AI & Technology

Five years ago, DuPont commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to develop the Global Food Security Index (GFSI). While the Index seeks to answer a simple question – how food secure is a country? – in reality, it presents a clarion call to action for governments, farmers, non-governmental organizations and agricultural companies alike.

According to recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce, but are much less represented in particular science and engineering occupations. They comprise 39 percent of chemists and material scientists, 28 percent of environmental scientists and geoscientists, 16 percent of chemical engineers, and just 12 percent of civil engineers.*

As falling costs for distributed energy resources reduce the barriers to entry, new players like solar and battery storage developers are establishing relationships with utility customers.

If you keep up with Sustainability Thought Leadership, you likely follow Andrea Learned (@AndreaLearned) on Twitter or have read her articles in the Huffington Post.

My name is Aaron McLean. I’ve worked at AT&T for 17 years as a web developer and architect. In fall 2014, our group was in need of high-quality, low-cost training and certification. While we had online training, we needed more specific certifications within our software-centric network environment. Then one day, an email was sent to us from John Donovan (our Chief Technology Officer at the time), asking us to check out Udacity.com.

“What does it take to get great CSR work done?” Nine months in, I’m convinced it takes a clear direction, supported by a committed organization and great people.

For the Brixio team, supporting LIVESTRONG in the fight against cancer was a personal and collective desire. For our team, Brixio’s partnership with LIVESTRONG is a prime example of the simplicity and power behind business-nonprofit collaboration.

Hundreds of students and professionals answered the call to help fix our broken food system by looking to nature to create design solutions. Now, after receiving 86 submissions from 18 countries, the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge judges have chosen ten winning teams.

On June 15th, the European Union (EU) agreed on terms for the long-pending conflict minerals regulation. As one of the largest economic bodies in the world, The EU was hard pressed to develop a regulation that would make companies perform due diligence on their supply chains, ensuring that they responsibly source 3TG (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold), or conflict minerals.

Global Forest Watch, an initiative of the World Resources Institute (WRI), has recently released a palm oil risk tool that maps deforestation risk for palm oil mills worldwide. The PALM Risk Tool (Prioritizing Areas, Landscapes and Mills) assigns a risk rating to approximately 800 palm oil mills. Satellite data is used to identify deforested and fire treated areas. Mills that have heavily deforested regions within a 50 kilometer (31 mile) radius are assigned higher risk ratings; this is also the maximum distance that palm fruit can be transported in usable condition.