Impact & Sustainability News From Leading Brands

Health & Healthcare

Children’s Hospitals: Investing in the Health of Our Communities

Aug 15, 2018 10:05 AM ET

Sharing our time, talent and financial resources with our neighbors is one of our greatest responsibilities as a profitable company – and we’ve seen how our contributions can improve lives and strengthen communities.

Diversity & Inclusion

Sodexo Provides More Than 1,000 Meals to Homeless Veterans at San Diego Stand Down Event

Aug 15, 2018 10:00 AM ET

Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company committed to Quality of Life, provided more than 1,000 meals along with employment services for homeless veterans and support providers during the Stand Down event, June 29 through July 1 at San Diego High School in San Diego, CA. The 31st annual Stand Down program was hosted by Veterans Village of San Diego with support from the United States Marine Corps West Coast. Approximately 3,000 volunteers and 150 service providers assisted the 800 homeless veterans and families. More than 35 Sodexo volunteers hosted meals as well as offered employment services such as resume and job application assistance for the veterans.

Education

Prescription Drug Safety Curriculum Increased Student Knowledge by 49 Percent in its Inaugural Academic Year

Aug 15, 2018 10:00 AM ET

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Domtar Takes Next Step in Lignin Development with Prisma

Aug 15, 2018 9:45 AM ET

Education

Close the Gap’s DigiTruck on a Tour Through Kenya

Aug 15, 2018 9:35 AM ET

One of Close the Gap’s DigiTrucks (the one sponsored by Arrow Electronics) is currently traveling through Kenya. Two of Close the Gap’s local partner organisations, who are also the operators of this DigiTruck, Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK) and the WEEE Centre, are touring through different Kenyan (sub)counties the next few weeks.

Environment

How Soil Scientists Can Do a Better Job of Making Their Research Useful

Aug 15, 2018 9:35 AM ET

Soil is a vital part of the natural environment. It supports the growth of plants, is a habitat for many different organisms and is at the heart of nearly all agricultural production. It also plays an integral role in countless other ecosystem services like water and climate regulation.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Giving Back that Stands Out: Symantec's Volunteer of the Quarter

Aug 15, 2018 9:25 AM ET

Innovation & Technology

Lessening Environmental Impact: Intelligent Industrial Plants

Aug 15, 2018 9:05 AM ET

HPE and ABB formed a global partnership which will create sweeping new business opportunities for our shared customers, transforming the way energy and materials are used and dramatically lessening environmental impact. Our joint offering combines ABB’s industry-leading digital offerings, ABB Ability™, with HPE’s innovative Hybrid IT and Intelligent Edge solutions.

Education

Sodexo and Saint Louis University Partner to Enhance Culinary Experience on Campus

Aug 15, 2018 9:05 AM ET

Sodexo, a food and facilities management company committed to improving Quality of Life, has been selected to provide residential dining, retail and catering to the 18,000 students, faculty and staff of Saint Louis University (SLU) through 2028. In addition to immediately expanding the variety of fare and elevating customer service, Sodexo will offer its award-winning Simple Servings concept when its contract commences in August. Over the course of the next year, Sodexo will work closely with University leadership and the Student Dining Advisory Board to understand the unique culinary needs of the SLU community to deliver a custom and appealing culinary experience on campus.

Sustainable Development Goals

Abbott and PATH Fight Malnutrition with a Better Fortified Rice

Aug 15, 2018 9:05 AM ET

Many people around the world rely on rice as a staple food. But rice can leave a lot to be desired as a complete food – it contains very little in the way of essential vitamins and minerals, including iron. This lack of nutrients contributes to high rates of anemia and children who are underweight and behind in their physical development.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Four Guiding Principles for Rethinking Your Workforce

Aug 15, 2018 9:00 AM ET

With 46 percent of employers reporting difficulty filling jobs and looming uncertainty around how artificial intelligence and automation will impact the future of work, CSR and HR leaders are testing and innovating new models for managing talent that are critical to the future success of their companies.

Social Impact & Volunteering

SROI Accreditation Training for Practitioners

Aug 14, 2018 7:20 PM ET

This fall register for SROI Accreditation training in Toronto (October 16-17, 2018) and Calgary (November 6-7, 2018).

Health & Healthcare

Big Impact in Bio: Building Communities

Aug 14, 2018 6:00 PM ET

In this video, Amgen Scholars alumni tell their #BigImpactinBio stories, focusing on the importance of community building in science. Rachel Lucero (ASP 2014, University of California, San Diego) is a STEM teacher at the Dunbar School in Washington, D.C.; Marta Andrés Terré, Ph.D. (ASP 2010, Karolinska Institutet) is a scientist at the Bain & Company; Joshua Yang (ASP 2013, University of California, San Diego) is co-founder of Helispot and an M.D./Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University; and Stylianos Serghiou, M.D. (ASP 2010, University of Cambridge) is a Ph.D student at Stanford University.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

How Sappi's $165M Investment Will Reshape its Business

Aug 14, 2018 5:40 PM ET

In February 2017, Sappi announced the approval of a $165 million capital project that will expand Sappi North America’s manufacturing capabilities and flexibility to include a variety of consumer packaging products. The project, slated to come online in 2018, will take place at the Somerset Mill in Skowhegan, Maine.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

African Food Businesses Get Nurturing from Well-Known Giants

Aug 14, 2018 5:20 PM ET

Volunteers from some of the world’s biggest food producers, who decades ago took food-making from kitchen to the factory, are offering guidance to African entrepreneurs and helping nations become less dependent on imported food.

