LEADERSHIP - Trust. It can sound a lot like a buzzword or business jargon, a word or phrase thrown around by leaders when trying to identify, define or solve a problem. Sometimes it’s not even a consideration until it’s lost. According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, only about half of the general population trusts business, government, media and nongovernmental organizations to do the right thing. Trust in business fell to 52 percent, and CEO credibility also fell globally.
WALKING THE TALK - The vinyl industry recently marked its first “sustainability community anniversary” — that moment where industry leaders came together to pledge to embark on our sustainability journey. In the year since, we’ve adopted common sustainability positioning focused on doing more with less, agreed on a purpose-driven continuous improvement path forward, formed the Vinyl Business and Sustainability Council (VBSC), and initiated an industry-wide materiality assessment. There’s still much work to do.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Sustainable chemical management is a critical component of a healthy and circular future. In its second annual report, the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP) revealed encouraging advances across industries towards the use of safer materials and greater transparency.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Gold Standard, an organization established by WWF and other NGOs to catalyze action on climate change, is making it easier for anyone to support sustainable development projects around the world while offsetting their carbon footprint with the opening of an online ‘shop’ for carbon credits. For the first time, members of the public, small businesses and organizations can offset their emissions by purchasing carbon credits online through Gold Standard. The carbon credits offered come from a range of projects in Cambodia, China, Sudan, Ethiopia, Laos, Panama and Rwanda, with plans to add additional projects within the coming months.
WALKING THE TALK - Big news has been rolling out of the Textile Exchange 2017 Textile Sustainability Conference near Washington, D.C. this week, providing evidence of the major paradigm shift taking place in the apparel and textile industry.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - Good for your health, good for the environment, good for the future. These common themes have consumers embracing trends toward products that are responsibly sourced and manufactured. As with many things, consumers hold the key. And for products derived from the forest, the reality is no different.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - Reprinted with permission. This article was originally published in the 25th Anniversary issue of GreenMoney Journal.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - A pioneering new sustainable homeware and accessories brand has emerged on the market and is ready to radically transform the way furniture is made forever. Materials sourcing is where digital furniture startup Pentatonic sets itself apart from its industry counterparts, with its line of contemporary designer homeware fabricated entirely from post-consumer waste.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Hotel booking platform and blog Kind Traveler is changing the way consumers think about travel. Built on a socially conscious ‘Give + Get’ model, the platform aims to empower travelers to become a force of change that benefits communities, the environment and animals. In just its first year of operation, Kind Traveler has already reached 130 hotels, destinations and charities that have come together to fulfill its mission.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT - This week, TruValue Labs unveiled its ESG Momentum™ score – the first ESG indicator that leverages artificial intelligence, big data and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) materiality framework – as part of its Insight360™ suite of products. The score reveals the positive or negative direction, or trend, of ESG performance based on daily data.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Further establishing itself as a strong proponent of increasing the supply of sustainable cotton, denim brand Wrangler has joined Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture as an associate member. The multi-stakeholder initiative is working to unite the agricultural supply chain in defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production in the United States.
WALKING THE TALK - It’s increasingly clear that becoming more sustainable is a business imperative. And it’s not enough to “go green”; companies and industries need to factor in the social and economic impacts of their decisions locally and across their supply chains.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - 2017 has been a busy year for global innovation platform Plug and Play.
MARKETING AND COMMS - Stella McCartney has long been an advocate for sustainable, ethical fashion; the luxury label has been busy over the last several months trying to drive the industry away from a take-make-waste model, announcing plans to use Parley for the Oceans’ recycled plastic yarn and Aquafil’s ECONYL® fiber, made from 100 percent regenerated nylon waste, in its line of shoes, accessories and outerwear
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Fashion continues to make headlines, with news emerging about a new textile breakthrough and shifting attitudes towards clothing across the UK that are helping drive down the industry’s environmental impact.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Nature-inspired solutions designed to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems continue to gain steam as five teams of entrepreneurs from around the world vie for the top prize at the 2017 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Fashion is slowly shedding its negative rep as brands continue to embrace circular and forward-thinking practices that drive innovation and product durability. Only weeks after announcing a new partnership with Parley for the Oceans, luxury label Stella McCartney has made yet another push to keep the world’s oceans waste-free. The brand has revealed that its Autumn 2017 collection of Falabella GO bags will be made with yarn derived from converted ocean waste.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Viscose continues to dominate the news as brands ramp up efforts to eliminate the destruction of ancient and endangered forests and human rights violations from the viscose supply chain, while others fall behind.
COLLABORATION - We can’t become sustainable by going it alone. This is the core tenet that has underpinned the vinyl industry’s sustainability efforts from the onset. As industry leaders first came together to talk about establishing a sustainability platform, there was a general consensus that this was an effort that had to be broad-based and encompass companies across the vinyl value chain.
BLOG - What an honor to be here in this beautiful place with such a great group of passionate leaders — and even more so, to offer you some thoughts as you begin important next steps in your lives — steps that I know will be particularly important to our collective future.