ESG News from Leading Brands

Education

Curiosity Cube Brings Cutting-Edge Science to Local Schools

Oct 12, 2017 1:30 PM ET

Students at area schools are getting a chance this week to check out advanced scientific technology and learn through hands-on experiments as the "Curiosity Cube" visits Centre County.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Webinar// Taproot+ Live: Use Your Skills to Make a Social Impact

Oct 12, 2017 1:20 PM ET

Want to volunteer, but don’t necessarily want to paint a fence? Instead, drive social change with what you do best by donating your time and professional skills to nonprofits in need of your expertise. Thousands of nonprofits and skilled volunteers are connecting each day on the free online platform, Taproot+, for marketing, IT, HR, business strategy, finance projects and more.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Morgan Stanley Releases New Report Finding Sustainability Communication Disconnect Between Companies and Investors

Oct 12, 2017 1:15 PM ET

Today the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing released a new report analyzing the communications disconnect between the environmental, social and governance (ESG) information investors seek and what companies provide. The paper, Sustainable Value: Communicating ESG to the 21st Century Investor, identifies the communications opportunities and best practices for companies to better communicate their ESG stories to enhance their business and investor value.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Bloomberg Becomes First U.S.-Domiciled Corporate Retirement Plan Sponsor to Sign the PRI

Oct 12, 2017 1:15 PM ET

Bloomberg today announced at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit that it has become the first U.S.-domiciled corporate retirement plan sponsor (ERISA plan sponsor) to join the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). By joining, Bloomberg will incorporate the six, voluntary Principles for Responsible Investment into its investment practices. The principles align closely with Bloomberg’s commitment as a financial data provider to integrate sustainable business and finance considerations into its operations, products and services.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

World Environment Center Expands U.S. Department of State “La Red de Innovacion e Impacto Innovators’ Program in Latin America

Oct 12, 2017 1:00 PM ET

The U.S. Department of State has awarded the World Environment Center (WEC) and its partner, Le Groupe-conseil baastel ltée (Baastel), additional funding to grow innovative, sustainable local organizations in Latin America. The current program, known as La Red de Innovacion and Impacto (La Red), established in 2014, is a collection of 30 such innovative solutions from 11 nations across the region.

Environment

BIER Releases Latest Practical Watershed Context Tool

Oct 12, 2017 1:00 PM ET

The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable’s (BIER) concept paper, entitled Performance in Watershed Context: Insights and Opportunities, provides a pragmatic decision support process to assist the beverage industry and beyond in making informed water-related investments across a portfolio of operational sites.

Environment

World Environment Center Expande “La Red de Innovación e Impacto”, Programa del Departamento de Estado de los EEUU para Innovadores en América Latina

Oct 12, 2017 1:00 PM ET

El Departamento de Estado de los EEUU ha otorgado al World Environment Center (WEC) y su socio, Le Groupe-conseil baastel ltée (Baastel), financiamiento adicional para apoyar la innovación y sustentabilidad local en América Latina. El programa actual, conocido como La Red de Innovación and Impacto (La Red), que se estableció en el año 2014, es una colección de 30 soluciones innovadoras de 11 países de la región.

Social Impact & Volunteering

How Fair Trade Is Helping Smallholder Coffee Farmers Succeed

Oct 12, 2017 12:00 PM ET

Fair Trade USA is the leading fair trade certifying body in North America, operating globally alongside the European-based Fairtrade International. Colleen Anunu, Fair Trade USA’s Senior Manager of Supply Chain, reflects on some of fair trade’s achievements and challenges, with a focus on the coffee sector. She also explains how Fair Trade USA and Oikocredit are teaming up to reduce price risks for coffee farmers.

Responsible Production & Consumption

An Unlikely Alliance: Why Paper Users and Paper Purchasers Can Be Among the Most Influential Forest Preservationists

Oct 12, 2017 12:00 PM ET

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

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Andrew Winston, Author of The Big Pivot and Green to Gold, Joins Ingersoll Rand Advisory Council on Sustainability

Oct 12, 2017 11:30 AM ET

The Advisory Council on Sustainability of Ingersoll-Rand plc, a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, appointed Andrew Winston as a member of the Council, effective immediately.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Reflections from the 2017 NEHRA Conference

Oct 12, 2017 11:30 AM ET

Common Impact had a fantastic time at the 2017 NEHRA Conference! What a fun way to spend a few days: reflecting on employee engagement and talent development with a crowd of talented HR professionals. We learned a ton while we were there, so we've provided a few key highlights and reflections from the conference:

Environment

CSRHub CEO Cynthia Figge Speaking at FiRe 2017

Oct 12, 2017 11:30 AM ET

CSRHub Co-Founder and CEO, Cynthia Figge, will be moderating a conversation at the Future in Review® (FiRe) Conference in Park City, Utah held October 10-13, 2017. Cynthia will be hosting a discussion titled “Supporting the Carbon Trifecta: Building Elon’s World”, on Thursday October 12th.

