Peter Bakker, the president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD), believes that the corporate sector currently offers the best opportunity for saving the world.
Following the disappointing political outcome of Rio+20, he is on a mission to encourage business to move away from visioning the future and writing glossy reports to implementing change at scale. (Peter Bakker will speak on the [url]http://www.sustainability-congres.nl[link]13th Nationaal Sustainability Congres, 20 november in Nieuwegein[/url])
...
lees meer
Rattled in Europe by the REACH regulation and carbon dioxide emission curbs, international chemical companies are at the Rio Earth Summit determined to push for a global approach to environmental policy – but with a light regulatory touch.
...
lees meer
Despite tougher regulations and the growing relevance of “sustainability” as an investment theme, the breadth of sustainability reporting on stock exchanges globally has fallen since its peak in 2008, according to a new report commissioned by Aviva Investors. In a ranking of the world’s composite stock exchanges by overall sustainability disclosure, the Netherlands comes out on top, with Denmark (2), Finland (3) Spain (4) and South Africa (5) also in the top five.
...
lees meer
The vast majority of businesses say that sustainability is vital to their future growth, but almost half say that margins are currently lower on sustainable products and services, according to new research by Accenture.
...
lees meer
In a World of limited natural resources and human induced changes to the natural and social environment, the GDP is not an inclusive measurement to compare prosperity and the development potential of countries. Based on models for evaluating corporate sustainability and risk modelling tools, SolAbility has developed a Sustainable Competitiveness model with the aim of measuring sustainable prosperity and growth potential of nations. Data indicators tracked by the World Bank, the IMF and various UN agencies have been grouped into four pillars of Sustainable Competitiveness: Natural Capital, Resource Intensity and Efficiency & Sustainable Innovation Competitiveness. The Netherlands is ranked at place 8.
Social Cohesion
...
lees meer
Unilever has retained its top ranking among corporate sustainability leaders, according to a new survey of sustainability experts from around the world. But the survey also shows that perceptions of sustainability leadership have declined or stalled for nearly all institutional actors – including corporations, governments, NGOs and social entrepreneurs – in the last twelve months.
...
lees meer
he Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability, announced today the sixth annual selection of the World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies, highlighting a record 145 organizations that show leadership in promoting ethical business standards.
...
lees meer
Despite improving their own carbon performance, multinational companies are not yet demonstrating significant emissions reductions in their supply chains, according to research published today by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Accenture (NYSE:ACN). The report on 49* CDP member companies, including L’Oréal, Philips and Walmart, and more than 1,800 of their suppliers revealed that while 43% of responding companies have achieved year-on-year emissions reductions, only 28% of suppliers have done so.
...
lees meer
* The costs of environmental impacts of business operations are doubling every 14 years.
* Companies should expect increases in external environmental costs which today are often not shown on financial statements.
* Businesses and policymakers must take joint strategic decisions and act now.
New research from KPMG International has identified 10 “megaforces” that will significantly affect corporate growth globally over the next two decades.
...
lees meer
Some businesses are rejecting the chief sustainability officer model, in the fear that such a position prevents sustainability getting embedded throughout the company’s operations, according to a white paper from Accenture.
...
lees meer
How ISO standards support sustainable development and contribute to sustainable action is the theme of the January issue of ISO Focus+, the magazine of ISO (International Organization for Standardization).
The magazine highlights the work already done by ISO for the development of standards for business, government, manufacturers and consumers and features the work in progress in the field of sustainable development.
...
lees meer
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation today launches “Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition”, a new report, featuring analysis from McKinsey, that makes the case for a faster adoption of the circular economy, quantifies the economic benefits of circular business models and lays out pathways for action.
...
lees meer 
