Impact & Sustainability News From Leading Brands

Education

Designing a Way to Measure the Impact of Design

Mar 15, 2017 11:00 AM ET

A group of diverse funders, business leaders, and practitioners are looking to quantify the potential of social design—the application of design methodologies to solutions for complex human problems—to improve lives.

Education

Alice Heicklen: Enriching the Amgen Scholars Experience at Columbia

Mar 15, 2017 10:40 AM ET

To design and execute a summer research program like Amgen Scholars is no easy feat. The 10-week program at Columbia University and Barnard College in New York requires year-round planning to nail down faculty lectures, laboratory tours, graduate student and career panels, housing, flights, social events, and seminars in science communication.

Diversity & Inclusion

Barclays Celebrates International Women's Day

Mar 15, 2017 10:35 AM ET

International Women’s Day (IWD) acknowledges the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women while advocating and pushing for gender parity.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

SCA Gets Top Ranking for Sustainability in WI

Mar 15, 2017 10:15 AM ET

This is the first year SCA has applied for this award, competing with 200 other businesses and coming in among the top 20%.

Education

The Power Skills in an Age of Disruption

Mar 15, 2017 10:05 AM ET

“Almost 43 percent of the global youth labor force is either unemployed or working, yet living in poverty,” according to Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015 by the International Labour Organization. In countries with mature economies, nearly one in five students don’t acquire a minimum level of basic skills needed to be gainfully employed.

A striking trend juxtaposes the un- and underemployed young people around the world. According to PwC’s 18th Annual Global CEO Survey of 1300 leaders, CEOs now find it so difficult to identify people with the skills to grow their business that 75 percent rank the skills shortage as the number one threat to their success. Forty percent of global employers report a talent shortage in their organization, according to the Manpower Group.

Green Infrastructure

Bechtel Helps Launch “Building Responsibly” Initiative to Promote Global Worker Welfare

Mar 15, 2017 10:05 AM ET

Bechtel, the leading global engineering, procurement, and construction firm today announced the formation of a global coalition aimed at improving worker safety and productivity standards for construction and engineering projects as well as for their relevant supply chains. Together with Amec Foster Wheeler, CH2M, Fluor, Multiplex, and Vinci, Bechtel is launching the Building Responsibly initiative focused on advancing efforts of construction and engineering firms to more effectively align with international human rights frameworks, promote a healthier environment for workers, and further improve project delivery and quality for customers.

Events, Media & Communications

Discover the Future of Reporting at the 4th International Conference of the Reporting 3.0 Platform May 30-31, 2017 in Amsterdam

Mar 15, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Do you think the current reporting regimes and practices are fit-to-purpose for spurring the emergence of a truly green, inclusive and open global economy? Neither do we. That’s why we formed the Reporting 3.0 Platform (R3) – to build on the foundation of progress set by existing reporting standards and frameworks by identifying the gaps they leave, and working with our ecosystem of positive mavericks to fill those gaps with future-fit practices.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

A Home for KJ

Mar 15, 2017 10:00 AM ET

KJ joined his adoptive family when he was just four months old. For nearly three years they cared for him as foster parents and finally in 2016 they were able to start the adoption process. Welcome Home KJ!

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Cox Enterprises Creates Clean Energy in West Virginia

Mar 15, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Cox Enterprises announced today the completion of the New River Energy Facility in Beckley, W. Va. The facility captures landfill gas to generate energy and reduce methane emissions, which produces positive outcomes for the local community and the environment. The facility has the capacity to annually offset 14,200 tons of carbon and produce enough clean energy to power nearly 2,000 homes.