Social Impact & Volunteering

VMware Citizen Philanthropists Organize Bangalore E-Waste Drive

Aug 14, 2018 3:50 PM ET

On July 21, 150 Citizen Philanthropists at VMware Bangalore designed a custom service learning project: door-to-door e-waste collection. The group divided into 12 teams to collect e-waste from the Koramangala neighborhood. Volunteers worked with local radio and newspaper, businesses, and social media influencers to promote the drive, and partnered with local nonprofits, Saahas and Ensyde, to facilitate recycling.

Research, Reports & Publications

Gildan Releases 2017 Genuine Responsibility™ Report and New CSR Website

Aug 14, 2018 3:00 PM ET

Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL; TSX and NYSE) announces the release of its Genuine Responsibility™ 2017 report now available on its new dedicated CSR website www.genuineresponsibility.com. This year’s report, once again prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Comprehensive option, highlights the Company’s 2017 results, key priorities and future commitments toward its vision of Making Apparel Better™.

Innovation & Technology

Shedding an Outmoded Paper Trail in Serbia

Aug 14, 2018 2:30 PM ET

Let’s time-travel to Serbia, circa 1999: it was a time before smartphones or Wi-Fi. The largest hard disk available had a 340MB capacity and cost USD$499. Meanwhile, the volume of printed paper generated for record-keeping and the demands of the modern age was reaching new heights with each passing day. Today, every consumer product we desire is ’one click away.’

Sustainable Development Goals

Leveraging the Human Factor to Manage Extreme Weather Events

Aug 14, 2018 1:50 PM ET

As part of Bechtel’s commitment to contribute 100 ideas to support the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we share insights on leveraging the “human factor” to improve resilience from extreme weather events. These insights are based on a joint IBM-Bechtel field project Puerto Rico.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND: Lending a Hand to Puerto Rico

Aug 14, 2018 12:40 PM ET

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017 and left a majority of the island without power, homes and roads destroyed, and water contaminated, Northern Trust’s Latin Heritage Leadership Council (LHLC) partnered with other Chicago-area firms to provide help.

Innovation & Technology

Connecting More Than 6 Million Low-Income Americans

Aug 14, 2018 12:35 PM ET

Comcast today announced it has now connected more than six million low-income Americans to the Internet through its Internet Essentials program, which is the largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program for low-income families in the U.S. The company connected more than two million people in the last year alone, which is the largest annual increase in the program’s history. The company also announced it will significantly expand eligibility – for the eleventh time in seven years – to low-income veterans, nearly one million of whom live within the Comcast footprint. According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey, less than 70 percent of low-income veterans have Internet access, and about 60 percent own a computer.

Events, Media & Communications

CR Leads from Aflac and Tupperware to Emcee at 3BL Forum

Aug 14, 2018 12:30 PM ET

Catherine Hernandez-Blades, Senior Vice President; Chief Brand and Communications Officer, Aflac, and Mark Shamley, Vice President, Global Social Impact, Tupperware, lead corporate responsibility at two mission-driven Fortune 1000 brands.

Environment

Philippines to Access the Green Climate Fund

Aug 14, 2018 12:10 PM ET

“Ambition enables finance,” said Redentor Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, as he introduced another way of merging climate-related action and finance to achieve a low-carbon and resilient economy in the Philippines. Echoing the words of Senator Loren Legarda, Constantino said that economic resilience, especially in the face of climate threats, entailed a strategic use of available funding from the local through to the international level.

Environment

Denali National Park Tackles Trash With Zero-Landfill Initiative

Aug 14, 2018 12:05 PM ET

A record number of visitors traveled to Interior Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve last year, but they left behind less trash than a few years before. A push to send less waste to the local landfill is working, officials say.

Events, Media & Communications

Partnership and Purpose at Sustainable Brands

Aug 14, 2018 12:00 PM ET

I was excited to attend and present at Sustainable Brands 2018. My research focuses on how organizations are engaging with sustainability challenges, and my work’s motivation stems from my deep-seated hope that business will transform how we address the many societal challenges that we face today. I believe that business is uniquely situated to help solve challenges like climate change and poverty. It was inspiring to hear from hundreds of companies at Sustainable Brands that are working to redefine how they do business—to do well by doing good.