ESG News from Leading Brands

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

It's Likely That Your Favorite Nonprofit Wants 'Gifts,' Not Just Checks. Here's the Difference.

Oct 17, 2017 10:00 AM ET

What if you gave of your expertise as part of your philanthropic mission? For instance, instead of giving $10,000, you could donate $10,000 in logistical support or other help to solve back-end problems and streamline the organization’s processes. PepsiCo has successfully put this strategy into practice.

Research, Reports & Publications

Caterpillar's Solar Installations in India Help Drive Renewable Energy Goal

Oct 17, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Our Hosur, India plant recently installed 150 kilowatt solar panels on its roof.

Media & Communications

What Fair Trade Actually Means—and 4 Products You Can Feel Good About Buying

Oct 17, 2017 10:00 AM ET

What do Patagonia, Keurig, and Costco have in common? At first glance, not a lot. One brand makes activewear, one sells coffee, and another sells… well, just about everything in between. But they have one important similarity you may not know about: They all sell fair trade products ranging from tea and coffee to apparel, body care, and home goods.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Subaru of America Aims to Improve Lives of Furry Friends with “Subaru Loves Pets” Initiative in October

Oct 17, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Media & Communications

Beyond Green

Oct 17, 2017 9:40 AM ET

The conversation around sustainability is rapidly changing and Mohawk’s vice president of sustainability George Bandy is ready to lend his voice to its future.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

On World Food Day, Amway Ran a "Power of 5K" Virtual Race

Oct 17, 2017 9:35 AM ET

Today, Amway’s Nutrilite Power of 5K is bringing 1,079 runners and walkers together on World Food Day to fight childhood malnutrition.

Environment

Environmental Research From De Beers' Sites Goes on Show at Major Conference

Oct 17, 2017 9:30 AM ET

Professor Emeritus Jane Carruthers will kick off the 8th Oppenheimer De Beers Group Research Conference in front of more than 200 conservationists, scientists, academics, students, nature lovers and activists.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

A Year in, Whole Foods' Englewood Project Still a Work in Progress

Oct 17, 2017 9:15 AM ET

Education

New Pre-K Alliance Enhances Early Learning

Oct 17, 2017 9:15 AM ET

For years, Christine Hines-McGee, a Pittsburgh Public Schools pre-K teacher, reached into her own pocket to purchase needed classroom supplies. The materials help enhance the learning experiences of her preschool students and provide development opportunities they might not have had otherwise.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

GSK Supports Healthy Eating After-School with Vetri Cooking Lab

Oct 17, 2017 9:00 AM ET

Yesterday, GSK Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Daniel Troy, announced a $440,000 grant to Vetri Community Partnership, alongside Founder Chef Marc Vetri and CEO Marlene Olshan, at Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School in North Philly.

The grant will expand Vetri Cooking Lab, an after-school nutrition and cooking education program, to 1,200 students across the region. Vetri Cooking Lab teaches young people how to cook their own healthy, delicious meals using ingredients they can find in their own neighborhoods to form healthy eating habits for life!

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

SCS Global Services Named Sustainability Leadership Award Winner

Oct 17, 2017 9:00 AM ET

SCS Global Services (SCS) is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as one of five winners of this year’s Sustainability Leadership Awards by the Business Intelligence Group. As a leading international third-party certification body and standards developer specializing in sustainability issues, SCS is the first company of its kind to earn this award.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

VSP Vision Care and Prevent Blindness Launch ‘Clicks for Kids’ to Enhance Access to Vision Screenings and Eye Exams for Head Start Children

Oct 16, 2017 8:00 PM ET

Healthy vision is essential to a child’s ability to learn, play sports or carry out daily tasks, and receiving eye care early on can help to detect problems that could impair eyesight for life. VSP Vision Care and Prevent Blindness launched Vision to Share: ‘Clicks for Kids' as a way to help bridge the gap in access to care for a population whose need for eye care is often unmet. With every click or share, VSP will donate $1, up to $20,000 in total, so that Head Start children ages 3, 4, and 5 years old, in 25 underserved communities across the United States, have increased access to vision screenings and comprehensive eye examinations, and treatment as needed before they enter school.

Sustainable Development Goals

Employee Engagement and the Sustainable Development Goals, November 2-3, 2017, at Inside Out

Oct 16, 2017 7:10 PM ET

Sue Stephenson, Interim CEO and Executive Committee Vice Chair of IMPACT 2030, will speak to "Why the SDG's are an Opportunity to Engage Employees" at the upcoming Toronto conference Inside Out: A Transformative Approach to Community Investment.

Inside Out is a future-looking conference designed to advance the practice of how companies invest in community. As many companies today are seeking ROI through community investment, participants of the conference will have the opportunity to explore how business priorities such as diversity and inclusion, employee wellness, and employee engagement can be advanced through community investment.

