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With a busy week behind you and the weekend within reach, there’s no shame in taking things a bit easy on Friday afternoon. With this in mind, every Friday TriplePundit will give you a fun, easy read on a topic you care about. So, take a break from those endless email threads, and spend five minutes catching up on the latest trends in sustainability and business.

The perennial frenzy over Super Bowl ads is upon us. As we gear up for the biggest game of the year, it always seems like half the viewers are more excited about the commercials than anything else. So, before we turn on our TVs this Sunday, let's take a moment to recognize companies that used their million-dollar ad spots for something bigger than themselves. Grab a tissue, you may need it.

1. Bank of America, "U2 'Invisible'"

U2 frontman Bono has long been an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness, and during last year's Super Bowl, he teamed up with Bank of America to bring the cause to the national stage. For 24 hours after the spot aired, viewers were offered a free iTunes download of U2's "Invisible." For each download, Bank of America donated $1 to help end mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The project yielded more than 3 million downloads -- and more than $3 million for Project (RED).

2. Chevrolet, "Life -- #PurpleYourProfile"

Another hit from last year's Super Bowl, this Chevy ad celebrates cancer survivors and those still doing battle with the disease. It connected to the automaker's #PurpleYourProfile social media campaign, which called on viewers to turn their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures purple in honor of World Cancer Day. Chevrolet contributed $1 to the American Cancer Society for every purple profile and raised its max of $1 million during the campaign.

3. Intuit's #TeamSmallBiz and GoldieBlox

Last year, Intuit launched its #TeamSmallBiz campaign to bring a small business to the big stage for the first time. Users voted, and GoldieBlox -- which creates engineering toys "made for girls" -- came out victorious, with funding from Intuit to create an ad spot for the big game. The company's commercial during last year's Super Bowl did not disappoint. We could practically hear all the young girls of America tossing their dollies out the window.

4. Bud Light, "Rescue Dog Weego"

This cute and clever cause marketing campaign aired during Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. It tied into a Facebook campaign on Bud Light's page, which rewarded each like with a $1 donation to Tony LaRussa's Animal Rescue Foundation. The campaign raised $250,000 to support animal rescue.

5. Budweiser, "A Hero's Welcome"

A group of veterans in Winter Park, Florida, wanted to give a local soldier "the loving welcome home that they never received," Business Insider reported before this ad spot aired during last year's Super Bowl. With the help of Budweiser, they gave 24-year-old Lt. Chuck Nad a "hero's welcome." The tear-jerking ad hit home with viewers, and millions participated in Budweiser's #Salute social media campaign, which encouraged consumers to honor our veterans.

6. Chipotle, "Back to the Start"

Back in 2012, Chipotle landed its first national ad spot during the Super Bowl. The company used the opportunity to present its sustainable philosophy in a two-minute film. The haunting ad, which features Coldplay's "The Scientist," was ahead of its time and surely stood out from amped-up ads for processed snack foods. After drying their tears (admit it, you welled up there in the middle), viewers were encouraged to download the short film on iTunes, with proceeds benefiting the Chipotle Cultivation Foundation.

Sneak Preview: Always, "#LikeAGirl" for Super Bowl XLIX

Get ready for all the feels. But look at it this way: If you watch it now, you (probably) won't start welling up when your friends are over for the big game.

Editor's Note: A representative from Chipotle contacted TriplePundit to inform us that its "Back to the Start" ad campaign launched during the 2012 Grammy Awards, not the Super Bowl. We still like the ad, though, and stand by its position as a trend-setter that helped bring cause marketing to the mainstream.

Image credit: Flickr/tripletri

Mary Mazzoni is the Senior Editor of TriplePundit. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni. 

La Roya -- to an untrained ear those words almost sound like a new blend of premium coffee. Far from it.

"The rust” is shorthand for coffee leaf rust or Hemileia vastatrix, a devastating fungus that attacks coffee plants and often threatens the plants' survival.

Fungal spores first show on an infected plant as yellowish-brown spots on the underside of coffee leaves, eventually turning rust-colored red. As the disease progresses, infected leaves fall off the plant. If left untreated, the fungus chokes off the plant by leaving it unable to photosynthesize.

First discovered in East Africa in 1861, coffee leaf rust destroyed the crop on the island of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and is credited as one of the reasons the British drink tea. The disease soon spread to Southeast Asia and coffee-growing regions in south, central and western Africa. La Roya finally reached the western hemisphere in 1970, when an outbreak was discovered in Bahia, Brazil. Coffee leaf rust is now found in every coffee-growing region in the world.

Despite its global spread, coffee rust has typically been manageable and controllable, if still a serious nuisance. When treated quickly, otherwise healthy plants in good soil can survive the disease. Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of State considers the current outbreak of La Roya as the worst ever seen in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Losses have topped $1 billion, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs and forcing many to abandon the coffee-farming life altogether in search of a better life elsewhere.

“In some years it’s worse than others and in some geographies it’s worse than others,” says Lindsey Bolger, VP of coffee sourcing and excellence for Keurig Green Mountain. “We have seen an entire population of coffee obliterated, truly destroyed and wiped out by this particular disease.” Never has the disease been "quite as impactful in terms of coffee production and coffee farmer livelihood.”

Over the last couple of years, coffee rust has threatened the livelihoods of up to 14 million people. What is different this time? Why has leaf rust taken such a toll on an entire coffee growing region?

