GreenBiz

Q&A with Gov. Patrick on Massachusetts energy policy

Peter Kelly-Detwiler — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:56 +0000

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick shares his insights about the Commonwealth's energy policy and transition to renewable sources.

G4: It’s all about materiality

James Margolis — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:30:31 +0000

The new G4 reporting guidelines focus on what is material to a company and its stakeholders. That's both good news and bad.

AT&T, Facebook and Verizon welcome new climate fellows

Victoria Mills — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:00:53 +0000

The new class will be the sixth group of fellows who will work with companies, schools and government agencies.

3 paths to advancing the building energy retrofit market

Leanne Tobias — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:53 +0000

A Ceres roundtable on energy efficiency retrofits resulted in three types of recommendations for spurring movement.

Thinking in systems -- and taking more leaps

Sissel Waage — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:44 +0000

We need to radically imagine new ways of dealing with the accelerating world of change. Here's how we can make leaps in our thinking and work.

9 things you need to know about GRI's G4

Barb Brown — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:01:03 +0000

Get a quick update on how the new GRI reporting tool has evolved in its latest iteration.

Navman Wireless technology controls costs, emissions for fleets

Heather Clancy — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The location-based tracking system is part of one bus company's strategy to reduce excessive idling and fuel consumption.

10 costly mistakes of CSR reporting

Lauren Turner — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:08 +0000

Don't let your CSR reporting do more harm than good by avoiding these 10 mistakes.

Sustainable purchasing gets its own umbrella organization

Heather Clancy — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:30:02 +0000

The Sustainable Purchasing Council is creating a framework for sustainable purchasing mirroring the LEED system for green buildings.

Top 10 green buildings of 2013

SustainableBusiness.com — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:10 +0000

Half of the top 10 buildings chosen as exemplary green design for 2013 are in California, including a revamped warehouse in San Francisco.

Has the GRI consigned itself to irrelevance?

Mark McElroy — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:17 +0000

The new GRI G4 leaves known defects firmly in place, says one commentator from Amsterdam.

A first look inside the new GRI G4

James Margolis — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:07:09 +0000

A report from Day 1 of the Global Reporting Initiative conference in Amsterdam on the latest changes to the reporting standard.

VERGE Accelerate: A hopeful future in two and a half minutes

Shana Rappaport — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:11:13 +0000

How 15 entrepreneurs fared in Boston in front of two VCs and thousands of viewers.

7 innovations driving certified-sustainable markets of the future

Tensie Whelan — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:07 +0000

A Rainforest Alliance workshop found common threads emerging among pioneers in sustainable production and sourcing.

How She Leads: Julian Potter, San Francisco International Airport

Maya Albanese — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:30:28 +0000

Meet the chief of staff who helped make San Francisco International Airport a leader in sustainability.

Buildings move faster toward net zero

Molly Miller — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:15 +0000

At last week's Living Future conference, engineers and architects discussed designing and operating buildings that achieve net zero energy use.

What business needs to do about carbon in the post-400 ppm era

Helen Clarkson — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:36 +0000

With carbon dioxide levels past the 400-ppm threshold, risks to businesses are looming even larger, driving the needs for faster, and bigger, action.

Can JUST label bring social justice to building materials?

Molly Miller — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:45 +0000

It aims to address social justice and equity issues, including diversity, worker rights, health care and occupational safety.

VERGE Boston: Confessions of a first-time attendee

Sean Penrith — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:13:11 +0000

Missed the conference? Read the rundown from an attendee's perspective.

Changing the system: Lessons from the Midwest

Sissel Waage — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:10 +0000

How is large-scale systems change accomplished? A 10-year project called Re-AMP may offer a few clues.

Kroger to power distribution center with spoiled food

SustainableBusiness.com — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:30:14 +0000

The chain's grocery stores no longer will send food waste to landfills; instead, biogas generated by the waste will help power a distribution center.

Can local chambers be catalysts for clean energy?

Diane Doucette — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:22:08 +0000

A new report finds local chambers of commerce around the U.S.ountry are becoming major drivers of innovation and economic development with clean energy.

A look inside David Steiner’s waste-to-gold alchemy

Joel Makower — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Five years ago, Waste Management's CEO painted a portrait of a company mining landfills for materials, energy, and fuels. How's it going?

AT&T and EDF join forces to develop Water Score Card Guide

Alexandra Deprez — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:22:26 +0000

The tool gives facilities a score for their water management efforts by shedding light on water use and prioritizing opportunities for conservation.

