started. First up: what not to do, followed by the surprise ending where we find the proven path to sustainable mastery.

**How Not to Attain Sustainable Mastery**

The Failed Alternatives

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Report Highlights Cleaning Industry’s Progress in Curbing Energy, Emissions, Water and Waste

August 8, 2013, 3:04 pm

≫ Next: One World Futbol, Sseko Designs Win 2013 Innovation Awards

≪ Previous: Sustainable People, Part III: Making It Real

The American Cleaning Institute’s (ACI) just-released 2013 Sustainability Report shows overall decreases by member companies in four environmental data categories: energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use and solid waste generation.

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One World Futbol, Sseko Designs Win 2013 Innovation Awards

August 9, 2013, 11:05 am

≫ Next: Irish Marine Pilot Project Upcycles Abandoned Fishing Nets

≪ Previous: Report Highlights Cleaning Industry’s Progress in Curbing Energy, Emissions, Water and Waste

Social Venture Network (SVN) has announced that One World Futbol, Sseko Designs, Fenugreen, Sustainable Health Enterprises and MASS Design Group have won its 2013 Innovation Awards, which recognizes companies that have a significant impact in reducing waste, promoting health and supporting education and employment in the developing world.

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Irish Marine Pilot Project Upcycles Abandoned Fishing Nets

August 9, 2013, 8:50 pm

≫ Next: Kraft, General Mills, Monsanto Join Food LCA Database

≪ Previous: One World Futbol, Sseko Designs Win 2013 Innovation Awards

A pilot project to manufacture commercially viable products from recycled polyethylene fishing nets has been completed successfully in a collaboration between Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM - the Irish Sea Fisheries Board) and Liverpool-based plastics recycler Centriforce Products, according to Centriforce’s website.

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Kraft, General Mills, Monsanto Join Food LCA Database

August 12, 2013, 12:15 am

≫ Next: 50% of Global Consumers Willing to Pay More for Socially Responsible Products

≪ Previous: Irish Marine Pilot Project Upcycles Abandoned Fishing Nets

Kraft Foods, General Mills and Monsanto are among the first to join the World Food LCA Database (WFLDB), which aims to develop a comprehensive database for food and beverage life cycle assessments (LCAs).

Launched last week by the Swiss Federal Research Station Agroscope and consulting firm Quantis, the project is expected to be completed by 2015.

A slew of funding partners have already come on board, including Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez International, Bayer, Syngenta and Yara. The French Environment and Energy Management and Swiss Federal Office for the Environment have also committed to the program. Agroscope and Quantis say they hope to continue to recruit additional companies and government agencies to join the project.

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50% of Global Consumers Willing to Pay More for Socially Responsible Products

August 12, 2013, 12:32 am

≫ Next: Investors Achieve Strong Results on Climate, Supply Chains, Water Issues During 2013 Proxy Season

≪ Previous: Kraft, General Mills, Monsanto Join Food LCA Database

Fifty percent of global consumers are willing to pay more for goods and services from companies that have implemented programs to give back to society, according to a new study from Nielsen.

The Nielsen Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility polled more than 29,000 Internet respondents in 58 countries. The percentage of consumers willing to pay more increased among both males and females and across all age groups, with respondents under age 30 most likely to say they would spend more for goods and services from companies that give back. Among consumers ages 40-44, 50 percent agree they would pay more, up from 38 percent two years ago.

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Investors Achieve Strong Results on Climate, Supply Chains, Water Issues During 2013 Proxy Season

August 12, 2013, 2:09 pm

≫ Next: Crayola's Colorcycle Program Turning Used Markers Into Clean Energy

≪ Previous: 50% of Global Consumers Willing to Pay More for Socially Responsible Products

Investors achieved notable victories during this year’s shareholder proxy season, with a near-record 110 shareholder resolutions filed with 94 U.S. companies on corporate sustainability challenges such as climate change, supply chain issues and water-related risks, according to Ceres.

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Crayola's Colorcycle Program Turning Used Markers Into Clean Energy

August 12, 2013, 4:09 pm

≫ Next: New Global Brewers Survey Shows Industry Making Notable Reductions in Water, Energy Use

≪ Previous: Investors Achieve Strong Results on Climate, Supply Chains, Water Issues During 2013 Proxy Season

JBI, Inc., a clean energy company that recycles waste plastic into liquid fuels, has announced it is partnering with Crayola on its "Colorcycle" program, which converts markers into clean energy.

The program will be conducted throughout the United States in participating K-12 schools and encourages students to responsibly dispose of used Crayola markers through an in-school collection process. Markers will be sent to JBI, where they will be used as feedstock to produce diesel and other liquid fuels using JBI's Plastic2Oil® ("P2O") process.

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New Global Brewers Survey Shows Industry Making Notable Reductions in Water, Energy Use

August 12, 2013, 5:06 pm

≫ Next: LG Electronics, Nokia Tackle Illegal Tin Mining in Indonesia

≪ Previous: Crayola's Colorcycle Program Turning Used Markers Into Clean Energy

The Worldwide Brewery Industry Water and Energy Benchmarking Survey, which is carried out by Campden BRI and KWA on behalf of the Dutch Brewers Association every four years, reveals that breweries have reduced their energy usage by over 9% and water usage by over 17% over the last four years, according to Campden BRI.

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LG Electronics, Nokia Tackle Illegal Tin Mining in Indonesia

August 13, 2013, 12:07 am

≫ Next: Weyerhaeuser Certifies Nearly 20 Million Acres to Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard

≪ Previous: New Global Brewers Survey Shows Industry Making Notable Reductions in Water, Energy Use

LG Electronics, Nokia, Sony, Blackberry and Motorola have released statements reaffirming their commitments to tackling illegal tin minding in Indonesia.

The move came after British environmental NGO Friends of the Earth released information from an investigation into the devastation caused by mining for tin on Bangka. According to the charity, tin is used as solder in all phones and electronic gadgets, and around a third of the world's mined tin comes from Bangka and neighboring island Belitung.

The Friends of the Earth investigation in Bangka found:

· Dangerous and unregulated tin mining

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Weyerhaeuser Certifies Nearly 20 Million Acres to Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard

August 13, 2013, 12:29 am

≫ Next: Diageo Reducing Material Use to Achieve Zero Waste by 2015

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The Weyerhaeuser Company has acquired Longview Timber’s approximately 645,000 acres of forestland in Washington state and Oregon, meaning it now owns or manages nearly 20.5 million acres of forestland in the U.S. and Canada, making the company one of the world’s largest private sustainable forestry operations.

Weyerhaeuser says it is dedicated to industry leadership in forest stewardship and sustainability and will continue to live up to its principles as it brings the Longview Timber operations into its portfolio. All of Weyerhaeuser’s North American forests are certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative standard, which ensures that its forest management practices meet a broad spectrum of social, economic and environmental requirements.

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