This document discusses chemical footprinting, which refers to assessing the embedded chemical risks associated with a product throughout its lifecycle, including manufacturing, service life, and end of life. It defines chemical footprinting and explains how understanding chemical risks can help brands avoid recalls and supply chain disruptions. The document also describes a three-tiered methodology for chemical footprinting and provides a case study examining potential health risks from tire wear particles released into the environment during a tire's service life. It concludes by discussing opportunities to get ahead of emerging trends around sustainable products and chemical exposure expectations.
Dr. Nydia Suppen is the founder of the Center for LCA and Sustainable Design and has over 20 years of experience in life cycle assessment (LCA) and sustainability tools. She is currently the Vice-chair of the ISO LCA committee and was involved in developing ISO standards for water footprinting. Dr. Suppen has a doctorate from Osaka University in computer controlled machinery and life cycle engineering, and has worked extensively with the United Nations on sustainability programs. She gives presentations on various ISO standards and life cycle management tools.
Grice, Lisa, Ramboll, Corporate Sustainability Where the Rest of the Company ...Kevin Perry
Grice Lisa Ramboll Corporate Sustainability Where the Rest of the Company Fits From Strategy to Implementation MECC Kansas City May 11-13, 2016 Overland Park www.mecconference.com
Environmental Management for BusinessesSocial MEDIA
Increasingly each public and personal organizations are recognizing the importance of Environmental Management for Businesses in USA http://www.envirostrat.com/management-services/
The document discusses how to communicate sustainability efforts without "greenwashing" through verification, measurement, and reporting. It outlines common "sins of greenwashing" like hidden trade-offs or lack of proof. Verification by independent third parties helps prove compliance with standards through labels or endorsements. Regular measurement is important to evaluate progress using indicators. Reporting tools like GRI and ISO 14001 standards can help with transparency if used to show a whole systems perspective. The best approach is to take meaningful sustainability actions and then discuss accomplishments through sound monitoring and reporting.
The document discusses green products and packaging. It notes that green products help conserve the environment during manufacturing and use by using minimal and recycled packaging. Choosing green products also promotes more sustainable options. While green labels don't always guarantee a product's environmental friendliness, green products tend to be energy efficient, made from renewable materials, and free of toxic chemicals and byproducts. The document encourages considering a product's full environmental impacts when making sustainable purchasing decisions.
Bio-Debug UG is a one-stop solution for all bio-data analysis needs that uses a multidisciplinary team approach. It comprises experts in bioinformatics, genomics, computer science, and more to provide custom solutions for clients' unique projects. Some of the services offered include analysis of next generation sequencing data, genome wide association studies, modeling expression, and more for sectors like research and development, healthcare, pharma, and biotechnology. The company aims to bridge the gap between bioinformatics and biology through close collaboration.
Direct action fit for purpose initiative jcJim Close
FUTURE PROOFING - AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER PRODUCT CONFIDENCE & MINIMISING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THROUGH DIRECT ACTION & INNOVATION - Direct Action Fit-For Purpose Initiative:
Policy Benefits:
•Innovation Friendly •Jobs Positive •Greenhouse Gas Reduction • Environmentally Responsible • Business Positive • No New Tax •Economically Positive • Political Party Friendly• Family Friendly
• Self-Funding • Boosts Consumer Product Confidence • Enforced Statutory Warranties with fixed term periods.
Dr. Nydia Suppen is the founder of the Center for LCA and Sustainable Design and has over 20 years of experience in life cycle assessment (LCA) and sustainability tools. She is currently the Vice-chair of the ISO LCA committee and was involved in developing ISO standards for water footprinting. Dr. Suppen has a doctorate from Osaka University in computer controlled machinery and life cycle engineering, and has worked extensively with the United Nations on sustainability programs. She gives presentations on various ISO standards and life cycle management tools.
Grice, Lisa, Ramboll, Corporate Sustainability Where the Rest of the Company ...Kevin Perry
Grice Lisa Ramboll Corporate Sustainability Where the Rest of the Company Fits From Strategy to Implementation MECC Kansas City May 11-13, 2016 Overland Park www.mecconference.com
Environmental Management for BusinessesSocial MEDIA
Increasingly each public and personal organizations are recognizing the importance of Environmental Management for Businesses in USA http://www.envirostrat.com/management-services/
The document discusses how to communicate sustainability efforts without "greenwashing" through verification, measurement, and reporting. It outlines common "sins of greenwashing" like hidden trade-offs or lack of proof. Verification by independent third parties helps prove compliance with standards through labels or endorsements. Regular measurement is important to evaluate progress using indicators. Reporting tools like GRI and ISO 14001 standards can help with transparency if used to show a whole systems perspective. The best approach is to take meaningful sustainability actions and then discuss accomplishments through sound monitoring and reporting.
The document discusses green products and packaging. It notes that green products help conserve the environment during manufacturing and use by using minimal and recycled packaging. Choosing green products also promotes more sustainable options. While green labels don't always guarantee a product's environmental friendliness, green products tend to be energy efficient, made from renewable materials, and free of toxic chemicals and byproducts. The document encourages considering a product's full environmental impacts when making sustainable purchasing decisions.
Bio-Debug UG is a one-stop solution for all bio-data analysis needs that uses a multidisciplinary team approach. It comprises experts in bioinformatics, genomics, computer science, and more to provide custom solutions for clients' unique projects. Some of the services offered include analysis of next generation sequencing data, genome wide association studies, modeling expression, and more for sectors like research and development, healthcare, pharma, and biotechnology. The company aims to bridge the gap between bioinformatics and biology through close collaboration.
