ESG News from Leading Brands

Environment

How a Scorecard Can #Movethedate

Aug 4, 2017 9:40 AM ET

The costs of global ecological overspending are becoming increasingly evident around the world, in the form of deforestation, drought, fresh-water scarcity, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the trend can be reversed, if we moved Earth Overshoot Day back 4.5 days every year, we would return to using the resources of one planet by 2050. Global Footprint Network’s research team is able to work by calculating the number of days by which Earth Overshoot Day would move if the solutions they identified were implemented.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Las Vegas Sands and Clean the World Launch Mobile Shower Program to Aid Homeless

Aug 4, 2017 9:15 AM ET

Las Vegas Sands and Clean the World have announced a first-of-its-kind service in Las Vegas to help homeless people. The Sands Cares Fresh Start Mobile Showers Powered by Clean the World is a traveling hygiene unit that visits locations serving the homeless to provide showers, hygiene supplies and other resources.

Sustainable Development Goals

An Intern’s Perspective: Working with the Women who Make Tetra Tech’s Projects Happen

Aug 4, 2017 9:00 AM ET

To begin my career in an office that wants nothing more than to see me succeed is something I do not take for granted. The women of Tetra Tech redefine what it means to be a role model in the workplace and serve as strong examples of the importance of female leadership in today’s international development field.

Health & Healthcare

How a Cross-Sector Coalition is Reducing Childhood Asthma in Texas

Aug 4, 2017 9:00 AM ET

Dallas Children’s Medical Center, a 100-year-old nonprofit hospital serving North Texas, identified the need to reduce disparities in childhood asthma outcomes across racial, socioeconomic, and geographic boundaries. Asthma is the most common chronic condition for children living in Dallas and was the top cause for admission to the Children’s Health emergency department in 2013.

Research, Reports & Publications

AMD Demonstrates Corporate Citizenship in Action With 22nd Annual Corporate Responsibility Update

Aug 4, 2017 9:00 AM ET

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today released its 22nd annual update on corporate responsibility, reporting on the company’s progress and milestones in its environmental and social goals. The update demonstrates how AMD is working to address issues important to its workforce, customers, investors, and other stakeholders and features new case studies, volunteer stories, and key issue overviews.

Health & Healthcare

Unreasonable Impact | Harnessing Nature Through Biotechnology to Impact Food, Water, and Health

Aug 4, 2017 8:50 AM ET

Richcore India develops and delivers biotechnology solutions that conserve food, water, and energy, in addition to improving health. They create animal origin free (AOF) proteins for pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medicines like insulin and vaccines. In fact, their solutions are already present in one in three vaccines and one in four insulin shots globally. Their various solutions are also suitable for industries as diverse as cosmetics, textiles, and dairy.

Environment

PT Freeport Indonesia, a Freeport-McMoRan Company, Supports Research that Leads to Discovery of 16 New Crab Species

Aug 4, 2017 8:40 AM ET

Dr. Dwi Listyo Rahayu is the author of numerous scientific papers on marine hermit crabs and mangrove brachyuran crabs. She is a taxonomer at Research Center for Oceanography - Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and has studied decapod crustaceans for over 25 years. She conducts research in the mangrove forests of Indonesia. She has worked in Papua since 1999, funded by PT Freeport Indonesia as part of their commitment to environmental management and monitoring.

Research, Reports & Publications

Hallmark Publishes First Social Responsibility Report

Aug 4, 2017 8:05 AM ET

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

CEO Perspective: A Closer Look at Mission-Driven Business

Aug 3, 2017 8:00 PM ET

Companies are focusing more on the power of purpose and mission to engage their employees and help create a corporate culture that is compelling to today’s diverse and socially conscious workforce. This translates into changes in the tactics and execution of what a mission-driven organization looks like. For instance, charitable efforts have evolved from annual fundraising campaigns to a people-centric approach to Goodness, with year-round giving and volunteering programs that allow employees to choose which charity they support. With this, they’re seeing employees who are far more engaged, loyal and productive.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Getting Their Hands Dirty

Aug 3, 2017 4:45 PM ET

Whirlpool Corporation interns joined employees to volunteer and build homes as part of the company's longstanding partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Diversity & Inclusion

Women's Work: Inside The Rising Trend of Female Leaders in Manufacturing

Aug 3, 2017 4:30 PM ET

Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Operations Director of Clothes Dryers, Kristin Day, discusses being a female leader in an industry historically dominated by men, and the importance of being an advocate of recruiting women into manufacturing roles.

Diversity & Inclusion

Engaging and Empowering our Employees to Build the Business Case for Diversity & Inclusion

Aug 3, 2017 4:00 PM ET

Diversity & Inclusion in the corporate setting has long evolved from solely celebrating our differences to building the business case for Diversity & Inclusion.

