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Some of the world's largest multinational businesses have recognized the advantages 'closing the loop' on their supply chains can provide. From energy and water conservation to materials reuse and recycling, they're achieving significant gains in operating efficiency and productivity as they move toward becoming 'zero-waste' and 'zero emissions' businesses.

Mimicking natural ecosystems, commercial and industrial ecosystems are emerging -- in which an increasing percentage of products, their components, and raw or intermediate materials are being reused or recycled. The ultimate goal -- cradle-to-cradle product lifecycles in which all materials used to produce, package and distribute products to consumers are recaptured, reused or recycled -- is edging closer to reality.

At the leading edge of this movement is a small group of companies operating in what has come to be known as reverse supply chain management. Aiming to close the loop on the supply chain, they're advancing green economy initiatives by offering original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across a growing range of industries an integrated 'one-stop shop' for re-manufacturing, as well as reusing and recycling products, their constituent parts and raw materials.

Reversing the supply chain

The ever-growing amounts of plastic, metal, chemical and non-biodegradable waste being transported, dumped and accumulating in public and private land and landfills poses serious threats to human and environmental health. While tax-paying residents and businesses around the world are paying for waste hauling, treatment and processing services, OEMs and other businesses all along product supply chains are leaving a lot of money, as well as social and environmental benefits, on the table.

By enabling them to move beyond conventional concepts of reuse and recycling, reverse supply chain manufacturers can help companies capture that value, comply with environmental regulations, and enhance the legitimacy and credibility of their sustainability strategies.

Offering post-consumer takeback and recycling, enterprise IT and telecom asset management, and 3R solutions for mobile devices, Hong Kong-based Li Tong Group owns and operates 15 reverse supply chain facilities worldwide. From an OEM customer base in the consumer electronics sector, Li Tong is intent on expanding its reverse supply chain business across other industry sectors, Linda Li, a Li Tong executive director and corporate VP for strategy, told 3p in an interview.

Li Tong is providing reverse supply chain services to some of Silicon Valley and the tech industry's biggest companies. It's now expanding across the telecommunications sector, where network equipment and device manufacturers, as well as cloud service providers, are looking to 'green' their businesses.

Growing waste consciousness

Until recently, what happens to a product once it's disposed hasn't been an issue given much consideration by businesses or governments. That's changed dramatically over the course of recent decades as the environmental and human health and safety threats of what we throw away have been better understood and more widely recognized. This growing consciousness has given rise to the “cradle to cradle” movement, a term coined by architect and sustainability advocate William McDonogh and German chemist Michael Braungart.

“When I talk about reverse supply chain management, I talk about all that can be done after a product is in a consumer's hands,” Li explained. That includes taking back "defective products, returns, fulfilling warranty agreements, repairs, refurbishing, disposal, reuse and recycling." Now part and parcel of a growing number of CE OEM's operations, “consumer take-back schemes are just one aspect of this.”

At present, large amounts of waste are built-in to product life cycles. When it comes to supply chain management, “forecasting is never very accurate,” Li continued. “Let's say a manufacturer builds in a 10 percent buffer to accommodate projected demand for a product – they expect to sell 100 million units, but they manufacture 110 million just in case actual exceeds their forecast.”

Those buffer amounts ripple across the supply chain. “Everyone builds in a buffer – no one wants to run short – we call it the 'bullwhip effect,'” Li elaborated.

The Bullwhip Effect

Indicative of how the 'bullwhip effect' amplifies the magnitude of materials waste across the supply chain, “Three to five percent of annual CE shipment volume is deemed obsolete and needs to be scrapped before it is ever even used to produce a consumer electronics product,” she pointed out.

The bullwhip effect is particularly strong in the CE industry, where short product life cycles are the norm. “For every 100 million smartphones shipped, 3 to 5 million will be set for the scrap heap,” Li told 3p.

“New CE product lines and models may be introduced every six months. That makes massive waste a reality of the high-tech industry. What happens to all this material has a huge environmental impact, as well as lots in the way of lost economic value.”

Conventional waste management and recycling companies typically wind up leaving a lot of value unrealized, Li said. Li Tong enables OEMs and supply chain partners to capture a much higher percentage of their inherent value as compared to companies that offer scrap, recycling and waste management services, she continued.

The people it employs are the key element of its ability to deliver on these promises. Capturing the value from waste CE and high-tech products requires a lot of specialized knowledge, as well as processes and other resources, Li pointed out. "Our engineers all come from an electronics manufacturing background...When it's 'first life' is finished, we can take CE and other high-tech products apart and harvest their components and parts – from an LCD, a Wi-Fi module, a memory storage device, a CPU,” she elaborated.

“There's no reason they need to be decomposed to fragrments. Whole parts or components can be reused – the LCD in a mobile phone or tablet, for example, might be reused to make a GPS handset or smart home appliance.”

The Internet of Things is already beginning to open a wide variety of new opportunities to reuse and recycle parts and components from electronic devices and equipment.

“Think of the carbon footprint, the environmental impacts, then the economic value that can be recovered,” Li said. “That's the solution we are offering all our OEM customers – reuse, re-manufacture and recovery are the three 'R's' upon which our business is built.”

*Image credits: 1), 3) Li Tong Group; 2) Reverse Logistics Association

The 2014 BSR conference in New York City last week attracted thought leaders from all industries, who gathered to commiserate on timely topics like climate change, sustainability reporting and the circular economy. Of course, a substantial portion of attendees represented BSR member companies -- a list that includes more than 250 multinationals that have pledged to "improve their sustainability performance."

It may come as a surprise to you, but 15 percent of BSR members are part of the financial services industry. Less of a shock: This figure has grown significantly since the financial crisis of 2007-2008 (and continues to climb), as banks and investment firms struggle to rebuild from within and regain consumer trust.

As John Hodges, director of financial services for BSR, put it while moderating a panel discussion at the conference: The financial crisis marked "the only time in [BSR's] 20-year history that an entire industry was going through a corporate responsibility crisis at the same time."

After the dust settled, governments, advocacy groups and other stakeholders began to focus intensely on creating a more responsible financial services industry. But how much has really changed in the past five years? Do these companies interact differently with their clients on sustainability issues? Are they really modifying their core business practices in the interest of corporate social responsibility (CSR), or is this just another marketing game? These are only a few of the questions asked last Thursday in New York.

