ESG News from Leading Brands

Sustainable Development Goals

Giving Small Businesses the World--While Keeping Jobs Close to Home

Mar 29, 2018 9:45 AM ET

Through Retail Revival, we are working with the city of Akron and other partners to identify promising local retail businesses and onboard them to eBay, providing store set-up support and ongoing training. The Akron pilot is our first in the U.S., but it builds on similar–and highly successful–programs we’ve executed in communities in Europe.

Social Impact & Volunteering

The Countdown is On - Comcast Cares Day

Mar 29, 2018 9:30 AM ET

In less than a month, Comcast NBCUniversal volunteers will lend a hand in support of communities around the world where we live and work during the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day on Saturday, April 21. Giving back is a value we embrace throughout the entire year, but on Comcast Cares Day we leverage our relationship with hundreds of partners large and small, to make change happen and broaden our reach. Last year alone, more than 100,000 employees participated in events in more than 20 different countries.

This year, our volunteers will refresh school playgrounds, teach kids to code, prepare urban gardens for spring, and provide free legal support to families in need, among many other meaningful acts of service.

Environment

HanesBrands Makes Significant Strides Toward 2020 Environmental Goals

Mar 29, 2018 9:25 AM ET

HanesBrands reports achievements in water use, carbon dioxide emissions, energy use, renewable energy use and landfill diversion; on track to meet 2020 benchmarks

Diversity & Inclusion

HP VIDEO | Help Reinvent Mindsets About Workplace Diversity Around the World

Mar 29, 2018 9:15 AM ET

Environment

Global Transition to Halophyte Agriculture

Mar 29, 2018 9:15 AM ET

In 2014, I predicted “Desert Greening the Next Big Thing”, would be led by green investors. I’m still waiting for this shift from humanity’s single minded focus on traditional agricultural crops (glycophytes) relying on the planet’s three percent of fresh water. Why so little shift to more sustainable, nutrient-richer, salt loving (halophyte) plant foods, such as quinoa? Because vested interests in the vast incumbent global agro-chemical industrial complex are as powerful and persistent as those in the worldwide fossilized sectors. Corporations like Cargill and ConAgra dominate, along with agro-chemical giants Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, and DowDupont, selling fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and genetically-modified seeds, etc.

Sustainable Development Goals

Empowering Farmers, Sustaining Changes

Mar 29, 2018 9:10 AM ET

Sumba Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia is possibly the driest area in the country. Sumba has a dry season that lasts for nine months. In East Sumba, the Ministry of Forestry estimates that 80 percent of the land is in critical condition owing to most of its forest being felled before the turn of the millennium. The Indonesian Rural Economic Development (IRED) project has been helping local communities rehabilitate their degraded land through farmer-managed natural regeneration and agroforestry. IRED is led by Wahana Visi Indonesia in collaboration with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and Lutheran World Relief.

Responsible Production & Consumption

Forest Management and Certification Expert Dave Bubser Joins SCS Global Services

Mar 29, 2018 9:00 AM ET

SCS Global Services (SCS) announced today that Dave Bubser, a world-renowned forest resource management and certification expert, has joined the company as its new Vice President of Forestry Services. Bubser now oversees international business for SCS’ forest-based certification programs in the company’s Natural Resources division, providing strategic and operational guidance and support to Program Directors, and focusing on client relations, sales and marketing, auditing key accounts, and special projects.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

TD Launches The Ready Commitment to Open Doors for an Inclusive Tomorrow

Mar 29, 2018 8:00 AM ET

Research, Reports & Publications

Aegon: We’re Here to Provide a Lifetime of Financial Security

Mar 29, 2018 5:00 AM ET

“Our work addresses a fundamental and universal need: financial security. Literally millions of people rely on us. Last year alone, we paid out close to €50 billion in claims and benefits to our customers. Financial security is something that many people lack, which not only has serious implications for them, but for wider society too. We’re here to change that.”

Environment

Tiny Fish, Big Impact for Duwamish Waterway

Mar 28, 2018 5:00 PM ET

The tide is turning for salmon thanks in part to Boeing’s continued cleanup of the Lower Duwamish Waterway.

Social Impact & Volunteering

350 Advocates From Across the Country Storm D.C. for Population Connection’s Capitol Hill Days 2018

Mar 28, 2018 4:00 PM ET

This past weekend, 350 activists stormed D.C. for the weekend to speak out against Trump’s Global Gag Rule, and to urge their elected officials to support the Global HER Act, and a robust $1.2 billion U.S. investment for international family planning, including $70 million for UNFPA.

Education

School Is Expensive, We Can Help

Mar 28, 2018 4:00 PM ET

Whether starting university or college for the first time, or returning to school to learn a new trade, paying for education can be challenging, especially when costs can vary from $5,000 to $50,000 per year. That’s one of the reasons why we launched the TransCanada Community Scholarships Program last year — to help students from the communities where we live, work and operate across North America reach their academic goals.

Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Weleda is Powering Her Potential through Whole Planet Foundation

Mar 28, 2018 3:55 PM ET

Whole Planet Foundation is proud to welcome Weleda, a new $50,000 donor to our cause of global poverty alleviation. Weleda's generosity this year will fund approximately 275 microloans and 1,500 opportunities for microentrepreneurs and their family members to live a better life through microcredit.

Supply Chain & the Circular Economy

Why Green Consumerism Isn’t Taking Off - Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability

Mar 28, 2018 3:00 PM ET

If sustainability is so “in,” why aren’t more people buying ethically made clothes? The past few decades have changed the shape of the apparel industry. A few iconic media scandals over child labor and sweatshop labor have made Western shoppers sensitive to certain social responsibility topics. People are willing to pay 5 percent more for a product to ensure that it was made under ethical working conditions. The rise of conscious consumption has created new consumer markets in which labels like fair trade, organic and “made in USA” comingle and overlap.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

NeighborWorks America — Advancing Opportunity for All

Mar 28, 2018 3:00 PM ET

Since 1978, NeighborWorks® America has focused on creating opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities. With a network of more than 245 of the nation’s best community development organizations, we tackle some of the nation’s biggest housing and community development challenges in low- and moderate-income communities.

Environment

General Motors Highlights Water Management and Reuse Efforts in Mexico

Mar 28, 2018 2:15 PM ET

As a company committed to reducing water intensity across its global operations by 15 percent by 2020, General Motors is constantly looking for innovative ways to conserve water and increase efficiencies. This mindset has led the automaker to adopt a circular economy approach to maximizing water reuse in water-stressed regions, such as Mexico.

Energy

SCE and Other Power Companies Across the Country Transform

Mar 28, 2018 2:00 PM ET

Electric utilities across the country are seeing an industry change, driven by evolving customer demands and technological advancements. This change looks different and is occurring at different paces in different states, but there are commonalities as new technologies such as battery storage, electric vehicles and smart meters become increasingly available and affordable.

Environment

Recycling Facility Fire Sparks Warnings about Improperly Discarded Batteries

Mar 28, 2018 1:20 PM ET

Awards, Ratings & Rankings

Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier Honored with Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award

Mar 28, 2018 1:20 PM ET

On March 23, Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier received the Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award. The award, given annually, honors outstanding Americans who exemplify the vision and transformative ideals of Ron Brown, the first African-American U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Health & Healthcare

The Val Skinner Foundation, Discovery Education, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers School of Public Health Promote Nationwide Effort to Decode Cancer

Mar 28, 2018 1:15 PM ET

Decoding Cancer, a comprehensive biology and genetics education program launched in 2016, provides standards-aligned, interactive classroom resources to students and families nationwide to help them understand the “science behind cancer.”

Responsible Production & Consumption

The Long-Term Benefits of Sustainability in Distilleries

Mar 28, 2018 12:30 PM ET

One of the biggest players in the sustainability game is Bacardi, which has championed the approach since the beginning of the company, more than 155 years ago.

The Bermuda-­based group launched an ambitious environmental sustainability initiative called Good Spirited, with specific goals in sourcing, packaging and operations. The firm cut its greenhouse-­gas emissions intensity in half in 2016 – more than a year earlier than its end­-of­-December-2017 target.

Sustainable Development Goals

GRI Embarks Upon New Phase of Partnership With Swedish Government

Mar 28, 2018 12:00 PM ET

GRI and the Swedish International Development Agency are embarking on a new joint program, which includes a partnership with the Danish Institute for Human Rights. This new phase has a specific focus on ​poverty alleviation, equality and human rights, and will stimulate responsible business towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Innovation & Technology

Arrow Electronics Supports Effort to Build First 3D Printed Home for the Developing World

Mar 28, 2018 11:40 AM ET

Arrow Electronics has teamed with Silicon Valley non-profit New Story to help complete the first low-cost, 3D printed house for humanitarian purposes. The nonprofit, which focuses on providing safe homes for people living in inadequate housing around the world, plans to print a small concrete test home later this year in rural El Salvador.

Research, Reports & Publications

New Report Reveals Opportunities for Harmonization in Sustainability and Corporate Governance Reporting

Mar 28, 2018 11:05 AM ET

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) have released the second report as part of a series called Insights from the Reporting Exchange.

Media & Communications

Moody’s Joins Ceres Company Network and Ceres Investor Network

Mar 28, 2018 11:00 AM ET

The sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) announced today that Moody’s has joined both the Ceres Company Network as a member and the Ceres Investor Network as an associate member.