2Sustain

A diverse collection of some of the world’s leading companies have joined forces to create the Sustainability Innovators Working Group, an organization that will work to define and develop new approaches to environmental management and corporate sustainability.

Esty Environmental Partners (EEP), the organizer of the group, and IBM, a participant and supporting partner, announced the launch of the group last week.

The Sustainability Innovators Working Group –which includes global corporations such as Boeing, CH2M Hill, Coca-Cola, Delhaize Group, Disney, Diversey, Dow Chemical Company, FedEx, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Shaklee, Unilever, and Xerox — will define a new set of management systems and tools for achieving greater value from sustainability strategy.  Each company will be able to apply the best practices from this collaboration within their own organizations not only to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in their operations, but also to better identify and develop related opportunities for innovation and growth. (more…)

The Port of Singapore was presented with the ‘Best Green Service Provider – Seaport’ award at the 24th Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards held earlier this month in Shanghai.

The award recognizes Singapore’s long-standing commitment to environmentally-friendly shipping and port activities. For instance, the country is compliant with environmental regulations set by national and global bodies  (such as all the Annexes of the International Maritime Organization’s MARPOL convention), and its consistent application of environmental standards is complemented by recent investments in green initiatives and technology. Specifically, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) driving maritime R&D in clean technologies in partnership with tertiary research institutions and the industry, supported by MPA’s S$100 million Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund. (more…)

Back in 2005, GlobeScan found that the vast majority (more than 80 percent) of Chinese consumers felt that companies communicated ‘honestly and truthfully’ about their social and environmental performance.

Five years later, opinions have changed.

In its 2010 global tracking research on public views of corporate social responsibility, GlobeScan found that these days, less than half (40 percent) of Chinese consumers believe that companies are being truthful about their CSR performance. (more…)

Without question, the disaster that’s unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is a case study in the lack of corporate sustainability oversight.

But, now there’s a new report that says the problems aren’t limited to BP or even “big oil.” According to this latest research, most corporations don’t seek out independent sources of information on the impact of business operations on the environment, and most lack detailed procedures and metrics for integrating social objectives into daily corporate activities.

The report, Sustainability in the Boardroom, released yesterday by The Conference Board, reveals that few companies consistently elevate sustainability issues to the strategic discussions that take place at the board level. As a result, the vast majority of directors (89 percent) continue to base their decision on reports by senior executives, and most sustainability discussions with the board only take place in reaction to emergency situations.

Here are a few additional, and equally sobering, findings from the report: (more…)

Companies need to make wholesale changes to their business technology if they want to keep up with rapidly evolving mandates for environmental tracking, according to new research conducted for IFS in the USA, Scandinavia and Benelux.

The study, based on surveys of industrial executives in each region, discovered that more than three quarters of companies consider it important to track their environmental profile—that includes 83 percent in the USA, 82 percent Scandinavia and 79 percent in Benelux. (more…)