The transportation industry is at a turning point: Ever-more ambitious climate goals are combining with the dropping cost of electric and low-carbon vehicles to make sustainable fleets more of a reality. It’s still early days, but public and private sector organizations alike — all recognized on our top 25 most sustainable fleets list this week
Energy
A Shell tanker truck delivers fuel to a gas station, operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc., in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Jasper Juinen | Bloomberg | Getty Images LONDON — Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and announced plans to increase its dividend to shareholders. The Anglo-Dutch company reported adjusted earnings of
It may be a little early to start writing about trends for 2021, but I’m going to do it anyway. What’s on my mind? Carbontech, a category of climate tech I’d love to see break through next year. It’s the exciting idea that we can take something that could be considered waste, draw it out
Apple’s Lisa Jackson is moving social justice to the top of the list for protecting the environment. Coming from one of Fortune’s “most powerful women in business” at one of the world’s largest companies, she has views that could have a long-term global impact. Apple’s big-ticket sustainability goals released this year for 2030 include becoming
Personal care products brand Gillette, known for its razors, set out to become a more sustainable company one decade again. And over the past 10 years, it has reduced its energy consumption by 392,851 gigajoules and its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent. The company has also reached zero-manufacturing-waste-to-landfill status across all of the plants in
The American people always have possessed a very personal relationship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Like all personal relationships, the EPA and its public have their share of successes and shortcomings, adjustments of expectations to realities, and recognition that the daily grind of complexity reveals our own values however much they end up
A picture taken on June 3, 2020 shows an oil refinery in Libya’s northern town of Ras Lanuf. – Libya’s National Oil Company said Monday it had restarted production at Al-Fil oil field, closed since January by the forces of eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar. The NOC’s announcement came a day after output resumed at
This story originally was published by Southerly, in partnership with Scalawag and Environmental Health News for its Powerlines series, which looks at climate change, justice and infrastructure in the American South. The series is supported by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, and is part of their
Back in my former life as a tech journo, my coverage was informed by the infamous “hype cycle” phrase coined by research firm Gartner to describe the arc of emerging technology adoption from the spark of innovation to mainstream adoption. Lately, I’ve been mulling that framework a great deal in the context of a much-ballyhooed
Something changed recently in America’s fast-casual restaurants. It involved only a single company, but it could herald the start of a fundamental shift in the choices that diners make. I’ll get to what happened in a minute, but first take a step back and consider the information available when you buy food. At the grocery
LONDON — When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, it proved to be a tipping point for Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. While the business was doing well at the time, it was focused on customers and employees over the broader environment, according to CEO Doug McMillon. “We were a large company but had
Week in Review Stories discussed this week (7:25). Features 5 questions with renewable fuels company Neste (20:40) Jeremy Baines took on his role as president of Neste U.S. a little more than a year ago. He joins us to answer five questions about the organization’s strategy. The clean energy voting bloc (27:50) GreenBiz senior energy analyst Sarah
Date/Time: November 19, 2020 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) The process to decarbonize power systems is complicated. Grid operators are tasked with balancing affordability and reliability as more renewable energy comes online. Utilities must find the right mix of energy resources to decarbonize while planning for extreme weather events. Meanwhile, the imperative to increase renewable
A Boeing 737-990 (ER) operated by Alaska Airlines takes off from JFK Airport on August 24, 2019 in Queens, New York. Bruce Bennett | Getty Images Microsoft on Thursday said it plans to buy alternative jet fuel for some Alaska Airlines flights, the technology giant’s latest effort to reduce carbon emissions, this time those generated
Date/Time: November 12, 2020 (8-9PM ET / 5-6PM PT) By 2030 plastic waste is expected to increase by more than 50% to 330 million tons per annum if business continues as usual. Not only is this unsustainable for communities and the environment, it also makes little sense economically. Recent figures show $120 billion is lost
The Saturday before President Donald Trump got COVID-19, I bought a desk at one of those warehouse furniture stores — one of the ones with the annoying jingle that gets stuck in your head despite your best efforts to the contrary. Buying the desk was my last bit of acceptance that working from home was
The global shipping industry’s decarbonization efforts once again face stormy seas. Ahead of the latest crucial round of talks this week at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), green groups are warning proposals are “an empty shell” that will have a negligible impact on the sector’s emissions. Seasoned observers fear that growing calls for a bolder
