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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 csr@gmcr.com.

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.

Submitted by Jerry Lynch

By Jerry Lynch, VP & CSO, General Mills

General Mills has been working closely with farmers since the early 1900s. This close connection to agriculture is a large part of our history and one we depend upon for our business.

Today, we are working with smallholder farmers in developing economies and larger-scale growers in developed economies to address sustainability challenges and pursue opportunities unique to each growing region.

Our work in agriculture is where we’ve found that we can offer the greatest impact on the environment.

We have also established targets to reduce our environmental footprint within our own facilities. This work continues; we’ve made good progress and continue to work towards our goals on other fronts, accounting for business fluctuations due to acquisitions and market demands.

As we looked beyond our own walls, however, we found that nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 99 percent of water use occur outside General Mills’ operations, primarily in agriculture. By prioritizing sustainable sourcing, we are focusing on where we can most effectively minimize our environmental footprint. We are also working to advance responsible sourcing practices across our supply chains to protect human rights and animal welfare.

Watershed Stewardship

As for the approximately 99 percent of the water consumed outside our direct operations, the story is more complicated. The watersheds we access to meet the needs of our facilities support demands from agriculture, municipalities and other industries, so improving the health of these watersheds requires significant collaboration. To begin addressing these larger watershed issues, we are partnering with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to formulate and implement our collaborative global water stewardship strategy.

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Join us for a live Twitter chat with General Mills' @gmills_jerry & @gmills_steve on April 23, 2014, at 3pm ET at #GenMillsSusty! Register by emailing aman@csrwire.com.

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In partnership with TNC, we completed a global water risk assessment of all General Mills plants and growing regions in 2012. These assessments build on our supply chain risk analysis work with WWF, giving us a clear picture of the most at-risk watersheds within our supply chain and allowing us to develop sustainable strategies for improvement. We recognize we cannot accomplish these improvements on our own and actively collaborate with others.

Next, we plan to expand these conversations to include a broader mix of private and public entities in each watershed area.

Our goal is to find the right partners and begin working with others to implement changes in high-risk areas. Ultimately, our goal is to develop a global freshwater stewardship program with public commitments, public education and advocacy, and funding for each watershed.

Sustainable Sourcing by 2020

Our most recent efforts around sustainable sourcing include a commitment we made last year to sustainably source our 10 priority ingredients by 2020. This is significant since it represents more than 50 percent of the company’s annual purchases. As a food company, the vitality of our business depends upon access to high-quality ingredients; so ensuring the availability of these ingredients for years to come is absolutely critical.

As you’ll see from the graphic above, we source some of our 10 priority ingredients from the developing world, like vanilla and cocoa, but the majority of our ingredients come from the developed world.

Sourcing from the Developed World

As we work to increase the sustainability of row crops, including our priority ingredients such as wheat, sugar beets, oats and corn, we are collaborating with industry groups, our suppliers and North American growers to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture through continuous improvement.

For example, in the U.S., we are leaders in Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, an industry roundtable whose goal is to help growers leverage the Field to Market framework for gathering information about how their farming practices are impacting the environment.

These growers now have access to data that can help guide everyday decisions related to irrigation, tillage, crop rotation and nutrient management as they consider impacts on water consumption, land use, soil loss and energy use.

We started this work in 2010 and have gathered learnings that are helping us refine our approach, scale our activities and partner with progressive farmers across our key growing regions.

We have also been working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) since 2010 to integrate sustainability into General Mills’ supply chain. WWF helped us conduct a supply risk analysis of our agricultural sourcing and water risk assessment.

Sourcing from the Developing World

In a majority of developing countries heavily reliant on land, farming and resources are an inherent challenge. Farming vanilla in Madagascar is no different. Roads are treacherous, communication is conducted in the fields on cell-phones or via face-to-face and farmers are constantly negotiating price, skeptical of truly getting the best value for their crops.

Hunger has been a part of daily life for two centuries and its effects are evident.

