Today, ten private-sector companies and nonprofit organizations have announced their intent to join together to form the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC).

Ecolab Inc. has again been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. Ecolab has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies every year since the list’s inception in 2007.

At the heart of our recognition are The Five Principles, ideals we’ve outlined to help us grow our business in ways that are good for people and the planet. Meanwhile, our Sustainable in a Generation Plan, launched in 2017, outlines our plans to make the world better for the next generation. Through the Healthy Planet pillar, we’re working to reduce our environmental impact in a number of ways, including the elimination of problematic plastics and our goal of 100 percent recyclability by 2025. We want to make it as easy as possible for our products to be a part of a healthy lifestyle by Nourishing Wellbeing. Finally, we’re committed to building sustainable communities through our Thriving People pillar.

At Tetra Pak we’ve committed to support all of the 17 Goals, and in 2017, we spent eight months on a rigorous material assessment identifying and prioritising those aspects of our business where we could have the greatest economic, environmental and social impacts and/or could substantively influence stakeholder decisions. Sustainability has always been at the core of our promise to protect food, people and futures. That is to say, we are not new to this, and we’ve been looking at the science of environment for decades – but aligning to the SDG’s has enabled us to expand and evolve our approach.

The intersection of Politics and Energy Policy is a busy one. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on the traffic signals and, as a result, there’s a lot of gridlock. Even as scientists warn that world leaders are running out of time to take comprehensive action on climate change, some politicians are still debating the existence of the problem. Across the globe, the carbon-free-future campaigners are in a tug of war with the fossil-fuel advocates. Bold plans set in motion by one administration are postponed or cancelled by the next. In 2019, energy buyers must remain alert in tracking political developments, as well as traditional concerns about energy security, and trade policies and sanctions, for example, to understand the impact on energy markets.

If you’re considering conducting a materiality assessment, read Antea Group’s blog for 7 basic steps that should be a part of your initiative.

Since 2014, Millcraft’s Buy & Give paper program has given its business customers a way to support local charities through their purchase of Buy & Give paper. Each Buy & Give box is custom made by Domtar with private label wrapping and packaging, and then is filled with Domtar private label office paper. For each carton purchased through the paper program, Millcraft donates $1 to charity.

In cases of widespread foodborne illness, like last year’s E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, the next step is to determine where along the food supply chain the contamination occurred. That’s where food traceability—the ability to trace a product through every step in the supply chain, from point of origin to final retail location—comes into play.

As part of its commitment to increasing its renewable energy footprint globally and finding clean energy solutions near its operations, General Motors has partnered with DTE Energy for 300,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind energy in the state of Michigan. Once complete, the energy sourced will be enough to power 100 percent of the electricity needs of GM’s global technical center in Warren and its Detroit-based operations at the Renaissance Center. The 300,000 MWh are equivalent to the amount of power consumed by nearly 30,000 U.S. households per year.