One of the market’s worst-performing sectors this year has turned the tables. S&P 500 utilities stocks have been the top sector over the past month and in October, with the group now approaching a key bullish pattern known as a golden cross, when the 50-day moving average crosses over the 200-day moving average. The pattern
Generation Z, those born between 1996 and 2015, are current consumers, future business leaders and the future of this world. Yet, Gen Z is unlike any other generation to date. With buying power of more than $140 billion, Gen Z is the fastest-growing consumer segment with unique purchasing values in mind and the willingness to
Chinese workers walk on a section of the world’s largest floating solar farm project during construction. The lake was created by a collapsed and flooded coal mine in Huainan, Anhui province, China. Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images SINGAPORE — China, the world’s largest carbon-emitting country, has doubled down on its pledge
Business as usual for the luxury industry is over. 2020 brings with it the end of a positive growth cycle, as analysts expect global luxury sales to contract 25-45 percent in 2020, with a recovery that could take up to three years. And yet, the coronavirus pandemic, for all the havoc it has wrought on
I recently joined the most impressive group of clean energy leaders I’ve known, and it happens to have come together in support of Joe Biden for president. The network: Clean Energy for Biden (CE4B). It includes more than 9,500 clean energy professionals in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. There are entrepreneurs, engineers, policymakers, technicians and
Week in Review Stories discussed this week (4:08). Features Building the B Corp movement (16:40) While some large multinationals including Danone and Natura have embraced the B Corp certification, others have been slower to move. That was a catalyst for the new B Movement Builders initiative, launched in September. Marcelo Behar, vice president for sustainability
From birds that can fly for months on end to giant redwoods stretching hundreds of feet into the air, the natural world inspires awe and wonder. For thousands of years, humanity’s appreciation of nature has led to countless works of literature, art, and even innovations in design and engineering. Examples of the latter include the
IKEA customers soon will be able to sell their flat-pack furniture back to the company, after the retail giant announced a new buy-back scheme that will see it purchase old and unwanted IKEA items and resell them to shoppers at discounted rates. The Swedish furniture giant said it will launch the sustainability initiative on Black
General Motors is launching a splashy new ad blitz next week for the global debut of its all-electric GMC Hummer in an attempt to reach 80% of U.S. adults. The vehicle will be unveiled Tuesday during the World Series, “The Voice” and across a barrage of social media and streaming platforms The estimated viewership – roughly 255
San José is rolling out the green carpet for biking, thanks to the city council’s unanimous passage of the Better Bike Plan 2025. With the plan’s adoption, the city commits to building a 550-mile network of bike lanes, boulevards and trails to help thousands more people ride safely. The plan is realistic about the past,
COVID-19 has radically accelerated the need for the fashion industry to innovate. The second edition of the Circular Fashion Summit bears fruit of this new socially distanced reality. The world’s first virtual reality (VR) fashion summit Oct. 3 and 4 was pioneered by founders Lorenzo Albrighi and ShihYun Kuo of Lablaco, a company that uses
HSBC has become the latest bank to commit to achieving net-zero financed emissions, announcing Monday that it intends to align its portfolio of investments and debt financing with global climate targets by mid-century. The bank, currently Europe’s second largest financier of fossil fuels, has committed to reaching net-zero across its supply chain and operations by
When it comes to the climate crisis, it’s not just what you make and sell, it’s what you do, and for whom you do it. That’s the message from several recent reports focusing on the role of service-sector companies in addressing — positively or negatively — climate change. The mere existence of these documents, and
A couple of years ago, desperate for fitness and community, I joined the master’s swim program at my local pool. I churned up and down the lanes a few mornings a week, and I grew faster and faster, especially on the sprints. Turns out these big feet of mine, size 13 with fallen arches, propel
The produce industry has long been building resiliency through sustainability strategies. Hear from members of the industry including Jeff Scott from Kwik Lok, Anabella De Freeman from Walmart and Mike Thomsen from Second Harvest Food Bank as they describe how the produce industry’s integration of sustainable practices have made their organizations more resilient – especially in
This article originally was published in the BSR Insight. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the fashion industry into disarray, leaving supply chain workers without wages and causing major global brands to file for bankruptcy. In the United States alone, 2.1 million retail workers lost their jobs due to the crisis. In Bangladesh, the garment sector
Week in Review Stories discussed this week (4:20). Features All the glitters: Beautycounter and the mica supply chain (17:30) Outakes from the reporting behind Joel Makower’s two-part series about the mica supply chain and retailer Beautycounter’s work to address the sector’s big child labor problem. You can read both stories here and here. A corporate climate
Prince William photographed in Peterborough, England, on July 16, 2020. Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images A £50 million ($64.54 million) prize focused on the environment was launched by Prince William on Thursday, with the Duke of Cambridge describing the next 10 years as “a critical decade for change.”