To kick off the panel, Hodges asked three thought leaders to introduce topics they viewed as crucial to achieving sustainable change within the industry. Andrew Plepler with Bank of America and David Wheldon of Barclays Bank were on-hand to offer their perspectives. There to counterbalance representatives of two large banks was business journalist Sheelah Kolhatkar, features editor and national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, perhaps known best for her 2010 New York Magazine article, "What if Women Ran Wall Street?"

I was intrigued to hear what these three prominent figures had to say about a topic so fraught with controversy and an event that ignited skepticism, resentment and even downright hatred among consumers. It was clear I wasn't the only one: Although you'll always notice a working traveler or two scrolling through emails at a panel such as this one, the crowd last week was unusually attentive and seemed to lend an open, albeit cautious, ear.

"The time for remorse is still not over"

In the first few minutes of the panel, David Wheldon got everyone's attention by reminding the crowd of the infamous remarks made by his company's former CEO. In the wake of the financial crisis, ex-CEO Bob Diamond declared, "the time for remorse is over," with a predictable response from the media and already-outraged consumers.

Wheldon, managing director of brand, reputation, citizenship and marketing for Barclays, bluntly rebuffed Diamond's flippant and ultimately disastrous statement, saying simply: "The time for remorse is still not over."

Later in the discussion, Wheldon doubled down on his position of accountability by saying, "Looking beyond the apparent financial crisis: For about 30 years the financial sector has not done a good job of putting the best interests of its customers at the center of its business."

Of course, putting on a pretty face for the public is nothing new for big-money companies -- in any industry. As Sheelah Kolhatkar of Bloomberg Businessweek pointed out, the tobacco industry boasts notoriously lavish corporate giving programs -- but these programs don't do much for company reputations, especially among the sustainability and CSR set. What's necessary for substantial change, the panelists insisted, is a top-down, middle-out strategy that engrains CSR not only in the board room, but also in the day-to-day practices of financial services companies.

Added Andrew Plepler, global corporate social responsibility executive for Bank of America: "I think that one of the silver linings of the financial crisis -- if there is such a thing -- is that CSR evolved … So, what pre-financial crisis had been largely a philanthropy and volunteerism program is now very much integrated into the way the company is governed and the way the company is run.

"When you think about the non-negotiables: To have an effective and credible CSR practice, you have to get business practices right coming out of the financial crisis. You can do all the philanthropy and all the volunteerism in the world, but if you're in the headlines day in and day out about business practices which people don't think are ethical or trustworthy, you're going to be in trouble."

Addressing the skepticism

Seeming to address the skeptics in the room, Plepler remarked: "We convince ourselves that we're doing pretty well at this -- we've made changes, we've made a commitment, there's this overarching philosophy that is engrained in the culture of the company -- but there's enormous skepticism, some of it very justified."

Kolhatkar naturally chimed in. (Who better to speak on skepticism than a member of the media? Of course, questions came up about whether or not the financial media was skeptical enough leading up to the crisis, but that's a conversation for another day.) Commenting on public uncertainty, Kolhatkar said: "I think there is a real lack of trust in the financial sector ... People are very frustrated and have a tendency to doubt anything that comes out of financial services marketing because many of them have personal experiences that are really not good or they know someone who lost their house.

"Then there are the press and the financial media, and journalists by nature are really skeptical people. For many years there was a sense that corporate philanthropy was something that was often undertaken for PR reasons, and it wasn't necessarily a heartfelt [effort]," she continued. "I think there are things that can be done to help that -- certainly creating more dialogue between members of the press and people at companies who are involved in this is extremely helpful."

Plepler agreed, adding: "People always say, 'We don't get enough credit for the good things we do.' Well, it's going to take a while for that to happen. You're not going to run a 60-second [ad] spot that's going to automatically transform the way people think about financial institutions.

"But when you're able to sit down and have a dialogue with [Kolhatkar] or other influencers and you're able to tell the narrative ... people are at least willing to hear us talk about that," he continued. "I think three or four years ago, we couldn't even have that conversation. It was just an immediate shut-down."

Bringing the goods

Whether or not you believe banks are making a heartfelt effort to change after the crisis, the fact remains that it will only get tougher for them to ignore corporate responsibility. A recent study conducted by PwC found that one-third of investors with more than $100 billion under management are saying that they need more on sustainability to be able to make high-quality, long-term investment decisions. This year, companies have seen a record-breaking number of environmental and social shareholder resolutions filed. It has been said that money talks, and the big money is hoisting the megaphone when it comes to ensuring a sustainable future.

"Three years ago one of our researchers in the investment bank told me that our clients were not interested in what I was talking about," Wheldon recalled. "If he were here now, he would tell you that they are very interested ... There are massive changes underway that all companies need to be aware of."

In response to internal changes within the company in the wake of the financial crisis, Bank of America has assembled a CSR governance committee for the first time, made up of business leaders from across the company. "Now we have quarterly meetings with people from commercial banking, global corporate banking, wealth management — all in a meeting with an agenda exclusively focused on CSR issues," Plepler said in an exclusive interview with TriplePundit. "That’s a big shift, and it allows us to penetrate where the real decisions for the company are being made … and it allows CSR to play a bigger role in a company of our size."

Barclays has whittled what was once more than 30 'core principles' -- good luck following those -- down to five that it has committed to engrain into its core business practices. When it comes time for year-end bonus and contract extension meetings, whether it's C-suite executives or first-year analysts, the company evaluates employees against these five elements. The bank has already dismissed several employees and changed numerous policies due to departure from these principles, Wheldon said.

The conversation also touched on employee engagement, another key component to any sustainability conversation. For big banks, the question becomes: Can you engage employees in the right way? Can you engage them around the greater good -- not just high salaries? Wheldon seemed optimistic, saying the company’s millennial employees are indeed more interested in values than earning money, and millennial surveys support that assertion. Another issue for big banks, of course, is diversity. While panelists say diversity and inclusion have improved, there is still a long way to go in that area. (Kolhatkar may have to wonder for a while what would happen if women -- or people of color -- ran Wall Street.)

Getting it right this time

As panelists pointed out, the road is sure to be long and rocky. But one thing is for certain: The financial crisis served as a resounding wake-up call for large financial firms. Both customers and big-money investors are asking tough questions about sustainability and CSR. As Wheldon put it in the conclusion of the panel, "If we don't have that dialogue with our clients, one of our competitors will."

