FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Overcoming commodity dependence is a complex challenge. Here are steps that brands, impact investors and governments can take to help smallholder farmers in LLDCs benefit from the nutraceuticals market.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
SB’23 San Diego concluded with the inaugural Regenerative Agriculture Summit, in which players from the field explored the shared opportunities offered by regenerative ag — where sustainable practices intersect with economic growth.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
At SB’23 San Diego, a variety of brands and innovators discussed on-the-ground improvements cleaning up global and regional supply chains — and how to drive them further.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Centered around a rural region of lower Michigan, ‘Shared Abundance’ highlights the power of stakeholder collaboration in building more resilient communities.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Astrostays launched in 2019 to promote tourism while training local youth in astronomy to show off the Himalayas’ night sky. Now, Cosmohub is a more scalable, sustainable model — a connected community space that highlights local folklore and traditions along with stargazing.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Keynotes on day 2 of SB’23 San Diego
touched on everything from optimizing global companies’ resource use, building regenerative supply chains, and partnerships addressing the environmental and human impacts of plastic pollution to standing firm in the face of backlash.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
The program will position learners ages 16 and over to thrive in the evolving market for jobs related to sustainability and climate change; and provide NGOs a platform to empower underserved communities with new, employable skills.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Nestlé is piloting a weather-insurance program for over 800 smallholder farmers in Indonesia and has contributed
to a guide for coffee farmers to shift to regenerative practices.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The coffee giant has developed six new varieties of Arabica beans that can better withstand some of the worsening effects of climate change – particularly, diseases such as coffee rust.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
In its first year, the American Climate Corps aims to put more than 20,000 young people on career pathways in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation and climate resilience.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
As companies have faced reputational risk due to the uncovering of labor abuses from suppliers that many did not even realize were supplying them, there’s been a push to better manage and ensure supply-chain
transparency — with technology playing a key role.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The investor letter asserts that the financial materiality of human rights-related topics – and the critical role of human rights due diligence in identifying business risks – has never been clearer, and that ‘investors are in dire need of a unified social disclosure framework.’
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
“By valuing and giving a voice to [women of color], and recognizing their potential as solutions and stabilizers, impact investing is a powerful way to build systemic resilience … and reduce the negative impact of climate change on everyone.” — Durreen Shahnaz
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Instead of the traditional approach of shielding tourists from places' 'messy' parts, more travel-focused social enterprises are working with marginalized communities to introduce tourists to their destination’s complex fabric.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Since the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention
Act in 2022, which banned US imports from companies linked to it, solar-industry sourcing is becoming 'less transparent.' Now, the results of inaction are affecting suppliers for car batteries and printers.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Precious Plastic is all about democratizing circularity. And it’s enabling a new form of craftsmanship: One in which anyone, anywhere, can start a small business recycling and making new products from plastic waste.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
The Taskforce on Nature Markets asserts an unprecedented shift towards accurately pricing nature in global markets must occur to deliver on nature, climate and equity goals.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
The massive coral-restoration project took place in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia — in the world’s most biologically complex marine ecosystem in the Coral Triangle — alongside Indonesian community partners.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
All this diligent measurement, often seen in hundreds of pages of meticulous reporting, removes sustainability from the realm of common interest. Sustainability is for everyone and should be understood by everyone; shared understanding is the first step for shared action.