Responsible Production & Consumption

EU Conflict Minerals Update

A mandatory certification process for Conflict Minerals in the European Union is critical. Any voluntary certification that is put in place leads to a grey area for compliance reporting, and the regulation will not serve its purpose.

Events, Media & Communications

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Helps Companies Reimagine the Future of Business

Business needs another industrial revolution—one led by corporations like Phillips, selling light as well as bulbs, or Dell, creating a closed-loop recycled plastics supply chain to recycle computers back into new computers, or the Dow Chemical Company, recovering non-recycled plastics, and converting them into usable energy. While reducing waste is not a new idea, these companies understand the value of a circular economy at work, one in which resources are endlessly cycled back into supply chains, where waste simply does not exist.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

It’s Time Responsible Business Became Business as Usual

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a group of graduate students about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and my own career in social impact. The discussion was stimulating and the students asked probing questions. After the session, a young woman approached me and said that she would love to have a job like mine and change the world, to give away a company’s money to support worthy causes. My heart sank. In my experience, CSR can be a powerful force to transform corporate culture and align business activities with social benefit. While pure philanthropy remains an important component of CSR, the field has evolved beyond giving.

Energy

What Does a Forester in Oregon Have in Common With Aircraft Mechanics Students in Turkey?

Dan Shoun, a Lake County, Oregon Commissioner, who spent 30-plus years with the USDA Forest Service, sees wood-based biofuel as a win-win model to curb wildfire risk, support communities and provide low-carbon fuel.

Environment

Water Conservation: A Way to Make Waves in Your Industry

It’s no surprise that water is at the core of the United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), given its connection to health, climate change and resiliency. The SDGs seek to improve water quality and to substantially increase recycling and safe reuse globally by 2030.

Increasing the efficiency of water consumption at the industry level will help address these goals and also reduce scarcity issues. From using stormwater to flush toilets to installing low-flow nozzles where appropriate, conserving water will drive efficiency and also help companies save money. Here are some ways businesses can get started.

Environment

Watch the Bacardi Good Spirited Sustainability Story

Environment

GM Recycles Water Bottles to Make Chevy Equinox Part

General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Reverse Logistics for Retail Gain Wider Regulatory Acceptance

Reverse logistics is a process within the retail community that describes the return of unwanted, damaged, unsold, or dated retail products back to the distribution center, warehouse, supplier or manufacturer, for the purpose of redistribution, recycling, reuse, or disposal. However, retailers can sometimes run afoul of long-standing regulations developed for industrial and manufacturing operations, if items considered hazardous are shipped. Retail employees preparing items for reverse distribution typically lack the extensive training and experience necessary to properly handle hazardous wastes and hazardous materials.

Responsible Production & Consumption

LEED v4 Adopts Living Future's Declare Label

On April 4, 2016, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the Living Future Institute’s Declare label is now an approved pathway for Option 1 of the Building Product Optimization and Disclosure, Material Ingredients credit for LEED v4. Declare labels with ingredient disclosure greater than 1,000ppm now comply with the LEED v4 credit requirements.

Events, Media & Communications

Deirdre White, CEO of PYXERA Global, to Moderate “The Big Partnership Debate” at Responsible Business Summit

Deirdre White, CEO of PYXERA Global, will moderate “The Big Partnership Debate” at this year’s Responsible Business Summit on June 7 and 8. Joined by Walgreens Boots Alliance, Fairtrade Foundation, Oxfam, REN, and The Irish Food Board, this live, interactive session will examine what to look for in partnership opportunities to add real value. Corporate and nonprofit participants will learn how to evaluate if partnership is the right choice for their programming and how to structure this kind of collaboration.

Latest Campaigns

KeyBank: Responsible Banking

Everyone’s financial journey is different. We make intentional efforts to meet the individual needs of clients and communities through a diverse range...

Aflac Insights

Learn more about Aflac’s survey findings to better understand workplace trends as well as consumer attitudes, habits and opinions toward health and...

Whirlpool Corporation & Sustainability

At Whirlpool Corporation, we have a history of advances in sustainability founded on a simple principle: "Do the right things, the right ways. Always...

IWBI | WELL Building Standard

Our built environment can shape our habits and choices, regulate our sleep-wake cycle, drive us toward healthy and unhealthy choices, and passively...

Greener Products and Solutions

We actively integrate sustainability into the product development process and look at all phases of the product life cycle for opportunities to...

Accelerating access to healthcare technology

We believe technology can help close the world’s health gaps. By putting people first, we find new ways to advance health while reducing costs. And...

Sustainability by Antea Group

At Antea Group, we believe the best sustainability programs integrate sustainability into core business practices, we identify and act on relevant...

Sustainable Operations

ops-related sustainability content (e.g., new electric equipment, decarb efforts, etc.)

Housing affordability

We drive solutions to enable people to open doors to a safe and affordable place to call home, the foundation for wellness, dignity, and economic...

FedEx | Empowering Entrepreneurs

Advancing women and minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world. Small to mid-sized businesses power their local economies and...