Environment and sustainability news stories – CCB 102

FTSE 100 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTS: COULD DO BETTER
A study, released on November 18, titled Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports has investigated the terminology, thematic content and length of Britain’s leading corporate reports on sustainability. The consultancy which released the report, Spada, found that longer reports are positively correlated with winning an environmental or CR award and that ‘public facing’ companies report more, regardless of their environmental impact.
Other findings include the fact that the vast majority of companies fail to define what they mean when using various environmental terms and concepts. Close analysis of reporting language in such
reports has shown that the issues of resourcing and supply chains are among those least addressed, despite the crucial role the topic plays in delivering against the global sustainability agenda.
Contact:
Spada

SHIFT POWER TO PEOPLE TO PRESERVE NATURAL WORLD – REPORT
A report published on October 9 by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), titled Governance of Nature and the Nature of Governance, has called for a major power shift in the way the planet’s biological resources are managed, from top-down systems that marginalise the poor to community-centred approaches that sustain local livelihoods.
The report suggests ways to improve the governance of biodiversity — how it is managed and how decisions about it are made — to deliver more benefits to people and the planet. The report recommends strengthening local institutions, involving communities in research, and empowering local people to make decisions about natural resources.
Such approaches are considered of the utmost importance by the report’s authors for delivering on both conservation and poverty reduction objectives. However, they advocate changes in policy and governance to succeed on a wider scale.
Contact: International Institute
for Environment and Development
www.iied.org

GRASSROOTS GROUPS WIN SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR BIODIVERSITY
Five community groups have been singled out for special recognition by the United Nationsbacked
Equator Initiative for their innovative efforts to slash poverty and conserve biodiversity. These groups, each receiving $20,000, were selected from the 25 winners of the 2008 Equator Prize, which reward
exceptional leadership in adapting to climate change and preserving biodiversity while boosting the livelihoods of their communities.
Awarded biennially, the prize is part of the Equator Initiative, set up in January 2002 by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), governments, business, civil society and communities to promote grassroots efforts in the tropics to reduce poverty through conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity.
Contact: Equator Initiative
www.equatorinitiative.org

COCA-COLA TAPS WWF TO CUT WATER USE AND EMISSIONS
On October 31, drinks manufacturer Coca-Cola unveiled new targets for reducing water use and greenhouse gas emissions. The company plans to improve water efficiency 20% by 2012, relative to a 2004 baseline. It intends to grow its business, but not the system-wide carbon emissions related to its manufacturing, as well as make a 5% absolute emissions reduction from its manufacturing facilities located in developed countries by 2015. In accordance with these goals, Coca-Cola has
extended its partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. Begun in 2007 with $20 million in funding through to 2010, the partnership will now run through 2012 with an additional $3.75 million in funding.
Contact: Coca-Cola
www.cocacola.com

FRITO-LAY EFFORTS SAVE $55 MILLION ON WATER AND ENERGY
On October 8, Frito-Lay, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, announced that it had reached its corporate-wide manufacturing reduction goals set in 1999 which included a 50% reduction in water, 30% in natural gas, and 25% in electricity. Without the reductions, the company “would have spent
$55 million more this year on water and energy,” remarked Al Halvorsen, Director of Environmental Sustainability for Frito-Lay.
Contact: Frito-Lay
www.fritolay.com

HOLCIM AWARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION ANNOUNCED
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the charitable arm of Holcim – the cement and aggregate maker, has announced the winners of its sustainable construction awards for Europe. The winning projects include an energy-efficient and ‘socially-enriching’ government quarter development in Hungary, a landscape design and re-use project in Slovenia, and the Monte Rosa alpine hut in Switzerland that independently supplies its energy and water needs.
Contact:Holcim Foundation for Sustainable
Construction
www.holcimfoundation.org/

SURVEY REVEALS GREEN IT CHALLENGES FOR UK BUSINESSES
Research into green practices in the IT industry has found that the majority of IT managers are feeling pressure to reduce their carbon footprints. The survey, commissioned by IT firm Zycko, found that 61% feel pressure to cut down on their energy usage and 60% plan to reduce their carbon footprint within the next 18 months.
The research also identified major hurdles on the way to reducing carbon emissions. Almost two thirds (67%) of IT managers are unaware of how much power their data centre draws and less than half (45%) currently enforce shutting down of computers at night and on weekends. 6% have no policies in place at all.
Lack of IT resources and cost were cited as the biggest barriers to becoming green (52%), with 23% claiming they simply do not know what their options are. When asked where they get their information on environmental issues, 39% claimed they rely on their suppliers.
Contact: Zycko
www.zycko.co.uk

VODAFONE POWERS BASE STATIONS WITH WIND TURBINES
Vodafone announced it has successfully begun generating electricity for its mobile communications network. The wind microgenerating system allows the company to achieve reductions of 15 to 20% in total electricity consumption and CO2 emissions by its base stations.
The system is being implemented at 32 of Vodafone’s telecommunications base stations around Portugal. In April, the company announced it will cut its CO2 emission by 50% by the year 2020 through increased energy efficiency and increasing the amount of renewable energy the company uses.
Contact: Vodafone
www.vodafone.com