Media & Communications

CSR Expert Alison DaSilva Shines a Light on Gen Z at Share.Like.Buy Conference

Oct 16, 2017 6:50 PM ET

Alison DaSilva, executive vice president at Cone Communications will join marketing experts as a speaker at the Share.Like.Buy conference on October 18-19. The two-day event will explore the latest marketing trends for Millennials and Gen Z in a unique setting at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Media & Communications

The Fair Trade Difference Campaign Launch

Oct 16, 2017 6:00 PM ET

Today we release a powerful 5-minute documentary video to kick off the Fair Trade Difference campaign and pledge drive. The purpose of the video and two-week campaign is to tell the story of Fair Trade in full color, and to inspire commitment to shopping Fair Trade by signing a pledge.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Nestlé USA Commits to Higher Standards of Welfare for Broiler Chickens by 2024

Oct 16, 2017 5:45 PM ET

Nestlé’s purpose is to enhance quality of life and contribute to a healthier future and this extends to the treatment of animals in our supply chain. We are today pledging that by 2024, we will strive to source all of the broiler chickens we use as ingredients for our U.S. food portfolio from sources meeting a higher standard of animal welfare, building on our global Commitment on Farm Animal Welfare.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

AEG’s StubHub Center Foundation and LA Galaxy Foundation to Host 11th Annual Treats-N-Suites Halloween Bash at StubHub Center on Friday, Oct. 20

Oct 16, 2017 5:30 PM ET

AEG’s StubHub Center Foundation and the LA Galaxy Foundation announced today that StubHub Center will host the 11th annual Treats-n-Suites Halloween Bash on Friday, Oct. 20 from 4 - 6:30 p.m. PT, and will feature appearances by select LA Galaxy players.

The sold-out Treats-n-Suites event will host 1,500 children ages 2-11 for a series of Halloween-themed activities including trick-or-treating, arts and crafts, a costume parade and contest, hay rides, face painting, as well as the Wildlife Learning Center's Wildlife Safari Meet and Greet, which will feature a series of wild and exotic animals.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Costa Cruises to Support the “Pink Is Good” Project on Its Ships

Oct 16, 2017 5:15 PM ET

To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Costa Cruises will once again be joining forces with the Umberto Veronesi Foundation to support the Pink is Good project, which aims to beat breast cancer for good by promoting prevention and supporting research activities every year.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Ismaili Muslim Leader Gathers 2,500 Volunteers for Hurricane Harvey Response

Oct 16, 2017 5:00 PM ET

As devastating as Hurricane Harvey has been, it continues to bring people together around one common goal: help Houston. When Murad Ajani saw the toll Harvey took on his hometown, he seized the moment to bring together a community of more than 2,500 volunteers to help with recovery efforts.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Walmart Foundation Commits $500,000 to Operation Homefront to Support Military Families Impacted by Recent Hurricanes

Oct 16, 2017 4:30 PM ET

The Walmart Foundation is committing $500,000 to Operation Homefront’s Critical Financial Assistance program to help meet the unique and urgent needs of military families affected by the 2017 hurricane season.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Four Trends for Optimism on World Food Day

Oct 16, 2017 4:15 PM ET

Feeding the world is a mounting challenge for our food system, as climate change impacts collide with burgeoning population growth. And more mouths to feed means demand is rising globally for resource-intensive meat, just as water scarcity and challenges such as deforestation accelerate. But today on World Food Day, I see exciting trends that give me hope. The food sector is beginning to step up. More and more food companies are doing their part to tackle urgent sustainability challenges, while also ensuring our long-term global food security.

Environment

GEEP Collaborates with Canada's Big Five Banks to Host a Personal Household E-Waste Recycling Event in the GTA From October 17th - 19th

Oct 16, 2017 3:55 PM ET

In support of Waste Reduction Week, GEEP (Global Electric Electronic Processing) is pleased to work together with the five major Canadian banks (BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD) to build awareness and educate consumers and companies alike about the environmental impacts of electronic waste also referred to as e-waste.

Energy

'The More We Train, the Better We Get': How We Prepare for Emergencies

Oct 16, 2017 3:30 PM ET

We've spent more than 65 years growing our network of reliable energy infrastructure across North America – and our commitment to safe operations knows no borders. Being prepared for the rare cases when something does go wrong with our pipelines or power generation facilities is part of that commitment.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Leading the Way: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders Through Pro Bono

Oct 16, 2017 3:15 PM ET

The Taproot Foundation is gathering leaders from across sectors for the first-of-its-kind leadership convening—Leading the Way—on Tuesday, October 24, at the Google Community Space in San Francisco.

Taproot’s invitation-only convening will focus on pro bono as a unique tool for personal and professional development through experiential learning, both for the volunteer and the nonprofit professional who benefits from pro bono.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Why Giving Opportunity Matters

Oct 16, 2017 3:15 PM ET

This week, Comcast NBCUniversal is launching our annual Employee Giving Campaign for United Way and I am grateful to be part of it. Comcast has been partnering with United Way since shortly after the company’s founding more than 50 years ago, and our relationship continues to strengthen our local communities with each passing year. Last year, money pledged by our employees across our company helped fund over 5,000 nonprofits in more than 1,300 local communities. In Denver, that meant providing mentoring to over 1,000 young people; in Atlanta, it meant assisting 75 mothers with housing and financial coaching; and in Washington, D.C., that funding provided medical supplies to over 2,500 people in need.