Corporate Social Responsibility

SOCAP09 is being held in San Francisco September 1-3. And if the $1,195 registration fee is beyond your budget, but you are interested in intersection of money and meaning, don’t miss the free pre-conference workshop being offered on Sept 1st by  SVT Group. Both SOCAP09 registrants and non-registrants are welcome. SVT Group I had the [...]

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Increasingly, organizations that work toward ending poverty in underdeveloped parts of the world are basing their efforts on teaching skills and providing tools for those populations in need–rather than providing them with aid, such as food or other resources. It’s the whole teach-a-man-to-fish principle, and it appears to be catching on in governmental aid efforts, [...]

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Effective sustainability strategies depend on many moving parts. Sustainability change experts reading this blog will tend to have more than a little experience with most of them! However, there’s one tool that we’ve seen chronically underutilized: social networking. These tools aren’t just for connected teenagers anymore – effective use of social networking can make all [...]

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By Deborah Fleischer, Green Impact Colleges are getting their green on.  From local, organic food to renewable energy to green building, for students who embody green values, the Sierra Club just announced the top ten eco-enlightened colleges, with the University of Colorado (CU) heading the pack. Go Ralphie (CU’s buffalo mascot)! According to Sierra Club, “Back [...]

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Greenpeace may have turned over a new leaf of sorts: apparently, it has taken to praising McDonalds of all things. Greenpeace recently applauded the corporation’s recent opening of its first HFC / HCFC-free joint. While McDonalds is one of the “last corporations [Greenpeace] want[s] to say anything good about,” (Greenpeace’s website says), Greenpeace has decided [...]

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In response to the ever-expanding challenge of electronic waste (e-waste), most developed countries have enacted legislation that mandates the responsible disposal and safe handling of discarded electronics within their own borders. (Thankfully, the US is catching up with the rest of the developed world, state by state.) But what happens to your old TV, computer [...]

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To the question “is corporate social responsibility dead?” the answer, from Seventh Generation’s perspective, appears to be “no; it just needs to be reborn.” Seventh Generation’s 2008 CSR report, which it released this week, offers a fresh look at just what “corporate social responsibility” is. In the words of the company’s chairman Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh [...]

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Boulder, Colorado-based Namaste Solar looks like the “real thing”– a solar power systems provider committed to establishing a Triple Bottom Line business driven by ethical consideration of people and the environment as well as generating profits.

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A recent headline caught my attention: “BBC accused of wasting £406,000 of public money a year on bottled water.” Apparently, the UK news agency is having trouble proving the legitimacy of its (unsustainable) bottled water consumption and spending.

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Greg Andeck manages Corporate Partnerships for the EDF Innovation Exchange, a dynamic global network facilitating the widespread adoption of environmental innovation in business. The EDF Innovation Exchange is also a 3P sponsor. At Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), we look for market based solutions to environmental problems. As the guy in charge of managing our partnership [...]

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Next year, ICANN, the group that coordinates the Internet’s system of unique identifiers, will expand the list of top level domain (TLD) names. Anyone can apply, but only one deserving applicant will be awarded the registry rights for the .eco domain. Triple Pundit has provided much coverage lately (here and here) on the efforts of [...]

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By so many measures, Ricoh, the Japanese office equipment-maker, is a leader in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). You can spend several hours on the Ricoh website reading about their numerous CSR initiatives, their environmentally friendly products and processes, as well as the many awards they have won over the past 20 years. The company places [...]

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It is time to rethink the language we use to describe efforts to improve our relationship with the environment. Below are the four reasons I believe we have entered a Post-Green, Post-Sustainability Era, and need a new meme: Red or Black Only A price on carbon – whether in the US through ACES or internationally [...]

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by Andrea Hart, Sustainability Analyst, BlueMap Inc. To help you calculate exactly how many trees are used to make the paper for your latest office report, the Environmental Defense Fund has created a paper calculator on its website. Although it’s a great tool, it expects the user to know how many pounds of paper are [...]