TED TURNER AND UN LAUNCH SUSTAINABLE TOURISM STANDARDS
On October 26 the businessman and philanthropist Ted Turner, United Nations agencies and the Rainforest Alliance announced the creation of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC).
The criteria, developed by two dozen tourism organizations alongside sustainability professionals, focuses on four key areas: maximizing tourism’s benefits to local communities; curbing negative impacts on cultural heritage; slashing harm to local environments; and sustainability.
More than 900 million international tourists took trips last year, and the UN World Tourism Organization forecasts that number to surge to 1.6 billion by 2020.
Contact:
Partnership for Sustainable Global
Tourism Criteria
www.sustainabletourismcriteria.org

ACTION URGED OVER 38 MILLION EMPTY CAR SEATS
Research released by social enterprise Liftshare during Commute Smart week (26 October – 1 November), linked smarter working and commuting practices with ways to minimize the soaring financial, environmental and social costs of commuting.
Their advice indicated that by raising car occupancy levels by 2%, the national car mileage would be cut by around 3 billion miles. This information follows business association – the Confederation of British Industry, estimating that road congestion alone costs the UK economy some £20 billion
per year.
Investment management company, Invesco, currently has 207 of their 550-strong workforce car-sharing and cites cost-saving and higher staff morale as demonstrable achievements of the scheme.
Contact: Liftshare
www.liftshare.com

HP UNVEILS RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH INITIATIVES
On October 20, HP unveiled renewable energy initiatives in its facilities, research and products to support a new goal to double the company’s global purchases of renewable power from under 4% in 2008 to 8% by 2012. This adds to HP’s goal to reduce energy consumption and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions from HP-owned and HP-leased facilities worldwide to 16% below 2005 levels by 2010. HP recently completed the installation of a 1.1-megawatt, 6,256 solar panel system at its facility in San Diego, which is projected to save the company $750,000 during the next 15 years while providing more than 10% of the facility’s power.
Contact:
HP
www.hp.com

BUSINESS TAKES LEAD ON WATER WITH WATER FOOTPRINT NETWORK
On October 16, seven global groups, including the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development and the WWF, launched the Water Footprint Network, aimed at working towards a common approach to water footprint measurement, accounting and reporting.
The network has emerged out of the growing interest in water footprinting concerns for countries and organisations. Issues such as how to implement proper water footprint accounting; how to identify the spots where water footprints have the largest impact and how to reduce and possibly offset
those impacts make up the principal remit of the network.
Contact: Water Footprint Network
www.waterfootprint.org

DOW’S REUSE OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER WINS CSR AWARD
Dow Chemical Company’s innovative re-use of municipal wastewater at its Benelux site in Terneuzen, The Netherlands was named the winner of the Most Innovative Corporate Social
Responsibility Project in the 2008 ICIS Innovation Awards.
The site uses treated household wastewater to produce high pressure steam and, as recycled
water, in its cooling tower. This is the first time that municipal wastewater is being re-used on
such a large scale in the industry, exceeding 2.6 million gallons per day. The project is the
result of innovative collaboration between Dow, the water treatment provider Evides and the
Zeeuws-Vlaanderen Water Board.
Contact: Dow
www.dow.com

LIVING PLANET ANALYSIS WARNS OF ECOLOGICAL CREDIT CRUNCH
The world is heading for an ecological credit crunch as human demands on the world’s natural capital reach nearly a third more than earth can sustain.
That is the stark warning contained in the latest edition of WWF’s Living Planet Report, released on October 29. According to the report, global natural wealth and diversity continue to decline, and more and more countries are slipping into a state of permanent or seasonal water stress.
The report suggests some key “sustainability wedges” which if combined could stabilise and reverse the worsening slide into ecological debt and enduring damage to global support systems. For the single most important challenge – climate change – the report shows that a range of efficiency,
renewable and low emissions “wedges” could meet projected energy demands to 2050 with
reductions in carbon emissions of 60 to 80%.
Contact: WWF
www.wwf.org

EU ANNOUNCES NEXT ECO-DESIGN PRODUCT PRIORITIES
On October 21, the European Commission unveiled a list of ten priority energy-using product groups for which it wants energy efficiency standards to be established in the next three years. According to the Commission’s plans the product groups under investigation will be included in the EU’s 2005
Eco-design Directive, which defines binding minimum standards for energy performance.
The final list includes such product groups as air-conditioning and ventilating systems as well as food preparation and refrigeration equipment. The candidates for the list were chosen on the basis of their primary energy consumption in order to select the products that would make the most significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Volume of sales and trade in the EU
as well as the environmental impact and potential for energy savings were also
considered.
Contact: European Commission
www.euractiv.com