ESG News from Leading Brands

Sustainable Development Goals

Activating the SDGs Into Business Operations

Jan 30, 2018 4:30 AM ET

If the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met, business will have to play a major role. But how can companies go about integrating the SDGs into their own business operations?

Education

Major League Baseball Players Team With Medicines for Humanity to Distribute Toys in the Dominican Republic

Jan 29, 2018 6:55 PM ET

All-stars Robinson Cano, of the Seattle Mariners, and Miguel Sano, of the Minnesota Twins, recently visited 16 impoverished Dominican Republic communities where they distributed thousands of toys to children. It was the fourth straight season that Cano, along with his RC22 Foundation, has collaborated on a tour with Medicines for Humanity, a non-profit organization that partners with the Players Trust to provide critically needed health services to at risk children and pregnant women in “batey” communities, which are remote villages that developed around now largely abandoned sugar plantations and have never had adequate infrastructure or health services.

Events, Media & Communications

Final Week to Save 20% on Registration for IWD 2018!

Jan 29, 2018 6:15 PM ET

Join more than 300 private and public stakeholders March 6—7 in Washington, D.C. to discuss how together, through combining resources, skills, and expertise, we can achieve greater sustainability and impact. Gender equality is in reach, but it can only be realized through collaboration.

Energy

Green Charge Is Now ENGIE Storage

Jan 29, 2018 5:00 PM ET

Green Charge is proud to announce our name change to ENGIE Storage. While our name is changing, our mission to power the world efficiently and sustainably with energy storage is the same, and we think better accomplished as a part of ENGIE.

Environment

Insights From Indonesia: Protecting Our Coral Reefs

Jan 29, 2018 3:55 PM ET

Our oceans program, like all of our work at Bloomberg Philanthropies, aims to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. So it’s good news that the United Nations International Coral Reef Initiative has declared 2018 the International Year of the Reef. Coral reefs are home to one in every four fish in the ocean, and are a critical backbone of ocean ecosystems. Unfortunately, climate change threatens to destroy 90 percent of reefs in the next three decades.

Supply Chain & the Circular Economy

Catalyzing Supplier Climate Action in the IT Industry

Jan 29, 2018 3:30 PM ET

Companies leading on climate action are driving impact beyond their own business operations by leveraging their purchasing power to drive low-carbon strategies and engagement throughout the supply chain. To recognize these global leaders, CDP, the non-profit environmental disclosure platform, has this week released the second annual Supplier Engagement leaderboard.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Healthy Pigs Improve Pork Sustainability

Jan 29, 2018 2:35 PM ET

In 1989 – just 30 years ago – the U.S. had to import pork in order to meet the growing demand from American consumers. Today, not only are hog farmers producing enough to meet domestic demand, nearly 26 percent of the pork produced in the U.S. is exported to more than 100 countries.

Responsible Production & Consumption

After the Gold: Decommissioning and the Cyanide Code

Jan 29, 2018 1:00 PM ET

In 2017, Goldcorp’s Marlin gold mine in Guatemala became the second gold mining operation audited to verify that cyanide facilities had been decommissioned and that the International Cyanide Management Code (Cyanide Code) no longer applies to the operation. The first, Goldcorp’s El Sauzal mine in Mexico, was decommissioned in 2015.

Green Infrastructure

Delos | Health Promotion and Financial Investment: Sara Neff, Senior Vice President Discusses Sustainability at Kilroy Realty

Jan 29, 2018 12:25 PM ET

Education

Building the Well-being Revolution: Forging the Next Generation of Expert Leaders

Jan 29, 2018 12:05 PM ET

The links between sustainable building design and well-being are obvious to many professionals and academics, yet the role of buildings in individual or population health and well-being has been largely overlooked in the past decades. The ‘green agenda’ seemed to dominate, due to the rise of environmental imperatives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, resource scarcity and so on. Imperatives linked to public health, workforce productivity and related issues may have seemed more established fields, perhaps running on different if not parallel tracks.

Environment

VIDEO | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation Is Strengthening and Revitalizing Communities

Jan 29, 2018 12:00 PM ET

Diversity & Inclusion

Citi Community Development, the City of New York and National Disability Institute Launch New National Initiative Aimed at Building the Financial Security of People With Disabilities

Jan 29, 2018 11:30 AM ET

Citi Community Development, the City of New York, and National Disability Institute (NDI) announced the launch of Empowered Cities (www.empoweredcities.com), a new national initiative enabling municipalities to expand financial empowerment and economic inclusion for people living with disabilities and their families.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

VIDEO | Subaru of America Donates 50 Vehicles to Meals on Wheels

Jan 29, 2018 10:05 AM ET

Meals on Wheels received 50 Subaru Outbacks, donated by Subaru of America. One of those vehicles was donated to Meals on Wheels in Coconino County, AZ.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

VMware is One of Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Technology Leaders

Jan 29, 2018 10:05 AM ET

VMware has been recognized in Thomson Reuters inaugural list of Top 100 Global Technology Leaders for 2018! The list profiles the most operationally sound and financially successful technology organizations in the world. This rounds off a great week, since VMware was also honored by Great Place to Work and Fortune on their 2018 Best Workplaces in Technology list where we moved up two spots from last year to our number 9 ranking in 2018.

