ESG News from Leading Brands

Innovation & Technology

Electrifying: The New Generation smart!

Oct 11, 2016 9:00 AM ET

Better than reducing CO₂ emissions is not producing any emissions at all. The solution is electric mobility. smart is now implementing this throughout the whole product range as the first manufacturer worldwide to take such a decisive step toward environmentally friendly driving.

Environment

Sea Creatures Thank Bacardi for Its #NoStraws Initiative

Oct 11, 2016 8:30 AM ET

Join creatures of the sea in thanking Bacardi for its No Straws pledge to remove straws from cocktails at company events. Six months into the initiative, Bacardi has already removed more than one million straws from its cocktails.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

CSX Employees Give Back “Beyond Our Rails” at Service Day in Parkersburg, W.Va.

Oct 10, 2016 6:45 PM ET

Furthering CSX’s commitment to actively support the communities served by the company, employee volunteers were joined by national service partners City Year, Action for Healthy Kids and Arbor Day Foundation to spend Saturday morning volunteering on school improvement projects at Emerson Elementary School.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Bristol-Myers Squibb Supports Haitian Hurricane Relief Efforts

Oct 10, 2016 5:25 PM ET

Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation are supporting emergency relief effort in Haiti following the Category 4 hurricane which hit the island on October 4, destroying homes and crops, flooding streets and cutting off transportation across the island. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has been plagued by natural disasters over the past decade.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Our Conflict Minerals Data Solution recognized with Oracle Excellence Award

Oct 10, 2016 4:05 PM ET

Qualcomm has been committed to responsibly sourcing conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding areas for more than six years. We published our first Conflict Free Minerals Policy in 2010 and have filed a Conflict Minerals Report with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) annually since 2013. For compliance year 2015, we reported that 96% of the known smelters in our semiconductor supply chain were DRC conflict-free.

Energy

HPE Sets Goal to Increase Its Products’ Energy Performance 30x by 2025

Oct 10, 2016 3:15 PM ET

Events, Media & Communications

24 T. Rowe Price Associates Biked from London to Paris to Raise More Than £100,000 for the Royal British Legion

Oct 10, 2016 3:05 PM ET

In a sea of 350 cyclists riding across the English and French countryside during this year’s Pedal to Paris charity bike ride, 24 T. Rowe Price associates from both sides of the Atlantic could be spotted working their gears and cheering each other on.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Celebrates Companies that are Industry Leaders in Adoption Benefits

Oct 10, 2016 3:00 PM ET

Each year, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s annual Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace list recognizes U.S. companies that support families growing through adoption. The annual survey is judged first on financial assistance and second on paid time off given to employees after they adopt. While not all of the companies that applied make the list, we appreciate all organizations that offer adoption benefits and support families.

Education

NY Daily News: To Fix Our Schools, Build On P-TECH

Oct 10, 2016 3:00 PM ET

The U.S. House of Representatives' overwhelming bipartisan vote to reauthorize the Perkins Act (which funds Career and Technical Education) signals to the Senate that education reform must top the national agenda.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

The Power of Giving Back

Oct 10, 2016 2:20 PM ET

Isn't it funny how much bigger everything seemed when you were a kid? I recently had the chance to revisit the house I grew up in as a child – the same house my family lost when I was just 15 years old. Walking inside again all these years later, I was stunned at how small it felt. In my memories, through my eyes as a child, everything seemed so much bigger.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

UN Global Compact Bulletin (October 2016)

Oct 10, 2016 1:05 PM ET

The UN Global Compact Bulletin is designed to keep participants up to date on news, actions you can take, resources and events. Participants are encouraged to look to this monthly communication for important information. Please note that actions and events are intended for Global Compact stakeholders, unless otherwise indicated. The Bulletin is published in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Russian.

