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Category Archives: News
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Cindy Tickle in News 3 hours ago
Walmart will hand over its sustainability reigns to Andrea Thomas. She has been named the new senior vice president of Sustainability for the retail giant. Thomas will replace Matt Kistler who is transitioning into a new role as senior vice president of Marketing on the Walmart U.S. team. Leslie Dach, Walmart’s executive vice president of… Read More…
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Jonathan Banco in International 11 hours ago
One thing you will notice walking the streets of any eastern Chinese city these days is the burgeoning consumer middle class. What might not be initially as evident is whether the Nike, Louis Vuitton or Polo they are sporting is real or counterfeit. According to a recent New York Times Magazine article, “Inside the Knockoff… Read More…
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Emily DeMasi in Corporate Social Responsibility 1 day ago
Range Resources submitted its first voluntary disclosures form of Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on August 12, but is this enough to ensure responsible development of this natural gas source and protect PA’s water supply? The Marcellus Shale is a Middle Devonian-age black, low density, carbonaceous (organic rich)… Read More…
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Lane Jost in News 5 days ago
The national conversation on local food systems continues to evolve in complexity, intrigue and now, rigor. On the front page of today’s Chicago Tribune is a story about a University of Chicago geophysics professor who is examining the merits — in carbon intensity terms – of local versus conventional farming. Professor Pamela Martin along with… Read More…
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Urban Partnership Bank, the reincarnation of pioneer CDFI ShoreBank Corp, cut its workforce by 20% last week. Is this a necessary evil to continue a good banking mission? ShoreBank, the Chicago-based community bank that since 1973 was a leader in the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) industry, was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on… Read More…
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The New York Times is reporting that major multinational banks are growing weary of delivering debt to industrial extraction projects, such as mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. The piece looks at a recent policy shift by Wells Fargo in providing financing for coal projects: “In the most recent example, the banking giant Wells… Read More…
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Keenan Shaw in Energy 8 days ago
Two decades have past since a solar thermal power plant has been approved in California and on Wednesday, the California Energy Commission approved a 250 mega-watt solar thermal plant. The Beacon Solar Energy Project will be a step forward for California coming closer to the law that was set out for investor-owned utility companies to… Read More…
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The words “pharmaceutical company,” “sustainability” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” rarely go hand in hand, but a global Pharmaceutical Company boasting local impact in the Pittsburgh region might just be what the Doctor ordered. Bayer recently released it’s 2009 Sustainability Report and with it some lofty goals for Bayer’s operations in the Pittsburgh region, among them a… Read More…
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Yesterday I took a little bit of a swipe at Bon Appétit Management’s cage-free SHELL egg commitment asking whether or not such move could push the $590 billion commercial food-service market to raise animal welfare standards nationally. Today Bon Appétit (BAMCO) is back in the news with a compelling initiative that preserves summer produce for… Read More…
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Last Sunday’s New York Times Week in Review section took a look at burgeoning cage-free regulations for egg-laying hens in California, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Maine. Currently only 2% of America’s hens are raised outside of battery cages (8 x 8 inches allotted to each bird; 6 birds to a cage). After… Read More…
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On Monday, the E.P.A. announced that over 100 cement kilns will have to reduce the pollution they emit. This will be very costly to the cement industry, with each producer estimated at having to spend around $1 billion a year to keep up with the E.P.A.’s regulations. A majority of the mercury and particulate matter… Read More…
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Nathan Schock in News 27 days ago
Wouldn’t it be cool if there were an online daily newspaper made up of the things that top environmental reporters thought were worth sharing? It’s not only possible, it’s here thanks to a new service called Paper.li (which I first heard about on the excellent podcast For Immediate Release) which allows you to turn a… Read More…
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So the US government decided to sneak a rider into the Financial Reform Bill in an attempt to address the issue of conflict minerals coming out of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The goal is to dry up revenue that fuels rebel fighting in the region. As I mentioned in Part I last… Read More…
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Mining in DRC There has been a whole lot of chatter in recent days about a little provision tucked into the newly adopted Financial Reform Bill. That provision is the Conflict Minerals mandate, which basically states that companies using “columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, gold, wolframite or their derivatives” (and others at the discretion of the Secretary… Read More…
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A recent United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)/Accenture study of 766 corporate CEOs has found that 93% of executives surveyed believe that sustainability will be a key factor in the future of their businesses. So, I suppose CSR is the new Tiger Woods for the global management consulting behemoth?
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In a year where we’ve seen the largest oil spill in American history, the decimation of a tourist economy in the Gulf of Mexico, and oh yeah, and some of the most sweltering temperatures in cities from Chicago to Boston, the Democrats have scrapped any immediate plans to put a price on carbon emissions.
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Apega/WENN Today’s Chicago Tribune business section has a stunning report on the Republic of South Korea’s $25 million plan to reduce energy consumption at some of downtown Chicago’s largest skyscrapers. The operation will focus on retrofitting HVAC and lighting systems in up to 14 buildings. Joining Korea in the agreement are the Building Owners and… Read More…
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The bigger question… why do tech companies claim that it is virtually impossible to determine if they are sourcing conflict minerals?
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Fletcher Allen staff member, Anne Rowell, sets out pizzas under a display of Wednesday’s special: a cheese steak sandwich, made with beef raised locally without the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics. The roll and cheese are also Vermont products and the side of pasta salad is home made. Annually, Fletcher Allen uses about 40,000 pounds of… Read More…
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“Perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire [Dictionnaire Philosophique -- 1764] Yesterday’s news from the Gulf was better than it has been: BP has begun to make consequential strides at plugging the deep-water oil leak. Since the explosion, we’ve seen dramatic responses from the left (no more oil and gas exploration), the right… Read More…
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According to Fortune, BP is ranked number four on its annual Global 500 Most Profitable list. Based on 2009 data, BP made $16,578 million in profits, and the oil giant is going to need every penny. The cost to repair (if that’s even possible) the worst oil spill in U.S. history is running into the… Read More…
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Today’s New York Times has a brilliant report on the battle royalle being waged in the hipster-strewn streets of Portland, Oregon over the integrity, meaning and yes, swine-worthiness of local food. According to the Grey Lady, Portland chef Eric Bechard (top) dropped his gloves outside a bar after confronting an outsider chef (oh, the horror)… Read More…
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Heidi Tolliver-Nigro in Corporate Social Responsibility 61 days ago
This week, Greenpeace released a new report “How Sinar Mas Is Pulping the Planet.” The conclusions were highly critical of Asia Pulp & Paper, one of the largest vertically integrated pulp and paper companies in the world. According to Greenpeace, APP is gobbling up tropical forest for fiber production, lying about its intentions to scale… Read More…
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Famed international jeweler Tiffany and Company has recently signaled its intent to expand a metrics-driven CSR and sustainability program from its Madison Avenue headquarters. This is exciting news for the field, as it is hard to imagine a global corporation with a more mythic brand resonance. With a reported 19% share of the global jewelery… Read More…
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Oil companies and shareholders most likely to benefit from lifting the ban on new offshore exploration and deepwater drilling not the “little guy”. As I watch the news, I’m hearing both sides of debate regarding the deepwater, offshore drilling moratorium, which was sparked by the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama Administration… Read More…