Migrating microbes, coffee prices and soil health

Climate change is already pushing many pests and diseases into higher elevations, including hemileia vastatrix -- La Roya is on the move. Rising temperatures, particularly rising minimum nighttime temperatures, heavy rainfall and increased humidity all contribute to the fungus reaching "further and further up into higher elevations where it was relatively unknown,” Bolger says.

According to the nonprofit social investment fund Root Capital, 80 percent of the world coffee supply comes from small farms, or 25 million farmers that depend on coffee for their livelihoods.

There is little buffer insulating a small-scale farmer from the vagaries of the world coffee market. Low coffee prices threaten the ability of small farmers to feed their families, let alone maintain optimal conditions for their plants. The inherent risk of the episodic rise and fall of prices is reinforced by the increasing cost of “inputs,” explains Bolger. A “higher cost of labor, higher cost of fertilizers, fuels and other tools that farmers [need] to really stay on top of good farm management."

"Low coffee prices really challenged farmers’ ability to maintain good soil health and good plant health in the years prior to this outbreak,” says Bolger. Without regular inputs of phosphorous, nitrogen and other nutrients, “The soil becomes depleted," she says. "The plants therefore become weakened and more susceptible to the standard list of challenges and diseases. Then suddenly there’s a high frequency of these rust spores in that particular area, and the plant easily becomes just overwhelmed and is no longer able to defend itself.”

As low market prices and higher costs gnawed away at income, soil health slipped into a slow protracted decline -- making an effective response to coffee rust even more difficult.

“While the evidence of soil depletion and coffee plant health was perhaps less visible in the previous three of four years,” Bolger says. "The real indicator of how weakened the plants were really surfaced as a function of this rust outbreak."

Mix a slump in commodity prices, depleted soil and climate change, and you have the makings of a La Roya outbreak more devastating than any since its discovery in the 19th century. That "bottomless" cup of coffee most of us enjoy, to the tune of about 1.6 billion cups every day, depends on how well small farmers cope with these converging challenges.

A resilient supply chain -- from coffee plant to coffee cup -- begins with healthy plants, good soil and a thriving farming community that's resilient to climate change.

Laying a resilient foundation with Fair Trade

Fair Trade is an important component of supply chain resiliency, providing more income and better access to essential services for participating farmers.  “It’s through the Fair Trade model that we've been able to activate our interest in and act on our concern for coffee farmers,” Bolger says. "Because we have a preexisting network that gives us access to thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of coffee farming families who are within our Fair Trade network, we can very quickly engage and respond in a way that is most appropriate and effective."

When coffee prices bottomed out, "we saw that those who had engaged with us through Fair Trade were much better able to address the challenges they were facing,” says Bolger's colleague, Colleen Popkin, senior manager of sustainability, who is responsible for Keurig's Coffee Supply Chain Outreach.

“So we saw that Fair Trade farmers were more resilient than those in the conventional supply chain. But we believe we really need to go beyond Fair Trade in terms of the support because the challenges [the farmers] are facing are so severe.”

Beyond Fair Trade

The Fair Trade model works, but it isn't perfect. It doesn't reach all farmers or always offer a complete solution for those who do benefit from it. Bolger explains that “… Oftentimes it doesn't address the entire cost of not only good farm management, but reinvestment in soil and plant health [and] investment in coffee community and family wellbeing. There is often a gap."

A more comprehensive system of outreach to rebuild and maintain thriving farming communities is built on the spirit and success of Fair Trade through new programs and relationships. Going "beyond Fair Trade" requires commitment and cooperation among all stakeholders -- from farmers to industry, NGOs, research organizations and government.

Triple bottom line: In it for the long haul

A key principle of triple-bottom-line thinking is understanding the broad scope and long-term view of sustainable business. In the coffee business, it means responding to the immediate needs of farmers while considering the health and resilience of the environment, in order to sustain those farms and communities for the long term.

Keurig defines its commitment to this broad and long view of sustaining its supply chain:

"The agricultural communities within our supply chains face a daunting set of interconnected challenges, including limited access to food, clean water, health care, education and alternative economic opportunities. Our broad-scale, holistic outreach efforts cover a wide range of needs. We offer immediate aid for disaster relief and recovery, such as providing support for rebuilding after a natural disaster. But we also look beyond the farm to fund longer-term community development that enables resiliency in the face of complex social and environmental challenges."

In keeping with this commitment, Keurig expanded its outreach programs “... that invest in our supply chain for the long-term supply of sustainably grown coffee, and also for the quality of life and livelihoods of farmers," says Popkin. "And there have been several programs that we supported through that fund to help build resilience of coffee farmers in our supply chain, especially to address La Roya.”

Coffee Farmer Resilience Initiative

Also in 2013, the Coffee Farmer Resilience Initiative launched in partnership with Root Capital, the Skoll Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank. Keurig provided $1.9 million of the initial $7 million program.

The Coffee Farmer Resilience Initiative supports farmers through local, on-the-ground cooperatives by allowing them means to provide expanded services, "especially credit for long-term, renovation loans which are traditionally risky for social lenders." Popkin explains.

"With the changing climate in this region, it’s difficult to provide agricultural loans on a long-term basis. So, this initiative allowed Root Capital some guarantees to be able to unlock capital to lend to farming organizations that could then lend to their members to rehabilitate and renovate their coffee farms."

