2Sustain

WhiteWave Foods, the Colorado-based company that makes Silk^®, Horizon Organic^®, International Delight^® and Land O Lakes^®, released ambitious new sustainability targets last week.

Most notably, by 2013, WhiteWave plans to:

• reduce GHG emissions by 25 percent, working from a 2006 baseline.
• reduce non-ingredient water use by 15 percent, compared to a 2008 baseline.

The company had previously set several sustainability goals in 2006 and 2007, and the results to date are impressive. For example, WhiteWave already has: (more…)

The nonprofit advocacy group Mercy for Animals launched an undercover investigation into McDonald’s egg supplier Sparboe Egg Farms and found cruel conditions. Hidden-camera video from the investigation showed a number of abuses, including:

• the use of battery cages, which are banned in California, Michigan and throughout the entire European Union,
• workers burning off the beaks of young chicks and callously throwing them into cages, some missing the cage doors and hitting the floor and
• rotted hens, decomposed beyond recognition as birds, left in cages with hens still laying eggs for human consumption.

In a statement, McDonald’s described the behavior on the video as “disturbing and completely unacceptable.” (more…)

How will climate change impact the coastal landscape of California?

New research from the US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey (USGS) gives us some insights.

In the first integrated study of its kind, USGS scientists and academic colleagues analyzed how California’s interconnected San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (the Bay-Delta system) could change from 2010 to 2099 in response to both fast and moderate climate warming scenarios. The results show that: (more…)

Back in March, I wrote about McDonald’s new Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC). Now, McDonald’s has extended this commitment even more by joining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organization that promotes the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders.

As a result of its membership in the RSPO, McDonald’s says that by the end of this year, it will source palm oil only from RSPO member companies. By 2015, only RSPO-certified palm oil will be used in McDonald’s restaurants, pre-cooked chicken and potato products.

This new focus on palm oil comes after an analysis conducted as part of McDonald’s SLMC.  The company, in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), identified which of its raw materials have the most potential sustainability impacts. The list includes beef, poultry, coffee, fiber for packaging and palm oil –and so McDonald’s is going to center its attention on those areas. (more…)

Sainsbury’s, one of the UK’s leading retailers, revealed a new £1 billion (about $1.6 billion USD) sustainability plan last week, establishing 20 specific targets the company wants to achieve by 2020.

The Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan will focus on four key areas: (more…)