Direct action fit for purpose initiative jcJim Close
FUTURE PROOFING - AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER PRODUCT CONFIDENCE & MINIMISING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THROUGH DIRECT ACTION & INNOVATION - Direct Action Fit-For Purpose Initiative:
Policy Benefits:
•Innovation Friendly •Jobs Positive •Greenhouse Gas Reduction • Environmentally Responsible • Business Positive • No New Tax •Economically Positive • Political Party Friendly• Family Friendly
• Self-Funding • Boosts Consumer Product Confidence • Enforced Statutory Warranties with fixed term periods.
This document discusses green procurement and hazardous materials. It begins by outlining what green procurement means and how companies can define ecological criteria for purchasing. It then discusses how green procurement is the first step towards cleaner production and avoidance of waste and emissions. Several examples are provided of how green procurement has helped companies reduce environmental impacts and costs through measures like substituting materials. The document emphasizes that green procurement should consider the full life cycle of products from raw material extraction to disposal.
This document discusses toxics use reduction and its benefits. It notes that only 10% of resources extracted are used in products, with 90% becoming waste. Toxics use reduction is presented as a better alternative to end-of-pipe pollution control. The Toxics Use Reduction Act requires Massachusetts companies using large amounts of toxics to report usage and plan for reduction. Since the act was passed in 1989, total toxics production adjusted use has decreased significantly. Toxics use reduction planners help companies with technical and financial analysis of safer alternatives. When environmental professionals integrate toxics reduction into business practices by addressing costs and aligning with strategy, it becomes compelling for the company.
This document discusses various types of third-party product certifications and their limitations in fully capturing a product's sustainability. It notes that early certifications focused on single attributes like energy efficiency but that full life-cycle assessments are needed to understand a product's total environmental footprint. The document recommends using certifications but also asking additional questions of manufacturers and understanding that certifications may not capture all impacts across a product's entire life cycle.
1. The document defines a green supply chain as the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming them in a way that improves the existing environment or allows byproducts to be recycled.
2. The goals of a green supply chain include encouraging suppliers to develop sound environmental management systems, working with green suppliers to reduce non-value added activities and environmental impacts, and transferring pollution prevention technologies.
3. Pollution prevention aims to reduce waste by volume or toxicity prior to disposal through reduction, recycling, and waste treatment methods. This benefits companies by lowering costs and environmental liabilities while enhancing their public image and competitive advantage.
The document discusses taking a life-cycle approach to understanding the environmental impacts of products from raw material extraction through disposal. It explains that a life-cycle approach identifies impacts at each stage of a product's life and can help reduce overall impacts. Life-cycle assessment is introduced as a tool to quantitatively measure environmental impacts across a product's full life cycle.
The document provides an overview of product stewardship and global product regulatory compliance challenges. It discusses how the number of environmental regulations has increased globally in recent years. Product stewardship and compliance is a strategic issue for multinational corporations due to risks like supply chain disruptions and barriers to innovation from the proliferation of non-harmonized regulations across jurisdictions.
Five benefits of becoming a sustainable print shopUsman Ali
There are five main benefits to becoming a sustainable print shop: 1) It can help attract, retain, and motivate employees, especially millennials who want to work for socially responsible companies; 2) It can help win more customers, as many companies now require sustainability commitments from their suppliers; 3) It can save money over the long run through reduced energy and material costs; 4) It can reduce healthcare costs and safety issues; and 5) It can help attract investors who increasingly seek sustainable investment opportunities. Print shops can work towards sustainability through practices like recycling, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and certification programs like the Sustainable Green Partnership.
This document provides a guide for selecting sustainable gardening products that have a low environmental impact. It introduces the Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA) Environmental Rating Guide, which evaluates gardening products like pest control, plant diseases, weeds, fertilizers and more. The SGA assigns products a low, medium, or high environmental impact rating based on their potential to harm the environment and non-target organisms. The guide aims to help gardeners identify products that are safer for the planet when chemical solutions are necessary in the garden.
The 7th European Environment & Health Task ForceUN SPHS
Ms. Lorea Coronado-Garcia, UNDP Sustainable Procurement Specialist, delivered a presentation at the 7th European Environment & Health Task Force on how UNDP, in collaboration with technical experts and suppliers and manufacturers of health commodities, works to minimize the environmental impact of its health procurement. Flagship initiatives, tools, and venues of engagement are highlighted.
A presentation made as part of Managerial Communications. The issue at hand is to guide the employees of EDS Ltd (a chemical factory) through the down-sizing process as EDS Ltd is shutting down
UNDP Greening Health Systems Specialist Lorea Coronado-Garcia delivered a presentation at CleanMed 2017 on May 17, 2017 in Minnesota, U.S. Ms. Garcia presented the SPHS and the work UNDP has done as host agency of the SPHS.
The presentation focused on the U.N. approach on greening the global health sector, with the final aim of improving human health and well-being.
This document discusses contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from the perspective of a water utility. It notes that the definition of water quality is shifting from a legal and health perspective to a consumer point of view focused on absence of contaminants. The water utility takes steps to protect water resources, monitor for regulated contaminants and CECs, and remove contamination through multi-step treatment involving activated carbon, ozonation, and UV disinfection. However, fulfilling the consumer ideal of total absence of all contaminants at very low levels may not be possible. The utility conducts research to better monitor and understand CECs and collaborates with health agencies, but predicting future regulations remains challenging.
Focused on the impact that local issues and stakeholders are going to have on the supply chain’s of many operating in China, I delivered the above presentation at the 2012 CHaINA conference in Shanghai.
