At the first Vital Topics event of 2022, From Sustainability to Sustainable Performance, we will be joined by Stuart McLachlan, co-founder and CEO of Anthesis Group, and Jonatan Pinkse, Professor of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship at and Executive Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), Alliance Manchester Business School.
Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company™, today announced a new International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Paris, France. Part of Equinix’s Saint-Denis campus, the new site—named PA10—will be the tenth data center opened by Equinix in Paris over the course of 20 years. It will provide global and local businesses and partners alike with the ability to connect directly and securely to the world’s digital economy, via comprehensive digital ecosystems.
The range includes all kinds of vegan goodies from ready-to-eat meals and sandwiches to sweet and savory snack options. Some of the favorites include Plant Revolution Hot Dogs, Plant Revolution NO Chick’n Tikka Masala With Pilau Rice, and Plant Revolution Mini Dip. All of the products included in the Plant Revolution range are quite affordable, making vegan food more accessible to its consumers. This release comes just in time for Veganuary, as record numbers of people have signed up to contribute to the month-long challenge. It is also a smart business move as it is becoming increasingly more common for those in the UK to choose plant-based options over their animal product counterparts.
Nature consists of chain reactions, many of them complex and far-reaching. In a recent study, published in the journal Nature Food, researchers found that if wealthier countries ate less meat and more vegetables, farmland could be rewilded, leaving it for native plants and trees to grow. And the carbon dioxide reduction from the atmosphere could be huge: 98.3 billion tons by the end of the century, BBC News reported. One-fourth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food and agriculture, and in wealthy countries the majority of that is from livestock. Raising animals requires an enormous amount of land for grazing and growing fodder. If the high-income countries of the world reduced the meat content of their diets, more land would be open to use its natural processes to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. According to Our World in Data, nearly 80 percent of the world’s agricultural land is used for livestock, while meat produces less than 20 percent of the planet’s total calories, Carbon Brief reported.
Recently, businesses worldwide have started placing a greater emphasis on sustainability. Companies have all kinds of motivations for these investments. Thirty-three percent of companies are prioritizing sustainability to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Others invest in corporate citizenship best practices for a short-lived media boost. As businesses continue taking steps to be more sustainable, the term “corporate sustainability” is thrown around a lot. Some even confuse corporate sustainability with other terms like “corporate social responsibility” (CSR).
New York has joined California, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts in requiring the biggest sources of food waste to donate excess food or recycle food waste. The hope is to keep food, and its related methane emissions, out of landfills. The new law took affect on January 1, 2021. The law, called the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, first passed in 2019. As of the start of this year, businesses and institutions with an average of two tons of food waste per week now must donate edible foods and recycle any food scraps, given that the business or institution is located within 25 miles of a facility that can process the scraps.
German bike maker Urwahn has received the German Sustainability Award 2022, Europe’s biggest award for social and ecological commitment to helping the planet, for its E-Bike Platzhirsch. The Platzhirsch is a 3D-printed steel electric bike with a gorgeous matte frame. The award honors groundbreaking contributions toward a sustainable future and boosts Urwahn’s efforts to create fair conditions for people and the environment. The jury for the German Sustainability Award is comprised of leaders in the fields of design and sustainability. The E-Bike Platzhirsch was given the award this year for its steel frame, which is featured on all Urwahn bikes. The idea is that steel provides longevity as it can be repaired and recycled better than carbon or aluminum, thus reducing waste and promoting a circular economy.
We believe that doing good is just good business. We’re passionate about our purpose, our people and our planet. What we’re made of All our swimwear is made from ECONYL® – a 100% regenerated nylon fibre made from post-consumer waste such as old fishing nets and industrial plastic. So our cossies are ocean friendly, too! How we work – We believe in honesty, quality and in knowing who made your clothes. We produce our swimwear in a small London production studio which prides itself on premium craftsmanship in a safe working environment.
SunPeak customer DePauw University has attracted newfound attention from top state and local agencies for its commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. The liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana recently received three awards for its use of solar power and other energy-management strategies. DePauw was selected by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management as a recipient of the prestigious Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence. The awards are reserved for innovative, sustainable, and exemplary programs or projects that demonstrate measurable environmental, economic, and social benefits to the state. The award specifically recognized the success of DePauw’s campus energy master plan.