For folks like Wheldon and Plepler, who have been working in CSR at their respective companies since long before the crisis, this means their departments are moving from afterthoughts to center stage. This is not to say that big banks will never make another mistake -- or even that they'll stop handing out exorbitant bonuses and give the money out as grants for low-income families or indebted college grads. But the fact that a conversation like this took place in the middle of Midtown Manhattan -- "the heart of the beast," so to speak -- is a significant change in and of itself. We'll have our eyes peeled for developments in this area, and we hope you do too.

Image credit: Vincent Breton

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

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.

Tomorrow, Nov. 15, is America Recycles Day -- a national celebration promoting recycling organized by Keep America Beautiful. Eco-minded folks in communities across the country will mark the holiday by purging their homes of recyclable items and disposing of them responsibly. Top companies also plan to commemorate ARD by hosting recycling drives, spearheading education campaigns and offering friendly reminders of the importance of recycling.

1. Unifi

You may not know Unifi by name, but the Greensboro, North Carolina-based company is behind the Repreve recycled fiber brand, which appears in everything from clothes to car seats.

For America Recycles Day this year, Repreve is linking up with Marvel Universe LIVE! to raise awareness about the importance of recycling. The national initiative spearheaded by the two companies encourages children to take responsibility for recycling at home and in their everyday lives, teaching them that they can become 'superheroes for the environment.'

Repreve and Marvel kicked off the multi-city initiative in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, teaming up with Charlotte–Mecklenburg Schools, the Boys and Girls Club of the greater Charlotte area and Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Division to host a city-wide recycling contest for youth.

2. Sprint

Sprint is commemorating America Recycles Day by reminding consumers to recycle their old electronics. The company launched its Sprint Buyback program 13 years ago, before any other national carrier. Last year alone, the company recycled more than 11 million wireless devices, over 211,000 on average per week.

Sprint will host a recycling event tomorrow at one of its downtown Chicago retail locations on North La Salle Street. Folks who recycle a phone will get some face-time with five-time NBA champion Bill Cartwright, and receive a free Chicago Transit Authority Fun Pass good for one day of unlimited rides. Its Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri will also serve as a drop-off location for residents looking to recycle electronics and securely shred paper.

3. Novelis

Just in time for America Recycles Day, aluminum rolling and recycling company Novelis announced a new commitment to convert all of its beverage can body sheet production to its Evercan sheet by the end of 2017. If you haven't heard, Evercan sheeting is the world’s first certified high-recycled content aluminum for beverage cans -- containing a minimum of 90 percent recycled material.

Novelis President and CEO Phil Martens announced the commitment on Wednesday at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chief Sustainability Officers Summit in New York and recognized that this may be a big shift for the industry:

“We understand that the shift to a certified, high-recycled content aluminum beverage can sheet represents a significant change for the industry with far-reaching effects,” Martens said. “Through an open-sourced platform, we are committed to working with beverage brands, can makers and other aluminum manufacturers to build the closed-loop, low-carbon economy of the future. Accomplishing this change is going to require all of these stakeholders to work together to make the use of recycled materials the standard for the beverage can industry and to increase recycling rates among consumers.”

4. Goodwill

Goodwill will do its part tomorrow is by encouraging recycling at colleges and universities. In addition to America Recycles Day, Goodwill and Keep America Beautiful also partner on a donated goods campaign on university campuses each spring. The initiative, called Give and Go, resulted in more than 232,000 pounds of recyclables being collected at U.S. colleges this year.

"What makes America Recycles Day special for Goodwill is that we are not only helping to protect the environment by encouraging recycling, but we are also supporting the Goodwill mission," Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, said in a statement. "Every item that Goodwill receives generates income to fund job training programs and services in communities nationwide."

5. Dell

Dell is a longstanding supporter of America Recycles Day, and this year is no different. Dell employees in Austin, Texas, are supporting ARD with a large volunteer recycling event. At the event, held in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, Dell team members will help take apart computers for responsible recycling.

The event supports Dell Reconnect, a Dell and Goodwill partnership that enables customers to recycle any brand of unwanted computer, in any condition, at more than 2,000 participating Goodwill locations in the U.S. The plastics Dell collects are recycled back into new Dell products.

6. Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, the parent company behind popular eateries like Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Capital Grille, is one of those companies that makes recycling a priority all year round -- without creating a big fuss about it.

This year for America Recycles Day, the company announced that it has recycled 7.3 million pounds of used fry oil since it began its reclamation program in 2010. The company recycles 100 percent of the cooking oil used in its restaurants, and the oil finds new life as biodiesel, animal feed and soaps. The company's innovative food rescue program, Darden Harvest, has also donated more than 77 million pounds of surplus food – totaling more than 100 million meals – to families in need since its inception.

7. Waste Management

It's only natural that Waste Management plans to get in on the America Recycles Day action. WM will join forces with L.A. LIVE and Call2Recycle for the fourth annual America Recycles Day recycling event at L.A. LIVE, the sports and entertainment district that surrounds the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Additionally, to commemorate ARD, Waste Management launched a new online portal around its Recycle Often. Recycle Right. campaign, which promotes the basics of recycling by simplifying guidelines and empowering everyone to become 'Recycling Ambassadors.'

Image credit: Unifi, Inc. 

How do you plan to celebrate America Recycles Day? Tell us about it in the comments!

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

Yahoo on Oct. 16 announced that it signed a 15-year partnership with OwnEnergy to develop a Kansas wind farm. Able to generate more than 100,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, the wind farm will feed into the Southwest Power Pool and offset much of Yahoo's energy usage in the Great Plains region, according to joint press releases.

The Kansas wind farm is the latest demonstration of Yahoo's commitment to local community development, as well as reducing its carbon and environmental footprints. “Although we are a global company, we are deeply invested in the communities in which we live and work,” Chris Page, Yahoo's global director of energy and sustainability strategy, and Brett Illers, project manager of  sustainability and energy efficiency programs, wrote in a Yahoo Blog post.

“We are proud to support this type of community-centric energy project through direct engagements from mid-sized local wind farms."

Kansas wind power

With the second highest wind potential in the U.S., wind power is capable of meeting Kansas's current electricity needs more than 90-times over, according to a study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

In 2013, wind power accounted for 19.4 percent of Kansas's electricity supply, ranking it third among U.S. states. Installed wind power capacity in Kansas doubled in 2012 alone with the addition of 1,441 megawatts. Kansas wind farms now supply enough emissions-free electricity to power more than 870,000 average American homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Attracting some $5.5 billion in investment capital, wind power has also directly created between 3,000 and 4,000 green jobs across the wind power supply chain, from manufacturing to wind farm operations and maintenance. As of 2013, annual land lease payments from wind farms have totaled more than $7.9 million.