Health & Healthcare

Food Fortification Matters

Jan 29, 2018 10:05 AM ET

Imagine if people talked about solving undernutrition just as much as we all talk about obesity. Throughout the world, two billion people do not get enough micronutrients like iron and vitamin A. It’s a serious problem, especially in the developing world, and can have long-term health effects.

Although progress has been made worldwide to reduce micronutrient deficiencies, there is still some way to go to further reduce undernutrition and eventually eliminate it.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings Kicks Off 11th Year of Mayor's Intern Fellows Program to Provide Summer Internships for Dallas Public and Charter High School Students

Jan 29, 2018 9:55 AM ET

It might only be January, but high school students in Dallas are getting ready for summer. Their summer internships that is. Each year, the Dallas Mayor's Intern Fellows Program offers high school students real-world experience at some of Dallas's top companies and nonprofits. Alliance Data has been a proud support of this program since 2012, and will continue to sponsor interns as well as the Intern Fellows Training Sponsor, a three-day intense training session for interns - including Microsoft Office and leadership training - before their summer positions begin.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Tetra Pak on the Supplier Climate A List by CDP

Jan 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

Tetra Pak has ​today (Monday 29th January)​ been named on the CDP Supplier Climate A list for the second time, as well as being announced as a CDP Forests A list in December, also for the second time. We have been reporting to the CDP Supplier Climate programme since 2009 and to the Forests programme since it was first established in 2015.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

KeyBank Provides $8.5 Million in Financing for Affordable Housing in Washington

Jan 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

KeyBank Community Development Lending & Investment (CDLI) has provided an $8.5 million construction loan and $10.5 million in 9% LIHTC equity for the development of Renton Commons, a 48-unit affordable housing project with 36 units of permanent supportive housing, located in Renton, WA.

Events, Media & Communications

Announcing Majora Carter as Keynote Speaker at Living Future unConference

Jan 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

The International Living Future Institute is pleased to announce Majora Carter as their third keynote speaker at the annual Living Future unConference, held this year in Portland, OR from May 1-4.

Carter is a leading urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation & implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training & placement systems.

She will join author and activist Raj Patel + conservationist and advocate Terry Tempest Williams as keynotes.

The Living Future unConference is the forum for leading minds in the green building movement to make strides toward a healthy future for all. To learn more and to register visit 2018livingfutureunconference.org.

Research, Reports & Publications

Managing Sustainable Business in a Rapidly Changing World

Jan 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

A new report from BSR provides a blueprint for how practitioners can reimagine sustainable business management inside their organizations to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Environment

Sustainability Monthly Minute: January 2018

Jan 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

Domtar was recently named a sustainability leader by Newsweek, coming in at No. 42 on Newsweek's Green Rankings 2017 list. Find out what else is happening at Domtar by checking out the January 2018 edition of the Domtar Sustainability Monthly Minute.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Voya Financial Joins First Industry-Neutral Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

Jan 29, 2018 8:50 AM ET

Voya Financial, Inc. announced that it is one of 104 companies to be included in the inaugural 2018 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) in recognition of Voya’s strong commitment to gender equality. The index measures gender parity at companies across industries and around the globe using internal, company-provided statistics, employee policies, external community support and engagement, and gender-conscious product offerings.

Supply Chain & the Circular Economy

How Mars Is Revolutionizing Their Supply Chain

Jan 29, 2018 8:45 AM ET

Many companies are looking at their value chain as the focus area to drive large-scale change. But many are struggling to truly develop collaborative partnerships that will address complex societal and environmental issues.

Sustainable Development Goals

End-of-life Car Recycling in Brazil Creates Local Employment While Protecting Environment

Jan 29, 2018 8:15 AM ET

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Sodexo Ranks High on FlexJobs’ Top 100 Companies for Remote Jobs List

Jan 29, 2018 8:10 AM ET

Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, announced today it ranked #41 on FlexJobs’ Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2018 list. For the third consecutive year, Sodexo was recognized for the number of opportunities available on its job board last year that allowed telecommuting as an option, either full- or part-time.