Vanilla, specifically, the highest quality of a very select breed of vanilla from Madagascar, is used in General Mills products including our Haagen-Dazs ice cream. We count vanilla as one of our 10 priority ingredients and have committed money and resources to secure its long-term availability, while improving the livelihood of farmers and communities that depend on this important crop.

For example, in 2013, General Mills began working with vanilla supplier Virginia Dare, the international humanitarian organization CARE and Madagascar-based NGO Fanamby on a pilot to improve farmer incomes as well as the quality, quantity and traceability of vanilla. As we help smallholder farmers accrue a greater share of the benefit from the crops they produce, we are also helping to ensure a sustainable and quality supply of vanilla for the future.

The program teaches the farmers to do more value added work on their farms like curing the bean which will allow them to potentially double their income and give them more access to the supply chain—from growing to curing.

Creating Value, Minimizing Impact

For both the developed world and the developing world, we’re working on establishing similar partnerships with organizations that share our mission to advance sustainable sourcing frameworks. With these partners, we know we can create value throughout the entire supply chain – for the farmers, our company, our clients and our consumers – all while minimizing our impact on the environment.

Our work is far from complete, but this is a journey we’re committed to.

Next: Susan Kamper, General Mills' senior technology manager examines how General Mills can strengthen other food companies in Africa through its expertise and scale.

About the Author:

Jerry leads General Mills' sustainability efforts globally. Lynch began his career at General Mills in 1995 and has served in various general management and marketing roles across the company globally. In addition to his day job, Lynch volunteers his time on the Advisory Board of the Raptor Center of Minnesota, the Food Recovery Network and the Board of Trustees of the Keystone Center. Lynch earned his Bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College in 1984 and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1995.

Knorr stockcube maker, Unilever, has certainly shown it has the know-how when it comes to waste management with the annoucement today that it has achieved a key sustainability target of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill from its global factory network.

More than 240 factories in 67 countries have now eliminated landfill waste.

According to the company, eliminating waste has resulted in more than €200m of cost avoidance and created hundreds of jobs. In Egypt, for example, the local team has launched a programme which empowers disabled employees to earn extra income by recycling waste material from Unilever’s production lines, proving that reducing waste makes sound business sense.

Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Unilever's chief supply chain officer, said: “Reaching this landmark is the result of a huge mind-set shift throughout our organisation and a great example of Unilever driving sustainable business growth. Thousands of employees - our ‘zero-makers’ – from across the business have developed some really innovative solutions to eliminate waste. I am incredibly proud of what we and our partners have achieved.

“However we cannot stop here. Our focus now is on becoming a zero waste company and working towards a zero waste value chain by encouraging our suppliers and customers to join us on this mission. We are also committed to developing an open source approach and sharing our ‘zero waste framework’ and experience with other organisations to drive global change and create a more sustainable future.”


 

David Picton, chief sustainability officer, Carillion explains why now, more than ever, sustainability is not a nice-to-have but a 'must have'

Sustainability is critical for long-term business success. And that critical nature extends to making sustainability a strong, balanced approach – one that I find myself increasingly summarising as the three CBs: changing behaviours, commercial benefit and challenging balance.

Changing behaviours
In order for sustainability initiatives to take root and make a tangible, long-term impact on both business and the community, they have to change behaviours. In the business sense, this begins internally, encouraging best practice, responsibility and personal commitments amongst employees – from simple activities such as cycling to work, to operational innovations like new recycling and reuse projects and onwards to taking a personal interest in volunteering for example.

Through wider initiatives such as the Supply Chain Sustainability School we can collaborate with our industry partners, clients and suppliers to develop skills and actions, which will not only make them more profitable businesses, but more responsible too.

As behaviours change within the business and within the wider industry, the private sector can start to shape more positive outcomes with and for communities. Carillion actively supports and encourage its employees to volunteer with charities such as Barnardo’s and create long-term relationships with community projects such as our work with local councils, schools and employee-led mentoring and careers sessions.

Positive change is best achieved by acting early and through regular commitment. If we can show people that opportunities are available – and that they can make a difference – we can begin to build communities where positive relationships between business and the public contribute to more sustainable futures.