Overarching goal of the presentation was to highlight opportunities for firms to strengthen current systems as well as understand/ plan for a future where the issues of environment, economy, and society increase pressure on both the top and bottom line of the firm.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique used to assess the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle from material sourcing through end of life. There are four main phases of LCA: 1) defining the goal and scope of the study, 2) conducting a life cycle inventory analysis, 3) assessing the potential environmental impacts, and 4) interpreting the results. LCA can be conducted at various levels from cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-gate, or gate-to-gate. The interpretation phase involves identifying significant issues from the results, evaluating the completeness of the study, and providing conclusions and recommendations.
Terumo is working to promote green procurement and purchasing through various initiatives:
1) Relevant departments are working to create a regulatory compliance system for procuring environmentally friendly raw materials.
2) Guidelines have been established for green purchasing of office supplies and other goods.
3) In response to strict chemical regulations, Terumo is developing a regulatory compliance system involving collection of regulatory information, checks in the design phase, supplier surveys, and feedback to local sites. This aims to control hazardous substances and respond to customer and regulatory demands.
Culture Shift: Sustainability, Brands & the London Olympics - Alexis OlansSustainable Brands
Major cultural events such as the World Cup, the Oscars or the Olympics offer a unique opportunity for brands, media and other stakeholders (from cities to trade associations and NGO's) to collaborate to drive global focus to the needs of a changing world. Leveraging this opportunity to both create needed culture shift and also brand benefit can be a tricky tight rope to walk. In this session, stakeholders who were actively involved in the supporting the greening of the London Olympics discuss the hits and misses from their perspective, drawing out principles for leveraging brand voice to build purposeful attention to important issues while also building brand respect, loyalty and value.
This document discusses green procurement and hazardous materials. It begins by outlining what green procurement means and how companies can define ecological criteria for purchasing. It then discusses how green procurement is the first step towards cleaner production and avoidance of waste and emissions. Several examples are provided of how green procurement has helped companies reduce environmental impacts and costs through measures like substituting materials. The document emphasizes that green procurement should consider the full life cycle of products from raw material extraction to disposal.
This document discusses toxics use reduction and its benefits. It notes that only 10% of resources extracted are used in products, with 90% becoming waste. Toxics use reduction is presented as a better alternative to end-of-pipe pollution control. The Toxics Use Reduction Act requires Massachusetts companies using large amounts of toxics to report usage and plan for reduction. Since the act was passed in 1989, total toxics production adjusted use has decreased significantly. Toxics use reduction planners help companies with technical and financial analysis of safer alternatives. When environmental professionals integrate toxics reduction into business practices by addressing costs and aligning with strategy, it becomes compelling for the company.
This document discusses various types of third-party product certifications and their limitations in fully capturing a product's sustainability. It notes that early certifications focused on single attributes like energy efficiency but that full life-cycle assessments are needed to understand a product's total environmental footprint. The document recommends using certifications but also asking additional questions of manufacturers and understanding that certifications may not capture all impacts across a product's entire life cycle.
1. The document defines a green supply chain as the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming them in a way that improves the existing environment or allows byproducts to be recycled.
2. The goals of a green supply chain include encouraging suppliers to develop sound environmental management systems, working with green suppliers to reduce non-value added activities and environmental impacts, and transferring pollution prevention technologies.
3. Pollution prevention aims to reduce waste by volume or toxicity prior to disposal through reduction, recycling, and waste treatment methods. This benefits companies by lowering costs and environmental liabilities while enhancing their public image and competitive advantage.
The document discusses taking a life-cycle approach to understanding the environmental impacts of products from raw material extraction through disposal. It explains that a life-cycle approach identifies impacts at each stage of a product's life and can help reduce overall impacts. Life-cycle assessment is introduced as a tool to quantitatively measure environmental impacts across a product's full life cycle.
The document provides an overview of product stewardship and global product regulatory compliance challenges. It discusses how the number of environmental regulations has increased globally in recent years. Product stewardship and compliance is a strategic issue for multinational corporations due to risks like supply chain disruptions and barriers to innovation from the proliferation of non-harmonized regulations across jurisdictions.
Five benefits of becoming a sustainable print shopUsman Ali
There are five main benefits to becoming a sustainable print shop: 1) It can help attract, retain, and motivate employees, especially millennials who want to work for socially responsible companies; 2) It can help win more customers, as many companies now require sustainability commitments from their suppliers; 3) It can save money over the long run through reduced energy and material costs; 4) It can reduce healthcare costs and safety issues; and 5) It can help attract investors who increasingly seek sustainable investment opportunities. Print shops can work towards sustainability through practices like recycling, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and certification programs like the Sustainable Green Partnership.
This document provides a guide for selecting sustainable gardening products that have a low environmental impact. It introduces the Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA) Environmental Rating Guide, which evaluates gardening products like pest control, plant diseases, weeds, fertilizers and more. The SGA assigns products a low, medium, or high environmental impact rating based on their potential to harm the environment and non-target organisms. The guide aims to help gardeners identify products that are safer for the planet when chemical solutions are necessary in the garden.
The 7th European Environment & Health Task ForceUN SPHS
Ms. Lorea Coronado-Garcia, UNDP Sustainable Procurement Specialist, delivered a presentation at the 7th European Environment & Health Task Force on how UNDP, in collaboration with technical experts and suppliers and manufacturers of health commodities, works to minimize the environmental impact of its health procurement. Flagship initiatives, tools, and venues of engagement are highlighted.