The initiative has grown significantly since its launch. And the effort to ensure a resilient coffee supply chain attracted more organizations ready to help, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Starbucks and Cooperative Coffees.  Root Capital reports that, as of 2014, the fund has grown to $23 million, supporting an estimated 40,000 coffee farmers in the region.

Working with farmers: Adapt, mitigate, engage

Keurig takes a hands-on approach to supply chain resiliency efforts that goes beyond financial investments. Part of the foundation of this effort is the Climate Change Policy that guides the company’s strategy to address the changing climate that has made coffee rust an increasingly difficult challenge for farmers. This policy includes three primary components: adaptation, mitigation and engagement:

Adaptation.  "The greatest climate change risk we face relates to the impact on our agricultural products and the communities in which they are produced," the company said. Therefore, the company pledged to:

• Integrate adaptation tactics into its sourcing guidelines


• Support industry standards that address climate change mitigation and adaptation practices


• Provide adaptation and resilience training for its farmers to improve yields, optimize water use, diversify crops and adjust to changing local weather conditions


• Invest in research to develop different varieties of coffee plants that are better suited for changing climate and weather conditions


• Integrate climate change adaptation with ongoing efforts to improve livelihoods among its farmers and farming communities

Mitigation.  "Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions throughout our value chain benefits our bottom line and contributes to the shared effort to reduce climate change risks," the company said. It pledged to:

• Develop a full understanding of the greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain, from farm and factory, to operations and logistics, to product use, to product end of life/disposal/recycling


• Continuously reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain, focusing most effort and investment where the opportunity for emissions reduction is greatest

Engagement.  "Working collaboratively with others is the only way to have significant and lasting impact on climate change." The company pledged to:

• Engage with governments to advance the establishment of public policies that encourage significant reductions in GHG emissions, improve resilience and support adaptation


• Work with other companies in the food/beverage sector to align efforts, to maximize our collective impact


• Collaborate with NGOs, leveraging their expertise and providing them with the resources they need to do their work


• Communicate openly with stakeholders about progress and challenge

Supplier guidelines and 2020 supply chain goals

In 2007, Keurig developed the Responsible Sourcing Supplier Guidelines. These guidelines are designed  to strengthen the social and environmental role of Keurig's own operation, as well as the operations of its suppliers.

To support and further these guidelines, in 2012 Keurig announced an ambitious set of 2020 Resilient Supply Chain Goals, including:

• Engage 1 million people in its manufacturing and agriculture supply chains to significantly improve their livelihoods


• Source 100 percent of primary agricultural and manufactured products according to established Keurig Green Mountain Responsible Sourcing Guidelines

“Through our responsible sourcing program we’re building more traceability and transparency into those parts of our supply chain that are not Fair Trade, so we understand where that coffee is coming from and how we can support those farmers," said Popkin.

All of this effort, planning, collaboration and vision is how Keurig provides solutions that help keep farmers farming.

Sustained effort, long-term vision

When businesses like Starbucks, Keurig Green Mountain and others collaborate in an effort to help small coffee farmers succeed, it's the real deal -- not another greenwash campaign to look good environmentally, but with little or no real impact.

Led by companies such as Keurig, this industry-wide effort to adopt a comprehensive long-term framework of resiliency makes apparent the real potential of the triple bottom line in business. For the coffee industry there is little choice, as essential to a successful business as a positive P&L statement. Indeed, the time has come for all business and industry to adopt triple-bottom-line thinking, or move aside to let others lead the way into a sustainable future resilient to inevitable change.

Nobody would have wished such adversity on small coffee farmers, especially anyone involved in the coffee business. After all, you can't sell coffee without coffee beans. The devastation to thousands of families and their livelihoods is tragic. But, as Popkin explains, from tragedy comes the opportunity to build a path toward cooperation, partnership and, ultimately, resilience -- even in the face of climate change, disease and unpredictable market forces.

"It’s a broader, industry-wide effort and demonstrates an evolution in our response to these issues," says Popkin. "... We understand that we need to collaborate on a challenge that is as great as this latest coffee rust epidemic."

La Roya has dealt a hard blow in recent years. It is one more example of the very real and immediate impact of climate change. It has also galvanized the effort to mitigate, adapt, engage and join in a cooperative effort overcome the challenges ahead.

Images courtesy of Keurig and CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture via flickr

MillerCoors has been working to reduce the impact of its operations from the start. Formed six years ago as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors, the company focuses on critical areas like water, energy consumption and emissions.

In its 2014 sustainability report, MillerCoors shows a greenhouse gas reduction of 15 percent over the previous year, and a reduction in energy consumption of 15.6 percent. Since 2009, the company has reduced the energy required to produce beer from 162 megajoules per hectoliter of beer to 123 MJ/hl. This year, it aims to reduce that number by an additional 15 percent. (For those not up on your conversions: A hectoliter is about 26 gallons, or a little less than two kegs of beer.)

The company is now a step closer to its energy goals with the announcement of a 3.2-megawatt solar array completed at its Irwindale, California, brewery.

