ESG News from Leading Brands

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

International Women’s Day 2017 – Who Was Bold for Change?

Mar 13, 2017 9:00 AM ET

Companies and other organizations found ways to boldly communicate their commitments to women, building on the already-unstoppable momentum of the day. Here’s a roundup of efforts that caught our eye:

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Smithfield Foods’ Helping Hungry Homes® Partners with Albertsons to Donate More Than 35,000 Pounds of Protein to Three Square Food Bank

Mar 13, 2017 6:00 AM ET

Smithfield Foods’ Helping Hungry Homes® initiative, a program focused on alleviating hunger and helping Americans become more food secure, joined forces with Albertsons to donate more than 35,000 pounds of protein to Three Square Food Bank. The donation, equivalent to more than 1

Research, Reports & Publications

Yorkshire Building Society’s First CR Report Does UK Financial Services Proud

Mar 13, 2017 5:00 AM ET

Yorkshire Building Society Group has outlined how it is making a lasting and positive impact on society in the first annual review of its corporate responsibility performance.

Innovation & Technology

Sandoz Announces Winners of Inaugural Healthcare Access Challenge (Sandoz HACk)

Mar 13, 2017 3:15 AM ET

Sandoz, a Novartis Division, announced today the three winners of the inaugural Healthcare Access Challenge (Sandoz HACk). The winners, chosen by a panel of judges at the Wired Health 2017 event in London, identified innovative approaches to address challenges in Ghana, the Maldives and the Philippines.

Environment

Orvis CEO Signs Open Letter Urging FL Lawmakers to Save the Everglades

Mar 12, 2017 8:50 AM ET

Global outdoor and adventure retailer The Orvis Company has purchased a full-page ad in the Sunday edition of the Miami Herald to publish an open letter from Orvis CEO Perk Perkins, urging Governor Rick Scott and the Florida State Legislature to support legislation to build the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir.

Events, Media & Communications

FOX Presents Powerful New Show “SHOTS FIRED” Alongside Panel Discussions with Cast, Creators, and Community Members Across the United States

Mar 10, 2017 7:50 PM ET

In advance of the upcoming TV premiere of Shots Fired on March 22, FOX has organized a screening series followed by conversations between the producers, cast, and various community leaders, activists, and members of law enforcement across the country. Shots Fired is a new 10-part series that takes an explosive look at the American criminal justice system through the prism of two racially charged shootings in a small North Carolina town.

Social Impact & Volunteering

When Personal Passions & Purpose at Work Pair Up

Mar 10, 2017 7:45 PM ET

A few weeks ago, I came home from a meeting at Chic Geek (a Calgary-based community to support women interested in tech) and opened my laptop to find an email from Benevity’s CEO, Bryan de Lottinville. At first, I thought it was an office-wide notice. Then I saw my name alongside a handful of female leaders from different teams, whom I admire. So I re-read the email carefully. Bryan asked us to put our heads together and see how we can partner with Chic Geek, the very same group that I volunteer with and had just returned from a meeting with! He explained how supporting Chic Geek aligned closely with Benevity's goals of improving our local tech-landscape, especially for women.

Diversity & Inclusion

Meet Swati Daji, Fuel Systems Executive

Mar 10, 2017 5:10 PM ET

We’re celebrating Women’s History Month this March by introducing you to 10 women who help power your life at Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas. They advance our company with their vision, talent, hard work and creativity. These trailblazing women – including a nuclear engineer, astrophysicist and lineman – reveal inspiring stories of persistence, pluck and achievement in largely male-dominated fields. A diverse workplace isn’t just a nice idea, it’s a competitive necessity. Today, meet Swati Daji, a senior vice president of fuels & systems based in Charlotte, N.C.

Education

Michael Weiner Scholarship Recipient Colleen Fewer Lives by Labor Movement Values

Mar 10, 2017 4:30 PM ET

Since 2015 the Major League Baseball Players Trust has annually awarded a Michael Weiner Scholarship for Labor Studies to five deserving law or graduate school students pursuing careers aimed at protecting and defending workers' rights. The Michael Weiner Scholarship for LaborStudies was established by Major Leaguers to honor the life and work of the Major League Baseball Players Association's late executive director.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Bunker Labs and Comcast NBCUniversal Extend Partnership to Help Grow Military-Led Startups

Mar 10, 2017 4:15 PM ET

Comcast NBCUniversal and Bunker Labs, a national nonprofit organization for military veteran-led startups, today announced a three-year expansion of its partnership, continuing their mutual support of the military community and veteran-owned businesses.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

3 Aflac Executives Honored by BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine

Mar 10, 2017 3:45 PM ET

Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance at the worksite in the United States, announced today that Aflac U.S. President Teresa White, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Audrey Boone Tillman, and Vice President of Human Resources Brenda Mullins have all been selected to appear on BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine’s 2017 list of the Most Powerful Women in Business.

