2Sustain

Sea level rise due to global warming has already doubled the annual risk of coastal flooding across widespread areas of the United States, according to a new report from Climate Central, a climate and energy focused non-profit research and journalism organization.

The report, Surging Seas, is not only the first to analyze how sea level rise caused by global warming is compounding the risk from storm surges throughout the coastal contiguous US, but also it’s the first to generate local and national estimates of the land, housing and population in vulnerable low-lying areas and associate this information with flood risk timelines.

Here are a few of the report’s sobering conclusions: (more…)

Communications conglomerate AT&T, in collaboration with global sustainability consultancy Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), is continuing its march on environmentally-conscious business practices with the release of a new eco-rating system for its products.

In just a few months, consumers will find AT&T eco-ratings on simple, easy-to-read-and-understand labels included with AT&T-branded mobile devices.

As a recent Deloitte study showed, sustainability is becoming increasingly important for consumer purchasing decisions. In fact, more than half (54 percent) of surveyed shoppers said they consider sustainability to be one of their top decision-making factors.

To provide consumers with information so they can make more educated and environmental decisions, AT&T’s new eco-rating system will cover attributes such as: (more…)

A new partnership between Nike, Inc. and Netherlands-based DyeCoo Textile Systems B.V., is poised to introduce a revolutionary technology to the sportswear world.

DyeCoo has developed and built the first commercially-available waterless textile dyeing machines. Remarkably, this industry-altering technology eliminates the use of water in the textile dyeing process by using recycled carbon dioxide—supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (SCF CO2 ) to be exact—to adhere coloring to cloth. After exploring this technology for the past eight years, Nike expects to showcase the new apparel at several events later in 2012.

Here are some facts and figures on the textile industry and what changes this growing technology will bring: (more…)

Even though US housing starts have dropped dramatically since 2008, green construction is significantly increasing as a share of activity, according to new research from McGraw-Hill Construction, in conjunction with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Waste Management.

For example, in 2011, green homes comprised 17 percent of the overall residential construction market. The new study revealed that builders now predict this share of activity will grow to between 29 percent and 38 percent by 2016 — equating to a five-fold increase in five years (from $17 billion in 2011 to $87-$114 billion in 2016).

In addition, construction industry professionals reported an even steeper increase in green home remodeling. About one-third of remodelers (34 percent) said they expect to be doing mostly green work by 2016 –that’s a whopping 150 percent increase over 2011 activity levels.

The main driver of the transition to green building appears to be the current economic climate:

• Many home builders have shifted to the remodeling market due to the drastic drop in new home construction. Well more than half (62 percent) of the builders who do both new and remodeling work verified that the economy has increased their renovation work.
• 46 percent of builders and remodelers and 71 percent of firms dedicated to green home building said they find “building green” makes it easier to market themselves in a down economy.
• A 7 percent drop in green construction costs has encouraged more home owners to seriously consider green building.

Three regions in particular are seeing higher than average growth in green building: the West Coast, the Midwest’s northern region and New England. But, the trend nationwide shows no signs of subsiding. In fact, the report projects that by 2016: (more…)

Most corporate sustainability reports are full of environmental goals. But, do companies actually reach these ambitions? How many end up meeting the targets they set for themselves?

Among British retailers, the track record so far appears to be quite good. In fact, a new report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) report concluded that retailers in the UK are living up to the environmental ambitions they committed themselves to in 2008 –plus,  they’re demonstrating increasing recognition that reducing waste, energy and water usage not only benefits the environment, but makes good business sense, as well.

The BRC-led project, A Better Retailing Climate, was launched in 2008, and it committed businesses representing the majority of the UK retail market to sector-wide environmental ambitions. The report released last month, A Better Retailing Climate: Towards Sustainable Retail, is the BRC’s third review of progress against these original commitments.

Here’s a breakdown of the report’s key findings: (more…)