“From heating our kettles to the packaging process, we rely on energy to brew our quality beers. Simply put, without energy there is no beer,” said Tom Long, MillerCoors CEO. “But we are acutely aware of the energy stress on this community, so we are doing our share – plus some – to decrease usage by installing this solar array. This step toward brewing more sustainably makes us a better brewer and a better neighbor to the residents of Los Angeles County.”

The project broke ground back in October. It consists of more than 10,000 solar panels, provided by SolarCity, installed across 10 acres of the brewery grounds.

Not only does the system generate electricity without producing any emissions, but it also helps reduce the load on the local grid during periods of high demand. The new MillerCoors solar array will produce enough energy to brew more than 7 million cases of beer annually. This is supplemented with a cogeneration system that was installed in 2011 that creates biogas from wastewater.  That system utilizes two GE Jenbacher engines fed from two anaerobic digesters that combine to produce an additional megawatt.

“Leveraging solar power helps ensure that we can continue brewing beer in California for years to come,” said Ben Maillette, MillerCoors Irwindale Brewery vice president. “MillerCoors has been a strong supporter of the San Gabriel Valley community for more than 50 years, and this project is the latest way we’re alleviating some of the environmental issues facing the region.”

The new solar array at the MillerCoors Irwindale Brewery is the largest solar photovoltaic system installed at any brewery in the U.S.

Solar power continues to gain momentum after adding a third of all new generation capacity last year. It is expected to grow faster than any other electricity source over the next two years and is projected to be the largest single source of electricity by 2050. The reason for all this optimism, according to a recent Bloomberg post, is “because it’s a technology, not a fuel.” As such, it can be expected to continue to become more efficient while decreasing in cost. That’s very different than fuels that tend to get more expensive as they get more scarce.

Image credit: marcantg18: Flickr Creative Commons

RP Siegel, PE, is an author, inventor and consultant. He has written for numerous publications ranging from Huffington Post to Mechanical Engineering. He and Roger Saillant co-wrote the successful eco-thriller Vapor Trails. RP, who is a regular contributor to Triple Pundit and Justmeans, sees it as his mission to help articulate and clarify the problems and challenges confronting our planet at this time, as well as the steadily emerging list of proposed solutions. His uniquely combined engineering and humanities background help to bring both global perspective and analytical detail to bear on the questions at hand.

Follow RP Siegel on Twitter.

Information provided by Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure (MEDEI)

Kicking the coal habit isn’t easy, but as Ontario, Canada has learned — the air is cleaner when it’s done. With the closing of the Thunder Bay Generating Station earlier this year, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to fully eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation.

"Getting off coal is the single largest climate change initiative undertaken in North America and is equivalent to taking up to seven million cars off the road,” observed Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli. “We celebrate a cleaner future for our children and grandchildren while embracing the environmental benefits that our cleaner energy sources will bring."

A big part of transitioning away from coal is renovating power plants that were once coal-fired. One recent milestone: Ontario households recently began using energy generated by North America’s largest power plant fueled completely by biomass. Formerly a coal-burning facility in existence for more than 50 years, it is now a source of clean energy.

The station burned its last piece of coal in September 2012. Conversion of the station began in mid-2012 and included construction of two silos and boiler modifications to accommodate the biomass.

“The successful conversion of Atikokan to biomass will put Ontario on the world map as a leader in using this sustainable fuel source for electricity production,” Chiarelli added.

The coal-free energy mix now being burned at Atikokan will lead to a significant reduction in harmful emissions and, in turn, will result in cleaner air and a healthier environment. “Close to 100 percent of the electricity Ontario Power Generation produces is from sources that are virtually free of climate change- or smog-causing emissions,” added Tom Mitchell, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation, which generates more than half of Ontario's power.

The biomass used to fuel the Atikokan Generating Station is being harvested and processed in Ontario. Domestic suppliers have leveraged this opportunity to secure contracts to provide pellets to international buyers.

Ontario Power Generation has contracts in place with two companies in northwestern Ontario to supply the wood pellets. Rentech and Resolute Forest Products Canada will each supply 45,000 tons of wood pellets annually.

Power when the grid needs it most

“Atikokan Generating Station is a unique addition to our clean energy portfolio as it provides dispatchable renewable energy that can be used when the power system needs it,” Mitchell added.

Thunder Bay Generating Station, operated by Ontario Power Generation, was the oldest coal-fired station in the province.  Like the Atikokan facility, the plant is being converted to burn advanced biomass, a renewable fuel source.

Ontario fulfilled its commitment to end coal generation in advance of its target of the end of 2014. A coal-free electricity supply mix has led to a significant reduction in harmful emissions, as well as cleaner air and a healthier environment.

For an inside look at the conversion of the Atikokan plant, check out the photo gallery below.

[gallery ids="202153,202154,202155,202156,202157,202158,202159"]

All images courtesy of the Ministry of Ontario

Would you drink a beer knowing it was made out of recycled sewage water? An Oregon company, Clean Water Services, wants to do exactly that and is petitioning the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to allow reuse of recycled water in alcoholic beverages.

The proposal kills two birds with one stone: Meet the growing demand for beer nationally and globally while dealing with the ongoing threat of water scarcity. As more municipalities struggle with providing water for their citizens, more government officials and citizens are getting over the “ick factor” of drinking water that in a past life may have been flushed down the toilet. San Diego has already given the green light to a long-term plan that will source a third of the city’s drinking water from recycled sources by 2035. Singapore, rich in just about every metric but lacking reliable supplies of water, has been recycling water for over a decade.