Commercial benefit
Sometimes profit can be wrapped up in negative connotations, but that can miss the point that businesses which are in profit are also in a great position to add real value to communities, to the environment, to their employees, to local companies and to shareholders – some of whom will include pension funds looking for good investment returns.

So a business strategy encompassing effective sustainability policies not only safeguards and provides future employment, but also provides opportunities for smaller companies to work with larger business. Building a successful business and making a bigger profit contribution through sustainable actions helps to build a responsible business. Even small savings made by fuel efficiency and recycling contribute to the overall profitability of a company

At Carillion we took the step a few years ago to include the impact of our sustainability strategy in our financial reports. Built up and tracked through the year, the collected savings and profit contributions from projects across our UK and international operations really add up. Small savings, even shaving a few thousand pounds off waste management bills through recycling, join bigger savings from fuel reduction and careful travel management – and in 2013 that added £22.6 million pounds to profit. A streamlined, responsible, ethical business can (and should) also be a profitable one – for the long term.

Challenging balance
To achieve lasting change – for itself and for organisations and communities – a truly sustainable business must be ambitious, challenging pre-conceptions and entrenched beliefs. In sustainability terms, that also needs to be balanced – across economic, social and environmental responsibilities. Traditionally ‘green’ or environmental considerations remain high on the sustainability agenda, but social responsibility creates long-term legacies in the communities where we work and live.

Business should be ambitious, setting challenging goals and inspiring others to join them, such as our goal to establish Community Needs Plans across all of Carillion’s contracts, projects and regional teams. Our commitment to providing 5000 apprenticeship training places over the next 5 years, goes hand in glove with our wider aims to address skills shortages wherever we can, and to offer work opportunities for the long-term unemployed, for ex-offenders and for others most in need of support to create a sustainable career.

An authentic approach to sustainability which strives for improvement makes simple business sense, but an ambitious sustainability strategy which takes on the Three CBs can make businesses successful.

As part of our vision at Carillion, we’re currently sponsoring the National CSR Awards which will give businesses the chance to gain recognition for their initiatives and achievements in the sustainability sphere. Beyond that, we’ll be working hard to seek a challenging balance and change behaviours for commercial benefit. It’s not easy, by any measure, but it’s a ‘must have’ as far we’re concerned.
 

A majority of companies don’t perform anti-bribery and corruption audits on their suppliers, an area of business operations that’s proved prone to bribery risk in recent years, according to a new survey by Achilles Group, a UK logistics and risk management company.

According to Achilles, 61% of 300 supply chain professionals in North America, Europe and South America who were asked said their companies don’t perform anti-bribery and corruption audits on their suppliers, and one-third of the firms issue contracts without having an anti-bribery or anti-corruption policy for their main suppliers.

The survey found 55% of respondents said their businesses don’t carry out checks on financial reports, while 35% of businesses don’t perform health and safety audits. The respondents represent companies in five industries: oil and gas; mining and cement; construction and mining; utilities and manufacturing.

Supply chains have been a frequent source of corruption trouble. Recent examples include a major supplier to PetroChina Company Limited, a Chinese oil and gas company who had bribery charges filed against it and its chairman in China. Other examples: the 2013 arrest in Japan of an executive at a Toyota supplier on charges he paid bribes to stifle an investigation into one of his company’s plants in China; and Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn saying in 2013 it was cooperating with Chinese police investigating reports of illegal payments being made to Foxconn employees by the company’s supply chain partners.

According to the Financial Times, UK companies are risking serious disruption and reputational damage because they have so little visibility over their supply chains. Businesses in many sectors have little knowledge of where their suppliers are sourcing goods or services.

Supply chain risks were highlighted by the fire in a Bangladesh garment factory, which killed more than 600 people and brought scrutiny on retailers, which had clothes made at the site.

Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Adrian Chamberlain, chief executive of Achilles, said he’s not surprised by the number of multinational corporations that don’t have these policies or conduct audits on their suppliers, given the globalized nature of their businesses and the ever-growing complexity of supply chains.