In addition to eliminating nearly 3.96 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, which pollute the air and drive climate change, wind power also comes with other substantial environmental benefits. According to the AWEA, producing electricity from wind turbines saves more than 2 billion gallons of water per year.

Commenting on Yahoo's 15-year power purchase agreement, OwnEnergy founder and CEO Jacob Susman stated:

“It’s great to see a leading tech company like Yahoo working to expand the use of renewable energy, and its involvement in this project will enable us to generate both local jobs as well as financial upside for members of the Rush County community.

“OwnEnergy’s business model taps into the entrepreneurial spirit of farmers, ranchers and landowners across the United States, providing them with economic opportunities, operational resources and industry expertise necessary to develop a source of clean, renewable energy,” added Susman. “We look forward to working with an industry leader like Yahoo, a company that shares our commitment to clean energy and to supporting the economic prosperity and social well-being of local communities across the country."

Community-supported wind power

Founded in 2007, OwnEnergy has developed a pipeline of more than 25 community-supported energy wind farm partnerships across 23 U.S. states. OwnEnergy and Mortenson Construction on Nov. 14 completed construction of the Windthorst II Wind Farm some 110 miles northwest of Dallas, Texas.

Windthorst II marked the sixth wind farm OwnEnergy has developed and spun off and its seventh overall. BlackRock purchased a majority interest in the wind farm in December 2013.

Installing 28 Siemens 2.4-megawatt wind turbines on the site, Windthorst II marked the 140th project Mortenson has completed or is in the process of erecting.

Green power and resource efficiency at Yahoo

Yahoo, along with its peers among the world's Internet industry leaders, is “constantly looking for ways to incorporate cleaner and renewable sources of energy into our global operations, whether that is through wind, solar, or hydropower,” Page and Illers highlighted.

In partnership with Bloom Energy, Yahoo this past summer installed a five-module fuel cell at its corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. It's also planning to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) array.

Yahoo's expanding phalanx of data centers is where most of the company's power usage and emissions originate. Yahoo is working to be a leader in data center energy and natural resource efficiency, as well, Page and Illers noted. The company's Yahoo Compute Coop (YCC) data center design employs passive cooling to reduce energy and water consumption by 40 percent as compared to traditional data center designs, they highlighted.

*Image credits: 1) Yahoo; 2) U.S. EIA; 3) OwnEnergy

By Elizabeth Dove and Liza Horowitz

The tremors of a crumbling building that killed 1,129 garment makers and maimed hundreds more in Bangladesh last year have been felt throughout the world. Every industry that relies on a supply chain with factories far from HQ is thinking about how to avoid such an impact on lives and reputation. This is true for no industry more so than the fashion world, which was stained in the tragedy and is under the spotlight in unflattering ways.

Members of the fashion industry from around the globe came together Nov. 3-4 in Toronto to reflect on what has changed, examine best practices and create visions of the future during the inaugural World Ethical Apparel Roundtable (#WEAR2014) put on by the dynamic Fashion Takes Action.

For each advancement post-Rana Plaza, opportunities for going further were identified.

Public, media pushing buyers and retailers to push suppliers – but what’s the reward?

No longer will the public allow companies the luxury of 'ignorance is bliss.' And the assumptions of 'we can’t,' 'we shouldn’t,' 'it’s too cost prohibitive' have been challenged. Buyers and retailers in turn are putting pressure on suppliers. And while we haven’t yet seen measurable evidence that customers will significantly reward companies for making the right decisions, we have seen evidence they will shy away for the wrong ones.

At the moment, the pressure is on first-tier suppliers. Without more proof of benefit, will buyers and retailers push second- or third-tier suppliers (e.g. embroiderers) to improve working conditions? Ian Spaulding of Elevate says that factories also need assistance in recognizing that they profit from better working conditions beyond securing buyer relationships: longer retention, more skilled workers, better performances. By prioritizing and investing in management, they can turn responsibility into an asset.

Buyers and retailers feel the weight of responsibility, but do they recognize their role?

A number of presenters pointed to the short lead times currently demanded by fast fashion as a root cause of overtime. Promises of $9 jeans to consumers create a near impossible profit margin, with the only room for cost savings being in worker pay and working conditions.

Industry standards are more collaborative but still too many

According to Sedex Global, a not-for-profit driving greater improvements in supply chain practices, the top standards issues are:

• Fire safety


• Health and safety management


• Level of overtime hours worked


• Management systems


• Environment

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety is a five-year undertaking that began in 2013 to provide apparel companies the opportunity to work together on standards solutions. While this is an impressive local undertaking, there are few global standards. Adam Whinston of SGS said the paperwork for factories on compliance is enormous. Factory management often get similar questions from different buyers questioning social compliance, with slightly different wording or in a different order.

Smarter audits, not more audits, needed

Buyers and retailers are putting more focus on data-driven solutions, but they have to scrutinize which data is valuable: Factory self assessment tools are useless, and employee focus-groups don’t get as much data as surveys workers complete on the phone in their local language.

Also, health and safety auditors themselves are limited and may miss important factors like structural deficiencies. Plus, several speakers confirmed that when the auditors are in town, factory owners scramble to create short-term fixes.

More power shifting to workers but efforts still fragmented

Particularly in Bangladesh, NGOs and government industry officials are educating garment workers about their rights and safety. (Like: You don’t hide under your station when a fire breaks out, which was the No. 1 worker response in a recent survey). Unions are forming. But there is still no global organized labor force.

Perfection is becoming the enemy of progress

In an effort to be seen as responsible, buyers and retailers are firing suppliers in greater numbers and pushing out press releases (e.g. H&M flaunted the dismissal of an Indian spinning mill the week prior to the conference). As Tom Smith of Sedex Global pointed out, these actions discourage transparency. Suppliers need the support of their partners to set standards and improve their capacity around better HR practices and working conditions.

Impact is being looked at holistically, but the consumer must be more involved

Of course, improved sustainability was a concern for many in the industry long before Rana Plaza. But the tragedy has given new immediacy to examining all of the ways textile and apparel can reduce negative impact and create positive. In addition to better labor conditions, a number of impressive efforts to reduce environmental impact were discussed at the conference.

