'Business' has to made sustainable - but how is the transformation to be achieved? Finn Jackson reviews a key book on the topic - but finds that amid the checklists of criteria, the authors have somehow missed the point of it all.
… Making Sustainability Work Finn Jackson | 14th March … business in the world, it would not solve the sustainability crisis. Let me start with what … done in real life situations to address their sustainability issues. Dropped into the text …
Global mining giant Rio Tinto markets itself as a 'sustainable company', writes Kemal Özkan. But serious failures in its reporting, and its attempt to hold an Australian indigenous group to ransom, reveal a very different truth: the company is driven by a reckless pursuit of profit at any cost.
… | 30th July 2014 News Mining Corporations Sustainability Australia Indigenous Peoples … is demanding that Rio Tinto live up to its sustainability claims. Rio Tinto subsidiary, … be safely closed and rehabilitated ... ". RT: sustainability 'supporting our license to …
This month wood pellet mills in the southern US that supply the UK's Drax power station were awarded 'sustainability' certificates under a voluntary scheme governed entirely by energy companies. The certificates provide no credible guarantee that the fuel does not come from ecologically valuable natural forests and wetlands, clear-cut and replaced by industrial plantations.
… Are the UK 'biomass sustainability standards' legitimising forest … August 2016 Comment Biofuels Forests Energy Sustainability Corporations UK USA … the UK's Drax power station were awarded 'sustainability' certificates under a voluntary …
Interface's sustainability model shows how large industrial companies can slash their carbon emissions and other environmental impacts without compromising profitability, reports Sophie Morlin-Yron. The key is to aim high!
… Carpet giant Interface goes for 'sustainability gold' Sophie Morlin-Yron | 27th … Energy fishing-net-cut.jpg Interface's sustainability model shows how large … high! Business leaders who claim profit and sustainability don't go together may have to …
A new investigation of palm oil plantations, companies and auditors has found that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is failing to deliver on its promise, writes Chris Lang. Widespread fraud, collusion between auditors and companies, conflicts of interest, and a flawed complaints system mean that RSPO-certified palm oil may be destructively and illegally produced.
… community territories. Meanwhile, the head of sustainability at First Resources has been … certification system - meant to ensure ensure sustainability, human rights, labour …
Hunter Lovins is on a mission, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron: to put the transformational technologies we already have to work for the benefit of people and business - and to re-create the economy so it's no longer a machine for polluting the planet and devouring natural resources, but a mechanism for building and sustaining natural and human capital.
… on a god damn airplane!" Lovins has been in sustainability since 1972. She has won numerous awards, such as the European Sustainability Pioneer award and the Right … went on vacation?" she asks the audience of sustainability professionals from around the …
Three very different sustainable energy projects from India are among the finalists in this year's Ashden Awards, writes Chhavi Sharma - all of them inspiring and showing this vast country the way to a clean, secure, affordable energy future for all.
… throughout the world, Infosys is a leader in sustainability in India. Working on the design …
The palm oil industry's repeated failure to keep its promises illustrates why global initiatives to achieve 'sustainable palm oil' must place communities centre-stage, writes FPP. Standard-setters like the RSPO must demand action, enforcement and accountability - not just lofty commitments that inspire hope, but rarely deliver.
… member companies to social and environmental sustainability. And the RSPO boasts many of …
Ecover refutes allegations that it has been using 'synthetic biology' to make soap ingredients from algae. On the contrary, write Tom Domen & Dirk Develter, it's just old fashioned fermentation, and the company remains at the forefront of sustainability and responsible practice.
… and the company remains at the forefront of sustainability and responsible practice. On …
Campaigning has never been so easy - sign an Avaaz petition here, send an email there ... and the world is soon put to rights, no? No, writes Paul Mobbs. We must examine the impacts and implications of our e-life, from climate change to corporate dominance, and take control of the technologies we increasingly depend on.
… you become involved in its operation. For sustainability, we need open standards and … open source The bottom line of technological sustainability is the ability of a system to …
This World Fisheries Day, a new report shows how the 'rights-based approach' to fisheries governance is in fact a mechanism for depriving indigenous and subsistence fisherfolk of their traditional waters, write Astrid Alexandersen, Sif Juhl & Jonathan Munk Nielsen, and transferring them to corporations and economic elites. It must be replaced with a 'human rights approach'.