Even though there are rules around the world mandating companies perform proper due diligence on their suppliers and their supply chains, Mr. Chamberlain said recent scandals show a lack of enforcement by regulators and a decision by some companies not to take these rules seriously.

Adrian Chamberlain, chief executive of Achilles, said: “It is not an ‘optional extra’ for global businesses to operate in a safe way, tackle bribery and corruption and address financial risks; in many places, these are legal requirements.

“Large businesses have a responsibility to carry out proper due diligence on their suppliers to protect people working on sites, their own reputation and also the investments of shareholders – who trust them to manage risks.

“We estimate that businesses are spending $60 billion on managing information about suppliers globally – yet this survey shows it isn’t working; there are still real gaps in knowledge. It is essential that corporations put in place systems to gather, manage and update supplier information.

“Businesses often rely on the same suppliers. Managing their data is up to 10 times more efficient when whole industries work together to agree common standards of suppliers, and then share non-commercial supplier information via an online portal.”

The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on Jan. 20 released its latest report on U.S. and global renewable energy. Published annually, NREL's 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book reveals new renewable electricity accounted for over 61 percent of total new U.S. generation capacity in 2013, rising to represent nearly 15 percent of total installed capacity and 13 percent of total U.S. electricity generation.

Worldwide, renewable energy resources accounted for 23 percent of electricity generation. Solar electricity was the fastest growing segment of U.S. electricity generation technology: Cumulative installed solar electricity capacity surged nearly 66 percent higher in 2013.

"The 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book is an important resource for policymakers, analysts and investors worldwide," Sean Esterly, an energy analyst for NREL, was quoted in an NREL press release. "Renewable energy trends are displayed in an accessible format for a variety of audiences."

Renewables' growing share of the energy pie

Overall U.S. energy consumption rose 2.4 percent year-over-year in 2013 to total 97.3 quadrillion Btus, according to NREL's 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book. Consumption of renewable energy and coal-fired power plants rose slightly during the year while energy consumption from oil and natural gas fell slightly.

Renewable electricity accounted for more than 61 percent of all new U.S. generation capacity additions in 2013. That compares to just 4 percent in 2004 and 57 percent in 2008.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) are among the fastest growing energy resources worldwide, NREL continued in its latest annual report. Globally, solar electricity generation rose nearly 68-fold between 2000 and 2013. As NREL highlighted:

“Installed renewable electricity capacity more than doubled between 2000 and 2013, and comprises 27 percent of the total electricity generation capacity globally, representing a significant and growing portion of the total energy supply.”

Solar gains steam

Cumulative installed solar electricity generation capacity increased nearly 66 percent in the U.S. in 2013, making it the fastest growing electricity generation technology in the country. Solar PV accounted for about 63 percent of new renewable electricity installations in 2013.

Cumulative installed solar PV capacity surged nearly 65 percent – from 7.3 to 12 gigawatts. Installed CSP capacity rose by 81 percent, from 0.50 to 0.90 GW.

Wind-generated renewable electricity increased by 20 percent in 2013 as wind farms completed in 2012 came on-line. New wind electricity capacity rose just 1.8 percent, however, a marked slowdown that in large part resulted from the expiration of the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC).

Renewable electricity from biomass, geothermal and hydro power remained stable from 2000 to 2013, according to report. Combined, electricity generation capacity from these sources rose over 9 percent over the period.

U.S. hydro power generation capacity accounted for half the nation's total renewable electricity generation. Wind accounted for 31 percent, solar for 4 percent and geothermal for 3 percent.

*Images credit: NREL, "2013 Renewable Energy Data Book"

By Marta Maretich

The World Economic Forum has come and gone, leaving the Davos snow more than a little trampled. Now that 2,500+ of the world’s most powerful people have flown home in somewhat fewer (it seems) than 1,700 private jets, what do we know about what’s coming in 2015? And, more specifically, what lessons did the Forum hold for impact and social investors?