Meanwhile the popularity of microbrews on the domestic front, while the middle class has grown overseas, has translated to an increase in beer sales. If we as a society will continue to enjoy the products water makes possible, we will have to be open to new sources of water. And that includes water that has gone down the drain.

Last fall Clean Water Services sponsored a beer competition outside of Portland to demonstrate that the use of recycled water is fine for brewing beer. According to the company, the water provided to the competitors was so pure that brewers had to add their own minerals in order to achieve the taste and feel of their end product. At a higher level, the point of the competition was also to show recycled water is often purer and safer than other sources of municipal water. There is a message for beverage companies and breweries here: If they are going to expand or even maintain their businesses, tapping into conventional sources of municipal water may not always be possible.

Clean Water Service’s petition is currently in a public comment phase. The company is asking the DEQ to permit the use of recycled water in brewing beer as long as it is boiled, in addition to meeting or exceeding standards set by the National Water Research Institute. Oregon’s state health authority has already approved the company’s request, but DEQ insists it has “a high threshold for approving potable reuses of wastewater.” The 80+ pages accompanying this request are only for Clean Water Services to start making limited batches of beer for a pilot project — if a local brewer wanted to do the same, it would have to file its own request with the DEQ. As all that documentation shows, bureaucrats and much of society have a ways to go before they are over that ick factor.

The DEQ will accept written comments until Feb. 20, and a public hearing on Clean Water Services’ request will be held in Portland on Feb. 12.

Image credit: Visitor7

Based in California, Leon Kaye has also been featured in The Guardian, Clean Technica, Sustainable Brands, Earth911, Inhabitat, Architect Magazine and Wired.com. He shares his thoughts on his own site, GreenGoPost.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Should art institutions take money from oil companies? A core of activists in London have answered with an emphatic, "No." And they won a recent victory when the Tate Gallery in London was ordered by a court to disclose the amount of money the museum received from BP between 1990 to 2006. It turned out that BP’s annual contribution during those years was an average of £225,000 (US$340,000). Critics sneered at BP and the Tate, pointing out that it was barely distinguishable in the museum’s overall budget while the oil and gas giant received tons of exposure for its annual donation.

The disclosure, after a three-year legal fight, highlights the ongoing controversy over whether museums and cultural institutions should accept money from oil companies. Activist organizations such as Platform insist such grants such as those made by BP give these companies credibility that is largely undeserved. Then there is the other point of view, voiced by those including Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones, who downplays any benefits companies such as BP score by sponsoring the arts. During the Deepwater Horizon crisis, which was also during a time the arts were facing budget cuts throughout the United Kingdom, Jones defended galleries such as the Tate, writing, “If they can get money from Satan himself, they should take it.”

But for Platform and its allies, the acceptance of money from the likes of BP has far-reaching consequences. In addition to the climate change argument, these activists insist such sponsorships mean the Tate, National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum and the Royal Opera House are turning a blind eye to what they see as the devastating effects the oil and gas industry. The effects of tar sands extraction on native communities in Canada, the expansion of oil production in the Arctic and, of course, the negligence that resulted in the deaths at the Deepwater Horizon platform are all too important for museum administrators and boards to ignore. The fact that the Tate’s ethics committee declined to take any stance on BP’s sponsorship during the Gulf of Mexico fiasco, saying it was beyond the museum’s “charitable objectives,” in particular comes across to many as egregious.

Arts sponsorship, however, has long been supported by dubious sources — from the monarchies of centuries ago to the modern industries that have long stirred up controversy. Any cultural institution linked to the Rockefeller name has at minimum a faint tie to the oil industry. Detroit’s Institute of Arts, one of the best art museums in the U.S., exists in a large part thanks to the largess of the automobile sector. Art museums and temporary exhibits are often funded by companies and organizations with which anyone could find fault, from the commercial airliners based in the Middle East such as Emirates or Qatar Airways, to the giant beverage companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

For companies involved in the arts, it is about community involvement, branding and building relationships with governments and nonprofits. But to groups such as Platform, the oil companies’ impact on human rights and climate, as well as their influence on governments, is all the more reason for cultural organizations to stop taking their cash.

Which side are you on?

Image credit: Tate.org

Based in California, Leon Kaye has also been featured in The Guardian, Clean Technica, Sustainable Brands, Earth911, Inhabitat, Architect Magazine and Wired.com. He shares his thoughts on his own site, GreenGoPost.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

By Iris Picat

What exactly is corporate sustainability? Vestal Tutterow*, an alumnus of the Virginia Tech Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program, recently wrote a report that seeks to answer just this question. Part of Tutterow's capstone project, the report is based on a literature review and personal communications with managers.

It includes observations and recommendations intended to serve as a reference for anyone seeking an overview of corporate sustainability -- and the challenges and opportunities for embedding sustainability into small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.S.

He focused specifically on manufacturing firms in the report. Through this review, Tutterow found that the current standards, protocols and guidance available were generally designed for large organizations, and do not work well with SMEs due to their lack of resources to become proficient in the growing array of criteria, tools and reporting methods. Except for companies facing demands from customers, SMEs report having no internal or external incentives to begin addressing sustainability, and a lack of methods to readily quantify its value.

