Corporate Responsibility

The Verizon Innovative Learning program is in its second summer at Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, VA. It's one of 16 locations around the country focused on getting middle school girls in rural communities excited about careers in STEM. Between summer intensives, students meet monthly for field trips and to hone their skills. It’s all part of the Verizon Innovative Learning mission to provide free technology, free internet access and hands-on learning experiences to help underserved students get the education they deserve.

At Abbott, our goal is not just to help people live their best lives through life-changing technology – it's also to make this important work sustainable for the future.

For us, sustainability is about applying the power of our business to drive positive economic, social and environmental impact – making sure that the work we do helps people live healthier and better, both today and for generations to come.

As a working mother, I often have to multi-task. Recently, as I watched my toddler push his food around his plate, I caught up on last week’s news that Fortune had released its annual “Change the World” list of top companies using the profit motive to help the planet and tackle social problems.

Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, today announced the compilation of results of its environmental sustainability goals made in 2014 and expanded its “Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future” environmental initiative to now encompass the company’s entire Corporate Responsibility (CR) platform.

With the expansion, the Good Spirited platform now comprises Marketplace, which includes responsible marketing and responsible drinking, Philanthropy & Community Investment, People, as well as the initial focus areas of Responsible Sourcing and Environment. This commitment aligns family-owned Bacardi’s CR platform with most of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This is the quarterly newsletter for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, a private family foundation that seeks to promote a sustainable society by supporting and funding educational and project-based initiatives that advance knowledge and innovation in sustainability.

Avery Dennison will be the first pressure sensitive labelling material supplier to introduce liner made from recycled PET (rPET) commercially in Europe. This move reflects the firm’s commitment to finding more sustainable solutions for the labelling industry.

The Curiosity Cube made a stop at the Milton Library Saturday. The Curiosity Cube was created with the goal to inspire children with hands-on science to children. MilliporeSigma, a life-science company with a facility in Oakville, created the cube by converting a 22x10-foot shipping container into a mobile science lab.

This year many Georgia schoolchildren will work and play in classrooms and media spaces with a fresh look and energy due in part to Mohawk Industries and the Georgia United Credit Union School Crashers℠ program.

Since the program’s inception five years ago, Mohawk has partnered with the Georgia-based credit union to “crash” select community schools and give them much-needed renovations. Each year hundreds of schools apply for facility makeovers, providing a list of their needs, and School Crashers chooses the lucky winners.

One of the gurus of ESG investing has recently launched a new service for financial advisors (FAs) who want to integrate Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment process. He has created a site called “Sustainable Investing” and filled it with content about ESG investing. Those who subscribe (there is a three month free trial option) get a quarterly newsletter and access to some otherwise hidden research reports.

It’s been a headache-inducing nexus of active regulation, distributed energy and environmentalism for some electric utilities. Plunging costs of solar power and growing concerns of climate change are inspiring swelling ranks of the largest private and Fortune 500 companies pursuing not only aggressive renewable energy goals for sustainability purposes but also cost effectiveness and resiliency. Now utilities are facing the sobering question of whether to significantly invest in green infrastructure to keep these large customers and risk controversial rate cases, or watch helplessly as that caravan of large, rate-paying customers defects, taking considerable revenue with them.