Climate Action

While energy conservation efforts in Japan are progressing, household energy consumption continues to rise. The Japanese government has set a goal for more than half of all newly- constructed detached houses to be ZEH by 2020, and almost all newly-built houses by 2030. However, ZEH accounted for only about 4.3% of newly built detached houses in fiscal 2016, indicating a low rate of adoption.

Whirlpool Corporation is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world. In their Ohio plant, they had more than 20 million pounds of corrugated cardboard waste, and are anticipated saving more than $1 million over the next three years. The passion around sustainability is being able to see the impact and being able to go home and tell your children what you do.

With the UN Climate Change Conference COP23 taking place in Germany early November, this month's GRI podcast features an interview with Munich Airport telling about their innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We also have a report from our Regional Hub China, and a round-up of the latest sustainability news.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)'s leadership on Climate Action is featured in this month's Supply Chain Navigator by Avnet.

Most of us associate Napa and Sonoma counties with delicious wine and rolling hills. But this year those hills were ablaze. Dozens lost their lives, thousands were displaced, and millions of people suffered from the fire’s noxious fumes. This week on Sea Change Radio our guests are journalist Jeremy Miller whose recent article about the fires appeared in the New Yorker magazine, and Ed Struzik who just published a book chronicling the connection between wildfires and climate change.

The water crisis and its resulting challenges have also impacted business and industry around the world, and will continue to do so. The expanding global industry in water-related products and services includes bottled water, water purification, desalination, and recovery technologies in addition to dam and pipeline construction, urban water and sewage infrastructure, irrigation technologies, and agribusiness. In addition, numerous other sectors are deemed to be particularly vulnerable to water stresses including waterintensive sectors such as clothing, automobiles, food and beverage, biotech and pharmaceutical, electronics, mining, refining, and electric utilities (Pacific Institute, 2007).

Rabobank and UN Environment announced the creation of a new one-billion-dollar facility to finance sustainable agriculture using a combination of public and private funding. Together they also invite other interested financial institutions to sign up and work actively with global food companies to put this into practice.

BSR and the We Mean Business coalition introduce the Climate Policy Tracker—a freely available online platform designed to help businesses determine which climate policies are relevant to them across key regions and sectors.

Kern High School District in California installed SunPower carport solar systems at 25 of its sites, allowing them to save money and conserve energy, thanks to financing from Wells Fargo.

For the fourth consecutive year, TD Bank Group (TD) remains a top scoring Canadian bank in CDP's analysis on leadership in carbon reporting and management in Canada. TD maintained its performance score of A- in the financials category, and is among the top 18 percent highest scoring companies globally, across all sectors.