Environment

SC Johnson has released its 26th annual Sustainability Report, The Science Inside, which shares publicly the criteria inside the company’s Greenlist™ ingredient selection program. The Greenlist™ program helps the company continually improve its products by choosing ingredients to better protect human health and the environment.

Following Wells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) $200-billion low-carbon commitment announced last week, its Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance unit today announced the completion of $70 million in tax-equity funding for the Pacific Plains wind projects, including facilities in Indiana, Nebraska, and California.

The Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) is providing grants totaling more than $8 million to support the work of 80 nonprofit organizations this year, The Walt Disney Company announced today. The grants are part of Disney’s “Reverse the Decline” initiative, which pairs the company’s philanthropic dollars with professional expertise from Disney’s Animals, Science, and Environment team and other employees to maximize the impact of conservation efforts to protect wildlife and wild places. Including these new grants, DCF has awarded more than $70 million to date to support conservation efforts around the world.

Major metropolitan office markets across the globe are seeing a significant increase in the adoption of “green” building certification programs, according to the inaugural International Green Building Adoption Index (IGBAI) – a study by CBRE and Maastricht University (Netherlands). The study reports that 18.6 percent of space in 10 markets across Australia, Canada and Europe is now certified “green” versus just 6.4 percent in 2007.

JetBlue is helping to preserve nearly 500,000 acres of Brazilian Rainforest. Often called the Lungs of the Planet, the project is preserving land that is host to rare and highly endangered eco systems, which support over 30,000 types of plants, and wildlife, including howler monkeys, fresh water dolphins and scarlet macaws. The projects help local communities too, making forest preservation economically viable.

Former New York City Mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg says he has a responsibility to help the environment as the Trump administration has backed down from its role in the Paris climate agreement. He said on "Face the Nation" he will write a check for $4.5 million this year to fund that mission.

Today, Michael R. Bloomberg, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action, announced a contribution to support the operations of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, including its work to help countries implement their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement. The contribution realizes Bloomberg’s promise from June 2017 to fill a significant funding gap that comes as a result of President Donald Trump’s intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and proposed steep budget cuts for international programs, including those on climate.

El Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos abrió la convocatoria para que microempresas o pequeñas cooperativas dedicadas al cultivo de cacao puedan inscribirse en el concurso El Poder de Crecer, el cual premiará a los ganadores con acceso a asesoría por un capital de hasta $43,000 para promover una solución de negocios.

All of us have a shared responsibility to protect the environment. Many companies are doing their part by making sustainability goals a priority in their operations. Through innovative solutions, advanced analytics and the power of artificial intelligence (AI), Accenture is working with clients to reach their sustainability goals and vision of a greener planet. And they are achieving significant energy savings, too.