Environment

National Nonprofit Keep America Beautiful Joins Corporate Partners to Boost Recycling in Flint, Michigan, Schools

Mar 15, 2017 9:05 AM ET

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Sanitary Towels and Shoes Help Children Stay in School

Mar 15, 2017 9:00 AM ET

De Beers has stepped in to provide shoes and sanitary towels for dozens of South African children to prevent them from missing out on their schooling

Diversity & Inclusion

UN Global Compact Launches the Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool

Mar 15, 2017 8:05 AM ET

The UN Global Compact has launched the WEP's Gender Gap Analysis Tool, an online platform which helps global business leaders identify strengths, gaps and opportunities to improve gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace and within the markets and communities they serve. The tool offers an assessment of a company’s progress in advancing gender equality, profiling companies as “Beginner”, “Improver,” “Achiever” or “Leader”.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Environmental Leader 50 2017

Mar 15, 2017 6:00 AM ET

Environment

High & Dry: Talking Groundwater

Mar 14, 2017 8:30 PM ET

Diversity & Inclusion

Breaking the Bad News: How to Effectively Deliver Health and Safety Feedback

Mar 14, 2017 2:50 PM ET

Picture this: you walk through a site, completing your intended tasks and observing employee activities. Suddenly, you see one employee completing an activity that puts them at risk for an injury, possibly a serious or fatal injury.

So what do you do? The incident might be outside the scope of your current work, or in a department you haven't interacted with. But you realize you cannot, in good conscience, simply ignore the problem

Responsible Production & Consumption

Danone and Nestlé Waters Launch NaturALL Bottle Alliance with California Startup to Develop 100% Bio-Based Bottles

Mar 14, 2017 2:15 PM ET

The project uses biomass feedstocks, such as previously used cardboard and sawdust, so it does not divert resources or land from food production for human or animal consumption.

Health & Healthcare

Top Ten GSK Responsible Business Highlights in 2016

Mar 14, 2017 2:10 PM ET

GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. Our mission is to help people do more, feel better and live longer. We do this by researching and developing medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products that improve people’s lives.

Health & Healthcare

Combating Antibiotic Resistance

Mar 14, 2017 2:10 PM ET

Resistance to antibiotics is a major public health crisis, with 700,000 people dying every year from drug resistant infections. We have 70 years of expertise in antibiotics and we’re committed to continuing our research in this area.

Innovation & Technology

Innovation for Social Impact: Wrapping-up the First Living Progress Challenge

Mar 14, 2017 2:10 PM ET

Research, Reports & Publications

Arrow Electronics: Innovating Lives

Mar 14, 2017 2:00 PM ET

Social Impact & Volunteering

Mentoring for Youth Entrepreneurship in Latin America

Mar 14, 2017 1:15 PM ET

Finding quality jobs for young people in Latin America, especially jobs outside of the informal sector that provide fair wages and just working conditions, is a growing socioeconomic concern. The United Nations reports that Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing the largest youth population in history with one in five people between the ages of 15-24. The unemployment rate for this age group is three times higher than for people between the ages of 30-64. For many young people, entrepreneurship has become a survival strategy, demonstrated by the fact that small businesses employ 67 percent of the workforce. However, 90 percent of these small businesses fail within the first two years.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

General Motors Recognized for $1 Million Contribution to the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program

Mar 14, 2017 1:15 PM ET

The American Red Cross today recognized General Motors (GM), headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, for supporting Red Cross disaster relief at home and around the world through the Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) with an annual donation of $1 million.

Innovation & Technology

DREAM BIG: Engineering Our World Opened Worldwide on Feb. 17

Mar 14, 2017 1:00 PM ET

Bechtel, a global leader in engineering, procurement, and construction, in partnership with film producer MacGillivray Freeman Films (MFF) and the American Society of Civil Engineers is supporting a new IMAX 3-D film, DREAM BIG: Engineering Our World. On Feb. 15, Bechtel and its partners hosted a World Premiere at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater in Washington, DC. The film was released on Feb. 17 at movie theaters and science centers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and it is designed to inspire children in grades K-12.

Energy

The International Living Future Institute's Streamlined NZE + Reveal Programs

Mar 14, 2017 1:00 PM ET

As industry awareness of net zero energy has grown, the need for a simple certification process has become clear.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

CBRE Group, Inc. Named a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company for Fourth Straight Year

Mar 14, 2017 12:50 PM ET

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) has been recognized as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company® by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This is the fourth year in a row CBRE has achieved this recognition.