At least one-third of the total environmental impact of garments happens at end-of-use. (For more on the consumer side of sustainable fashion, check out TriplePundit's ongoing Sustainably Attired series.) Conference presenter Emily Scarlett of H&M shared how the company develops programs to help consumers reduce their footprint, such as repurposing garments in their Don’t Let Fashion Go To Waste program and a new initiative called Clevercare that nudges consumers to reduce energy use when caring for clothes.

Presenter Gildan is the only North American company in the textiles, apparel and luxury goods group to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices World Index. The pragmatic approach to sustainability by the company's presenter, Garry Bell, was refreshing. Bell was asked: Why take a sustainable approach to fashion? His response was simple: The key to sustainability and supply chain is the search for profits. Some of Gildan’s sustainability innovations include a biological wastewater treatment system at the company's Honduras facility, where water discharged into the river is virtually free of dyes and chemicals. In the same facility, Gildan invested in a biomass steam process to reach it’s 20 percent energy reduction target.

A lively discussion revolved around the new awareness of the conscious consumer. Taking this concept to future generations, Fashion Takes Action has developed a creative and forward-thinking education program called My Clothes My World. Students in grades four through eight learn about labor rights and the lifecycle assessment of the clothing process through fun and exploratory games. Students discover through label bingo who makes our clothes and where are they made.

Imagine if someone took the time to create a program similar to My Clothes My World when we were kids? Would the fashion and apparel process look different now?

Image credit: Flickr/marissaorton 

Elizabeth Dove is a specialist in strategically engaging the public, companies and government on sustainability and social change. She has worked as senior staff and consultant for initiatives that support the arts, child welfare, public health and particularly international development. Passionate about the power of collaboration, she seeks out projects that bring together different sectors to create value for their organizations and the broader community.  She is Senior Vice-President, Strategy at The Divinsky Group and an Associate at Open Spaces Learning, a Canadian change management firm helping companies realize business and social impact. Twitter: @EDove5 @openspaceslearn

Liza Horowitz is the founder of BumpItUp Digital. Her company helps SMEs and entrepreneurs fire up their communication potential, so they can thrive in the digital marketing world and attract sales.  Liza is the secret voice behind many tweets and blogs. You can find Liza networking, guest speaking at sustainability communication and social media events, and ghostwriting. She is passionate about great vegan food and supporting business owners to create positive profits with positive social & environmental impact.  Liza recently earned her Masters in Science, Environmental Studies from Green Mountain College, VT. She is also an Associate at Open Spaces Learning, a Canadian change management firm helping companies realize business and social impact. Twitter: @lzhorowitz @openspaceslearn

The 2014 Net Impact conference gathered like-minded people from all walks of life: Students, C-suite executives and members of the media sat side-by-side in panel discussions addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, and folks from across industries mixed and mingled to inspire solutions to those challenges and more.

During the hustle and bustle of the conference, I had the chance to sit down with Latondra Newton of Toyota North America. She just took on a new role and has been asked to unite – for the first time – Toyota’s North American social innovation activities, including philanthropy, community relations, and diversity and inclusion. She is also charged with overseeing the Toyota Mobility Foundation, which was created earlier this year to address mobility challenges around the world.

If it sounds like a tough job, that's because it is, but Newton has met the challenge head on. During our chat, we touched on what social innovation means to Toyota and some of the company's far-reaching community relations programs -- some of which were even news to me. For example, did you know Toyota's manufacturing processes helped streamline food delivery after Hurricane Sandy? I surely didn't.

Read on for that story and more.

TriplePundit: To get things started, can you give us a bit of background about what you do at Toyota?

Latondra Newton: I have a newly-created role within Toyota North America, Chief Social Innovation Officer. For the first time in our company's history, we're bringing together certain functions -- like diversity and inclusion, our Toyota USA Foundation and all of our other philanthropic efforts outside of that foundation, as well as community relations -- under one umbrella.

The idea is that we wanted to aggregate all of those functions because we realized that there was something they had in common; there was some synergy among them that allows us to ... [use] the know-how that we've accumulated to be able to help nonprofits do more for the communities where we live. We also find that it helps our own business as well. It not only creates value in the communities, but we actually learn from people we partner with and we can bring learnings back into our business to make ourselves better. So, that's how we define 'social innovation' for Toyota; I know the term is used a lot here and there in different ways.

I also have a global position … as the Chief Program Officer for the Toyota Mobility Foundation. That foundation was just established as a legal entity in August of this year, but we will not be issuing our first grants until 2015. So, we're right in the throes of all the planning and figuring out how we're going to launch that foundation right now.

3p: We've heard of a few examples of how Toyota is working with nonprofits to leverage its manufacturing process to improve efficiency. Can you tell us a little more about that?

LN: The organization that's responsible for sharing our Toyota Production System know-how, which is our manufacturing know-how, with nonprofits is called TSSC, which stands for Toyota Production Systems Support Center. And we actually initiated this organization as a department within our company some 20 years ago.

To date that organization worked with 200 different entities within the community, whether it's small businesses or nonprofit organizations. That includes recovery efforts; we've been working in the health care industry ... so that gives you an idea of the scope of the work that organization does.

3p: Great. Any success stories you'd like to share?

LN: One of [our key partners] is the St. Bernard Project, which is an organization that was established after Hurricane Katrina. Two very enterprising young lawyers from the [Washington, D.C.] area actually left their entire lives behind to move to New Orleans because they were so compelled by the devastation in the area ... They moved to the St Bernard's Parish, which is one of the hard-hit parishes southeast of the city, and they started helping people rebuild homes.

They were doing that and doing amazing work for a while, but when we connected with them it was because they really felt like the process was not fast enough. They wanted to get displaced people back into their homes much sooner than they were able to achieve on their own. They'd heard about the Toyota Production System [TPS], so we went down and started working with them over multiple months.

Once we understood all the issues, then we could turn our attention to some of the practical tools that most people are familiar with -- think about standardized work practices and those kinds of things. So, some of the practical things we helped them do: They had a warehouse operation that kept all of the supplies for homebuilding, and it was a mess ... It wasn't very efficient, and it was one of the bottlenecks in the homebuilding process. So, we were able to help them rearrange their warehouses similar to how we would arrange our parts supply in our operations. They could quickly see when they have too much inventory or not enough inventory. When people are trying to find what they needed to put on a truck to deliver to a home site, they could easily get to it -- really practical things like that. It really transformed their efficiency.