A presentation made as part of Managerial Communications. The issue at hand is to guide the employees of EDS Ltd (a chemical factory) through the down-sizing process as EDS Ltd is shutting down
UNDP Greening Health Systems Specialist Lorea Coronado-Garcia delivered a presentation at CleanMed 2017 on May 17, 2017 in Minnesota, U.S. Ms. Garcia presented the SPHS and the work UNDP has done as host agency of the SPHS.
The presentation focused on the U.N. approach on greening the global health sector, with the final aim of improving human health and well-being.
This document discusses contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from the perspective of a water utility. It notes that the definition of water quality is shifting from a legal and health perspective to a consumer point of view focused on absence of contaminants. The water utility takes steps to protect water resources, monitor for regulated contaminants and CECs, and remove contamination through multi-step treatment involving activated carbon, ozonation, and UV disinfection. However, fulfilling the consumer ideal of total absence of all contaminants at very low levels may not be possible. The utility conducts research to better monitor and understand CECs and collaborates with health agencies, but predicting future regulations remains challenging.
Focused on the impact that local issues and stakeholders are going to have on the supply chain’s of many operating in China, I delivered the above presentation at the 2012 CHaINA conference in Shanghai.
Overarching goal of the presentation was to highlight opportunities for firms to strengthen current systems as well as understand/ plan for a future where the issues of environment, economy, and society increase pressure on both the top and bottom line of the firm.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique used to assess the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle from material sourcing through end of life. There are four main phases of LCA: 1) defining the goal and scope of the study, 2) conducting a life cycle inventory analysis, 3) assessing the potential environmental impacts, and 4) interpreting the results. LCA can be conducted at various levels from cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-gate, or gate-to-gate. The interpretation phase involves identifying significant issues from the results, evaluating the completeness of the study, and providing conclusions and recommendations.
Terumo is working to promote green procurement and purchasing through various initiatives:
1) Relevant departments are working to create a regulatory compliance system for procuring environmentally friendly raw materials.
2) Guidelines have been established for green purchasing of office supplies and other goods.
3) In response to strict chemical regulations, Terumo is developing a regulatory compliance system involving collection of regulatory information, checks in the design phase, supplier surveys, and feedback to local sites. This aims to control hazardous substances and respond to customer and regulatory demands.
Culture Shift: Sustainability, Brands & the London Olympics - Alexis OlansSustainable Brands
Major cultural events such as the World Cup, the Oscars or the Olympics offer a unique opportunity for brands, media and other stakeholders (from cities to trade associations and NGO's) to collaborate to drive global focus to the needs of a changing world. Leveraging this opportunity to both create needed culture shift and also brand benefit can be a tricky tight rope to walk. In this session, stakeholders who were actively involved in the supporting the greening of the London Olympics discuss the hits and misses from their perspective, drawing out principles for leveraging brand voice to build purposeful attention to important issues while also building brand respect, loyalty and value.
Re-Capturing the American Dream: How Brands Can Change the FutureSustainable Brands
What does the American Dream entail? If it's still here, how do people envision it? Has it changed over the years? Brands are a means to help people realize the American Dream and what it stands for. In this presentation with Eric Park of Ziba Design and Marc Mathieu of BeDo, they look at how sustainability can be rightfully married with the ideals of opportunity and freedom, IF we choose to frame the discussion as such. Beyond the age of material wealth and abundance. In order to design and market more sustainable lifestyles, values, ideals, Eric and Marc point out how American culture should be the beginning and end points.
This document discusses labeling of consumer products for recycling. It notes that current labeling strategies often provide incomplete, inconsistent or misleading information that contributes to low recycling rates in the US. Effective labeling needs to clearly indicate if an item can be recycled locally and provide steps for doing so. While labels aim to demonstrate environmental commitment, confusion arises from the many different labels in use. The document advocates for a centralized resource like Earth911 to provide consistent and up-to-date information to help consumers properly dispose of and recycle products.
Consumer Insights on Green and Sustainability in Social MediaSustainable Brands
Optimistic and empowered
8% Behavior: Makes significant lifestyle
changes and advocates for
policy changes through
volunteering, donations,
contacting representatives
“I just got back from a climate change rally in DC. It was amazing to see so
many people, young and old, coming together to demand action from our
leaders. I'm really hopeful that with continued grassroots organizing and
pressure, we can pass meaningful legislation to curb greenhouse gas
emissions and transition to renewable energy. Each person makes a
difference. I've switched to CFLs, drive less, eat lower on the food chain,
and I'm working to get my friends and family onboard too. We have the
solutions - now
Presentation on Hewlett Packard's story of applying sustainability and environmental stewardship into its operations, brand communications, and internal research.
Learn more about Sustainable Business & Design at: http://sustainablelifemedia.com
A global revolution is in full swing, and the Sustainable Brands Conference is where sustainability, brand and innovation leaders gather to learn, share and strategize to shape the future. SB'12 was the largest gathering to date, a kinetic convergence of innovators from more than 150 companies from around the world finding new ways to create monumental disruption in traditional models of commerce and consumption.
How to Drive Business Model Transformation Inside a CompanySustainable Brands
This document discusses driving business model transformation within a company. It lists locations where companies like Starbucks, Home Retail Group, and others have implemented more sustainable business practices, such as their stores in Ohori, Japan, Chapultepec, Mexico, and Seattle, WA. The document aims to provide guidance on how large organizations can transform their business models to be more environmentally and socially responsible.
1. The BASF Report 2013 provides an overview of BASF's economic, environmental, and social performance in 2013. It summarizes key data on sales, earnings, employees, and other metrics for each of BASF's business segments.
2. The report identifies energy and climate as material sustainability issues and outlines goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 40% by 2020 compared to 2002 levels through strategies like energy efficiency improvements.
