How leading companies, NGOs and solution providers are working to address the myriad issues that can arise in any supply chain.
Marking two years of COVID-19, new research from FAIRR warns failure to improve crowded, high-stress conditions in animal agriculture fosters ideal breeding ground for new, zoonotic diseases.
Far from simply the latest buzzword, regenerative agriculture is an opportunity for brands to invest in a fundamentally different system that drives numerous benefits for people and the planet — from boosting climate resilience and reversing biodiversity loss to prioritizing justice, equity and sustainable livelihoods.
Cross-Posted from Chemistry, Materials & Packaging. Driscoll’s leads the produce industry in increasing the circularity of packaging and landfill diversion of agricultural plastics. It’s the first berry company to make public commitments and inject serious funding into innovation — with a goal to create economies of scale.
Raw material sourcing is more important than ever. Evolving attitudes among brands, retailers and consumers are creating demand for greater sustainability and transparency — starting at the seed and throughout the entire supply chain.
It seems human rights abuses aren’t the only labor issues companies need to watch out for in their supply chains. Here, Thailand-based Theppadungporn Coconut Company details how it partnered to create the first audit scheme specifically designed to uncover monkey labor.
Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. In our experience, it’s challenging to proceed from knowing your company’s emissions profile to crafting a climate action plan to reduce it. Successful companies will adopt the right mix of strategies for them — which is where the bigger challenge comes in.
Paying living wages throughout supply chains can mean changing business models, which can seem insurmountable. But a series of case studies from IDH shows how companies and coalitions are making real progress on their commitments.
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. Consumer insights demonstrate need for brands to make good on their sustainability and human rights claims, and make it even easier for shoppers to shop their values.
Cross-Posted from Marketing and Comms. The ethical chocolate maker has released three ‘Conversation Bars’ — available exclusively online and at Waitrose through January 25 — designed to provoke discussion around systemic issues in the chocolate supply chain.
The move comes following an investigation by Repórter Brasil and Mighty Earth that tracked deforestation-linked beef to European retail store shelves. JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, has long been on the radar of environmental NGOs and forward-looking investors due to its destructive practices.
China’s importance to global supply chains as a key source of raw materials and labor puts brands at high risk of inadvertently supporting forced labor. Right now, the focus is on the garment industry; but other industries should pay close attention and ensure they are closely monitoring their entire supply chains.
The pandemic-induced supply chain hurdles represent a reboot opportunity for companies. Here, we examine how companies can leverage modern integration technology to both improve supply chain performance and address sustainable supply-chain management practices.
Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. Perhaps the takeaway of the week is that the ‘next 10 years’ of business and human rights coincide with the 2030 deadline for us to halve carbon emissions — and that environmental rights are now very clearly seen as human rights. Companies pursuing a net-zero strategy must make human rights central, too.
Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. On day two of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, delegates discussed how environmental damage is being viewed as a human rights violation in a growing number of court cases around the world — and that the UN Guiding Principles may increasingly be criteria in court judgements.
As delegates from the UN launched the roadmap at day one of this year's Business and Human Rights Forum, full respect for human rights by business was described as a strategic — not just an operational — issue, requiring a change of corporate culture and of business models.
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. Consumer goods brands and retailers aiming to diminish their climate impacts or even become forest positive can find cost-effective solutions to protect forests when they partner with indigenous communities on the ground.
In a recent webinar, representatives from throughout the Fairtrade ecosystem, along with partners Lidl and Tony’s Chocolonely, discussed how the NGO and its partner brands are working to finally make cocoa farming sustainable for producers.
Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. Setting climate targets is one thing, but achieving them has often proven a challenge. According to VF Corp’s VP of Global Sustainability, Jeannie Renne-Malone, part of the reason for the company’s success was due to making sustainability a company-wide effort rather than a niche project.
Brands and retailers using HowGood’s Latis platform can now further improve product impacts using uniform metrics and thus contribute to a global agricultural transition.
At SB’21 San Diego, innovators in the agriculture, electronics, food and plastics industries shared lessons learned from a variety of initiatives aimed at closing loops and optimizing value chains for a circular, regenerative future.