We also helped them visualize the entire homebuilding process from soup to nuts. Visualization is a very important part of the Toyota Production System because if you can see everything and know ... what the lead time is to do every step in a process, you can easily spot where the bottlenecks are. Then you can work with your team efforts to improve those bottlenecks, so you can move on to solving the next problem, and the next problem.

The result of that was tremendous. We were actually able to decrease the lead time of building an average home by 48 percent.

3p: Wow, huge results. It's intriguing because when you think of a manufacturing system, you may wonder how that can be applied to other industries and activities. Have you found that a focus on efficiency and culture the best way to help that process translate?

LN: It is ... [TSSC] has been able to spread the work that they've done to other locations. In Joplin, Missouri after tornadoes, they went into that market and helped rebuild homes there. They're still active in New York after Superstorm Sandy. And because of those learnings, they've been able to take a model and spread the model to different sites -- and the same model is useful regardless.

3p: Can you tell us a bit more about the work TSSC did after Hurricane Sandy and how the Toyota Production System was put into use there?

LN: That was a very fun project, and I had the good fortune of being on the ground because I lived in New York at the time. In the Far Rockaway area, [the Food Bank for New York City] had a mobile food bank unit. So, they had a warehouse that was responsible for packing boxes with food supplies to feed a family for X number of days. Then they would pack it in a truck, and they would take this truck on a regular distribution route to meet people close to where they lived and distribute food.

What was happening is you'd have a line of people wrapped around the block in the hot sun. These [were] elderly people, very small children and families standing in the sun who needed food, and they were just waiting for hours in line for their turn, with their fingers crossed that there was enough on that truck for them to be one of the lucky ones to get a box to take home. [The food bank] really wanted to make sure they could make that process more effective … and not have people standing in the hot sun waiting. So, we went to their warehouse, watched them for a while and studied their process. Then we really got into to work with them.

Some of the practical things that we were able to do: We had [shipping] boxes that were a certain size, and we had food sizes that were very standardized. What we realized is that these boxes had a lot of air space remaining, so it limited the number of boxes you could get on the truck. So, it's very simple and very practical: We were able to reduce the box sizes and reconfigure the way the boxes were packed so more could fit on the truck. We were able to feed 400 more families in a single shipment as a result of that. There were a lot of little changes like that, which accumulated in helping us improve efficiency. I've forgotten how many minutes it used to take for them to pack a box, but we changed it so the way they pack a box is actually like an assembly line. And it went from several minutes down to 11 seconds to pack a box.

3p: How amazing that such small changes can yield such significant results. It's interesting because I've been writing in this space for a few years now and have never heard of TSSC. You said the organization has been around for 20 years?

LN: Yes, the organization itself has been in operation for 20 years. We never really talked about it [laughs]. We've just recently started talking about it more.

It used to be the Toyota Supplier Support Center, which is really what TSSC originally stood for. And we started that because we realized that when we started localizing our parts, components and machinery equipment in North America, we wanted some way to help our domestic suppliers be more efficient and effective in doing their business -- not just for us but for other customers.

So, that was the first thought of giving something away, because we could help suppliers who could also help others in the industry. Then we realized this could be more than just suppliers: It could be small businesses that have no connection with us, it could be nonprofits, etc., so that's how it evolved over time.

3p: Glad to hear the news! Learning that this has been such a longstanding initiative, why are TSSC and other community relations programs important to Toyota?

LN: What's interesting about it is: The real reason is often a reason that people kind of don't believe, and it's because the original mission of our company was not about building cars or trucks. Our first manufacturing business was building automatic looms for weaving, so a lot of the principles of TPS came from those loom operations before we even knew about the potential of the auto business.

[What we call] the 'founding Toyota family,' said that ... 'We're in a country that has very limited resources as far as money, people and space, so we have to figure out ways that we can help society get through rough patches. And we think we have an obligation as a business to establish something where if we are successful and profitable, we can actually be more helpful to the people in the communities where we do business.' ... That was the philosophy in the founding of our business, so the idea of establishing an organization like TSSC was not really so groundbreaking for us as a company.

But now fast forward in the modern day era: One of the things that we are recognizing about how important this is to our business sustainability is that we want to have the opportunity to learn from other people. And we learn things that might make us more responsive to our customers. Even with St. Bernard Project, it was an interesting observation that they were so client-centric. They were so close to their customers ... they could see them every day and touch them. When you get a company that's the size of Toyota, it's very difficult to be so close to the actual customer unless you're working at one of our dealerships. So, it's a very interesting thing that we've learned from these kinds of relationships that I think has helped improve our business in the long run.

The other value this brings to us is that we know that the emerging generation of leaders, we always talk about the millennial generation, it's very obvious that high-impact jobs are becoming more and more important. We want to be the kind of company that the best talent wants to work for. And for us to be able to attract that kind of top-notch talent, it's very important to be able to tell our story about the nature of our company -- and that we really do want to be a company that does more than build cars and trucks.

3p: Changing gears a bit, can you speak to your global role with the Toyota Mobility Foundation?

LN: The gist of the Global Foundation is the recognition that by 2050 we are going to have some very interesting mobility challenges because of the migration of people to the urban core around the world. That really causes practical issues like safety challenges, challenges with ecology, and even challenges with the aging population and having individual access to mobility. [It's about] ensuring that people in all walks of life -- whether they're in urban areas or rural areas, rich or poor, whether they have all of their physical capacity or not -- that everyone has the right to the freedom of individual mobility.

So, we want to do everything we can to work with partners around the world to make sure that can happen ... [We're looking at] intra-modal ways of transport where we use our clean products, like electric vehicles for example, in tandem with public transportation, and building networks with other partners in those locales to be able to make mobility work and optimize it.

It's just this idea of being known for presenting mobility solutions as opposed to making cars and trucks. And who knows what the future holds in this space? So, what we're going to do is work with both developed and developing markets, a 50/50 split ... We took privately-held shares of treasury stocks and put them into fund, and the dividends from that fund will support the foundation.

Right now we're going to start with a few pilot projects in 2015 -- it's premature to talk about the projects now because there's a laundry list of things we're considering -- and then we're going to learn from those pilots. And then ... whatever intelligence we get and research we do will help us understand the long-term methodology for soliciting grant applications. And actually being at this conference and talking to some of the subject-matter experts in the field is giving me ideas or things to think about that's going to help us formulate the direction that we have going forward next year. So, it's an exciting time.

For more on TSSC and how the Toyota Production System is helping nonprofits tackle tough challenges, check out the company's Million Meals Per Hour video below. After Hurricane Sandy, Toyota pledged to donate one meal per view of the video, totaling 1 million meals served.

