Webinar - Product Sustainability Dos and Donts and the Business Benefits

Leading sustainability strategies have shifted in the last five years from enterprise-focussed, looking at the impacts within a firm’s own four walls, to strategies encompassing product-based sustainability initiatives. This recognises the sheer scale of the life cycle impact of products, from raw material sourcing and manufacture to usage and disposal.

Join this Verdantix webinar as they reveal the business benefits of product sustainability, key features of leading strategies and emerging best practices. They will analyze the progress of buzzword concepts including sustainable innovation, closing the loop and net positive strategies and identify the trends shaping next generation strategies.

Click here to register. sustainable, environment, economy, business, corporate, corporation, company, companies, commerce, trade, industry, approach, climate change, global warming, green, forecasts, trends,

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Webinar - 360report: Sustainability as an Essential Success Factor

Get to know 360report during a 45 minute free webinar on September 26, 2013. Matthias Keitel leads the webinar and answers all your questions. In recent years, public interest in the sustainability of economic activity has increased and as a result, companies are increasingly adopting the practice of sustainability reporting and benefiting from the economic advantages and additional market opportunities.

Sustainable corporate practice implies a company's acceptance of social, ecologic and economic responsibility and the orientation of economic activities towards this responsibility. However, sustainability comprises more than good sustainability performance within the organization's own business operations. In addition, investors, suppliers and employees have to be geared to recognizing and maintaining the same values.

In particular, society's increasing focus on compliance with social standards and human rights, together with ecologically compatible management, leads to a rise in public pressure to which companies can only react with sustainable economic management and its documentation.

Operating in a sustainable manner generates several benefits. It fosters the confidence of customers and business partners as well as a positive public image. Furthermore it builds a competitive advantage for a company's market position and helps to anticipate and avoid risks arising from new legal standards. Thus, sustainability is not only indispensable regarding ecological and social aspects; it also forms a basis of a corporate mission for long-term market success.

Concurrent with the rising relevance of sustainability, so are the requirements for sustainability reporting increasing. Reporting should be orientated to global corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards. Important international standards are Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), United Nations Global Compact, ISO 26000 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG).

360report covers all four standards and uses innovative input and output logic to reduce complexity. Thus, every company can generate a sustainability report which conforms to global accepted standards, quickly and easily.

To register for the webinar on September 26, 2013 click here. sustainable, environment, economy, business, corporate, corporation, company, companies, commerce, trade, industry, approach, climate change, global warming, green, forecasts, trends,

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Webinar - Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI)

This webinar takes you step-by-step through the information needed and how to calculate the carbon footprint of any hotel stay or meeting. The trend for greater transparency in carbon reporting is growing and this webinar explains why it is increasingly important for hotels to know their carbon footprint. How to measure the carbon footprint of a hotel stay or meeting – The Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative.

Over 15,000 hotels around the world have adopted the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) methodology that allows them to calculate and communicate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and meetings in a consistent and transparent way.

Join the International Tourism Partnership and World Travel & Tourism Council on a webinar to learn how you can measure your carbon footprint in order to:

– Provide the carbon footprint information your customers are requesting
– Understand your environmental impacts and start to reduce these, as well as your costs!
– Enhance your reporting
– Demonstrate your commitment to good environmental management.

Who should watch:

Hotel managers, engineers, environmental managers and consultants looking for a step-by-step guide to implementing HCMI.

To access the webinar recording, click here.

For more information on HCMI and to request the methodology and calculation tool email info@hotelcarboninitiative.org

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Organic Produce and Sustainable Seafoods

Organic and certified sustainability seafoods are increasingly popular, they are also healthier and environmentally less damaging than traditional foods. Organically grown foods are less destructive to the land, and because they do not require chemical fertilizers and they have a lower greenhouse gas profile.

According to a recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report titled Green Economy and Trade-Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, The global market for organic food and beverages is projected to grow from $62.9 billion in 2011 to $105 billion by 2015.

The total value of seafood that has been farmed according to certified sustainability standards is forecast to increase to $1.25 billion by 2015, up from $300 million in 2008, according to the report.

In order for consumers to make informed decisions, labeling on all seafood should indicate:

• the exact species name
• place of origin of catch and processing
• whether the fish is farmed or wild
• the fishing method used.

Making choices about sustainable seafood is difficult as they are commonly mislabeled. Here are Here are six tips for buying sustainable seafood:

1. Choose fish that feed low in the food chain (ie Sardines, mackerel, dab, pouting, herring, tilapia)

2. Know your fishing methods: Choose hook-and-line, pole-and-line, handpicked, trap-caught Avoid: Trawls, dredges, drift nets

3. The good, the bad and the ugly of aquaculture: Choose cultivated oysters, cultivated mussels, farmed tilapia, and fish farmed in recirculating or closed systems. Avoid: Farmed shrimp, farmed salmon, and other fish species farmed in open-net pens and cages

4. Use guidelines and tools available: Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise App is a great tool to help you make sustainable seafood choices.

5. Support local markets and restaurants that are providing sustainable options: Use the Ocean Wise website and app which has a great location finder for shops and restaurants that provide certified sustainable products.

6. Ask Questions Find out if the seafood you want to buy is wild or farmed, what fishing methods were used, and in which country it was caught. Also ask is the species in trouble where the animals were caught? Does fishing for the species damage or alter ocean habitats? Is there a large amount of by-catch taken with the target species?

In 2011 The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has reported that seventy–eight percent of US families say they purchase organic foods.

“In a time when the severity of the economy means making tough choices, it is extremely encouraging to see consumers vote with their values by including quality organic products in their shopping carts,” said Christine Bushway, OTA’s Executive Director and CEO. “Nearly half – 48 percent – of parents surveyed revealed that their strongest motivator for buying organic is their belief that organic products “are healthier for me and my children. Other motivators for purchasing organic included concern over the effects of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics on children, and the desire to avoid highly processed or artificial ingredients.”

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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