3p Contributor: Leon Kaye
Recent Articles
Kohl’s in the LEED with Energy Efficiency and a More Sustainable Supply Chain
Kohl's released its first CSR report this week.
This week Kohl’s issued its first annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. While other retailers have struggled the past decade, Wisconsin-based Kohl’s has thrived and is now in every U.S. state except for Hawaii.
With that growth comes a complex supply chain and a huge environmental footprint. Kohl’s has tackled a bevy of issues head-on, and has several sustainability goals in place for 2015. The company is making progress on many of those initiatives, and shows leadership within its industry on clean energy, green building and community relations.
Other retailers may want to take a few pages out of Kohl’s sustainability initiatives, a few of which include:
CitiBank Shells Out $41M to Sponsor NYC’s Bike Share Program
Citi Bike Share will launch this summer in NYC.
This week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that CitiBank would sponsor the city’s new bike share program, Citi Bike, slated to roll out this summer. The five-year deal for a reported $41 million will allow the ambitious bicycle sharing program to operate without any taxpayer money or city funds. CitiBank, in return, will have all of the bikes emblazoned with its bright cobalt blue logo on the bicycles.
By next year, 10,000 bikes docked at 600 Citi Bike stations throughout Manhattan will give both residents and visitors the opportunity to quicken their commutes, visit neighborhoods difficult to access by public transportation and make New York City and its 700 miles of bike paths a bicycling haven. For now, the program will only serve Manhattan as the bike share program will focus on highly trafficked areas, but the program will create about 200 jobs at a service facility in Brooklyn.
Fake Grassroots Campaign Against Wind Industry Exposed
Wind power is under attack from "astroturf" groups.
The Checks and Balances Project and Climate Progress have revealed a memo outlining a national public relations campaign to undermine the wind power industry. The aggressive campaign, determined to create a “groundswell” of citizen activism against any wind energy legislation at all levels of government, targeted just about every demographic group from students to potential lease grantors.
John Droz, Jr., a longtime foe of the wind energy industry and senior fellow at the right-wing American Tradition Institute, an organization that focuses on “restoring science, accountability, and liberty to the environmental policy debate,” reportedly led the group. Droz and other anti-wind advocates gathered in Washington, DC earlier this year to discuss how they could recruit a national team of “wind warriors” that could fight companies within the wind power sector.
The memo starts with the overall theme of the PR campaign, urging targeted messages that instead of standing against something (as in wind power), be for “science.” The minimum goal was to campaign against any state and local efforts to expand wind energy, with its broadest goal to “constructively influence national and state energy and environmental policies.”
Some of the tactics in the early stages included:
Microsoft Commits to Carbon Neutrality
- Microsoft’s exhibit at CES Las Vegas (Leon Kaye)
Microsoft has committed to become carbon neutral beginning on July 1, the start of the company’s new fiscal year. The shift results from three years of internal discussions within the company to improve Microsoft’s carbon footprint and environmental performance. The company will roll out the new changes, including a new accounting system, across its operations in over 100 countries.
The new accounting system at Microsoft will be based on an internal carbon fee that the company’s finance department will charge to all of the company’s business groups. Each division will be tasked with finding a more efficient way to offset the carbon emissions associated with their fuel consumption and air travel. Hence the new carbon strategy at the company’s Redmond, WA headquarters and beyond will have three pillars: be lean, be green and be accountable.
24,000 Bank of America Customers Petition for End of Political Donations
Jefferson Memorial (Leon Kaye)
This morning a petition with over 75,000 signatures that urges the end of political campaign contributions will be delivered at Bank of America’s annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, NC. The signatures include over 24,000 Bank of America customers and 2200 of the company’s shareholders. The letter urges the nation’s second largest bank to stay out of electoral politics and end all donations to any political candidates or super PACs.
Two years after the landmark Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the delivery of signatures at 10:00 a.m. EST this morning is one sign that citizens are reacting against what they perceive to be the the growing influence of corporations in American elections.
