Corporate Responsibility

In celebration of April’s Earth Month 2018, and at this critical time for wildlife conservation, 21CF partnered with National Geographic to launch our third annual exclusive photography competition. Animals play a vital role in keeping our environment balanced and running smoothly and, to honor that, we invited our colleagues to share their best photos of creatures and critters from around the world—whether a shot from their travels or a selfie with a beloved pet.

Walmart announced plans to offer subsidized college tuition for its 1.4 million workers in the United States, joining a growing list of companies that are helping employees pay for higher education as a perk in a tight labor market.

Ceres and CookESG Research released a new tool for identifying corporate disclosure of human and workers’ rights risks and opportunities in annual financial filings. The tool covers more than 5,000 U.S. and foreign companies’ filings (10-K, 20-F and 40-F) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC search tool also expands Ceres’ work to address investors’ concerns about improving the disclosure of decision-useful sustainability information in mandatory filings.

The Arbor Day Foundation announced an expanded partnership with Denver Mattress to plant at least 10,000 trees in the Mississippi River Valley. Through the partnership, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant one tree per Aspen Collection Mattress sold. Aspen, by Denver Mattress, is thoughtfully designed in Colorado and committed to sustainability.

In partnership with Guild Education, a leading education benefits platform, Walmart associates will be able to access affordable, high-quality associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in Business or Supply Chain Management. Under the program, which will be made available to all Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club associates, Walmart will subsidize the cost of higher education, beyond financial aid and an associate contribution equivalent to $1 a day.

Organizers have announced the 10 finalists out of nearly 50 entries from Grand Rapids Public Schools student artists who will have their energy-related art work highlighted during this fall’s ArtPrize competition through collaboration with the school district and Consumers Energy.

“The Big Story” in this week’s edition of the Brands Taking Stands Newsletter focuses on the NFL’s adoption of a new policy about players’ protesting during the playing of the national anthem. The organization is in brand reputation management mode following last season’s controversy over the protests, aimed at drawing attention to social injustice by kneeling during the music instead of standing.

April and May have been successful months for Schneider Electric, ranked twice for its corporate responsibility by non-financial rating agencies; ISS-Oekom and Vigeo Eiris. With 25 years experience on conducting an annual report on sustainability in corporate management, ISS-Oekom featured Schneider Electric as leader of the Electronic Components and one of top 6 French leader companies of their sectors among with: Valeo, Peugeot, Amundi, CNP Assurances, and Sanofi on ISS-Oekom Corporate Responsibility Review 2018.

Experts agree that creativity is critical to success in the future. But can creativity be taught? If so, how? Middle school teachers are finding answers to these questions in a program that aims to put today’s students on the path to success in tomorrow’s jobs.

Sustainable Brands® recently announced final program details for SB’18 Vancouver, running June 4-7 at Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, British Columbia. Programming this year will take place on the mainstage, through breakout sessions and workshops, and in the Activation Hub, the central networking and collaboration hub of the conference.