The latest products, services, design approaches and business models that are helping organizations of all sizes deliver on their sustainability ambitions and establish a new business as usual
UPS on Tuesday announced an expansion to its alternative vehicle fleet with plans to purchase some 700 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles and to build four refueling stations by the end of 2014.The company says an initial investment of more than $18 million to construct fueling stations will be supported by the purchase of the 700 LNG tractors and continued expansion of the natural gas fleet in the U.S.UPS already operates 112 LNG tractor trailers from fueling stations in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Beaver and Salt Lake City and has its own LNG fueling station on its property in Ontario, California. Once completed, the company’s LNG private fleet will be one of the most extensive in the U.S. Read More...
The Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) is celebrating its 5th birthday with a new crop of highly innovative, socially and environmentally conscious entrepreneurs. SBIO presented by Target, would like your help in choosing the runner-up and winner of the People’s Choice Award on June 5th via a live online public vote.Since its inception, SBIO has aimed to identify startups with the most potential to make scalable and sustainable impacts. Past SBIO alumni have continued to flourish, including 2012 finalist Mosaic and 2011’s winner, One World Futbol. Read More...
The USDA last week announced it is extending for five years its agreement to work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing and other partners to help develop a viable biofuel for the aviation industry. Read More...
Each week leading up to the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) finals on June 5th, where the runner-up will be decided via live online public vote at SB '13, we will feature an article on one of our SBIO semi-finalists. This week, meet the SBIO Public Vote Semi-finalist winner, PrintEco. Read More...
Delta Airlines this week released its Corporate Responsibility Report, which details the airline's environmental, employee, community, safety and financial performance throughout last year. Read More...
Now entering its fifth year, the GoodCompany Ventures (GCV) social enterprise accelerator is an initiative aimed at finding innovative solutions to address unmet social needs through for-profit enterprises that can scale for global impact. Read More...
Sungevity and Trillium Asset Management are among the 67 businesses recently recognized by B Lab’s annual “Best for the World” list, which honors companies across 20 countries and 25 industries for redefining success in business.Each company on the list is a certified B Corporation focused on solving social and environmental problems and met several standards for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The firms also each earned an overall score in the top 10 percent of all certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive assessment a company's impact on its workers, community and the environment. Read More...
Walmart has released a new set of commitments aimed at increasing energy efficiency and achieving its goal of being supplied 100 percent by renewable energy by 2020. Read More...
United Airlines is commemorating Earth Month by announcing its commitment to save 85 million gallons of fuel this year under the umbrella of its Eco-Skies program. This would lead to a reduction of 828,750 metric tons of CO2 and a savings of $275 million at current fuel prices. Read More...
As consumers become increasingly demanding of more social and environmental sustainability efforts from their favorite brands, Nestlé is one multinational that is responding in kind. The challenges for the world’s largest food company, however, are as complicated as the company’s long and tangled supply chain. Read More...
A new initiative unveiled this week at the United Nations Forum on Forests will use Google technology to provide real-time information to help governments, companies and communities prevent deforestation. Read More...
In an effort to reduce area residents’ need for vehicle ownership within a very car-dependent city, Las Vegas is getting a high-class car-sharing service. Read More...
UK airline giant Virgin Atlantic has partnered with the Sustainable Restaurant Association, a non-profit that helps UK restaurants improve environmental footprints, to have its entire global catering operation assessed for sustainability. Read More...
Samsung and LG now have dozens of television models rated on the Electronic Product Environmental Tool (EPEAT) global registry for greener electronics, which recently expanded to include televisions.EPEAT claims this is the first time a comprehensive standard has been available for consumers, companies and governments to identify eco-friendly televisions, including HDTVs and Smart TVs. Read More...
Global Fresh Foods, which specializes in extending the shelf life of fresh food, recently announced it has begun using its technology to ship fresh salmon from Chile by sea to the west coast of the U.S. without using ice, environmentally harmful polystyrene foam packaging or expensive carbon emissions-heavy air freight. Read More...
To prepare for this year's Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) competition, we're catching up with some of our favorite entrepreneurial ventures from competitions past ... The next time you visit the loo, consider yourself lucky. While many might think little about answering nature’s call, some 2.5 billion people — or roughly 40 percent of the global population — do not have access to a toilet. In areas lacking adequate facilities, human waste can contaminate drinking water, which when combined with malnutrition, often causes gastrointestinal infections such as diarrhea. Read More...
Whole Foods and Gotham Greens have come together to construct the country’s first commercial-scale greenhouse farm integrated within a retail grocery space in Brooklyn. Read More...
Facebook last week received permission from the Menlo Park City Council to break ground on its second campus, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry and featuring a tree-covered rooftop garden. Read More...
Google has announced an initiative to support non-profits in the United Kingdom that use technology in innovative ways to solve global problems. Read More...
Forestry has always been critical to the livelihood of residents in the western North Carolina Mountains, but the economically distressed area has suffered since the furniture industry mostly vacated the region. Thanks to the efforts of Marty and Chris McCurry, co-founders of Highland Craftsmen, things are changing. Read More...