Energy & Infrastructure

UPS today announced its first eBike in the U.S. This new electrically-assisted tricycle began delivering packages in Portland, Ore., on November 21. UPS anticipates this eBike prototype could become a component of its delivery capabilities in some other cities across the country.

The IKEA Group Sustainability Report for fiscal year (FY) 2016 shows strong progress towards its People & Planet Positive strategy and continued long-term investments in sustainability. A financial frame of EUR 1 billion, announced today, takes investments earmarked for sustainability to over EUR 3 billion.

Wendy's® announced its partnership with the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and a commitment to advancing sustainability efforts throughout the U.S. beef value chain. With a forty-six year commitment to serving only fresh*, never frozen North American beef, Wendy's has long partnered with leaders throughout the beef supply chain to advance responsible practices in animal production, health and welfare. By joining the Roundtable, Wendy's will also ensure it has an active voice in discussions about the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the U.S. beef industry.

General Motors Corporate Responsibility Newsletter - December 2016

Understanding occupier satisfaction is vital to the success of the property industry. It enables continuous improvement in relationships between landlords and tenants, and encourages best practice property management processes by managing agents.

A common theme amongst various sustainability benchmarking frameworks, such as the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), is the weight placed on working with tenants. More specifically, landlords are now expected to capture and report on tenant energy use if they wish to achieve top scores.

The emerging concepts of circular economy and resource-efficient design offer opportunities for developers. By embracing these approaches, they can reduce costs, de-risk material price volatility, improve residual values and appeal to a new generation of firms and employees for whom sustainability is a key priority.

Scientists tell us that earth is overshooting its planetary boundaries at a rate far quicker than the average person would believe. This situation becomes rapidly compounded by the significant challenges of population growth, urbanization, unemployment and rising socioeconomic inequality. To complicate things further, the most rapid change is occurring in those parts of the world with the least resources and capacity to manage these effects.

While the debate over the use of nuclear power continues, the renewable energy sector is quietly forging ahead and independent power producers are adding much-needed capacity to the grid. Since the Department of Energy (DoE) embarked on its alternative energy drive in 2012, capital investments in renewables have totalled almost R200 billion.

South Africa has some of the best natural resources available for solar and wind power. This, together with a reputationally strong and well-run independent power procurement programme, has created opportunities for institutional investors like Futuregrowth − who is now a leading funder of the programme.