Diversity & Inclusion

Major League Baseball Players Association & Former Players Are Determined to Cultivate Future Stars

Aug 3, 2017 3:05 PM ET

In recent years, with the number of African-American players on MLB rosters dwindling at an alarming rate, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), its active and in-active members have become more determined to help eliminate social and economic barriers to playing the game they love.

Environment

Colleen Vien, Your Turn NH: Leading the Way on Energy

Aug 3, 2017 2:00 PM ET

As a global outdoor lifestyle brand based in the beautiful Granite State, Timberland has always been driven by a commitment to innovate and operate in a responsible manner. We’ve found that a commitment to responsible use of resources is good for the planet, and good for business.

Green Infrastructure

Lichen-Inspired Carpet Awarded the Living Product Challenge Petal Certification

Aug 3, 2017 1:45 PM ET

Jason McLennan, founder of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and 2017 HIVE dean, worked for eight months with Mohawk to develop flooring that brought the natural beauty of lichen inside. As he explains in this short video, Mohawk now offers nine carpets that honor a series of different species of lichen with unique growing patterns and colors.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Run With Us

Aug 3, 2017 1:15 PM ET

Love to get your body moving? Want to make a difference for people living in poverty all over the world? Join Whole Planet Foundation’s Virtual 10K Run, which kicks off today. Event registration fees will benefit impoverished entrepreneurs with the chance to start or expand a home-based business and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. In fact, the first microloan from Whole Planet Foundation’s partner in Rwanda is the same as the price of registration, $35.

Health & Healthcare

Cargill to Modernize Harrisonburg, Va., Hatchery, Improving Turkey Health, Biosecurity and Worker Safety

Aug 3, 2017 1:15 PM ET

Modernization work totaling $7 million has commenced at Cargill Protein’s Harrisonburg, Va., turkey hatchery, with a focus on improving turkey health, biosecurity and worker safety. Construction work is being performed by Nielsen Builders, Inc., of Harrisonburg, with installation of new cutting edge equipment technology expected to take 24 months.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Fighting Hunger in Affluent Counties

Aug 3, 2017 12:45 PM ET

We often think of food insecurity and hunger as something that happens in other countries, or only in the poorest parts of our nation. But the reality is that people are hungry all over the country, including in some of the nation’s wealthiest towns and counties.

Social Impact & Volunteering

Income-Qualified Families to Receive Long Beach Green Homes

Aug 3, 2017 12:10 PM ET

The lives of four low-income families will change for the better next year when they receive the keys to new energy-efficient homes in Long Beach, where construction recently kicked off.

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Through ServiceWorks Program, Citi Employee Finds the Perfect Opportunity to Serve

Aug 3, 2017 11:30 AM ET

Robert McGhee, vice president of community development at Citi, has been a part of the Chicago banking community for more than two decades, with roles in retail banking, mortgage banking and community affairs. He supports the Citi Foundation’s partnership with Points of Light and the Corporation for National and Community Service to bring a groundbreaking initiative, ServiceWorks, to help underserved youth in U.S. cities where the economic downturn has intensified their struggles.

Responsible Business & Employee Engagement

General Motors Sustainability Newsletter - August 2017

Aug 3, 2017 11:25 AM ET

Nearly 100 GM facilities participated in World Environment Day, an observation established by the United Nations. This year’s theme: “connect people to nature.” While all of GM’s manufacturing sites conduct at least one environmental outreach activity a year, this is the second time GM rallied its teams to measure its collective impact within roughly the same period.

Diversity & Inclusion

You Grow, Girl!: Carrie Vollmer-Sanders

Aug 3, 2017 11:15 AM ET

Sustainable Development Goals

UN Global Compact Bulletin (August 2017)

Aug 3, 2017 10:15 AM ET

UN Global Compact's Action Platforms bring business leaders, civil society, Governments and the UN together to shape the future of action on the Global Goals.

Environment

Domtar Sustainability: Industrial Ecology Made Real

Aug 3, 2017 10:15 AM ET

A long-time ideal of sustainability has been the concept of industrial ecology—the notion that industrial processes would benefit from mimicking the closed-loop efficiency of a natural ecosystem. Unlike conventional industrial processes, an ecosystem is not a process with a beginning and an end. An ecosystem is a continuous cycle through which materials flow.

Responsible Production & Consumption

NeWSolutions is Bringing New ‘Green’ Solutions to Tulsa

Aug 3, 2017 10:00 AM ET

Northeast Waste Solutions (NeWSolutions) is a Tulsa-based solid waste collection and hauling company. The company was founded in June 2010 by stakeholders of Tulsa Refuse Inc., a company that held Tulsa's trash-hauling contract for 32 years. In 2012, the newly formed company was awarded the contract from the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy to be the service provider responsible for the City of Tulsa's residential refuse and recycling collection.