In the face of dangerous heat waves this summer, Americans have taken shelter in air-conditioned cooling centers. Normally, that would be a wise choice, but during a pandemic, indoor shelters present new risks. The same air conditioning systems that keep us cool recirculate air around us, potentially spreading the coronavirus. “Air conditioners look like they’re
An Equinor employee talks to a reporter on a rig used to produce oil from the Johan Sverdrup oil field some 140 kilometres west from the town of Stavanger, Norway, on December 3, 2019. TOM LITTLE | AFP via Getty Images LONDON — A strike by workers in the Norwegian oil sector could soon wipe
One of the hottest 2020 trends in raising capital is infiltrating climate-tech investing. As of mid-September, the stock market had welcomed at least 82 initial public offerings this year by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — organizations that collectively raised more than $31 billion. Last week, former NRG Energy CEO David Crane joined the frenzy.
Heading into fall, this batch of career updates from the worlds of sustainability and business is somewhat top-heavy. It’s not necessarily that the game of musical chairs has intensified in the C-suite, but you’ll note major executive moves at big apparel, food, energy, finance and technology corporations, some of which have enlisted a chief sustainability
A Joe Biden win could mean clean energy stocks stay in the green. With the 2020 election less than a month away and the former vice president leading President Donald Trump in polls, clean energy stocks are trading like a Democratic victory is imminent, with the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) up over 131% year to date
I’ve written quite a bit lately about how Americans are experiencing a “Maslow moment” right now. Concerns about the environment are taking a backseat to worries about basic needs — our health and our economy (at both the macro and personal level). But that doesn’t mean we’re not at all worried about the environment. According to our
Wind turbines in the Irish Sea, in waters near the town of Llandudno, in Wales. VladCa | iStock | Getty Images U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he wanted the country to become the “world leader in low cost clean power generation.” Speaking at the Conservative Party annual conference, which was delivered
The COVID crisis has exposed our interdependencies and the insufficient preparation of our urban systems for coping with shocks. It also has highlighted the stress we put on the environment and in many places greatly increased inequality — including the response to heat. Now, with climate change, come scorching hot temperatures during the summer months which
Collaboration is the way to go when it comes to tackling climate change, according to one of the world’s largest alcoholic drinks makers. Like many large manufacturers, Diageo found that a lot of its carbon footprint is produced early on in its supply chain, including from raw materials and in packaging. These are classified as
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted Sept. 23 to amend its shareholder proposal rule, effectively depriving most retail investors of the ability to use the process to protect and advance their interests. In so doing, the SEC is dampening an important risk signal to corporate management and investors, especially with respect to environmental,
Renewable energy deployments are on the rise. The U.S. alone is expected to add 132 to 157GW of new renewable energy capacity in the next five years. How and where that renewable energy is deployed can drive radically different outcomes — with the potential to maximize positive impact for a range of stakeholders or limit benefits
There is a lot of talk right now about systems change, and for good reason: With so many people experiencing the effects of several major crises — the pandemic, the recession, racism and the ongoing climate crisis — we have a narrow window of opportunity for change. As they say, a crisis is a terrible
Elon Musk guest appearance on CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” The renewable energy credit market has created a trade in which Tesla competitors have been compelled to buy zero emissions compliance from Musk’s company, or as one renewable energy expert put it, “The last thing a company wants to do is pay their competitor
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