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Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has joined the increasing number of corporations committing to minimizing their environmental impact. The soft drink giant has, “pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 15 percent by the year 2020. ” The move will, CCE expects, allow it to improve its corporate responsibility and sustainability (CRS) while lowering its net emissions [...]

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“Have To” vs “Want To” We all know individuals who are committed to living sustainably, conscious of the impact their daily lives have on the environment. They may take public transport, bike, or walk wherever they can, rather than drive. Perhaps they recycled their bottles long before it became popular, or used their kitchen and [...]

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Paper or plastic? Diesel or hybrid? Extrude or blow-mold? Some of the most difficult problems in designing sustainable products involve making the right choices in materials, processes and transportation methods. However, choosing the options that will actually have a lower environmental impact is much more complex that one would think. Deciding what metrics to use, [...]

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Steelcase, a global office furniture corporation, has released its latest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. The report details the company’s efforts meet its goals of reducing its carbon footprint by 25 percent by 2012 (a coincidence that it’s Steelcase’s 100th anniversary?). If the report is accurate, consumers of Steelcase-produced furniture who are concerned about their [...]

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How many Staples do you have in your neighborhood? I count three of the ubiquitous office supply stores within a 2.5-mile radius of my place. I’m about to introduce you to a man who doesn’t just provide an alternative experience to the titanic chain, but runs an incredibly successful business. But first, let’s understand how [...]

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At this year’s Dwell on Design, held last month in Los Angeles, Zem Joaquin shared her unique vision on the concept of garbage. Ever since Jack Johnson turned “reduce, reuse, recycle” into something you hum on your drive into work or school, people have been rethinking the notion of trash…and some more than others. The [...]

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Developing brand and communications strategies to promote green products is top of mind for most consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, so they should be encouraged by the overall findings of the 2009 Green Brands survey that, despite the poor global economy, consumers still want green products.

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Unemployment. Inflation. Anemic economic growth. Everywhere you turn there is bad economic news. As a business owner, this can be demoralizing as you try to survive. Luckily there are several ways you can green your profits and the environment, even in the midst of a recession. 1. Understand Your Customers Better This technique is a [...]

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Photo Source: Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program P&G manages brands. A lot of them. In fact, you probably used one of their products before leaving for work (or whatever it is you do) today.  Over 300 brands – from Duracell, Tide, Pampers, Charmin, Crest, to even Pringles – fall under the P&G banner. Now the [...]

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Get Lean, Get Smart, and Emerge from the Downturn on Top “Hunker down and play it safe” seems to be the mantra of many recession-battered companies, as they cut back on people, payrolls and purchases of non-essentials. Unfortunately, many of the green programs that may have gotten funded in good times are now finding themselves [...]

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Earlier this week, Walmart announced their plans to unveil a new sustainability index that will grade various suppliers and products by a range of environmental and sustainable factors. The move will allow consumers to easily discern the sustainability of one product over another. Walmart, the nation’s largest retail giant, has had its fair share of [...]

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Why is it that luxury goods, especially, are almost always over-packaged?

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Brazil’s quickly become a world-leading trailblazer when it comes to recycling all the packaging used in the agrochemical industry. Now, the country plans to make its recycling program self-sufficient, the main thrust of which is to manufacture value-added recycled packaging that comes with an international certification.

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More companies now than ever – a record 1,000 organizations – are reporting their sustainability performance to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the GRI reported Tuesday. But while this 46 percent increase from the previous year is good news, it is not, GRI Chief Executive Ernst Ligteringen emphasized, adequate for addressing the global environmental crisis.

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Wal-Mart will host a Sustainability Milestone Meeting this morning (July 16th) 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. (CDT) in Bentonville, Ark. Follow the conversation on how Wal-Mart is working to launch a new project that will develop a sustainability index for their products. The meeting will be webcast live, and available for streaming following the meeting. You [...]

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By Deborah Fleischer, Green Impact Energy efficiency is one of those low hanging fruits that is ripe to be picked. For Kendall-Jackson Winery, reducing expenses from lighting just made good business sense. It might not seem very sexy, but they expect to see the benefits of their new energy-efficient lighting solution for years to come. [...]

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