The Novartis Foundation and the University of Basel, together with other partners are pleased to announce the launch of Healthy Schools for Healthy Communities. The initiative aims to address poor health in disadvantaged schools in South Africa and is the first Novartis Foundation program to include the education sector, bringing new opportunities for achieving impact.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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