Environment

I hate to garden. I am the type of person who would rather sit at my desk on a sunny summer day than plant seeds, pull weeds, or harvest anything. So it will surprise those who know me best that I just finished a ‘20-year’ stint as the Director of Forestry in Uruguay, on a team that launched a successful bio-products ‘business’ on the Rio Negro River outside of the city of Mercedes, and I loved every minute of it.

Those ‘20 years’ went by in a flash—it seemed like a mere two months. Eight weeks, in fact.

That’s how long it takes to earn a certificate for Leading Sustainable Innovation, a completely virtual, albeit intense and rigorous, new program offered by the University of Vermont (UVM), home to one of the top “green” MBA programs in the world.

Nestlé, together with a number of international consumer goods companies, launched the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance at the CEO Africa Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.

This Alliance aims to turn the current challenge of plastic waste in Sub-Saharan Africa into an opportunity to create jobs and commercial activity by improving the collection and recycling of plastics.

Mondi Group, a global leader in packaging and paper has today released its 2018 reporting suite Sustainable Packaging and Paper by Design, including its full Sustainable Development report and Integrated report and financial statements.

Each year on March 21, we celebrate the International Day of Forests to raise awareness of the importance of sustainably managed forests. You’ve probably heard many common myths about the pulp and paper industry’s effect on forests, but the truth is that sustainable forestry practices are instrumental (not detrimental) to the health and vitality of our precious forest resources.

An emerging R&D concept at The Scotts Miracle Gro Company––the "lawn of the future"––shows how an array of innovations are working together to allow homeowners to have a beautiful outdoor space even as water resources become increasingly limited.

Skytop Strategies will launch its ESG5 Summit on April 4th in New York. CSRHub Co-founder and CTO Bahar Gidwani will be speaking on Materiality: Aligning Materiality to Your Company’s Business Model.

PYXERA Global is excited to announce our participation in the What Works 2019 conference on April 1–3 in Reykjavik, Iceland. First held in 2016, the What Works global summit is the premier forum for debating solutions that will accelerate social progress around the world.

Global Reporting Initiative are delighted that we can now offer the latest GRI Standards in Spanish. Organizations who report in Spanish can download GRI 303: Agua y efluentes 2018 and GRI 403: Salud y seguridad en el trabajo 2018 on the GRI website.

Consumers Energy and other stakeholders have filed a settlement with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) on the company’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) outlining a breakthrough Clean Energy Plan for Michigan. The plan positions Consumers Energy as a national clean energy leader and demonstrates its commitment to people, the planet and Michigan’s prosperity. Today’s settlement announcement – from a broad coalition of customer groups, environmental organizations and the Michigan Attorney General – outlines the best plan for Michigan’s energy future.

The Novartis Foundation and Microsoft are partnering to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled Digital Health tool and a Leprosy Intelligent Image Atlas to aid in the early detection of leprosy. Over 200,000 people are diagnosed with leprosy every year. Brazil, India, and Indonesia account for about 80% of new cases. If untreated, patients are left with lifelong disabilities and are often stigmatized in their societies.