NEW METRICS -
Two years in the making, the first global Natural Capital Protocol was launched today. The standardized framework brings together and builds on a number of approaches that already exist to help business measure and value natural capital. The Natural Capital Coalition suggests that by harmonizing these existing approaches, businesses everywhere can benefit from understanding their relationships with nature.
NEW METRICS -
Many businesses have come to better understand the critical importance of nature as an input, but the question still remains as to how its value compares to other assets — not as lumber or drinking water or a fancy dinner, but as standing forests, healthy aquifers or living organisms.
NEW METRICS -
Think tank and sustainable management consultancy SolAbility recently released its fourth Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (GSCI), a ranking of 180 countries for “sustainable competitiveness,” defined as the ability to generate and sustain inclusive wealth and dignifying standard of life for all citizens in a globalised world of competing economies.Iceland topped the list for the second year running, followed by other Scandinavian nations. The only non-European countries in the top 20 are Japan (11), New Zealand (12), and Canada (16). The US ranked 41 and the UK ranked 48; China and Russia ranked above them at 25 and 33, respectively.
WASTE NOT -
At SB ’14 San Diego, the Plastic Disclosure Project, the UN Environment Program and Trucost unveiled the fist-ever assessment of plastic use in business, along with the business case for dealing with its global impacts: Among the sobering figures, the report calculated the total natural capital cost of pl
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The Dow Chemical Company on Tuesday announced the launch a new family of resins that offers unprecedented performance levels to help customers address some of today’s most challenging packaging performance gaps.Innate Precision Packaging Resins are created from a patented molecular catalyst coupled with advanced process technology, which Dow says will empower customers to unlock new packaging opportunities through “unmatched stiffness-toughness balance, processing ease and improved sustainability profiles.”
PRESS RELEASE -
NatureBank is at the intersection of finance and natural assets, producing long term, sustainable returns.Oct. 20, 2015, Vancouver, BC – In response to growing demand for sustainable commodities including cocoa, carbon and timber, Vancouver, BC-based company Offsetters Climate Solutions has formed NatureBank Asset Management, through a merger with Forest Finest Consulting, a German sustainable commodities company.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Last month, the Green Electronics Council (GEC) unveiled new research carried out by Trucost that highlights the importance of advancing best circular-economy practices throughout the electronics sector.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Coca-Cola, Dow and Nestlé are among the 10 companies testing the new draft of the Natural Capital Protocol against specific business applications.The Protocol will provide decision-making support to businesses in their risk-management processes, exploration of new revenue streams, and in product and value chain innovation. It is a product of the Natural Capital Coalition, a global platform that brings together the different initiatives and organizations working in natural capital under a common vision of a world where business conserves and enhances natural capital.
NEW METRICS -
Just in time for World Water Week, the Water Risk Monetizer, industry’s first publicly available financial modeling tool that enables businesses to factor current and future water risks into decision making, now provides users with insights into how water scarcity impacts revenue. The tool’s new assessment helps water-dependent businesses better understand the full value of water to their operations and identify revenue at risk based on current and projected water scarcity.
NEW METRICS -
Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) is an emerging methodology in the private sector, aimed at measuring the dependency and impact of companies on natural systems. NCA helps in quantifying the value of usually intangible assets from nature (such as water, pollination, etc). NCA allows mitigating risks but also identifies opportunities to reduce costs, innovate and become more resilient.
NEW METRICS -
Today, Kering released the results of its Environmental Profit and Loss Account (EP&L) — measuring the environmental footprint of its operations and across supply chains — and released the methodology as an open-source tool to encourage other corporations to clarify their impact on the environment.
NEW METRICS -
According to a recent study in Ecosystem Services, businesses may pay more for less reliable sources of water in the future.
BUSINESS CASE -
This week, Procter & Gamble published its 16th annual sustainability report, which reveals how the CPG giant made far-reaching — and as it turns out, lucrative — improvements to its global operations years ahead of schedule.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Of the 50 certified wineries, surprisingly, only three have opted to display the Napa Green logo on their labels — despite the time and cost involved in obtaining those certifications — so, I dug a little deeper.
NEW METRICS -
The Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) announced this week its selection of two consortia to develop what will be known as the Natural Capital Protocol.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Greenpeace continued its campaign against LEGO on Tuesday with the release of a dramatic video, called “Everything Is NOT Awesome,” aimed at further illustrating the reasons the toy company should sever its ties with Shell, which Greenpeace contends is putting the delicate Arctic marine environment at risk through its oil drilling.
PRESS RELEASE -
From 2002 to 2011, Arizona lost a quarter of its forests to wildfires, drought and bark beetle infestation. Decreased public funding for forest thinning and the low economic value of small diameter wood has made the state’s forests especially vulnerable to devastating fires and drought.
NEW METRICS -
Nature is valuable. But figuring out how valuable has been challenging. By some measures, the services that nature provides business and society — clean water, food and metals, natural defense from storms and floods, and much more — are worth many trillions of dollars. But that number is not helpful to companies trying to assess how dependent they are on natural resources, or how to value them as business inputs.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Cruise ships dumped more than a billion gallons of sewage in the ocean last year, much of it raw or poorly treated, according to federal data analyzed by Friends of the Earth, which is calling for stronger rules to protect oceans, coasts, sea life and people.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Greenpeace International tonight launched a report calling out a host of consumer products companies — including Colgate Palmolive, Mondelez International (formerly Kraft), Nestlé Oil, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser and a host of other companies — as guilty by association for rainforest destruction in Indonesia, a crucial habitat region for the endangered Sumatran tiger.A License to Kill: How Deforestation for Palm Oil Is Driving Sumatran Tigers Toward Extinction links the companies to Singapore-based Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil processor, which accounts for over one-third of the global palm oil processing market and has a distribution network covering over 50 countries.