2Sustain

A global study conducted by Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has found that transport companies are lagging behind other sectors in mitigating greenhouse gases and setting targets.

The first comprehensive report of its kind, this study surveyed 291 of the largest transport companies in the world, including those that cover road, rail, sea and air transport. The results show that: Continue Reading »

Over the past few years, I have used this blog to promote the message that businesses can do well by doing good. It’s a message that I’m passionate about, and in fact, I’ve been advocating for conservation and sustainability for well more than two decades now. I’ve worked with a variety of organizations, including World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, American Forests and Fundacion Natura, Ecuador’s leading conservation group, and in the early 1990s I also helped formulate corporate sustainability strategies for companies such as Eddie Bauer and Timberland.

Again and again, I’ve seen how sound CSR policy translates into solid business success, and that’s precisely why the title of Aneel Karnani’s recent Wall Street Journal article, The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility, caught my eye.

In sum, Karnani’s basic premise is that CSR efforts are either irrelevant or ineffective. “The idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed,” he writes . . .

. . . and I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that I whole-heartedly disagree. Continue Reading »

The newly updated Climate Counts scorecard, released earlier this month, reveals that over the past year businesses have made some improvements with regard to sustainability issues. However, huge differences remain between sectors, and it appears that, in general terms, industry as a whole is failing to meet the climate challenge. Taken altogether, Climate Counts Executive Director Wood Turner describes the results as “disappointing.”

Here are a few of the details: Continue Reading »

Earlier this month, the Procter & Gamble Company announced that it will be using renewable, sustainable, sugarcane-derived plastic on selected packaging in its beauty and grooming product line. The company says it will be piloting the new packaging globally over the next two years, with the first products expected to be on store shelves in 2011.

The new sugarcane-derived plastic is made using an innovative process that transforms sugarcane into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) –a plastic commonly used for product packaging. The new packaging   remains 100 percent recyclable in existing municipal recycling facilities, and represents a significant step forward in sustainable packaging because it is made from a renewable resource –unlike traditional plastic, which is made from non-renewable petroleum. Continue Reading »

The French government has launched a major renewable energy investment program targeting emerging clean energy technologies, such as solar, marine and geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and advanced biofuel development.

The new program will offer €450m ($572m) in subsidies and a further €900m in low-interest loans to cutting-edge technology projects. About €190m ($241m) will be invested before the end of the year 2010, with €290m set aside over the next 4 years up to 2014. All told, the program, called Démonstrateurs et plates-formes technologiques en énergies renouvelables et décarbonées et chimie verte, will provide €1.35bn ($1.7bn) of financial support to the renewable energy sector over the next four years.

According to analysts, this move may signal a shift in strategies for France, which has traditionally favored more established alternative energy technologies, such as nuclear and wind. Continue Reading »