On the other hand, SMEs that embrace corporate sustainability see a number of benefits. Adopting corporate sustainability practices will often lead to cost savings through energy efficiency improvements, and new business opportunities through innovation. SMEs with sustainable practices in place are also more attractive to potential partners down the supply chain, notably the large multi-nationals and government agencies, which are increasingly expecting to see such practices already in place by potential suppliers and partners.

Research for this report also identified two promising mechanisms for engaging SME manufacturers. The first is through sustainable supply chain initiatives where large companies incentivize their SME suppliers to be more efficient and foster innovation. In some cases, the larger firms will even offer assistance through training, resources or mentoring. The second is through engaging “network organizations," such as sector-specific stakeholder groups. Organizations that already have built-in networking and communications in their sectors can help create resources and best practices for SMEs, along with a streamlined reporting protocol. Such a tailored approach can help minimize the weight SMEs currently feel at the sight of the corporate sustainability mountain.

For more details on current protocols and standards for reporting, best practices, current barriers, incentives and other pertinent information related to implementing sustainability practices into enterprises, please see Tutterow’s report, Embedding Sustainability into Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises.

Iris Picat is an alumna of Virginia Tech's Executive Master of Natural Resources program.

*Vestal Tutterow is an alumnus of the Virginia Tech Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program and graduated in May 2014. He works as a Senior Technical Consultant for Project Performance Company in VA, providing energy management services directly to manufacturers and through a voluntary U.S. Department of Energy initiative.  He is a registered Professional Engineer, a Certified Energy Manager, and a Certified Practitioner in Energy Management Systems.

By Jim Weglewski

A signature seals a deal, backs a promise and commits you to action. Whether signing a receipt at a restaurant or closing on the mortgage of a new home, your signature is your bond. The commitment and responsibility connoted by a signature has been on the forefront of my mind as my company, Andersen Corp., recently signed on to the Climate Declaration.

Ceres created the Climate Declaration in 2013 as a way to accelerate the adoption of sustainable business practices in order to build a healthy global economy. Since then, more than 1,250 companies have signed on to show their support and belief that climate change is both the greatest challenge, and greatest opportunity, of our era.

In consideration of the broad-based acceptance of recent International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and increasing evidence of current climate change impacts, Andersen is proud to join the ranks of leading companies that recognize the need for collaborative commitment as a powerful force of change in the face of deeply entrenched challenges.

Our commitment doesn’t end on the signature line. As a manufacturer of windows and doors, it is our responsibility to produce durable, energy efficient products that help our customers reduce energy consumption, lower utility costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council, we've had a front-row seat to the amazing progress that can be achieved when multiple stakeholders sign on the dotted line and commit to solving complex challenges with a systems approach. As of October 2014, more than 3.3 billion square feet of building space were LEED certified. This achievement was only possible because leading businesses came together to drive change with measurable results.

But there is more work to be done. Buildings are still responsible for a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential and commercial buildings were responsible for 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption in 2013 – a figure that does not include the energy impacts associated with manufacturing, transporting or disposing of building products.

We are now faced with the challenge, and opportunity, of expanding access to green building strategies and products across all new construction and existing buildings. Net-zero buildings are now a reality, but only for a small, luxury segment of the market. Adding our signature to this declaration affirms our responsibility to provide durable, energy efficient products that are part of the solution.

Our signature also signifies a renewed commitment to “walk the talk” in our own operations. In support of that responsibility, Andersen has announced new corporate sustainability goals, committing to reducing solid waste, energy and water use by 20 percent per unit of product by 2020, using 2013 as a baseline.

We will also continue to collaborate with business leaders, governments and NGOs outside the building industry. It’s time we applied a “whole community” approach to advancing innovative solutions to systemic challenges.

Signing the Ceres Environmental Declaration is not a hollow gesture – for Andersen or the more than 1,250 companies that have also signed it. It not only carries commitment and responsibility, but also the promise of an era of prosperity and sustainable growth for leaders in all industries. We are ready to welcome you to the ranks – join us today.

Jim Weglewski is vice president of Corporate Quality, Sustainability and Facilities for Andersen Corporation.

Submitted by Monique Oxender

By Monique Oxender, Senior Director of Sustainability, Keurig Green Mountain

This is the second of a three-part blog series that will take readers behind the scenes on Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.’s sustainability commitments. The series coincides with the launch of Keurig Green Mountain’s fiscal 2013 Sustainability Report and its 2020 sustainability targets. Today’s post is authored by Senior Director of Sustainability Monique Oxender.

I joined Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. – formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. – nearly two years ago to help drive the company’s sustainability strategy. I was drawn to the company’s impressive legacy of corporate social responsibility and its aspiration to improve the world through the power of business. After years of working to integrate sustainability into the global supply chain at the Ford Motor Company, I was ready to support the mission at Keurig Green Mountain – especially as the company embraced beverage systems as a central focus of the business and with that, technology and various manufacturing processes.

While the company has gone through significant changes since 2012, its commitment to sustainability has endured and we are demonstrating that in new and exciting ways. We commit to both give back AND take less—meaning use resources efficiently.

