Last week, For Motor Company released its 2010 Sustainability Report, titled Blueprint for Sustainability. In it, Ford demonstrates the company’s reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the improved fuel economy of its cars and specific goals for improved operational sustainability and decreased water consumption.
Ford’s twelfth annual sustainability report highlights the following achievements and commitments: (more…)
It’s only May, but Cintas Corporation has already achieved significant environmental savings in 2011. The company credits these accomplishments to: 1) comprehensive document management services and 2) an innovative plastic-to-fiber process that allows Cintas to create garments from post-consumer material such as plastic water bottles.
In a press release, Cintas says its document management division offers an environmentally-conscious approach to protecting confidential business and personal information, including records from human resources and credit card receipts.
Thanks to the company’s secure SmartShred™ process, Cintas recycled the equivalent of planting 4.4 million trees during fiscal year 2011 –an incredibly impressive achievement that saved approximately: (more…)
Last month, Mattel, Inc. announced that it has made considerable progress in several areas of its global sustainability program.
The strategy –called “Design It, Make It, Live It”–focuses on helping the company minimize its footprint throughout the value chain and across the organization and emphasizes the importance of personal commitment in business as well as everyday practices and processes. Here’s how Mattel explains the three different stages:
With regard to environmental initiatives, Mattel reported that it has made progress with: (more…)
Water concerns are becoming more and more globally integrated and complex, and many corporations are now seeking out cooperative partnerships to help mitigate the increasing threat of water risks.
Here’s an example: Just last week, The Coca-Cola Company and The Nature Conservancy announced the release of a water footprint report, entitled Product Water Footprint Assessments: Practical Application in Corporate Water Stewardship. Released in conjunction with World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, this report details three pilot studies that were conducted on Coca-Cola products and ingredients.
Water footprint assessments like this one provide valuable insights into water use throughout the supply chain, including both direct and indirect water use and the impacts of use on local watersheds and communities. Those insights can then open new opportunities for companies to enhance their water stewardship, while mitigating the risks associated with water scarcity.
For instance, in this particular study, Coca-Cola and the Conservancy found that the largest portion of the product water footprints assessed in the pilot studies comes from the field –not the factory.
“We see significant opportunity to engage more directly with our agricultural suppliers to advance sustainable water use for the cultivation of ingredients in our supply chain,” Denise Knight, Water and Sustainable Agriculture Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said in a press release. “Our initial efforts will focus on the sustainable sourcing of sugarcane, oranges and corn.”
Water footprints typically identify three types of water: (more…)
This past Sunday, March 22, marked the 17th anniversary of World Water Day, an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The theme for this year’s event was “Transboundary waters: sharing water, sharing opportunities,” and over the past few weeks, it has been great to see global corporations stepping forward to recognize World Water Day, as they reaffirm their commitment to responsible water stewardship.
Case in point: PepsiCo. On Friday, PepsiCo positioned itself as an international water stewardship leader by announcing an ambitious agenda of global initiatives. Essentially, the company is pursuing a two-pronged approach. First, PepsiCo is improving water efficiencies within its own operations. Second, the company is committed to working with communities and other organizations to increase access to clean water around the world.