Events, Media & Communications

What Works in Employee Financial Wellness Programs

Oct 12, 2017 11:15 AM ET

Join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation for a webinar on financial wellness programs (FWP) and learn how your business can benefit by creating or expanding your FWP for your employees.

Education

Amgen Foundation Awards Khan Academy $3 Million to Support Development of Free Comprehensive Biology Lessons

Oct 12, 2017 11:15 AM ET

The Amgen Foundation today announced a three-year, $3 million grant to Khan Academy to develop comprehensive new biology lessons. The Amgen Foundation is the exclusive sponsor of Khan Academy's biology content.

Health & Healthcare

Code of Support Foundation Receives 2nd Round of Critical Funding From Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to Launch Essential and Life-Changing Veteran Technology Platform

Oct 12, 2017 11:00 AM ET

Code of Support Foundation™ (COSF) has been awarded an additional round of critical funding by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) to complete the pilot phase and publicly launch PATRIOTlink™, an innovative cloud-based navigation platform in 2018. Out of the 22 million veterans in the U.S., an estimated 30% of veteran families in crisis require critical assistance from one or more service providers (e.g., case managers, social workers) to ensure they have wrap-around support for their needs. COSF’s PATRIOTlink is a strategically populated technology platform of qualified veteran support resources that enables service providers to be substantially more efficient and effective in finding resources they know would benefit their clients (e.g., troops, veterans and families.)

Green Infrastructure

Whirlpool Taps Wind as Propeller Of Sustainability and Community Investment

Oct 12, 2017 10:55 AM ET

Whirlpool Corporation is pushing ahead with wind energy expansion as part of efforts to decrease its carbon footprint in a bid to make its business increasingly sustainable as well as more socially responsible.

Environment

Award-Winning Invention Could Change Drinking Water Treatment

Oct 12, 2017 10:30 AM ET

You wouldn’t think that the graphite inside a pencil could lead to an invention that detects and removes harmful bacteria from water. But that is exactly what the 2017 Stockholm Junior Water Prize winners have done. Learn how their fast-acting system could change how water is tested and treated.

Environment

Domtar Sustainability: Sourcing Raw Materials

Oct 12, 2017 10:15 AM ET

Each year, about two-thirds of our revenue is spent on materials and services needed to make our products. Whenever possible, we source from local suppliers near our facilities. This helps us shorten our supply chain and reduce risk. Proximity allows us to know our suppliers and ensure they produce our materials and render services responsibly, in addition to strengthening the local economy.

Innovation & Technology

New Innovation Center Looks to Advance Healthcare in China

Oct 12, 2017 10:10 AM ET

A one-of-a-kind Innovation Center is coming to Central and Western China and is expected to make a big impact on healthcare. “We are ready and eager to continue working with partners in China to explore and solve the country’s healthcare challenges,” says Chris Lee, President of Medtronic Greater China.

Environment

Flipping the Ship: A New Life for Decommissioned Vessels

Oct 12, 2017 10:00 AM ET

The saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” rings true, particularly when it comes to old ships that have been abandoned or fallen into disuse. Around the world, out-of-service vessels are being repurposed and transformed into thriving restaurants, hotels, museums and other waterfront attractions.

Sure, saving aging ships from the scrap yard eliminates seaside eyesores, but it’s also good for the environment. Derelict, rusted-out hunks of steel floating in oceans can be hazardous, wreaking havoc on marine life and coastal habitats, ultimately disrupting the ecosystem and posing threats to natural resources.

Events, Media & Communications

5 Reasons Your Colleagues Attend the BSR Conference

Oct 12, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Year after year, participants join BSR for one of the most important global gatherings for sustainable business. Here’s why.

Health & Healthcare

Wellness at Whirlpool

Oct 12, 2017 9:55 AM ET

When Cynthia Small was hired to work at Whirlpool Corp. as a nurse practitioner, the idea of having a health professional on-site was a relatively new idea for the appliance maker.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Cycling the Crossroads of the World with Cycle for Survival

Oct 12, 2017 9:45 AM ET

Times Square – the heavily nicknamed Crossroads of the World, Center of the Universe, or Heart of the World (among others) – draws an estimated 50 million annual visitors; more than 300,000 pedestrians pass through daily. It is also home to a pair of towers where Viacom keeps offices.

This bustling pedestrian and entertainment center provides the perfect backdrop for an annual Times Square Takeover by Cycle for Survival, the movement to beat rare cancers that is led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

Earlier this year, I joined the battle alongside 60 employees across 23 departments in Viacom’s New York, Hollywood, and Paramount Pictures offices by participating in Cycle for Survival’s 11th year of rides.

Innovation & Technology

Unreasonable Impact | How Agrivi Is Using Technology to Empower Farmers Across the Globe

Oct 12, 2017 9:40 AM ET

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

De Beers Mine Sets up Business Incubator

Oct 12, 2017 9:25 AM ET

The programme, run by the specialist mentoring and training company TrioPlus, will provide support to 40 businesses or entrepreneurs – 20 each from Blouberg and Musina. It kicked off in August with two workshops targeting existing and aspiring entrepreneurs.