Central Sustainability, a Central Michigan University student initiative, has been awarded a 2021 Student Sustainability Leadership Award by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Central Sustainability is being recognized for their work over the past two years, including developing the 2020 Central Sustainability Campus Survey Report and other data collection efforts, creating the Sustainable Purchasing Policy for CMU, helping to create and lead the CMU Earth Week Conference and several other events, creating educational resources for students and the public, and more.
For the sustainable development of humanity, future efforts are necessary to develop effective technologies to reduce fossil fuels. Solar-driven hydrogen production from water splitting can be an attractive way to supply clean energy. However, the efficiency of the water splitting is limited by the reaction at the anode. Therefore Qiuhua Liang investigated some promising anode materials that may help improve the efficiency of the water splitting. The reaction that takes place at the anode is called oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is often regarded as the main bottleneck in water splitting because it is a so-called four-electron transfer process. The efficiency of the OER relies heavily on the anode material. Qiuhua Liang found some anode materials that may increase the efficiency of the OER.
Starving manatees will soon be fed by hand in Florida, a rare wildfire intervention to save the marine mammals whose natural food is vanishing from the effects of pollution, state officials told Reuters. “Unified Command does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial,” said Carly Jones of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in an email to Reuters ahead of a formal announcement later this week. The move, authorized by the federal government, is highly unusual in conservation, which tends to favor leaving wild animals to their own foraging and hunting lest they become dependent on human handouts.
Meredith Corda has three tattoos. The first she got, the one she yearned for from the age of 14, is of a bee. The bee rests on her right wrist, its wings spread to span the length of her palm. It isn’t the only manifestation of Corda’s affinity for the black-and-yellow insects: She’s dedicated a song to them, as well as an Instagram highlight reel. Since elementary school, she’s interacted more closely with them than most are willing to. “The bee thing has been very present in my life for as long as I can remember,” Corda said. “I was obsessed with them. Starting in third grade, I used to pick up bees with my bare hands. I’m not kidding, I would literally pick up bees like this,” Corda said as she clasped her hands together, “and walk around to kids on the playground and scare them with the bees.” Rest assured, bees hold a special place in Corda’s heart beyond their potential for preteen harassment.
President Biden signed an executive order that demonstrates how the United States government will leverage its scale and procurement power to lead by example in tackling the climate crisis. The executive order will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities. The President’s whole-of-government effort will create well-paying jobs, grow industries, and make the country more economically competitive. “Right now we have a massive opportunity to create millions of clean energy jobs, save taxpayer money through reduced energy costs, and build a more sustainable future for generations of Americans,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “Today’s actions demonstrate how GSA and our federal partners will move forward with a bold vision that meets this moment in history by harnessing the power of American ingenuity and innovation.”
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical America has been using a packaging technology called RP System to protect its products like auto parts and electronics in Japan for many years. On this episode of Transmission, Sebastian Blanco talks to Sean Hael, sales and marketing general manager at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical America, about this technology and its uses. The company is working on introducing RP System to production facilities in the U.S., and Hael says there’s no time like a pandemic to make sure limited supplies are protected from moisture and oxygen damage.
Land-based sources of pollution have a major impact on planetary health and on the oceans, evidenced by the development of a Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA). Growing populations, increasingly intensive and large-scale agriculture, and booming urbanization mean a growing amount of wastewater discharge into aquatic ecosystems and nutrient runoff to waterways. Together, these lead to eutrophication, toxic algae blooms, greater incidence of water-borne disease, lowered resilience of ecosystems to environmental change, and harm to species, including humans. Wastewater pollution and nutrient runoff are evident in freshwater and fluvial systems, but in this MOOC we also aim to focus on the impacts and solutions that pertain to coasts and oceans.
Continuing its trailblazing legacy at the Best Corporate Citizens Sustainability Awards (BCCSA) 2021, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector HNB PLC was presented with two awards in recognition of its outstanding CSR initiatives, which includes the Bank being ranked among the Top 10 Best Corporate Citizens in Sri Lanka. “Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, we put sustainability at the heart of our business practices, driving digital experiences exponentially and taking many innovative measures to reduce our carbon footprint. Working in alignment with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, we contributed towards the revival of businesses by supporting customers who were severely impacted. Our policies and commitment to these initiatives has ensured financial security and growth for MSMEs across the island. We are honoured by the accolades presented to HNB today and pledge to continue as a partner in progress for the nation,” HNB Executive Director / Chief Operating Officer, Dilshan Rodrigo stated.