Top Stories
P&G Launches Supplier Environmental
Sustainability Scorecard.—reliability high.
"The Procter & Gamble Company today announced the launch of the
Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecard and rating process to
measure and improve the environmental performance of its key suppliers.
The new scorecard will assess P&G suppliers' environmental
footprint and encourage continued improvement by measuring energy use,
water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions on a
year-to-year basis. It is hoped that this breakthrough work will lay
the foundation for an industry standard and the scorecard will be "open
code" for use by any organization to help promote a working discussion
and determine common supply chain evaluation processes across all
industries." From CSRwire.
Access scorecard here.
Greenhouse gas emissions rise in India.—reliability
high.
"India is the world's fifth-biggest polluter, a new study confirmed
Tuesday, with its greenhouse gas emissions growing by more than 3
percent annually between 1994-2007. The Asian giant also is suffering
from the effects of global warming such as rising temperatures and sea
levels along its coasts. The study represents the first update to an
assessment of India's air emissions that was done 16 years ago. More
than 80 scientists from 17 institutions across India were involved in
the study, said Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister." Story at CNBC from AP. PDF
executive summary here.
PDF of full report here.
Another story covering this report at Reuters.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
IEA sees great potential for solar,
providing up to a quarter of world electricity by 2050.—reliability
high.
"Solar electricity could represent up to 20% to 25% of global
electricity production by 2050. This important finding emerges from two
new analyses by the International Energy Agency (IEA): the solar
Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) roadmaps ... PV
mostly for on-grid distributed generation in many regions and CSP
largely providing dispatchable electricity at utility scale from
regions with brightest sun and clearest skies. PV also helps provide
energy access off grid in rural areas." See IEA
site. PDF of CSP roadmap here. PDF of
PV roadmap here.
Ford to Invest $36M to Build Hybrid, Plug-in
Cars in Spain.—reliability medium.
"Hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of Ford Motor’s five-seater C-MAX
model will start rolling off production lines at a Valencia, Spain
plant and onto the European market in 2013, the automaker announced
this morning. As part of a total $410 million investment planned for
the Valencia C-MAX program over the next three years, Ford expects to
invest up to $36 million for the hybrid and plug-in portion of the
project — with an as yet undetermined amount of aid from the national
and regional governments." Story at earth2tech.
Sainsbury's bucks trend with new milk
containers.—reliability high.
"Sainsbury's ... is predicting switching to milk bags could save up to
1.4M kilograms of packaging every year. And to support the drive 500 of
the chain's stores across the UK will be giving away JUGIT containers
on Saturday (May 15). The reusable containers are used to hold a milk
bag and contain a spike that pierces the bag, forms a no-leak seal, and
delivers milk through the spout. ... the milk bags costs 6p less than a
standard bottle of milk." Story at edie.net. [Costs less . . .
and less (land) filling . . . will consumers accept it?]
American Apparel launches 'Reuse' collection.—reliability
high.
"American Apparel has launched Creative Reuse, an intimate apparel and
swimwear collection made entirely from repurposed and excess fabrics.
The idea behind the scheme is that the template used to cut fabric for
garments always leaves some material left over. Instead of discarding
these pieces, designers at American Apparel create other styles which
can be made out of the remaining fabric, at the same time as the
originally intended garment is being manufactured." From EcoTextile
News. See the collection here. [Warning: Small
scraps=skimpy garments.]
Walmart's Sustainability Report Reveals
Successes, Shortcomings.—reliability high.
Wal-Mart's latest report lists significant achievements but "the
company's absolute carbon footprint has continued to grow, despite it
improving facility performance and reducing its carbon intensity over
the last two years. In response, the company set the 2015 goal of
avoiding 20 million metric tons, which is about 1.5 times the projected
cumulative growth of its emissions over the next five years. 'Because
the Walmart supply system is many times larger than the company's
direct footprint, in many cases the biggest, fastest and most
economical GHG reductions are not at the retail-level, but rather up or
down the value-chain of consumer products, in raw material extraction,
product manufacturing, transportation, customer use, or product
end-of-life,' Walmart said in its 2010 Global Sustainability Report."
See GreenBiz.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
