WASTE NOT -
It is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional view of business existing purely to maximise profit for shareholders is not so much wrong as built for another time. Businesses have been slowly moving towards a model that recognises the impact they have on society and the environment, putting increasing amounts of budget and resources towards mitigating that impact. But just minimising the amount of environmental damage a business does is no longer enough.Nor is it sufficient to rely predominantly on CSR to create a good impression. Information is becoming ever more accessible, which means that businesses are subject to greater levels of scrutiny than ever before.
PRODUCTS AND DESIGN -
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced the completion of Whole Foods Market’s flagship Brooklyn store, which it is heralding as a model of energy efficiency and the company’s commitment to protecting the environment. The 56,000-square-foot supermarket was constructed on a former brownfield site restored for the purpose by Whole Foods.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
While thousands of retailers across the U.S. and cyberspace are dusting their shelves and crossing their fingers for lucrative Black Friday and Cyber Monday takes, respectively, thousands of organizations around the world are gearing up for an event that represents the true spirit of the holiday season, #GivingTuesday.
ICT AND BIG DATA -
Safeway, Oakley, Frontier Airlines and Family Dollar are among those that have adopted a new tool that helps to measure the social impact of giving programs.The Impact Reporting tool, developed by Versaic, a San Mateo, Calif.-based online CSR and sustainability program management provider, enables users to track the impact of their donations by automatically requesting follow up information from approved non-profits after the contribution is made or the event is held.Many companies consider reporting on impact a must-have component of a comprehensive giving program, Versaic says. However, often this is easier said than done.Impact Reporting streamlines this process by collecting data and reporting it automatically, which requires no additional work from users.
WASTE NOT -
Today, UK grocery retailer Tesco unveiled food waste figures for its operations and supply chain, alongside figures that show 68 percent of bagged salad in particular is wasted and that 35 percent of this waste occurs in the home.As a first step in reducing this waste, Tesco announced it will end multi-buys on large bags of salad and is developing mix-and-match promotions for smaller bags in a bid to help customers reduce the amount they are wasting at home.Bagged salad is just one of the 25 best-selling grocery products that Tesco has tracked from farm to fork to gain a detailed understanding of where food waste occurs. This is part of the grocer’s commitment to lead in tackling food waste and to work with suppliers and customers to address this.
America’s largest supermarkets and retailers, including Walmart and Whole Foods, are failing to take meaningful steps to replace climate-damaging hydroflourcarbons (HFCs), according to a new report released today by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a U.S.- and London-based nonprofit committed to exposing environmental crime.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Target today announced an important step toward increasing product transparency, which the company says it hopes will lead to more sustainable and innovative products.
Yesterday, Walmart broadcast its Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting through its online portal The Green Room. The meeting celebrated the global retailer’s progress since the launch of its Sustainability Index in August 2012, a collaborative measurement tool that monitors product environmental impact. The essential role of partnerships in achieving progress, alongside the benefits of Walmart’s size and scale in influencing positive change, were key undertones.
Swedish furniture behemoth IKEA, in partnership with the United Nations Refugee Agency and Refugee Housing Unit, is developing a solar-powered, insulated, hard-sided shelter the company claims is a superior alternative to tent-based refugee shelters typically deployed by relief organizations.The shelter is large enough to accommodate taller-than-average people, packs up flat and is expected to cost around $1,000. IKEA says it has sent 56 of these prototypes to refugee camps in Ethiopia, Lebanon and northern Iraq for testing.
Target has introduced a new healthy food collection designed to take make it easier for customers to identify and purchase products free of artificial flavors, colors and preservatives as part of its efforts to increase organic food offerings by 25 percent by end of 2017.The “Simply Balanced” line has committed to refrain from using 105 common food additive ingredients, Target says. Most of the products within the collection are made without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and Target says it plans to remove all GMOs from the Simply Balanced collection by the end of 2014.Several items from the line launched on June 9, with the full collection to arrive in stores by October. The line features nearly 250 organic food products, Target says.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Nike, Levi Strauss, H&M and several other members of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals Group have committed to publishing a list of chemicals targeted for phase out or research by 2015 as part of a plan to eliminate hazardous chemicals from their supply chains by 2020.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Greenpeace today released its 2013 Carting Away the Oceans (CATO) report, which evaluates and ranks supermarkets on their sustainable seafood policies.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
This is the third in a series of posts on things I learned while leading Corporate Social Responsibility at REI for the past seven years (read parts one and two).I’m often asked if incremental improvements can really lead to sustainable business outcomes. In my experience leading sustainability and corporate social responsibility efforts at REI the answer is: yes and no. It all depends on what happens next.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
H&M announced Monday it has publicly committed to supporting the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which was initiated by IndustryALL Global Union and UNI Global Union in response to last month’s deadly building collapse that has claimed some 1100 lives.
LEADERSHIP -
After seven years of working on sustainable business at REI, I am taking some time to reflect and share some of the things I learned. My time at the co-op was a wonderful personal and professional experience, a kind of perfect storm of opportunity: an engaged employee base, a motivated and inspirational leadership, a co-op business model with enthusiastic members all wrapped in a brand and industry position that leveraged $2B in sales well beyond its footprint.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Patagonia is renowned for its consistent environmental support; each year, the outdoor apparel company gives away 1% of its profits to grassroots environmental nonprofits. Now, its new venture capital fund of more than $20 million will support eco-friendly for-profitbusinesses, focusing on energy, food, water or waste-related startups.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Grocery delivery services such as those provided by Safeway, FreshDirect, Amazon and Google can slash carbon dioxide emissions by 20 to 75 percent compared to individual household trips to the market, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has released its 2013 Retail Sustainability Report, which highlights progress towards the industry’s evolving sustainability objectives and identifies a class of top-performing characteristics.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The Co-operative Group, Nestlé and Sainsbury’s say they will improve the sustainability performance of some of their products in response to research from the Product Sustainability Forum.The study, published by the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP), analyzed 50 grocery products with the biggest environmental impact and found that together they contribute between 21 and 33 percent of household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some of the products include such staples as bread, potatoes, bananas and milk.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Within the next five years, all products sold in Whole Foods stores in the U.S. and Canada will be labeled to indicate if they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to a recent announcement.