Within our 2013 Sustainability Report, we share our progress over the last year and introduce seven new targets under three sustainability practice areas – Resilient Supply Chain, Sustainable Products, and Thriving People and Communities, demonstrating where we want to be by 2020. When it comes to sustainable products, we’ve adopted three targets that will help us minimize environmental impacts – both in how our products are manufactured and how they are used:

• Reducing the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of our brewed beverages by 25 percent compared to our 2012 baseline;
• Achieving zero waste-to-landfill at our owned and operated manufacturing and distribution facilities; and
• Making 100 percent of our K-Cup packs recyclable by 2020.

They're not going to be easy targets but as Rick Peyser explained last week, we are up to the challenge and headed in the right direction.

Cross-functional Sustainability Leadership

We’ve embedded subject matter experts on sustainable business practices throughout the organization and established governance and operating structures to support coordinated activity. With a cross-functional Sustainability Leadership Committee at the center of decision-making, we are driving accountability for sustainable choices and behaviors into every core function. And each core function has something to contribute to the achievement of our 2020 goals.

Similar to the way we conduct Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for our products, we’re seeking a deeper understanding of our impacts across our value chain enterprise-wide. To that end, we completed our first comprehensive GHG footprint analysis in early 2014 to help us identify and prioritize opportunities to reduce emissions, mitigate impacts and adapt across our value chain.

Water: Assessing Our Impact

We are also completing a comprehensive water footprint assessment. Water is a precious resource, and while our direct business today requires a relatively modest amount of water, it is of strategic importance to our business, our stakeholders, and the communities in which we operate. We’re proud that the Keurig® Brewing System enables the smart use of water – it uses water from the tap and only uses amounts of water that will be consumed. But water stewardship requires active participation at all levels of the value chain – and we're activating ourselves through new partnerships and workstreams this year to help create positive impact on both the quality and the availability of water.

There is no doubt that to most of our stakeholders, including our customers and consumers, reducing the impact of our products is the most important thing we can do as a responsible company. For this reason, we’ve set the bold target to make 100 percent of K-Cup packs recyclable by 2020.

K-Cup Packs: A Challenge and an Opportunity

As our CEO Brian Kelley points out, we must be transparent about our successes and challenges, and this series is our opportunity to do just that.

Addressing the environmental impact of our K-Cup® packs, while continuing to deliver the beverages our consumers love, is a critical priority for us – and by no means a new one. For the past several years, we’ve been actively working to meet this challenge. Currently, our K-Cup packs are not recyclable for a couple of reasons:

1. First, the plastic cup must be separated from the lid and filter in order to empty the cup and recycle the plastic. Since the filter is sealed to the plastic cup, it makes the separation of the lid, filter and cup difficult.
2. Second, the filter material is a blend of natural fibers and plastic, which prevents it from being recycled conventionally.

For years, we’ve used LCAs to inform our decisions and ensure we are concentrating our efforts on areas where we can make the biggest impact. While it comes as a surprise to most, used K-Cup pack disposal represents only a small portion of the total environmental impact of a K-Cup pack—around five percent. The more significant impacts are related to brewer use, coffee cultivation and the material used in the products’ packaging. It’s important to recognize these “hot spots” and fully consider the manufacturing and use impacts when we design products. To stay one step ahead, we are establishing a Design for Environment discipline that will incorporate environmental considerations into all our innovation, design and product supply processes.

A Future for Polypropylene (#5) Plastic

At this time, the plastic cups in the majority of our K-Cup packs are made with layers of varying materials, which qualify them as #7 plastic. While we’re encouraged by the increase in access to recycling for #7 plastics, end uses for reclaimed #7 plastic are low. Where possible, we have been scaling up our use of polypropylene (also known as #5) plastic in K-Cup packs, and we envision transitioning all of our K-Cup packs to polypropylene (#5) over time.

We believe polypropylene (#5), which is accepted by recyclers in about 60 percent of communities nationwide, is the best candidate among the six recyclable resins to perform well in our brewing system. This plastic is also the third most recycled plastic in the U.S., after PET (#1) and HDPE (#2) plastics, and is already used in common household items like yogurt and butter containers.

Today, we use polypropylene in five percent of all of our portion packs.

To reach our 2020 target, however, we are also exploring other innovation possibilities, such as the development of a biodegradable and/or compostable material that might be used successfully in a K-Cup® pack. We are even exploring biomimicry, a design discipline that looks to nature for inspiration to help solve tough design challenges.

Partnering for Success

None of this will come together without collaborating with other companies and partners facing similar challenges to uncover more sustainable solutions. Partnership is a deep value of our company and core to our business model.

For instance, we know that small items like K-Cup pack cups, bottle caps, toothbrushes, and others may not get sorted and recycled accurately by recycling facilities due to their size. This varies by region and facility and is often contingent on the equipment used to sort materials at recycling facilities. To make sure that K-Cup packs can be effectively recycled in municipal recycling programs – which we believe should be the primary vehicle for materials recycling and recovery – we are working with recyclers, other companies, and groups like The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to understand the barriers to recycling and how we can develop solutions to address them.

We, like many others in our situation, have take-back programs in place as an interim solution, but are really seeking a robust recycling system for polypropylene (#5) plastics that includes active support from all sides—municipal governments, companies, consumers and recyclers.

It's going to be quite a journey – we'd love to hear from you on our approach. Leave a comment below or email us at [email protected].

Next: How does Keurig Green Mountain engage employees to understand the company’s vision and values so they can help contribute to the company’s journey? VP for Talent, Learning & Organizational Development Jayne Johnson shares her perspective.

