Responsible Production & the Circular Economy

Back in August this year I attended the opening of our Innovation and Knowledge Center in Pune, India - an expansion of our facilities to celebrate our 20 year anniversary in the country. The center is one of 7 global Innovation and Knowledge centers, each of which represent the specific needs of their region as well as having unique perspectives and specialist material science expertise.

There is a fine balance between the need to conserve forests and the very real role they play as a resource to our economy.

More than 450 investor, company and capital market leaders convened at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk today to map out the next steps for increased action on climate change. The strong showing of leaders, who ranged from institutional investors to state and city pension fund fiduciaries to corporate executives, demonstrated the growing mainstream attention to the greatest threat of our generation.

Water management is core to making GM’s global operations more efficient. It includes working towards the goal of reducing water intensity by 15 percent by 2020, from a 2010 baseline. It also includes improving supply chain engagement in water use globally. In the recent study by CDP, the non-profit global environmental disclosure platform, GM was awarded a position on the Supplier Water A List, in recognition of its actions to address environmental issues.

Last week, smallholder farmers convened in a field on the outskirts of Gonaives, Haiti to harvest cotton for the first time in 30 years. Once Haiti’s fourth largest export crop, cotton growing stopped in the 1980s due to policies and politics of the time. Now outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland, in partnership with the Smallholders Farmers Alliance (SFA) and other companies, aims to bring cotton back as phase two of its ongoing work to help reforest Haiti and benefit smallholder farmers.

Goldcorp and FLSmidth have been recognized for their co-development of EcoTailsTM, as the joint winners of the Mining Magazine Editor’s Award 2017, an award given annually to celebrate outstanding new technologies, innovations and initiatives within the mining sector.

Traceability in the procurement stage of manufacturing process is being critically and thoroughly examined by companies as the requirement to be environmentally compliant is taking center stage.

According to a new Global Opportunity Report from DNV GL, Sustainia and the United Nations Global Compact, renewed efforts are required to ensure four of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals do not miss their 2030 targets. The Global Goals addressed in the report are Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 14: Life Below Water.

In this Q&A, we talk to the Senior Sustainability Specialist at The Mosaic Company, who told us concrete examples of how sustainability reporting leads to better performance.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has announced that it will be phasing out plastic straws across all its operations, and will be urging its members to do the same, following in the footsteps of Bacardi, Pernod Ricard and Diageo.
Bacardi was among the first to call time on plas