MIT Study Shows that Sustainability is Profitable
Wall Street (Leon Kaye)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued its third annual Sustainability and Innovation Global Executive Study. In a partnership with the Boston Consulting Group, the survey gathered more than 4000 responses from executives and managers across all industries and regions.
The overall results show that more companies are taking sustainability seriously and are even benefiting financially from sustainable business practices. The report demonstrates that while Europe may be the overall sustainability leader, emerging markets hold their own, and that more progressive organizations, or “harvesters,” are leading the way in making the business case of sustainability. Readers are also able to learn about the MIT/BCG findings through a series of interactive data visualization tools.
While traipsing through the data, the leaders and laggards may catch some industry watchers by surprise:
Korea Will Launch Cap-And-Trade in 2015
- Traffic in southern Seoul (Leon Kaye)
Last week, the South Korean National Assembly passed legislation to start a cap-and-trade system by 2015. The vote was passed unanimously by both Korea’s ruling party and opposition, 148-0, with three members abstaining. The plan is part of President Lee Myung Bak’s aggressive agenda to fight climate change while transforming Korea into a green technology powerhouse.
By most accounts, Korea ranks among the top 10 countries in the total amount of carbon emissions. Korea’s rise from one of the the poorest nations on earth in the 1960s to its current status as a G-20 heavyweight relied on developing an economy heavily driven by exports. But the country’s strength in steelmaking, shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing and petrochemicals has come with an environmental cost. The past 10 years has witnessed a nudge in Korea away from an emphasis on heavy industry and development to an economy that is leaner, greener and more reliant on cutting edge and disruptive technologies.
Biofuels on the Brink in Europe
EU Energy Department HQ, Brussels (Leon Kaye)
Are biofuels about to become irrelevant in Europe? It is not just austerity on the decline throughout Europe with France’s Nicolas Sarkozy another leader down as of yesterday. While Europeans are rethinking their countries’ austere budgets, European Union officials in Brussels are also doubting the efficacy of biofuels.
Biofuels have become a lynchpin in the European Union’s long-term energy strategy. As Europe lurches towards a goal of 20 percent of its total energy requirements by 2020, biofuels are an important part of that goal. Another EU directive mandates that 10 percent of transport fuel comes from renewable energy sources. But “renewable” has become a loaded word when it comes to biofuels because of the effects they have on land where they are grown as well as their resulting emissions.
Nike Challenges Customers to Design Their Own Virtual Green Athletic Wear
Nike has just released its most recent sustainability report, and it is quite possibly one of the most compelling and engaging I have ever come across. Few corporate social responsibility reports keep me up past my bedtime: in fact, many hasten that hour. But Nike has launched an interactive sustainability report that educates, innovates and brings sustainability alive.
Not all of the news coming from Nike’s Beaverton headquarters is sunny. Excessive overtime is still a nagging problem in the company’s contract factories, and Nike admits many of the factors are within the company’s control. The complete elimination of hazardous chemicals from its supply chain will take time. And the company’s water footprint is still huge. But Nike is charging ahead with a sustainability agenda that just a few years ago would have seemed unthinkable. And rather than taking a self-congratulatory tone, Nike draws stakeholders in on its journey to share the company’s successes and shortcomings.
Hershey’s Sweetens Stakeholder Engagement
Hershey’s has had its share of critics in recent years. The company lagged on issues including responsible sourcing, and when it released its first corporate social responsibility (CSR) report in 2010, critics amplified their displeasure with the company. Accusations over child labor have plagued Hershey while other companies within its space appeared more proactive in tackling such issues. In fairness the company asked for feedback, and they received a lot of it, especially regarding responsible palm oil and cocoa sourcing.
Now, Hershey’s is getting with the program, and its most recent CSR report is a step in the right direction. The company listened to a variety of stakeholders and asked them about the most pressing problems facing the company. To that end, Hershey defined eight engagement priorities, which include ethical sourcing, sustainable agriculture, child labor, and consumer health.
So what is Hershey working on?
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