Submitted by Jayne Johnson

By Jayne Johnson, Vice President, Talent, Learning and Organizational Development

This is the third and final installment of a three-part blog series to take readers behind the scenes of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.’s sustainability commitments. The series coincides with the launch of Keurig Green Mountain’s fiscal 2013 Sustainability Report and its 2020 sustainability targets. Today’s post is authored by Jayne Johnson, Vice President of Talent, Learning and Organizational Development.

After working in employee development and engagement for more than three decades, I can say with certainty that employees are the driving force behind any company’s success.

No one knows this better than Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., a company that has blended a regional specialty coffee roaster with the disruptive innovation of the Keurig® single-serve technology to create a personal beverage system company with more than 6,300 employees as of the end of fiscal 2013.

Growth like this doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly doesn’t happen without a dedicated and developed workforce. My role is to create and execute strategies that ensure Keurig Green Mountain has top-notch talent, and that our talent has the development opportunities to deliver on the company’s targets.

Embedding Sustainability and Engaging Employees

It’s an exciting time of transition. To move the company forward, in May 2013 we made some changes to our organizational structure, bringing three discrete business units into one singular company. We are also working to embed sustainability into the core of our business strategy and engage employees across all functions of the business in this endeavor. One of our initial steps has been to involve dozens of internal subject matter experts in the process of determining our new 2020 sustainability targets.

Making sure our employees are engaged in how we are charting our course and contributing positively to the world in which we operate today and into the future is a core element of our business strategy. By incorporating environmental and social considerations into business planning, each function can deliver on key business priorities while creating value for our shareholders and the world.

And, as employees identify with the tangible value that they have created, we hope they will stay motivated and involved, pulling others in along the way.

Creating Company Values? Ask Your Employees

At the heart of everything we do are our company values. They informed our 2020 targets and will be a guiding force as we set out to achieve these goals. We recently updated our company values with the help of our employees, moving us a step closer to one of our most important 2020 targets: Engage 100 percent of our employees to understand our vision and values and present opportunities that allow them to contribute to our targets.

When we asked our employees for input, more than 60 percent responded with words they believed best described the company’s values. This allowed them to shape and define our new values from the 15 we had for years to four succinct ones that were most meaningful. They were introduced internally last August.

• We Partner for Mutual Success: Our boundaryless approach to collaboration creates benefits for all.
• We Innovate with Passion: With courage and curiosity, we are shaping the future by redefining the consumer experience.
• We Play to Win: Our team sets ambitious goals and meets each challenge with unified purpose and character.
• We Brew a Better World: We use the power of business to make the world a better place.

But our targets can only be met if our employees embrace our values and live by them in their daily work life and business interactions. For example, one of our 2020 targets is to source 100 percent of our primary agricultural and manufacturing products according to our newly established Responsible Sourcing Guidelines. Ensuring these guidelines are followed is the responsibility of Keurig Green Mountain employees choosing and directly working with suppliers.

Our values help define our approach to every supplier interaction, which is only possible if our buyers truly understand – and live – the values themselves.

A Recipe for Engaged Employees

We've also seen the benefit of hands-on opportunities to help employees make the connection between our values and what we do.

For example, over the years we have taken a number of employees on “origin trips” to coffee-growing communities. Our values come alive on these trips, as employees see how Keurig Green Mountain builds mutually beneficial, collaborative relationships with suppliers so they can thrive. In 2013, we sent 63 employees to five different countries on origin trips. In 2014, we are planning to expand these trips beyond coffee communities to include our brewer manufacturing regions and include a trip to China.

While origin trips have been quite a success, our employees are equally keen in getting involved in their own communities. Volunteerism is a big part of our culture and through our Community Action For Employees (CAFE) program, we give employees paid time off – up to 52 paid hours a year – to support causes they personally care about. We’re thrilled that 62 percent of our U.S. employees took advantage of this program in 2013. In fact, our Sumner, Washington facility went above and beyond and achieved an impressive 90 percent employee volunteerism rate – the highest participation rate among all of our locations.

Getting Their Hands Wet

Engaging our employees on how we can reach our 2020 goal on water is going to be another critical area – and their expertise will play an important role. Through watershed restoration events this past year, for example, 450 employees across five different locations worked together to remove 36,000 pounds of trash, tires and metal from local waterways near several of our facilities. Our 2020 commitment to provide access to clean water to one million people worldwide will provide many more opportunities for employees to participate in a multitude of water-related volunteer projects.

Investing in a Thriving Workforce

Finally, we're also investing in our employees' health and wellness. It's clear that productivity and job satisfaction aren’t possible without a well-rounded, thriving workforce that is healthy and continuously developing mentally, physically and emotionally. In 2013, we rolled out an internal website where employees can complete wellness assessments, develop and track health targets, interact confidentially with wellness coaches, and participate in wellness challenges and rewards.

We recognize that many people contribute to our success. Whether they are the farmers we buy our coffee from, our supply partners making Keurig brewers, or our employees designing the next great beverage experience, we all are invested in the future of our company. And being guided by strong values and a set of sustainability targets that align with the future of our business provides us with a sense of shared purpose. It also helps us do more and do better, and ultimately contribute to thriving communities and a better world.

Please tell us how we're doing – and how we can do even better – by leaving a comment below.