2Sustain

Last week, the H.J. Heinz Company released it 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report and announced that the company is on track to achieve or surpass its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, solid landfill waste, energy consumption and water consumption by at least 20 percent each by Fiscal Year 2015.

Since the baseline year of 2005, Heinz has achieved the following cumulative reductions through Fiscal Year 2011, which ended on April 27:

• 45.6 percent global reduction in solid waste per 100 metric tons of production globally
• 21.8 percent global reduction in water consumption per metric ton of production globally
• 13.2 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per metric ton of production globally
• 15.1 percent decrease in energy consumption per metric ton of production globally

The 2011 report, which adheres to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, also includes these additional highlights from 2011: (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…)

Xerox has released its sixth Global Citizenship Report which highlights how the company’s continued innovation supports the triple bottom line, commonly referred to as “people, planet and profits.”

For example, Xerox says it leverages the power of technology to help customers reduce their carbon footprint.  The company offers:

• managed print services which can cut paper use through digital imaging, archiving and indexing.
• solid ink technology which generates less waste.

Xerox also: (more…)

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division announced last week that its Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing facility has reached “near net zero.”

The company’s “near net zero” vision was to transform an existing facility so that it would be as far off the grid as possible, running primarily on renewable energy sources and recycled water, while producing nearly zero landfill waste.

In order to achieve this goal, Frito-Lay invested in and implemented a combination of technologies.

For instance, the Casa Grande facility now generates two-thirds of all energy used from renewable sources.  For example, five separate and distinct solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, installed throughout the property, produce nearly 10 million kilowatt-hours (KWHs) of electrical power. (Two solar fields of single axis tracking PV systems with more than 18,000 solar panels were installed on 36 acres of the facility’s agriculture property. The three additional PV fields include a dual axis tracking system, a single axis covered parking lot and 10 sterling engine dual axis tracking systems.)

In addition, the company is working toward: (more…)

Water is quickly becoming a significant business growth and development risk.

In fact, after polling 150 large corporations, CDP Water Disclosure found that nearly 40 percent of responding companies had already experienced disruptions in operations, increases in expenses and other detrimental impacts related to water. Of course, government entities are also increasingly concerned with water-related disruptions, and they’re seeking viable approaches for mitigating risks, as well.

Fortunately, a new group promises to offer the kind of information needed for public and private sector decision-making regarding water risks.

Launched just last week, the Aqueduct Alliance is a consortium of leading water experts from the private and public sectors, NGOs and academia. It was founded by the World Resources Institute (WRI), Goldman Sachs and General Electric, but already the alliance has added Bloomberg, The Dow Chemical Company, Talisman Energy, and United Technologies. The Coca-Cola Company is also engaged and will be providing an extensive global database of once proprietary water risk information to support Aqueduct’s work.

From the alliance’s website: (more…)