The sixth round of ImagePower Green Brands Survey, presented by Esty Environmental Partners, Penn Schoen Berland, Landor Associates and Cohn & Wolfe, features a fresh perspectives into consumers’ attitudes toward corporate environmental sustainability and green products. The survey reveals that barriers to going green and environmental concerns are not consistent, however consumer commitment to purchasing from green companies is shared around the world.
In the webinar “Building a Balanced Sustainable Brand Strategy”, Peter Salmon talks about a platform that helps companies make the transition to more environmentally sustainable and efficient practices.
The Roberts Environmental Center of Claremont McKenna College (CMC) recently released a detailed analysis of the social responsibility reporting efforts of America’s top energy and utilities corporations. The two reports contain a compilation of Pacific Sustainability Index scores evaluating the environmental and social reporting of the 48 U.S. energy and utilities companies on the 2008 Fortune 1000 list.The reports score companies based on the reporting, intent, and performance of environmental and social sustainability efforts. The research, based entirely on material released on the firms’ Web sites, found that two of the smallest firms – Mirant (energy sector) and Pinnacle West Capital (utilities sector) – did the best jobs of describing details of their socially beneficial actions and environmental management. The lowest scores were also shared by small firms – Adams Resources and Energy, Inc., and Atmos Energy Corp. – but there was a good mix of firms of all sizes throughout the range of scoring. In neither sector is size a predictor of good reporting.
The University of Missouri, Kansas City is creating a new sustainability minor. Northeastern Junior College is launching a wind energy training program. Eastern Mennonite University has announced two sustainability majors an Chatham University has added a new environmental track to its graduate biology program.
The Pew Charitable Trusts has conducted the first-ever hard count across all 50 states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments that supply the growing market demand for environmentally friendly products and services. The study, entitled The CleanEconomy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America, revealed that the number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007.
The Kresge Foundation has announced a new comprehensive grantmaking programs: The Environment Program. With the announcement of this new program, the foundation is expanding its commitment and narrowing its focus in each field for maximum long-term impact in its strategic areas of interest. The Environment Program addresses environment-related social issues, particularly those affecting minority, low-income, and other underserved communities. The Environment Program seeks to have tangible effects on the practices and policies associated with climate change and environmental sustainability. The programs are in the development stage; program teams will be refining their grantmaking focus and strategy over the next year.
The GREEN CLOUD UPDATE, a regular feature that covers current news in the green cloud computing space looks at the following stories: The Environmental Protection Agency will announce Energy Star performance rating for data centers; Advanced Micro Devices introduces new Energy Efficient processor, designed for very dense data center environments; SAS to build USD 70 million cloud computing facility built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for water and energy conservation.
The Commitments Department has the primary responsibility for establishing and executing the strategy for helping CGI members develop new commitments. The Senior Manager, for Commitment Development/Environmental Sustainability will manage relationships with CGI members, educating and guiding them through the commitment development process and helping them to identify partners as appropriate. She/he works closely with the CGI Commitments Director and a network of external expert advisors to develop member commitments. She/he will also collect and analyze commitment data for program evaluation and external communication purposes.
