Responsible Production & the Circular Economy

What’s past is NOT prologue, according to Jean Paul Gladu, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. In his presentation during Sodexo’s inaugural Quality of Life Conference, he said that to make progress, “…government and industry should stop worrying about the past and look more deeply at their future. I think we spend too much time looking behind us and we’re not focusing, or at least looking ahead at what opportunities lay in front of us.”

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), an independent standard-setting body created by GRI, approved plans to transition the GRI G4 Guidelines to GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards).

Slavery is typically a problem that is thought to be in areas that are not close to us, when in reality these issues are closer then people realize. As companies begin to grow their operations into other markets and work with suppliers and distributors from across the world, knowing what type of labor is going into your expanding supply chain has been top of mind. The idea that modern day slavery does not exist in supply chains is quickly fading as more accounts of this unethical practice are being uncovered. Not all countries are immune to this problem, as slavery has been found in operations here within the United States. There are several levels of slavery that can plague a company and many times those areas where it penetrates is directly into the supply chain.

The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) issued new guidance on sustainability disclosures. Thirty-three specific KPI's are included in the recommendations. Mindy Lubber, President of the advocacy organization Ceres, issued a statement on the WFE launch.

Kering and BSR published a report today on tackling resilience to climate change in luxury fashion. The report is a first analysis of climate change and its consequences for the Luxury sector.

The global population is expected to be over nine billion by mid-century. Feeding that many people without “exceeding ecological and social limits” presents the food and beverage industry with “unique challenges,” proclaims a recently released report on the food and beverage industry by the sustainability consulting firm, Pure Strategies.

Did you know that 78 percent of adults in the U.S. have wasted food in one way or another? Meanwhile, more than 800 million people are unable to meet their daily calorie needs and more than 2 billion people suffer from nutritional deficiencies. It is estimated that more than one-third of the food we produce is never consumed. Considering the projected population growth to 9 billion by 2050, these food related challenges will only increase. In light of these staggering statistics, we must look at food waste and the actions we take on a daily basis to address this growing problem.