Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit

Harvard Business School Study Shows Business Support for Communities Could be Waning

2012-02-06T06:09:05Z

Consumer boycotts and pocketbook pressure has been effective in the past in changing corporate behavior. How do we keep the pressure on to keep companies incentivized to do the right thing?

Suppliers Lag Behind in Reducing Carbon Emissions

2012-02-06T06:09:40Z

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which has been collecting GHG emissions data from companies for nearly a decade, recently released a report which revealed that there is a gap that exists between the carbon reduction performance of companies and that of their suppliers. The study, conducted in partnership with Accenture, was conducted with 50 CDP member organizations including L’Oréal, Philips and Walmart, and more than 1,800 of their suppliers. It found that while 43 percent of companies surveyed have achieved year-over-year reductions in their carbon emissions, only 28 percent of their suppliers have done so.

Kraft Uses Stakeholder Engagement to Achieve Zero Waste in 36 Plants

2012-02-06T08:00:10Z

Achieving zero waste seems to be the biggest goal with many food companies. Coca-Cola has done it. Kit Kat has done it, and now Kraft is following their footsteps. The company recently announced that it sends no waste to landfills in 36 of its manufacturing plants in 13 countries. Kraft has been steadily working towards building [...]

A Brief Tour of Masdar City

2012-02-06T08:32:05Z

Among the highlights of last month’s trip to the World Future Energy Summit was a tour of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s living laboratory in sustainable development and what is held out to be among the most sustainable cities ever built (at least in the modern sense). Masdar City has progressed significantly since my last [...]

Has the Clean Energy Boom Gone Bust?

2012-02-06T14:43:40Z

Well, the vultures might be circling, but they might have to wait a while to pick the bones of the CleanTech industry, which by many accounts, is still far from dead. Juliet Ellperin wrote in this month’s Wired, that the CleanTech boom has gone bust, comparing it to both the Internet bubble and the housing bubble. But a number of experts are forecasting significant growth for the renewable sector despite several mitigating factors.

Lessons from a Colorful Map of NYC Energy Use in Buildings

2012-02-06T06:46:55Z

A team of researchers at Columbia Engineering has launched an interactive online energy map that breaks down the patterns of power consumption in practically every building in all five boroughs of New York City. Though the map is based on estimates rather than actual metered data, it does provide an easy way to compare real-life [...]

India Leads With $10.3bn in Clean Energy Investments

2012-02-06T06:57:18Z

Bloomberg recently reported that India’s clean tech investments, “reached $10.3bn in 2011, some 52 percent higher than the $6.8bn invested in 2010. This was the highest growth figure of any significant economy in the world. There is plenty of room for further expansion – in 2011, India accounted for 4 percent of global investment in clean energy.” [...]

Wrapped In Nature: New Biodegradable Food Packages

2012-02-06T07:13:17Z

An Israeli company is developing biodegradable food packages that perish within 180 days. The Tipa packages are currently suitable for soft foods and the company is developing packaging for beverages as well. The company hopes to enter the market with several pilot products by the end of this year

Big Business is Finally Taking Climate Seriously

2012-02-06T07:25:50Z

Along with increased environmental awareness, cold, hard facts have led many to stop questioning climate change and environmental degradation. It is not just remote areas of the world that are beginning to feel the impact of climate change. Areas of the Western World are seeing droughts, wild weather, and other phenomena that are associated with human-caused global climate change. Individuals have begun to make changes in their lifestyles, from purchasing things like solar powered garage doors for conservation's sake, but what about big business?

In Times of Change, Go Slow to Go Fast

2012-02-05T17:21:11Z

The following is a guest post by our friends at Saybrook University’s Organizational Systems Program (a 3p sponsor) – designed for students who want to understand the nature of organizations, collaborative practices, and transformative change. By Jay G. Cone, Ph.D. student in organizational systems, Saybrook University Three organizations I work with are undergoing restructuring. In [...]

The Green Economy: Does It Include You?

2012-02-06T17:07:50Z

This story, our story, is like a dream where we dream we are falling-- falling into a climate that is spinning out of control, falling into an economic crisis that has left millions impoverished, falling into dependence on a dwindling energy supply that is largely in the hands of those we don’t trust. The only thing that can save us from this “bad dream,” is for us to awaken in time. But we must all awaken together for it to work. And the thing that we must do when we all awaken together, to save ourselves, is to embrace the Green Economy.

Occupy Wall Street Goes Virtual, Targeting Apple through Petitions

2012-02-03T21:54:55Z

Apple, a company that has fans like no other company, is facing now a public uproar with two petitions against the company that have managed to collect more than 200,000 signatures in just couple of days. The first, on Change.org calls Apple to “protect workers making iPhones in Chinese factories,” and the second, on SumOfUs, asks the company to “make the iPhone 5 ethically.” This new wave of online activism brings up the question: Is the OWS movement after Apple?

Why Masdar Matters

2012-02-06T08:14:00Z

Leon Kaye explains that Masdar City does not have it all right, nor should it: at a fundamental level, it is an experiment. And that is why this UAE hub is a leader.

Monsanto’s Foray Into GMOs Goes Into the Weeds

2012-02-06T20:29:36Z

As many critics have long maintained, the proliferation of genetically modified crops would eventually lead to the proliferation of herbicide-resistant superweeds. Hence, we now have a dangerous escalation of chemical warfare in the fields from which our food is being harvested. The “new” herbicide 2,4-D that Monsanto’s latest corn will be resistant to, is actually one of the two active ingredients in Agent Orange of Vietnam War infamy.