Last week Alcoa issued its annual sustainability report, which outlines some of the progress the company has achieved on the environment, water stewardship, community involvement and business.

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Microsoft has committed to become carbon neutral beginning on July 1, the start of the company’s new fiscal year.

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Last week the South Korean National Assembly passed legislation to start a cap-and-trade system by 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy.

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Abbott’s focus on its corporate responsibility agenda lies in four major areas: innovation, access to medical care, supporting consumers and environmental protection.

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Rooted in a strong environmental ethic, Helveta’s garnering international recognition for its supply chain management technology and efforts to reduce deforestation and eliminate illegal logging.

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As Harley-Davidson begins to ramp up their sustainability initiatives, it’s unclear how the company will balance the masculine, rebel-like nature of the brand with the pressure to adopt a more conscious, caring approach to conducting business.

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The European Union might be going through a lot of financial turmoil at the moment, however they are still leading the way when it comes to environmental policy. Their carbon targets have consistently been higher than any other country in the world and they have also actually met and exceeded them. At the Durban Climate [...]

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This is the first in a series of Technology for Good: A Historical Perspective From GE. We start with the toaster, which for over 100 years has been a driver of GE’s innovation. After Thomas Edison spent several years developing a wire that could heat without melting in the open air, GE’s first electric toaster was released to market in 1905.

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A new study by the University of California provides evidence that companies that publicly announce information about their carbon emissions will see a significant and almost immediate increase in share price.

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Gas prices are up now and while the reasons change every time, this trend is nothing but new, no matter how surprised we are to find the new prices hanging on a sign at the gas station. This is why it’s actually not difficult to see what’s going to happen next. Here are five outcomes to expect in the upcoming months.

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The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which has been collecting GHG emissions data from companies for nearly a decade, recently released a report which revealed that there is a gap that exists between the carbon reduction performance of companies and that of their suppliers.

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Business advocacy Coalition, BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy) has endorsed the California Air Resources Board’s, Advanced Clean Cars Program, which passed last week – citing benefits which they say will spark economic growth.

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Our economy – and thus, our lifestyle – is firmly entrenched in the infrastructure that surrounds us and how we use it. This makes it extremely challenging to change how we live. At the VerdeXchange Conference in my home city of Los Angeles last week, I was pleased to encounter a group of individuals from government organizations and the private sector coming together to figure out how to transition Los Angeles to a greener economy. Even as a resident working in the sustainability field, I was surprised to learn about some of the work being done to green the city’s most carbon intensive and highly polluting facilities, operations, and infrastructure.

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My recent stay in Detroit and current trip to Doha have opened my eyes to how citizens are taking matters into their own hands and building more sustainable economies.

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Changing auto insurance to incentivize less driving, rather than more, could no only lead to less cars on the road and less accidents, but has the potential to be a game-changer for carbon emissions.

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Beginning on January 17, Ryanair will charge a €0.25 fee on every seat to cover what the company says will be a €15 to 20 million bill. And the airline is complaining loud and clear.

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At first glance, AMEE, a venture-backed UK company launched in 2008, looks like any other carbon tracking and management provider. But upon further investigation, it becomes clear that although still in its early stages, the AMEE platform has the potential to be much more. The company’s mission is to make the world’s environmental data more accessible [...]

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Were the celebrations too early? Earlier this week, I reported on the launch of the new European scheme requiring airlines to pay for the carbon emissions of their flights to and from Europe. As I mentioned, most of the world was pretty angry with the scheme and many countries protested and promised to take an [...]

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2012 started with some good news. On Sunday, the European Union began charging all airlines flying into and out of Europe for their carbon emissions. Covering a third of all global flights, this new scheme is one of the widest-reaching measures adopted lately by any country or regional bloc to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Given [...]

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A Tacoma-Pierce County, WA Task Force just sent its recommendations to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency about how to reduce soot in the air to meet EPA standards. The soot is created partly by diesel vehicles and industry, but the most (53 percent) is from wood burning stoves and fireplaces.

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One surprising alternative to the world’s cement addiction has reportedly been found amongst the globe’s landfills and recycling centers. Could hard-plastics (soda bottles and laundry soap containers) really be a cost-effective and environmentally considerate place to find the next raw material for the world’s most structurally demanding projects?

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It went into overtime and ended in three days of intense, non-stop negotiations, but UNFCCC delegates to the Durban climate conference agreed on the three pivotal agenda items: making commitments to extend the Kyoto Protocol, setting up the organizational structure and funding mechanisms for the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund, and setting out a roadmap to a global greenhouse gas emissions reduction treaty that’s slated to go into effect in 2020.

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A sense of optimism pervaded the atmosphere in Durban on the penultimate day and final morning of the UNFCCC’s 17th annual climate change treaty talks, according to one solar industry observer. Rumor was that an agreement to commit to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol and also extend it beyond its 2020 expiration date were within reach.

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Unseasonal torrential rain buffeted Durban, SA on the eve of UN climate change talks beginning. The International Chamber of Shipping, Oxfam and the WWF have proposed a carbon tax that could raise $25 billion a year to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.

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The Durban Climate negotiations, the Rio+20 conference, record damages from extreme weather events and the ongoing turmoil in global financial systems and markets is an opportunity for governments, financial institutions and stakeholders worldwide to support and participate in the development of a global market for conservation bonds, according to the the Global Canopy Programme. Their latest report lays out the whys and hows of forest conservation bonds – innovative debt securities that the organization believes can be used now to help raise the huge investments necessary to avoid deforestation and equitably and justly monetize the value tropical forests provide.

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Geothermal power’s grown at a much slower rate than other forms of renewable energy over the past decade. That’s not due to a lack of resource potential, however. Recent studies have shown just how abundant geothermal resources are in many parts of the world. Growth rates are expected to be high in Kenya, Iceland, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, while activity’s also ramping up in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines.

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The United Nations recently released a Human Development Report that brings to light the global challenges of sustainability and equity. The report points out that although living standards in most countries have been rising, from now on if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify, the least developed nations will show a downward growth by 2050. [...]

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There was some pretty grim news on the carbon emissions front last week. According to the US Dept. of Energy, emissions for the year 2010 jumped considerably over the previous year, and that is in spite of the economic downturn. The 564 million ton jump, the largest ever, put more carbon into than atmosphere than [...]

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India has always boasted the longest rail network in the world.  That network is also the fourth most heavily used in the world, transporting over 6 billion passengers and 350 million tons of freight annually. Many cities, however, are in desperate need of a public transport overhaul and the sector is riddled with issues like [...]

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PUMA’s Suede has been re-birthed with the company’s introduction last week of the “Re-Suede,” redesigned with mostly recycled materials.

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