Impact and social investing are part of the global economic reality, so the larger trends identified at Davos will be felt in our sector, too. Quantitative easing in the Eurozone, the unpredictable fallout from the Grexit, the slowdown in growth in China and India, its surge in the U.S., will all shape the world economic outlook for 2015 and will inevitably have their effects on the social sphere. And yet it was interesting to notice certain issues — some of our own favorite topics — were more prominent on the agenda than they have been in previous years.

Climate change

The financial crisis pushed climate change off the agenda; the presence of Al Gore as the opening act at Davos seems to indicate that it’s now back on. The former U.S. Vice President (and his musical friend, Pharrell Williams) were on hand to drive home, once again, the message that we need to act fast to avert disaster. This can’t have been news to the delegates at Davos, all of whom have heard Gore’s arguments before and yet have presided over the increase in the use of fossil fuels we’ve seen in recent years.

Among those in the know, the real indicator that things are changing was the advocacy of Lord Stern, Tony Blair’s climate change adviser.  At Davos, he argued cogently that fossil fuel is not, as it long appeared, cheap anymore, and that alternatives are now getting cheaper. Governments don’t have to make a tradeoff between growth and preventing climate change, he said, and his argument seems to be gaining traction in the world of business. It’s one that impact and sustainable investors have long understood, of course, but the mainstreaming of sustainability should bring new opportunities for impact investors and climate-friendly social enterprises alike, especially when it comes to collaborating with business and government.

Alternative energy

Related to the issue of climate change is that of energy, another hot topic at Davos. The energy landscape is changing, partly because of the wider acceptance of the reality of climate change, but also because alternative energy sources are coming into their own. A plunge in oil prices, due in large part to the availability of cheap gas from fracking, is driving oil-producing nations to re-examine their strategies, diversify their activities and rethink their futures. It’s also fanning the flames of the divestiture movement, which is gaining ground as the value of fossil fuel stocks, for so long the central pillars of many portfolios, continues to fall.

For impact and social investors, this shift in focus will help in two ways. First, the exit of capital from fossil fuels could spur a renewed wave of investment in existing forms of alternative energy such as wind, solar and hydrogen, and in energy efficient technologies, all areas where impact investing has a track record. Second, turning away from fossil fuels will require more investment into developing new alternative sources of energy. Investment in energy R&D and in companies rolling out alternative energy solutions to new markets will be attractive opportunities for social investors.

Inequality

The specter of Thomas Piketty was found haunting many of the sessions at Davos. The French economist’s landmark tome, "Capital in the 21st Century," has sparked wide-ranging debate about the nature and role of capital in our times. (Check out this four-paragraph summary of Piketty's "Capital" in the Economist.) One of its impacts is to highlight the growing problem of wealth inequality, an important theme threading through many discussions at WEF15.

Different delegates working in different contexts and sectors interpreted inequality in a number of ways. Piketty is mainly concerned with the current dynamic that sees wealth in societies moving inexorably in one direction — upwards — and accumulating in the hands of fewer and fewer people at the top (such as those attending the Davos conference, for instance). Other kinds of inequality, however, were on the agenda, including the disparity between rich and poor nations, and among different groups, for example women and marginalized groups, within societies.

For impact and social investors, investments aimed at reducing inequality of all kinds are already part of the landscape and can take a number of forms. Affordable loans for college students, edutech that brings learning to those who need it, and provision of healthcare for girls and women are all examples of investments that can help reduce inequality.

Technology also has a role to play. Sheryl Sandberg, when asked by Arianna Huffington, opined that more technology, specifically access to the Internet, and, less specifically, “more data” would bring more equality to the world. Social investments that extend tech to the tech-poor are already on the cards, but more work, targeted specifically on easing inequality, is needed from our sector.

Corruption and crime

In a recent blog, we showed why the impact and social investing sector should be putting its weight behind the growing global movement to fight corruption.  At Davos, corruption and crime were prominent on the agenda, an indication that the movement is now hitting the mainstream thanks to the efforts of campaigners like Global Witness.