3. Examples provided illustrate BASF's approach to responsibly managing energy and climate issues across its value chain, including initiatives involving suppliers, transportation, production, and customers to reduce emissions.
Women in Shiite society in 1950s Iraq played important roles in their families and communities despite common Western perceptions. They contributed economically through cottage industries like raising animals and making goods. They also participated equally in family businesses. Women influenced local economies through their purchasing power and hosted important religious gatherings. They took part in community events and had influence in the social and domestic spheres through tasks like cooking and hosting guests, which was crucial to the Sheikh's power and status.
This document lists and describes some of the most beautiful libraries from around the world. It includes libraries from Europe such as the Strahov Monastery Library in Prague, the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Libraries are also mentioned from North America, including the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and the New York Public Library. The document provides a brief glimpse into some of the historic and architecturally impressive libraries located across the globe.
Comparing and Contrasting Leading Tools for Evaluating ChemicalsSustainable Brands
Brands are increasingly concerned about the chemicals used in their products. Transparency is growing, but knowing something is there doesn't mean you know how it will affect your customers. To fill this void, a number of chemical evaluation tools (e.g. GreenScreen, GoodGuide, GreenWERCS) and product evaluation certifications have emerged. Expert Tony Kingsbury and his team looked at 32 of these tools and certifications to determine how robust their evaluation is, how many hazard endpoints they take into account, how costly they are, how transparent they are, and whether you need a PhD to use them. Find out which tools are right for your organization and what limitations they carry.
Monica becker turi cont ed - session c green materials for turi websitezevoush
2012 presentation on Innovative Business / University Partnership: The Safer Plasticizer Assessment Project - Project for the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3)
This document discusses several environmental challenges facing the planet, including global warming, changes in weather patterns, overfishing of oceans, coral reef degradation, declining bee populations, diseases emerging from animal agriculture, and threats to amphibians and bats. The key points made are that the scientific consensus is that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are driving global warming, both droughts and floods are predicted to increase as weather patterns shift, over half of popular fish species are overfished, coral reefs provide habitat for many species but over half are degraded, honeybee populations have been declining by a third each winter, fungi and diseases are killing many frog and bat species.
This document discusses key environmental sustainability trends impacting the cosmetics and personal care industry. It finds that sustainability has become embedded in daily operations and strategic decision making for companies. Key trends include companies measuring environmental footprints, addressing packaging waste, ensuring product and ingredient toxicity and safety, and engaging in sustainable procurement. Regulations on these issues vary between regions and can pose challenges for companies operating globally.
This document outlines the business case for adopting global sustainable strategies. It discusses how mainstream media and an awakened public are driving companies to address sustainability issues like poverty, hunger, and climate change. Adopting corporate sustainability practices can help solve these problems while also being good for business by appealing to consumers, employees, and investors. The document provides examples of banks and investors taking action on sustainability and discusses how managing risks, employee health and safety, and responsible product development can be linked to sustainability. Overall, the document argues that sustainability initiatives can reduce costs while improving productivity, workforce health, and a company's reputation.
Sustainable Brands 2010 workshop "Sustainability Leadership : The Making, Mar...Blue Practice
For those who couldn't attend our Sustainable Brands 2010 workshop, we're offering up some of the slides from our presentation, "Sustainability Leadership: The Making, Marketing and Thinking Behind Cradle to Cradle Products," to further share the insights and best practices in Cradle to Cradle product marketing.
In this presentation, given to 30 Next Gen members of AFBN, I spoke about the need (and opportunity) for Next Generation leaders to retool themselves and their family businesses.
The Center for OSH Sustainability was launched in 2012 as a means to show stakeholders how occupational health and safety initiatives support sustainability. The business model defines how risk governane can be applied to identify, assess and evaluate, commmunicate, manage, and control occupational health and safety hazards in the workplace and off-the-job during recreational and sporting activities. The 24/7 approach to safety and health provides a better culture, performance, and productiivty in the lives of workers and their families. The support within the organization is transformed outside the organization so workers return home and back to work safely and healthy.
The document discusses life cycle analysis (LCA), which examines the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life, including raw material acquisition, production, use, and disposal. It outlines the four main steps of LCA: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. Key challenges include defining system boundaries, collecting comprehensive data, quantifying environmental impacts, and selecting impact categories and normalization methods. LCA aims to identify opportunities to reduce a product's environmental footprint across its entire lifespan.
This document provides an overview and guidance for general merchandise category managers on sustainable sourcing. It discusses key sustainability issues like carbon footprint, water footprint, waste footprint and packaging. It presents a stepwise decision framework for managers to 1) identify sustainability priorities, 2) communicate needs to suppliers, 3) acquire product sustainability information, 4) evaluate information, and 5) make purchasing decisions considering both sustainability and other factors. The overall goal is to help managers understand sustainability in the retail sector and select more sustainable products and suppliers.
This document provides an overview and guidance for general merchandise category managers on sustainable sourcing. It discusses key sustainability issues like carbon footprint, water footprint, waste footprint and packaging. It presents a stepwise decision framework for managers to 1) identify sustainability priorities, 2) communicate needs to suppliers, 3) acquire product sustainability information, 4) evaluate information, and 5) make purchasing decisions considering both sustainability and other factors. The overall goal is to help managers understand sustainability in the retail sector and select more sustainable products and suppliers.
Sustainability in chemical industry-asn_tcl r1Aaloak Negi
The document discusses sustainability in the chemical industry. It defines sustainability and outlines its benefits. The chemical industry impacts sustainability due to its large energy usage and emissions. Chemical companies are pursuing various sustainability initiatives to reduce costs, drive innovation, and improve their brand. Implementing sustainability strategies can benefit companies financially but also presents challenges like cross-company coordination. Sustainability reporting and consulting are growing areas to help companies with their strategies and measure their progress.