Image courtesy of Toyota

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

One of the great (and sometimes not so great) things about our modern, hyper-connected world is that we have become much better at keeping track of people and things. That provides the opportunity to not only recognize how incredibly wasteful our society is, but also to do something about it.

One of the areas in which we are incredibly wasteful is food. We talked about that here last week and disclosed the fact, as originally reported by the National Consumer League, that 40 percent of the food grown in this country is wasted. Some readers had a hard time believing that which is understandable.

Putting these two things together is Food Cowboy, a company started in 2012 that uses mobile technology “to safely route surplus food from wholesalers and restaurants to food banks and soup kitchens instead of to landfills.”

The company was founded by Roger Gordon, a lawyer and former caterer; his brother Richard, a long-haul produce trucker; and Barbara Cohen, Ph.D., the author of the USDA’s Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit.

If you check out this video on Food Cowboy's website, you will begin to understand what happens. Most of the produce sold in this country is delivered by truck. Truckers usually make their deliveries between midnight and 6 a.m. Palettes or sometimes even entire truckloads are often refused for cosmetic purposes — the potatoes have too many eyes or are the wrong shape, or the tomatoes are too close to being ripe. The truckers need to make room in their trucks for their next load, and given that they are often in unfamiliar locations in the middle of the night, they have little choice but to discard this food in a dumpster or a landfill.

What Food Cowboy has done is established a network of food banks and other food-related charitable organizations that are willing to accept unwanted, but still wholesome, food. Then the company developed a smartphone app that allows truckers to enter what they have, where they are and where they're headed. Once a match is made with a network member along the way, the trucker delivers the food to those hungry people instead of the nearest dumpster -- and everybody wins. The grower gets a receipt and the trucker gets an e-coupon upon delivery.

In addition to its work with truckers, Food Cowboy now offers a local solution to work with grocery stores and restaurants, which today throw away enough food to feed millions of hungry people every year. It’s not that grocers and eateries want to waste -- they just can’t get it to where it needs to go in time.

Now, when a produce manager is packing up produce he knows won’t sell, or a restaurant manager needs to clean out his cooler, all they have to do is hit the 'donate' button on their smartphone app, and the connection is made. Consumers can get involved by offering to help with transportation.

This sounds like a great use of technology to help those in need and spare the planet at the same time. Apparently we’re not the only ones who think so. Fast Company magazine named Food Cowboy's president and co-founder, Roger Norris Gordon, as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2014.

Image courtesy of Food Cowboy

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.

By Elisabeth Comere

Recycling is intrinsically linked to sustainability. We will always produce material things in some form, and it will serve us best in the long run if we can put those materials back into productive use. Recycling is an essential component for minimizing our dependence on natural resources, and it contributes to advancements in market development and green technologies. But recycling has gone beyond accepted to expected, and that fact invites us to address other key variables which contribute to a circular materials economy.

Long-term success requires action on both ends of the spectrum. What we need is a two-pronged approach to achieve our economic and environmental objectives. First, we must move toward a circular materials economy, a system that addresses resource limitations by radically improving resource efficiency from the beginning of the product lifecycle. Second, we should use a lifecycle analysis to make informed decisions around product packaging design -- one which considers recyclability and renewability.

1. Institutionalizing circular economy strategies

Multinationals are increasingly concerned with long-term feedstock security, volatile prices and the race to acquire those finite raw materials. In order to mitigate these risks, corporate leaders are exploring how their operations can contribute to a circular material flow, requiring them to take a hard look at the materials entering their supply chains. The premise is to reduce the consumption of primary materials and extend their lifecycle. More and more businesses are looking to responsibly managed bio-based sources, such as timber and sugar cane, which can also help achieve a lower carbon impact throughout the package lifecycle. The use of renewable materials fortifies your company's commitment to improving your carbon footprint -- leaving your customers confident in your ability to uphold best practices while securing a continuous flow of feedstock; this ultimately strengthens your overall supply chain resiliency.

“When a company of Coca-Cola stature embraces 100 percent renewable packaging as it is doing, it’s a statement to others: Get on board, or you will get left behind,” says Greg Keenan, vice president of business development and engineering for Virent, in the Smithers Pira white paper entitled, “Making Sense of Sustainability in Packaging." (Click here to download).

2. Decision-making through lifecycle assessment (LCA)

There is a fine balance between reducing the environmental footprint of a product and fulfilling its primary purpose. Although recycling is important to diverting waste, it is no longer enough to design products and packaging for the purpose of recycling. Business leaders are thinking more holistically to ensure their targets and customer demands are met by designing a robust product and/or package using a lifecycle framework. This approach exposes elements, within each stage of the product or package life, that have the highest environmental impact. Product and packaging designers must keep all of these elements in mind as they reflect on a myriad of diverse consumer lifestyles and expectations, resource scarcity and other environmental considerations, retailer and brand-owner preferences, branding opportunities, and cost. LCAs show that if a package is designed using the minimum amount of materials and renewables where possible without compromising the product protection, the environmental footprint will be improved.

According to Tetra Pak’s LCA data, “If 75 percent of a package’s weight is from renewable paperboard, that element of the package only contributes to 20 percent of the total carbon impact throughout the package lifecycle.”

To thrive in a diverse and competitive market, we need a paradigm shift in how we look at sustainability -- a view that considers the totality of our supply chain impact and not just the back end. This is hardly a new idea, but it is the lynchpin of long-term sustainability and it’s imperative to shift our focus. I bring these ideas to you to drive discussion, to push boundaries, and to innovate for longevity.

Image courtesy of Tetra Pak

Elisabeth Comere is responsible for environment at Tetra Pak - the world leader in packaging and food processing solutions. She joined the company in 2006 as Environment Manager for Europe where she helped define and drive Tetra Pak's environmental strategy and contributed shaping recycling for cartons in Europe. Since 2010, she is based in the U.S., focusing on advancing the Tetra Pak's commitment to sustainability in the U.S. and Canada and is involved in various industry and customer packaging and sustainability initiatives.

By Cathy Palmer

Cities are the driving force behind the global economy: According to McKinsey, just 600 cities are responsible for 60 percent of the global gross domestic product – and the number of people living in cities is expected to increase from 3.6 billion in 2010 to 6.3 billion in 2050.

What strategies can cities adopt to plan, build and maintain themselves as centers of innovation and economic growth?