The connection between corruption, poverty and the health of markets is becoming clearer, as is the role of the business community in tackling this scourge. These topics and others were addressed in a number of sessions and an issue briefing at the WEF. Impact and social investors should keep abreast of how this discussion develops and, in keeping with their commitment to ethics, adopt anti-corruption strategies wherever possible.

Changes to the way the world invests

The delegates at Davos showed a new level of interest in the way capital markets are changing, and this has implications for the impact and social investing movements. This change-consciousness was evident in this year’s sessions, many of which acknowledged, in different ways, a new mood and attitude toward investing in  mainstream markets.

Yet it can be seen most clearly in the future projects funded by the WEF for next year. Projects on accelerating capital markets in emerging economies and direct investment by institutional investors, for example, point to trends in the markets that could be important for impact investors. Meanwhile, Phase III of the Mainstreaming Impact project has been cleared to move forward, led by Abigail Noble. If the excellent work coming out of this project so far is any indication, this will give us even more data to work with and deepen our understanding of the developments in our own corner of the financial world.

An insight into the things to come?

The World Economic Forum provides a fascinating snapshot of the forces that shape our global economy and thus determine the fate of billions — billions of people, that is, not only dollars. It gives us a fleeting glimpse of the individuals making the decisions and the merest hint of how things will go in the year to come. For our emerging sector, it’s vital to tune in to the lessons of Davos and learn what we can, especially if our aim is to one day become the mainstream that Davos represents.

And yet, in another sense, Davos may be less relevant to us than it first appears. As a guage of the status quo — what is now — nothing compares to it. But as a guage of what will be, it falls short. Piketty reminds us all that economics is, after all, not a hard science like mathematics, but a social science with historical underpinnings. Looking at the past is very helpful for understanding the present, as he ably proves. However it doesn’t necessarily help us predict the future with perfect certainty.

For many, Davos is already the past. The future, if committed impact and social investors have their way, could be very, very different.

Image courtesy of the World Economic Forum 

About the author: Marta Maretich writes about impact, sustainable and social investing for Maximpact.com, a deal listing portal and information hub for the new finance sector. She is Chief Editor of the Maximpact blog.

About Maximpact: Maximpact is a free global portal for the social, impact and sustainability sectors. It operates as a secure web-based listing service that allows sustainability, philanthropy and CSR professionals, as well as entrepreneurs, intermediaries, and funds to share information about initiatives and impact investment deals, online. For more information on the platform or to review latest impact projects visit: www.maximpact.com. This article first appeared on Maximpact’s blog.

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The Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition, along with REI and 13 other outdoor companies, have announced a new goal: boost and support women's participation in key leadership roles.

The pledge to accelerate women's leadership, which was developed by the OIWC, was unveiled by REI CEO Jerry Stritzke last week at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City. REI, along with other big-name signatories like Patagonia and The North Face, hope the pledge will "drive change across the industry."

Stritzke also announced that REI planned to award a $1.5 million Mary Anderson Legacy Grant toward increasing women leadership in outdoor industries. The grant is named after REI's co-founder Mary Anderson, who with her husband, Lloyd, built REI. The funds will target three key areas:

• Developing services and programs that will better address the participation of women leaders;


• Providing matching funding up to $500,000 for companies that join or support the OIWC by elevating their membership;


• Developing new programs that support mentoring and advisory roles for women who wish to pursue entrepreneurial roles.  New venues will be developed to help foster startups and mentor entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses.

Other industry leaders that have signed the pledge include: Active Interest Media, Advanced Sports–Fuji Bikes, American Alpine Club, Backcountry, Burton Snowboards, CamelBak, NPD Group, Outdoor Research, SmartWool, W.L. Gore & Associates and Wolverine Worldwide.

“Change starts at the top, and coming together like we have is a testament to the strength of our shared values. I encourage other leaders in our industry to join in this commitment,” Stritzke said.

“This work will change the nature of innovation and leadership in our industry," he added, "which is a big part of the U.S. economy, supporting 6.1 million jobs.”