Sharing Recipes for Staying Competitive – SustainabilityECR Community
The document discusses sustainability trends in retail and consumer goods industries and how leading companies are addressing these trends to gain competitive advantage. It provides insights from consumer surveys in China about attitudes and willingness to purchase green products. It also outlines different strategic options for companies to develop distinctive capabilities and focus on sustainability to position their brands, reduce costs and risks, and increase revenues and intangible assets.
This document provides an introduction to sustainable manufacturing. It discusses why manufacturing is becoming more environmentally conscious due to increasing regulation, customer demands, and cost savings. Sustainability is defined as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs. Key concepts in sustainable manufacturing include clean technologies, sustainable production processes, and green product design. Implementing sustainable practices can range from simple housekeeping to new technologies and is a continuous improvement process rather than a final destination.
This document provides an introduction to sustainable manufacturing. It discusses why manufacturing is becoming more environmentally conscious due to increasing regulation, customer demands, and cost savings. It defines sustainability and the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit. Key concepts around clean technologies, sustainable manufacturing and green products are explained. The document outlines how sustainable manufacturing can be implemented across a product's lifecycle from design to end of life. It traces the evolution of approaches from pollution control to cleaner production and towards industrial ecology and closed loop systems. The document provides a spectrum of efforts companies can take to implement sustainable manufacturing from simple housekeeping to new technologies.
This document discusses frameworks for developing sustainable global supply chains. It identifies motivations for addressing social and environmental issues in supply chains such as customer demands, compliance with regulations, reducing costs, gaining competitive advantage, and moral obligations. Key levers for influencing supply chain sustainability are a company's purpose, policies, people, relationships with peers/partners, public policy environment, and power within the supply chain. The document recommends establishing a code of conduct, obtaining third-party certifications, selectively choosing suppliers, and monitoring suppliers as baseline practices for building a sustainable supply chain.
This document provides an overview and guidance on sustainable sourcing for category managers in the food retail sector. It discusses key sustainability issues like carbon footprint, water footprint, and waste footprint for fresh products. It outlines a stepwise approach for category managers to incorporate sustainability into their sourcing decisions, including understanding their company and customer priorities, communicating needs to suppliers, acquiring product sustainability information, and evaluating claims. The presentation warns against "greenwashing" and provides questions to ask suppliers for verification. The goal is to equip category managers to make well-informed purchasing decisions that consider both business and sustainability factors.
1. The document outlines steps that companies can take to integrate sustainability into their business strategies and operations, including building a business case, committing senior resources, setting baselines and goals, addressing organizational resistance through collaboration and innovation, and fully integrating sustainability into the company's culture and processes.
2. It provides examples of sustainability goals and strategies from companies like Unilever and Dow Chemical that create value for both business and society.
3. The document concludes by discussing emerging views that the purpose of business needs to change to bring more value to society through approaches like shared value creation.
How a Breakthrough Product Portfolio Assessment is Changing Business Strategy...Sustainable Brands
Dirk Voeste of BASF Corporation discusses how BASF is changing its business strategy through a breakthrough product portfolio assessment that evaluates the sustainability of its solutions. Key points:
- BASF categorized all of its products into four categories based on their sustainability contributions. It aims to increase the percentage of "Accelerator" products that substantially contribute to sustainability.
- The assessment analyzed 60,000+ product applications representing €66.3 billion in sales. It found that 23% were Accelerators that outgrow markets with higher margins. Over 60% of BASF's R&D pipeline are Accelerators.
- BASF integrates sustainability fully into its investment decisions and portfolio management as a major lever to
Building Harmony: How to Champion Sustainability from Grain to BiscuitSustainable Brands
Mondelēz International is focused on sustainability across its biscuit operations in Europe. Albert Mathieu, President of the Biscuit Category Europe, discusses how the company works with farmers to grow crops sustainably and reduces environmental impact at factories. The goal is to champion sustainability from grain to finished biscuit.
Market Insights from Top Researchers: The Latest Intelligence on Customer Att...Sustainable Brands
This document discusses how companies can drive business model transformation from within by recognizing changing markets, fitting new models with corporate strategy, and building support networks. It provides examples of innovative business models and recommends mapping current models, planning the customer journey, and assembling all elements like market needs and strategic aims to form a new "jigsaw" business model. The goal is to help businesses develop profitable approaches to sustainability through the REBus project which provides free support for pilot programs across Europe.
Market Insights from Top Researchers: The Latest Intelligence on Customer Att...Sustainable Brands
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7. Prof Baba Shiv, Stanford, Informal Study Focus on Win-Win Product Changes and Direct Impact Consumers will not pay a premium simply for green – but they will pay extra for other co-benefits “Marketing green products, then, may not be all that different from marketing any other product: ‘It comes down to: How does this affect me and my family?’”
8. Emerging Trends in Measurement + Expectations Information is widely accessible
12. The Relevance of Chemical Risks Potential to harm employees, customer and environment Brand protection Avoidance of recalls Disruption of the supply chain
13. What Is “Chemical Footprinting?” Product Focus Carbon footprinting refers typically to an entity’s operational energy use Water footprinting typically refers to operational water use; Here we are referring to the embedded chemical risks associated with a product
14. Manufacturing Where are chemicals a concern? Reasonably controlled environment Acceptable exposure levels have often been established for workers and environment
15. Service Life Industrial, commercial or consumer users? … Purposeful release? Unintentional release? Mis-Use?
16. End of Life Consumer disposal often not controllable Re-purposing often considered a green action – but is it safe? Recycling can ‘return’ different chemicals than went out Raw material recovery
19. Case Study: Service Life of a Tire Tires wear out and the rubber is released to the environment. Is this a health risk?
