FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
By investing in SMEs in developing countries, we aim to help them enhance their businesses for the benefit of smallholders — proving they are credible to the local banking sector along the way. Ultimately, our core purpose is to tilt the economic balance back toward smallholders; so they can make a decent living in normal times and survive inevitable price shocks.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
B Lab has updated its B Impact Assessment guidance and standards to align with the IDH Living Wage Roadmap — highlighting more companies’ work on this front will illustrate the feasibility of providing living wages globally.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The three-year-old maker of snacks, coffee and other ethically sourced foods is aiming to show that brands can source from regenerative ag systems; but it will require a real commitment to
working with rural communities who, for too long, have been left behind by the modern food system.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
By teaming up with retail leader Walmart, San Francisco-based Plenty is set to supply California (for starters) with healthy, sustainable food at an affordable price, using only 1% of the land needed for traditional farming.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Many companies still shy away from responsibility for what’s happening in the first mile of their supply chains; but First Mile, along with its nonprofit and brand partners, is actively engaging with these issues — and
creating positive impacts for thousands of waste collectors around the world.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
As ever, it is the most vulnerable people around the world who suffer greatest from slow growth, rising inflation, and the energy and food system disruptions stemming from the war in Ukraine. Bridging the finance
divide, while ensuring that resources catalyze the necessary transformations, will be key for putting the SDGs back within reach.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
The open-source playbook from TrusTrace, Fashion Revolution and Fashion for Good offers a one-stop guide for fashion brands wanting to fulfill on the new business imperative for transparency.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Apple, Netflix, Xylem and others are putting corporate cash to work in financially underserved communities by moving money to CDFIs, LID credit unions and MDIs throughout the US.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The law is a direct response to the widespread, well-documented reports of crimes against humanity in the Uyghur regions — and the fact that the reactions from most global brands to the issue have been, to put it lightly, disappointing.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
The company — committed to sustainable agriculture and a truly inclusive approach for creating economic opportunity for the people of Boone County, West Virginia — has been growing lavender and raising bees on reclaimed coal mine soil since 2019.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Founder Pauline Idogho and her diverse team of BIPOC women have created a line of globally inspired, ready-to-drink, organic, non-alcoholic cocktails that support environmental sustainability and social health and inclusion around the world.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
Focusing resources beyond popular attractions, and a personal sense of pride and care for a place and its people, creates the conditions for well-supported communities. Because of this, regionally focused travel companies are uniquely situated to ensure tourism creates positive ripple effects where they operate.
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
In an effort to combat climate change and reduce plastic waste, Estée Lauder Companies’ charitable wing, the ELC Charitable Foundation, has partnered with Plastics for Change to improve the livelihoods of waste collectors in India while diverting ocean-bound plastics.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
Existing EPR systems limit electronics producers’ responsibility to national jurisdictions, not to the countries to which we export our electronics waste, and neither lead to multiple product use cycles nor to safe e-waste management.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
To truly help individuals and ourselves, we need to bust up the system, swim upstream and avoid the herd mentality. We need to take a step back and truly
understand our own roles in society — and by doing so, to let go of outdated notions.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
The first national Black farmer co-op since the Reconstruction era is on a mission to revive and support Black farmers — which have dwindled to a mere 1.4% of farmers in the US — and cultivate a national network of growers of regeneratively farmed hemp.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
As consumer demand for organic cotton soars, so does skepticism over the sustainability of the sector. The response must not be to retreat from organic cotton, but to invest more in supporting farmers to help them make the often-difficult conversion to organic on the ground.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Traceability is the foundation upon which we can truly revolutionize the fashion industry, revealing the actual costs of products and ensuring that the wealth generated from production gets redistributed more fairly.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Laudes Foundation’s Transparency in Action portal features best practices, expert advice, tools and resources — including information on existing and upcoming legislation — for brands to take informed steps towards transparency and expand their current efforts.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
The Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence would oblige companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate human rights and environmental violations in their value chain. But there is debate over whether companies can be reasonably expected to control their entire value chain, down to the smallest suppliers.