Ocean grabs: fighting the 'rights-based' corporate take-over of fisheries governance Astrid Alexandersen Sif Juhl Jonathan Munk Nielsen | 21st November 2016 News Fishing Oceans Human Rights …
'Climate smart agriculture' has become the buzz phrase at high level international policy discussions. But now there is a struggle over its definition. Is it the latest manifestation for corporate social responsibility or the title of a manifesto for real, grassroots led, change, ask PETER NEWELL, JENNIFER CLAPP and ZOE BRENT
… is a member of both the ESRC STEPS centre on sustainability and the Centre for Global … Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability and Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, …
The law of unintended consequences is usually assumed to mean the best will in the world can still cause terrible harm. But the need to understand the causes of climate change is forcing societies to address other risks from industrial production, argues NATALIE BENNETT.
… Corporations Climate Change Emissions Bonn Sustainability 405705.jpg The law of …
Procter & Gamble has committed to use only 'no deforestation' palm oil by 2020. Greenpeace claims success for its campaign, focused on Head & Shoulders shampoo.
… to the complicated issue of palm oil sustainability" , said Len Sauers, P&G Vice President of Global Sustainability. "We are committed to driving …
Following The Ecologist's revelation about Ecover's use of synthetic biology to make laundry detergent, the company has put its trials on hold, writes Jim Thomas. But to regain public trust, the company must re-engage honestly with its critics, and its customers.
… is certainly not the watertight guarantee of sustainability that Ecover would like to …
Corporate interests have skewed the entire development agenda for agriculture in Africa, writes Ian Fitzpatrick. Instead of investing in sustainable, small scale farming along agroecological principles that raise production and support rural communities, governments - including the UK's - are backing destructive industrial farming and land grabs.
Agroecology can feed Africa - not agribusiness Ian Fitzpatrick | 10th March 2015 News Africa Land Grabs Development Corporations malawi-farming-cut.jpg Corporate interests have skewed the entire …
An elite group of aid donors and agribusiness corporations met in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, replacing traditional seed breeding and saving by small farmers with a corporate model of privatized, 'improved', patented, genetically uniform and hybrid seeds in a profit-driven market.
Carving up Africa - aid donors and agribusiness plot the great seed privatization Ian Fitzpatrick Oliver Tickell | 26th March 2015 News Africa Food Farming Corporations Seeds USA UK …
Greece is Europe's sandbox for the neoliberal free-for-all to follow if the EU and the US sign off on the TTIP trade and investment treaty, writes Pavlos Georgiadis. The termination of public services, the cut-price sell-off of public assets, the dismantling of environmental protection, the democratic closedown, the rule of corporations and finance capital ... all coming your way soon.
Greece is the testing ground for the TTIP era of corporate rule Pavlos Georgiadis Sustainable Food Trust | 5th November 2015 News Trade Finance EU USA Greece Corporations greece-cut.jpg Greece is …
With all diesel cars failing EU clean air standards in real world driving, and the worst 22 times over the limit, there's only one real solution, write Steffen Böhm & Ian Colbeck: adopt sustainable transport strategies to keep cars off our streets and break our dependence on them.
… Steffen Böhm is Professor in Management and Sustainability, and Director, Essex Sustainability Institute, University of Essex …
Small-scale fishing communities are key to any transition towards an ecologically and socially just food regime. But backed by the World Bank, powerful corporate interests are seizing their fish, seas and shores in the name of 'sustainability'. A revolution of the poor is needed to rebuild food sovereignty - and restore the oceans to the global commons.
… their fish, seas and shores in the name of 'sustainability'. A revolution of the poor is … small-scale fishing. World Bank - corporate 'sustainability' before justice The World … that the lack of economic and environmental 'sustainability' in fisheries around the world …
Over 300 major food companies used to buy palm oil from IOI, writes Annisa Rahmawati. But after the company was found to be destroying vast areas of Indonesia's rainforest and draining peatlands to make new palm oil plantations, it has been deserted by its customers. Now IOI must go beyond just sticking to the rules, and start actively repairing the damage it has caused.
… right now. Not only has it recently lost its sustainability certification , but as a result … on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) withdrew IOI's sustainability certification in March, its …
The World Bank's 'Tropical Forest Action Plan' was an abject failure, writes Chris Lang. Now the same mistakes are being repeated under a new acronym. TFAP is out, REDD is in - but it's still all about corporate control of forests, and blaming deforestation on its victims.
REDD - destroy the forests, seize the profits, blame the victims Chris Lang | 7th August 2014 Comment Forests Development Finance Corporations Climate Change Indigenous Peoples eucalyptus-sa-cut.jpg …
The Sustainable Development Goals are a wish list that few could disagree with, writes Nick Dearden. But the delivery plan is to rely on 'free' markets, corporations and technocratic government - although these 'solutions' are at the root of the problems the SDGs aim to solve.
UN development goals miss the point: it's all about power Nick Dearden Global Justice Now | 28th September 2015 Comment Un Development Corporations obama-un-cut.jpg The Sustainable Development Goals …