20. Process to Understand Compile state of knowledge from literature and determine data gaps/needs Develop methods Measure tire wear particles in the environment Collect particles for testing Evaluate toxicity (Kreider et al., 2010 and www.wbcsd.org)
21. Looking Ahead … Get ahead of the curve Lots of opportunities for leadership Incorporation of chemical footprint concept into LCA Refine the definition or establish a quantitative unit to compare choices made with respect to chemicals
Thanks, Leonard.Good to be here today to discuss a favorite topic of mine … chemical footprinting and how it will help drive product sustainability..
Leonard has mentioned the need for new methodologies… and chemical footprinting is designed to bridge the gap. It’s a new methodology that goes beyond the traditional (e.g. LCA) to heighten cradle-to-cradle product understanding. Results are data-driven, actionable, and can be reported for transparency. From a brand management standpoint, this is vital. Because chemical footprinting will help your brand maximize sustainability, consumer / public confidence and reputation … all key elements to improving brand value. Which in turn, drives growth and helps save money.Excited to share with you some key messages about What are sustainable products?Sustainable products + green business trendsDefining chemical footprintingNew ChemRisk methodology and case study
Today, I’d like to provide a 30,000-foot level overview of chemical footprinting.I’ll start with some context about sustainable products + green business trends.Next, I’ll define chemical footprinting.Then, I’ll discuss the methodology behind this concept, and provide a case study.
Three ideas surround a sustainable product; namely they reduce consumption of natural resources throughout their life cycle; fair labor principles are followed in making the product, and they minimize health impacts on humans and our planet’s ecosystem.This afternoon, we are focused on this third bullet.
First and foremost, information is widely accessible to anyone who takes the time to look.Love it or hate it, we are very connected in the 21st century. The electronic information platforms have significantly transformed how we communicate with one another and quite frankly, it is not widely populated by true scientific experts.Nonetheless, those with opinions or information can quickly disseminate it through blogs, tweets and other online websites. Too often we have failed to appreciate the swiftness and severity of the public’s response to this type of communication.
In addition to easy information, product testing by consumers and advocacy groups has become increasingly easy to do – note I said easy, not necessarily accurate. We see this sort of thing all the timeAlso, the large amounts of biomonitoring data being collected by health agencies throughout the country is making chemical exposure a very personal experience and demanding an answer as to where the chemicals came from. And, as the analytical sensitivities of our methods get better and better – others will be detected for the first time and ones we know about will be measured at increasingly lower levels. And interpreting these measurements is an important aspect of risk assessment today.
Further, we have a greater understanding of where people interact with chemicals…study after study shows that personal chemical exposure is not associated with large factory emissions, rather it is the many small sources that we encounter mostly in our homes. This leads us to evaluating non-traditional exposure media like house dust, cookware, textiles and inside vehicles. And lastly, people expect to Not be exposed to chemicals. Unlike driving a car or downhill skiing, people generally do not accept risks from chemicals and expect that the products that they purchase and use will not be harmful to them or the environment. The demand for chemical free products has never been greater, but even offering a product line that’s fragrance free and dye free doesn’t eliminate the chemicals.
So how can you ensure that your product and your brand is not harmful to people or the environment?…I believe this can be done by chemical footprinting.Sadly, too often the phone on my desk rings because a product has gotten into “trouble”…trouble in the sense that AFTER it has been designed, manufactured, marketed and sold, it is perceived as posing a health or environmental risk. My message to all of you today is that most of these (quote/unquote) troubles can be prevented and most risks can be anticipated upfront.As we are all aware, a not so quiet revolution has occurred with respect to your stakeholder’s expectations of a product that not only performs as advertised, but also does not harm the environment or people. As the Green Chemistry movement takes hold, it is more important than ever to understand the chemical footprint of your product in order to truly understand if your new chemicals actually reduce the chemical risk and not just shift it.
Currently when evaluating the sustainability of a product, people look at three factors:the product’s carbon foot print, water foot print and sometimes its societal impact. However, none of these factors are typically associated with harm to a brand’s image, recall notices or disruption of the supply chain. Those damaging events are usually associated with the chemicals in the product – either as a result of an unwanted contaminant or a traditional ingredient that has come under fire from an environmental or health perspective. As the thousands of existing chemicals on the market come under the scrutiny of governments: first in the EU, and then elsewhere as other governments fall in line, many of those same chemicals will be given their walking papers…and substitutes will have to be found. This movement toward substitution requires a robust method for understanding the improvement in a product’s sustainability profile from the use of substitutes. We call this chemical footprinting.
So what do we mean by the term Chemical Footprinting – First, the focus of the chemical footprint is on the product itselfOther footprints that you may be more familiar with such as carbon footprints to assess impact to greenhouse gasses and water footprint to assess the amount of fresh water used in making the product are both typically associated with an entity’s operation only. The chemical footprint goes further. Here we are referring to the chemical risks associated with the life cycle of a product – how the chemicals in a product interact with the humans who make or use them and the ecology that may be impacted through those activities.
The chemical footprint starts with the products manufacture and here, we ask the questions:Do we understand the impact to our workers? Do we understand the impact to the Outdoor environment and our neighbors?The manufacturing portion of the chemical footprint is typically the easiest to understand. First, there is usually a reasonably controlled environment that allows for monitoring of chemicals. And second, acceptable exposure levels have often been established for workers and environment – making the risk analysis straightforward.
