2Sustain

Earlier this summer, Greenpeace challenged major clothing brands, including Nike, Puma and Adidas, to eliminate the release of all hazardous chemicals across their supply chains.

I’m very pleased to report that within the past month or so, both Nike and Puma have announced significant commitments to “detox.”

Nike, the world’s largest sportswear brand, announced last week that it will eliminate the releases of all hazardous chemicals across its entire supply chain and the entire life-cycle of its products by 2020. In addition, the company has agreed to full transparency about the chemicals being released from its suppliers’ factories and to work toward the widespread elimination of hazardous chemicals from the clothing industry. Nike has said that it will publish its implementation plan within eight weeks. From the company’s press release:

NIKE, Inc. is committed to the goal of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.

To make this a reality, NIKE, Inc. will continue phasing out hazardous chemicals in our supply chain and we will accelerate the phase out of the highest priority hazardous chemicals. NIKE, Inc. will continue to work with brands, material suppliers, the broader chemical industry, NGOs and other stakeholders to achieve this goal. We will drive towards innovative solutions for transparency in chemical management disclosure.

We recognize the path to reaching this goal must be through innovation, the application of green chemistry, and broad industry and regulatory collaboration and engagement. NIKE, Inc.’s commitment and investment towards this goal and the dedication to system change is unwavering.

We will work tirelessly to affect system change across the industry towards this goal. This commitment includes sustained investment in moving industry, government, science and technology to deliver on systemic change.

We commit to continue to share what we learn, our approaches and tools and work with others8 in finding new solutions and removing existing barriers, and to report progress towards comprehensive chemicals management.

Puma had already made a similar commitment: (more…)

Back in 2007, China earned the dubious distinction of overtaking the US as the world leader in greenhouse gas emissions.

Since then, it seemed there would be “no end in sight.” As China’s economy continues to soar, won’t its energy use and GHG emissions follow the same trajectory?

Surprisingly, a new analysis by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) suggests the answer to that question is a rather emphatic “no.”

According to the research, China’s energy use will level off well before mid-century, even as its population edges past 1.4 billion. Why? Because, somewhere between 2030 and 2035, China will: 1) reach a “saturation” point with regard to consumer goods, and 2) develop alternative energy sources.

For example, the study predicts that before 2050: (more…)

In 2010, extreme weather caused either the temporary or long-term dislocation of millions of people in Malaysia, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

An upcoming report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will advise governments in these areas to expect even more of this kind of population disruption, what it’s calling “climate-induced migration.”

“No international cooperation mechanism has been set up to manage these migration flows, and protection and assistance schemes remain inadequate, poorly coordinated, and scattered,” the report, which ABD plans to use in early March, states. “National governments and the international community must urgently address this issue in a proactive manner.” (more…)

China’s colossal economic growth has come with enormous costs to the environment. China’s water resources have been particularly hard hit, and these days, the Yangtze tops the World Wildlife Fund’s list of the ten most-threatened rivers in the world.

BSR recently took an in-depth look at these issues, focusing specifically on water challenges and risks now inherent in the global electronics supply chain.

For this research, 10 Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) members submitted supplier names to BSR for matching against a publicly available database containing information on corporate environmental violations. After analyzing the 640 suppliers and matching them against the database, BSR found that: (more…)

Since 2003, the Ernst & Young Energy and Environmental Infrastructure Advisory team has been releasing quarterly data that ranks national renewable energy markets, and their suitability for individual technologies.

The latest edition of the Carbon Capture and Storage Country Attractiveness Index was released last month, and it shows that: (more…)