Deanne Buck, executive director of the OIWC, noted that “companies with more women leaders also enjoy strong financial performance. One of the biggest challenges facing outdoor companies is competition for high-quality talent. This grant will give us the momentum we need to make the outdoor industry the employer of choice for women.”

According to statistics published by the  Outdoor Industry Association (2011),  only 12.5 percent of outdoor industry companies with $20 million in sales or more are represented by women.  Statistics for businesses with annual sales of $5 million to $20 million weren't much better: 10.5 percent. Women's leadership figured highest in outdoor businesses that garnered under $5 million in annual sales.

“We’re thrilled that these companies are making this a visible priority,” Buck said. “We’ll be stronger and more innovative as an industry if we build an environment where great ideas born from a diversity of experiences thrive.”

Image of logo: OIWC

Image of Danielle Pardee, triathalon runner: Chris Hunkeler

We grit our teeth when we see them on the road, but the stubborn truth is that trucks are an integral part of the North American economy’s foundation. The movement of goods from port to storefront or warehouse is a huge economic multiplier and employer. At the same time, in addition to the fact that trucking is a brutal job entailing long hours, many truckers are independent contractors. True, cheap oil may lighten their wallets, but the history of fossil fuel prices suggests at any point in the future they will be susceptible fuel cost shocks. More sustainable sources of fuel would be a huge benefit to the industry in the long run.

To that end, BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) has issued another one of their energy and fuel reports. The latest study focuses on transportation fuel in North America, and its timing is on point considering 2014 was the hottest year on record. Transportation causes 14 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions and 23 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Clean energy technologies are slowly gaining traction within the transport sector, but the process will be slow: the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests renewables will at best make up 15 percent of the globe’s transport mix by 2035. Hence the industry faces massive challenges, but also opportunities for companies as the sector will continue to grow at a rapid pace.

Natural gas is the obvious bridge from petroleum to future renewable technologies for the trucking industry, fueled in part by the fracking boom. Cleaner burning than diesel, natural gas fuels over 110,000 trucks in the U.S. currently and almost 15 million worldwide. The biggest roadblocks towards increased adoption include vehicle price premiums, the lack of an adequate refueling infrastructure and problems with storing this fuel at higher densities and lower pressures.

Whether biofuels can help wean the trucking industry away from fossil fuels is open to debate. True, they emit less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels, but their ability to scale is a huge question mark. The food-versus-fuel debate will continue to rage, and biofuels’ current costs are not yet on parity with conventional sources. U.S. federal law also prohibits no more than a 10 percent biofuel blend, which also gets in their way of having an increased role in the trucking sector. The IEA is optimistic that biofuels could provide more than one-fourth of total transport fuel by 2050, but problems including land rights and feeding a growing population could get in the way of that scenario.

One option showing potential is battery technology. Currently electric vehicles (EVs) are on the fringe of the trucking industry and are only finding growth in the light-truck category. Battery size, life and of course, range are barriers to a future of electric trucks. As battery technology improves however, they could find growth within the trucking industry. Electric trucks could theoretically charge overnight at main transit points, using off-peak electricity. They could also provide energy storage at businesses relying on solar energy or other renewable sources for power. Most likely, however, such a vision would not happen unless next-generation batteries become cost effective, which would then become a huge boost for trucking efficiency.

While BSR emphasizes the growing risks of climate change as a clarion call to increase the role of sustainable fuels within the trucking industry, what will really resonate with this sector is cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Thin profit margins and a vicious competitive environment are what defines this industry—in addition to the long hours and pressure to deliver goods without delay. Logistics companies such as FedEx and UPS can invest in vehicles using clean energy because they have the resources, which is far from true from smaller mom-and-pop operations. More stable fuel costs, improved torque from an EV vehicle and less vehicle maintenance are among the benefits that will speak to managers and workers within the industry. One those factors become a reality, we can then bask in a less polluted world with reduced climate risks.

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.

Image credit: BSR