Design trends for future cities

Before discussing investment strategies, it’s worth considering why cities have been growing for the last 5,000 years. In short, it’s because they have proven to be an incredibly durable and productive economic model. The shift to urban living is helping to increase the incomes and purchasing power for millions around the world.

Infrastructure plays a critical role in a city’s success, providing the energy, water, transportation, waste management and access to food and manufactured goods. Vital to a city’s well-being, infrastructure supports more than basic needs; it encourages the ability to interact, communicate with ease and share ideas – the fundamental basics of innovation and future economic growth.

Today people move to cities for many reasons, including access to jobs, schools, services and culture. What will the city of the future look like? Quality of life is likely to be even more important in years to come, and factors like sustainability, resiliency, energy efficiency, quality housing and schools, safety, and even happiness will be requirements. Cities will be adaptive, collaborative, walkable, and everyone will have access to public services and public transportation.

Design trends point to more greenery for buildings, with rooftop gardens and vertical farming. Urban planning is moving toward mixed-use zoning that will provide office and shared space ideal for collaboration. Social and entrepreneurial connectivity is becoming ubiquitous, supporting a rise in mobility and self-employment. A thriving city has ease of movement and adaptable transportation making it possible move people from one point to another quickly and with minimal energy. Cities are championing ‘access through proximity’ over ‘access through mobility’ as a way of reaping huge economic and environmental benefits; including higher tax revenues, healthier residents, better use of existing infrastructure and reduced demand for fossil fuels.

Four infrastructure investments for Urban Vitality

In reality, the city of the future like depends on the decisions we make today. How dollars are prioritized for infrastructure investment is a reflection of a community’s social, economic and environmental values. The question for city planners is how to foster economic activity in a way that maximizes benefits to the community.

Technology can help cities to investigate how different design options can contribute to a more sustainable city, with an economic advantage, and a better quality of life. To achieve these goals, four key areas for technology-aided infrastructure investment are:

1. Buildings: Buildings constructed decades ago will still be standing because they are made of steel, but with contemporary advances in computing power it is now possible to rapidly evaluate the building systems and prioritize energy-efficient retrofits for the greatest impact.


2. Water: Adding parks and green corridors in cities can help with storm water management, reduce maintenance costs for ground-level and below-ground infrastructure, and create a healthier, better looking environment. Sensors in the pipes can track usage and more importantly leakage so it can be quickly corrected. Coastal cities in particular need to deliver resiliency strategies in light of rising sea levels, increasing storms, earthquakes or just the weight of increasing urbanization pressure. Simulation enabled through powerful cloud computing is helping planners and designers to explore innovative and less costly alternatives and viewing those approaches into the future through time based simulation.


3. Transportation: Transportation authorities are also taking advantage of virtually infinite computing and modern design tools to quickly explore a number of transit options to reduce travel time and congestion and decrease carbon emissions, as well as encouraging the aforementioned “access through proximity” as a development strategy.


4. Energy: Aside from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and more stable energy costs, generation within the city from renewable sources such as solar and wind can also reduce dependency on imported energy, and help improve urban resiliency in the face of fluctuating commodity prices and natural disasters.

Big data, technology and people

It is people, however, not technology, that makes a city. An informed public will be critical to any approvals for proposed new or rehabilitation projects to improve a city’s economic competitiveness. Today’s technology supports big data; cities and commercial firms can use data to create and present proposals for new designs shown within their existing surroundings or conduct analyses for population growth, weather impact and many other factors. Allowing people to plug in to the data can help facilitate communications and smooth the approvals process.

The biggest challenge is defining what we want our future to be; only with clear objectives can we achieve our goals. Information matters because when it comes time to rationalize spending finite resources, we need to be able to do this on social and environmental – as well as economic – factors.

Advanced technology for simulation, visualization and analysis is already in wide use today in the manufacturing sector and is growing rapidly in the infrastructure and construction industry’s to better understand projects. These tools use intelligent 3-D models to quickly evaluate multiple design options and help predict the physical and functional performance of the finished project under a variety of conditions. Known as BIM (Building Information Modeling) by planners, engineers, architects, contractors and owners, the process is also valuable in helping achieve significant productivity improvements.

With the rise of big data and the availability of advanced modeling technology, it is now possible to plan and prioritize investments in urban development with greater foresight, better communicate the potential outcomes, and yield measurably better results. More importantly, this technology, along with social and mobile platforms, now provides a means to engage all stakeholders – from citizens to professionals – earlier and throughout the process in a way that is easily understood.

Ultimately, it’s those people who live and work in cities who matter. Big data and simulation technology can help people design and make the infrastructure investments their cities need for a future of renewed economic and environmental vitality.

Catherine Palmer, LEED® AP, senior industry marketing manager at Autodesk, a 3-D design software company. Some of the ideas reflected in this article came from a roundtable forum hosted by Autodesk and McGraw-Hill Financial Global Institute. More info is available here.

HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase and Citibank have all been fined heavily by the Financial Conduct Authority for failing to control business practices in their foreign exchange trading operations.

Citibank N.A. was fined £225,575,000 ($358m), HSBC  £216,363,000 ($343m), JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. £222,166,000 ($352m), The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc £217,000,000 ($344m) and UBS AG £233,814,000 ($371m).

A separate probe into Barclays is continuing.

The fines are the largest ever imposed by the FCA, or its predecessor the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and this is the first time the FCA has pursued a settlement with a group of banks in this way.

The regulator says that in addition to taking enforcement action against and investigating the six firms where it found the worst misconduct, it is now launching an industry-wide remediation programme to ensure firms address the root causes of these failings and drive up standards across the market. It will require senior management at firms to take responsibility for delivering the necessary changes and attest that this work has been completed.

The FCA statment read: "These failings allowed traders at those Banks to behave unacceptably. They shared information about clients' activities which they had been trusted to keep confidential and attempted to manipulate G10 spot FX currency rates, including in collusion with traders at other firms, in a way that could disadvantage those clients and the market."

Tracey McDermott, the FCA's director of enforcement and financial crime, commented: “Firms could have been in no doubt, especially after Libor, that failing to take steps to tackle the consequences of a free for all culture on their trading floors was unacceptable. This is not about having armies of compliance staff ticking boxes. It is about firms understanding, and managing, the risks their conduct might pose to markets. Where problems are identified we expect firms to deal with those quickly, decisively and effectively and to make sure they apply the lessons across their business. If they fail to do so they will continue to face significant regulatory and reputational costs.”