Why companies should care about the human right to water

Will Sarni — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:44 +0000

Water pricing, the business value of water and the human right to water are all issues that businesses face, especially in developing nations.

12 areas where social entrepreneurship needs to improve: Part 1

Matt Polsky — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:30:08 +0000

The social entrepreneurship field is limiting its own potential. To move forward, here are the areas that need more innovation.

Climate resilience: Deconstructing the new buzzword

Cara Pike — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:08 +0000

Defining resilience goes a long way to understanding what to put under the umbrella of climate resiliency.

IBM's 'Building Whisperer' on the future of smart buildings

Chrissy Coughlin — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:00:29 +0000

IBM's Dave Bartlett dishes on his efforts with the company's Smarter Planet campaign and why he is so optimistic about his work.

ICYMI: Hectares of sustainable food news, ESG pro profiles & more

Matthew Wheeland — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:13:15 +0000

It's a research-heavy week here at ICYMI HQ, with studies detailing everything from profiles of ESG professionals to solutions for sustainable cities.

An up-close assessment of Walmart’s sustainability index

Alisha Staggs — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:22:36 +0000

Does the retail chain measure up? EDF's Bentonville office weighs in.

What we should really call 'sustainability' work

Steve Voien — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:28 +0000

In part two of a two-part series, we uncover the ideal umbrella term for the work currently known as sustainability. Or CSR. Or Triple-Bottom-Line.

Is there an 'I' in sustainability?

Nancy Hirshberg — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:55 +0000

Sure, there's no "I" in team, but when it comes to sustainability, what kind of recognition is right for a chief sustainability officer?

3 myths about product life cycle assessments

Mikhail Davis — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:08 +0000

These three persistent myths about LCA each have a grain of truth, but also a fundamental misunderstanding.

Ending the alphabet soup in the [insert word here] field

Steve Voien — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:29 +0000

CSR. ESG. CS&ER. Triple bottom-line. How can we achieve sustainability if we don't know what to call it? A modest proposal, in two parts.

Some light in clean tech investing, despite the gloom

Dan Seif — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:54 +0000

The vast majority of clean energy investment not coming from VCs is actually a positive indicator for the maturation of clean energy markets.

Plasticity Forum: Adidas and others find gold in plastic

Rikki Stancich — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:47 +0000

Faced with a tide of post-consumer plastic trash, organizations are thinking up innovative ways to profitably harness this potentially vast revenue stream.

How to select a CEO for the Collaboration Economy

Eric Lowitt — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:30:10 +0000

The seven habits of highly collaborative leaders.

Why data can put us on the road to better building performance

Jim Sinopoli — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:00:55 +0000

Lack of data for building automation control systems can create a host of problems and cost organizations money.

VERGE Boston: M2M's 'huge leap forward' on energy savings

harrystevens — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:43 +0000

New technologies that enable billions of devices to collect and analyze data can help systems operate with startling efficiency.

When will emerging economies embrace sustainability?

Eric Whan — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:45 +0000

While not top-ranked, there are business to watch in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

3 things green tech firms can learn from the smartphone wars

Andrew Riley — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:11 +0000

What's true for the iPhone rings true for others.

Can you survive the 5 tectonic shifts to the business landscape?

Anna Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:50 +0000

In this Q&A, the author of "The Upside of Down" shares how his concept of societal resilience can help companies prepare for change.

Adidas Group scores big with sustainability venture capital fund

Elizabeth Turnbull Henry — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:00:01 +0000

Footwear company's greenENERGY Fund invests in a portfolio of efficiency projects that target a strict 20 percent annual return on capital.

VERGE Boston: 'Welcoming our new robotic overlords'

Heather Clancy — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:55:41 +0000

While technology's productivity benefits may eliminate certain jobs, advances in mobility, analytics and robotics are inspiring a new age of efficiency and innovation.

VERGE Boston: How private sector innovation will ease urban congestion

Heather Clancy — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:30:31 +0000

Data analytics, mobile apps will be central to success car-sharing networks and other sustainable transportation alternatives.

Ford tests roadmap for smarter telemedicine

Heather Clancy — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:24 +0000

In India, advanced information technologies coupled with SUVs are rewriting the rules for sustainable rural health care.

How can I sell myself in a 30-second elevator pitch?

shannonhoude — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:00:52 +0000

Our resident career coach helps a freelance sustainability consultant improve his answer to the question: "What do you do?"

Public-private partnerships turn waste into cash

Natalie Hummel — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:00:24 +0000

Converting waste from one company into a feedstock stream for another can generate revenue while reducing virgin material and energy use.