Then, the chemcial footprint moves on to evaluation of the product’s service life…the analysis is usually much more difficult.First, you need to understand who is using your product. Are they industrial or commercial workers or are they an average consumer? Not only do these people have different use patterns, you might also have slightly different formulations of your product for the different users.Then you must also ask, is the chemical release purposeful for the product to work? Or is the release unintentional? Further is it widespread into the environment? And also important is the consideration for the potential for misuse of your product.
Then lastly, the chemical footprint evaluates the End of Life…For some…the end of the life cycle is more important than the manufacturing or service life portions.Understanding the chemical risks associated with the end of life of your product can also be rather complicated because:Control over how your customer disposes of the product is often very difficultAlthough re-purposing a product is generally considered a (Quote/unquote) green action – it is possible that some re-uses may expose a person or the environment to chemicals that might not otherwise had happened. Recycling can sometimes return different chemicals in the product than those that were there initially. A classic example of this is the recycling of used solvents and motor oils. These products may need some sort of treatment before they can be resold. And, lastlyRaw material recovery is often then end game for many recyclers and can result in an exposure scenario quite different than those evaluated as part of the original manufacturing chemical footprint.
We’ve talked about what the chemical footprint is, and, now I would like to tell you how its done, so that you understand that this technique gives you a powerful tool for making responsible decisions about the chemicals you use in your products, avoid greenwashing claims and to be transparent about your process. I also have a couple of examples to share with you
As I have said, the potential chemical risk posed by a product – in essence, its chemical footprint is a knowable thing. You don’t need to consult the magic 8 ball to answer your questions, in fact, there are reliable scientific risk assessment methods which are routinely used to assess chemicals that can be used to evaluate your product. In general we use a basic 3-tier approach to understand toxicity and exposure to understand risk; moving from a simple step such as reviewing existing information to more in-depth analyses using various mathematical models.Lets just take a quick run through of the three tiers…Reviewing existing information: This can be as simple as looking at all those lists – you know the ones – the customer restricted substances lists and the numerous ones put out by various government agencies. But what if your chemical is not on a list? Does that mean you have the green light to use it? No, not necessarily, - those lists are not created equal and a chemicals appearance on one list may have no relevance to another. You may need to contact your supplier for additional information, especially regarding toxicity.If information is not readily available, the second tier that we move to is the use of screening level models. Many models are available which can give you a ball park idea of what kind of risk your product may pose by including a certain chemicals. However, the screening models are rather crude and may not be able to accommodate the use of your specific product.In that case, we move onto tier 3 which may involve data collection either from product users or through simulation studies, or in fact use one of the higher tier predictive models which require more effort in terms of information collection.So I’d like to finish up by giving you some examples of chemical footprinting in action…
The first case study is that of a tire.In 2006 a group of 11 tire companies (which included all the top brands - Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Continental, Cooper, Kuhmo, Hankook, Sumitomo, Toyo and Yokohama) came together as part of a proactive group to answer questions that could be asked of their industry in the future.One of the questions that they anticipated was whether or not the tire tread that wears away during the service life of a tire presents a human or ecological health risk.They formed a consortium under the auspices of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and launched a CEO initiative to investigate some of the more broad questions regarding the environmental health risk associated with their products from manufacturing to use.
So this is an example of a product that ends up widely dispersed in the environment simply by the requirement of its function – the rubber needs to grip the road in order to be safe, but that interaction wears away not only tread rubber from the tire, but also the pavement. In fact, there are not many examples of a product being widely dispersed in the environment that are not related to vehicles or some form of transportation.The process for answering this question is on-going, and has been quite a journey. A lot of original research was required because as you might imagine, tread rubber is not a single chemical and in fact is not really considered a chemical mixture – the tire wear particle is an entity unto itself comprised of tread rubber and bits of pavement and other things imbedded from the road.In order to understand risk, we have to understand the exposure potential and the toxicity of the particles. The conceptual model for the particles is that they are released from the tire and primarily deposited on the road or nearby roadside, and a small amount can become airborne or be resuspended along with the rest of the road dust. Additionally, for those particles that are too large to be suspended…they can make their way to surface water from road run off, so aquatic habitats are an important consideration. I don’t have time today to discuss the entire body of work, but we employed the three-tier approach that I have described. First we used the existing information to assemble the state of knowledge on the topic from the literature and determined the data gaps and needs. Based on these we found out that we needed to develop methods to measure tire wear particles in the environment and also figure out a way to collect them in order to do testing. Lastly, there was precious little information on the toxicity of the particles, so various studies had to be designed. This one of the only project of its kind and if you are interested to learn more, you can check out our first publication as well as the Business Council website under the link to the Tire Industry, where all of the research is posted until it can get published.
So…some thoughts for the future…Get ahead of the curve by assessing your existing products (and new products from the early design phase), to demonstrate corporate responsibility, and to collaborate on advancing methodologies. There are lots of opportunities for leadership. Companies – can make a commitment to reduce the chemical footprint of their products by making informed choices with respect to chemical substitution, and achievement of overall reduction in human and environmental health risk from their productsAdditionally, I think we may find it useful to work with the LCA specialists to incorporate the concept of the chemical footprint into life cycle analyses. This by no means will make the LCA process less complicated, but it will complete the picture with respect to environmental sustainability for productsAnd lastly, we need to refine the definition of a chemical footprint or establish a quantitative unit in order to better understand improvements in a product’s sustainability profile, and also to find a common way to communicate the potential chemical risk to the stakeholders.