Social Impact & Volunteering

While Academics are Important, Students Say Service Projects Like Annual Habitat Build are Crucial Part of Their IU Experience

Oct 10, 2016 1:00 PM ET

Health & Healthcare

Three Quality of LifeHacks to Help You Go Vegetarian for a Month

Oct 10, 2016 12:55 PM ET

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Sodexo Scores Two Key Business Wins in Energy Sector with Geographic and Scope Extensions from Global Oil & Gas Clients

Oct 10, 2016 12:30 PM ET

Green Infrastructure

Feathered Friend Helps Launch Green Career

Oct 10, 2016 12:20 PM ET

It was 1983 when an engineer from Michigan met a Yellow-Naped parrot from Honduras. Little did Joe Azzarello know that “Otis” would be a part of the family for 33 years (and counting) and would affect not only his personal life but his career as well.

Energy

GM China Engages Suppliers in Energy Projects that Saved $1.3M

Oct 10, 2016 12:15 PM ET

Social Impact & Volunteering

Carnival Shipboard and Shoreside Employees Participate in International Coastal Cleanup Day

Oct 10, 2016 11:30 AM ET

Hundreds of Carnival Cruise Line employees, both on board and ashore, did their part to help our environment by participating in the annual International Coastal Cleanup Day, the world’s largest single day cleanup event spearheaded by the Ocean Conservancy.

Health & Healthcare

Zinc Deficiency & Why It Matters [Infographic]

Oct 10, 2016 11:05 AM ET

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

SCA Joins the Ellen MacArthur Foundation CE100 Program

Oct 10, 2016 10:50 AM ET

The transition to a circular economy – powered by renewable energy and in which resources and energy are used as effectively as possible – is the core of any low-carbon society. The CE100 membership will help accelerate SCA’s circular economy ambitions and further enhance SCA’s ability to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and Goal 13: Climate Change.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Sodexo Turf Management Team Implements Innovative Dry-jecting Solution to Combat Flooding

Oct 10, 2016 10:45 AM ET

Students at Lake Forest Academy (LFA) are now playing soccer on fields that hosted world-class athletes earlier this summer after innovative ideas from world leader in Quality of Life services, Sodexo, and its turf management team solved the field’s flooding problem.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

Analysts Mum on Sustainability During Earnings Calls

Oct 10, 2016 10:25 AM ET

Questions from sell-side stock analysts about corporate sustainability issues remain few and far between on the quarterly earnings conference calls held by publicly traded companies.

More and more institutional investors, however, are digging deep into voluminous sustainability reports to gain a strategic advantage.

Those are some of the observations shared this week during the Bloomberg BNA Sustainability Business Summit in New York.

Diversity & Inclusion

How the New Fair Labor Standards Act Impacts EHS

Oct 10, 2016 10:25 AM ET

On May 18, 2016, President Obama and Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced the final rule updating overtime pay regulations for many white collar workers. As a result, companies across industries are working to comply with the Dec. 1, 2016 deadline, while also bolstering their bottom line.

How should EHS managers be preparing for the new regulations, in effect December 1? How will EHS operations potentially be impacted?

Social Impact & Volunteering

CITGO and Special Olympics Arkansas Hit the Road for the World’s Largest Truck Convoy®

Oct 10, 2016 10:00 AM ET

CITGO Petroleum Corporation and Special Olympics Arkansas took to the highways of Arkansas for the World’s Largest Truck Convoy® to help raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics’ year-round programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

Environment

Trash in our National Parks - Why It's Your Problem Too

Oct 10, 2016 9:00 AM ET

A recent survey conducted by Subaru of America and the National Parks Conservation Association found that a majority of Americans (59%) are unaware of the monumental waste challenges facing the country's national parks.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Empowering India’s Women Cotton Workers Reduces the Use of Water and Chemicals

Oct 10, 2016 9:00 AM ET

The UK gender pay gap will not close for more than fifty years unless action is taken to tackle it now, according to Deloitte. Current inequalities between pay rates for men and women may not be eradicated before 2069. So, if in the West we are so far behind on this issue, what chances do women cotton workers have in India? Here, women have few rights and are often underpaid, despite their vital role in cotton production. The average income for women in rural India is just 77 percent of the men’s income.