Responsible Production & the Circular Economy

1. What attracted you to leave the public sector and join DuPont?

DuPont has a long history of developing sustainable solutions for a remarkable number of industries. Take food for example — DuPont solutions are at every stage of the food value chain, from seed technology that helps farmers weather droughts to innovative packaging that reduces food waste during storage and transport. In the renewable energy markets, DuPont is helping build a better solar cell. We are the leading supplier of specialty materials to the solar energy industry. Since 1975 more than half of the world’s 900 million installed solar panels contain DuPont materials. The list goes on — developing bio-based alternatives to conventional petroleum feedstocks, pioneering lightweight materials solutions to increase the e

On October 7, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. The updated Living Building program legislation expands on a pilot program started in 2009 and increases the number of buildings that can participate to twenty. There are new provisions and adjustments in the legislation that align better with city and state laws, as well as streamline building codes to incentivize developers on adopting regenerative building practices.

Modern day slavery, including forced labor, child labor, bonded labor, and other types of unethical labor practices affects over 21 million people worldwide and has resulted in over $150 billion in illegal profits. Is there an effective approach companies can utilize to mitigate the risk of slavery in their supply chains?

In my own life I must admit that I am a frequent user of analogies. I believe they help me describe situations in greater detail and relate the struggles, challenges and triumphs of one journey to another. So as I was lying in bed thinking about this blog post, and how to describe Hershey’s journey in the palm oil sustainability space, I couldn’t resist comparing our work to hiking up a mountain.

Food labeling, certification and global efforts to identify slavery in the supply chain allow conscious consumers to make value-based purchasing decisions this holiday season.

When you have a job like mine, you get used to seeing your company’s name in the news a lot. Usually it’s good news. Sometimes it’s not. Right now Wendy’s is the target of a campaign led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an activist group that represents tomato harvesters in the Immokalee region of Florida. Their signature program is called the Fair Food Program and for several years, they have pressured Wendy’s to sign the Fair Food Agreement and join their program.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life services, in partnership with Sharp Healthcare instituted food waste reduction techniques at facilities for San Diego's leading healthcare provider, saving a minimum of 1,000 pounds of food each week – nutritious, healthy food that otherwise would have been tossed out. In recognition of these efforts, Sharp Healthcare earned the Emies Award for Unwasted Food from the San Diego Food System Alliance at the Food Waste Solution Summit II.

Urbanization in India is occurring at a breakneck pace. Its cities are expected to grow from 340 million people in 2008 to 590 million by 2030. The speed of growth in cities poses huge challenges, but also offers big opportunities.