Education

Keep Genesee County Beautiful Partners with Keep America Beautiful for School-Based Recycling Education in Flint Schools

Mar 10, 2017 2:45 PM ET

Keep America Beautiful and its local Flint, Michigan, affiliate Keep Genesee County Beautiful recently announced the launch of an integrated recycling education and awareness initiative for the 10,000 school students affected by the Flint water crisis.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

The Albertsons Companies Foundation and the Vons Foundation Makes Generous Contribution to HoldYou Foundation

Mar 10, 2017 2:00 PM ET

HoldYou Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to providing financial assistance to families in need who have a child facing a critical illness or injury, today announced The Albertsons Companies Foundation and The Vons Foundation donated $1,500 in support of HoldYou’s ongoing fundraising efforts.

Environment

Economics of Soil Health: Key to Adoption

Mar 10, 2017 12:30 PM ET

The current world population of approximately 7.4 billion is projected to increase to approximately 9.7 billion by 2050. Growing enough food, while also sustaining and improving our natural resources, is one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Diversity & Inclusion

Marching for Togetherness

Mar 10, 2017 12:30 PM ET

Shannon Sigmund likes to talk about women’s rights and is the first to explain that feminism isn’t just for one gender.

Health & Healthcare

Military Dining and Quality of Life

Mar 10, 2017 12:15 PM ET

Napoleon has been credited with the saying, “An army marches on its stomach.” An infantryman himself, Napoleon understood first-hand the importance of supplying an army on the move in which it was common practice for each soldier to procure his own food from villages along the campaign trail.

Diversity & Inclusion

Tech for Good and for Women

Mar 10, 2017 12:15 PM ET

“When you’re in a movement, you don't hold your finger to the wind,” Gloria Steinem told the rapt audience. “You become the wind.” Or, put another way, “If you feel you’re pushing a rock uphill, throw it.”

Responsible Production & Consumption

ANSI and Leonardo Academy Announce Extension for the ANSI/LEO-4000 American National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture Certification Body Pilot Program

Mar 10, 2017 12:15 PM ET

Leonardo Academy, Inc. The Sustainability Experts® announced today that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has extended the deadline for Certifiers (Certification Bodies or CBs) to sign up for the ANSI Accreditation Pilot Program from March 10th, 2017 to May 10th, 2017.

Social Impact & Volunteering

What Does it Take to Build a Habitat House?

Mar 10, 2017 11:45 AM ET

People in your community and all over the world partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve the place they call home. In fact, Habitat is the largest privately held homebuilder and regularly ranks as one of the top 20 homebuilders in the United States.

Environment

Here's the Buzz on Häagen-Dazs' Plan to Protect Honeybees

Mar 10, 2017 11:00 AM ET

Last week, a few journalists, a farmer, an entomologist and an ice cream man drove two hours southeast from Oakland to Chowchilla, California. It’s an in-between place most people never will visit — the neighborhood bar is a lonely box with one window — but if you’ve eaten an almond in the United States, you depend upon this community. Its riches are rooted in nature.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Costa Group and Mercy Ships Present Their Memorandum of Understanding to Provide Practical Help Where it is Needed the Most

Mar 10, 2017 10:30 AM ET

Mercy Ships and Costa Group celebrated Tuesday the official start of the memorandum of understanding which has been recently signed. The agreement is aimed to develop synergies in different fields with the objective to support the accomplishments of Mercy Ships.

Events, Media & Communications

Timberland Talks Collaboration and Employee Engagement at GreenBiz 17

Mar 10, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland recently joined more than 1,000 sustainability leaders from around the world at GreenBiz 17, hosted in Phoenix, AZ. The annual three-day event brings together companies, sustainability executives, nonprofits and academics to discuss emerging trends and challenges facing sustainable business through presentations, panels, and workshops.

Education

Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

Mar 10, 2017 9:30 AM ET

Over the past few evenings, I’ve been escaping from the news of the day by reading some science fiction. Or at least I thought my choice was science fiction. The book, Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford, describes how automation threatens jobs and industries not in the distant future, but in the coming decades. Ford points out that while advanced technologies and automation have the potential to improve our lives by offering driverless cars, digital finance, and data-driven medical diagnoses, these advances also threaten jobs and industries.

Health & Healthcare

Preventing the Preventable and Treating the Treatable

Mar 10, 2017 9:30 AM ET

The start of a new year often conjures up hopes of a new you – losing extra pounds, stopping that unhealthy habit, or making changes to enrich life overall. In fact, many of us are already trying to prevent bad health and create solutions for the solvable in ourselves.

Diversity & Inclusion

#WomensHistoryMonth at Cox Enterprises: Get to Know Cathy Gunther

Mar 10, 2017 9:05 AM ET