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By Brendon Steele

Here’s the beginning of a joke: Citizens Climate Lobby, ExxonMobil, climate scientist James Hansen, and a conservative Heartland Institute spin-off walk into a bar. No, a bar fight doesn’t erupt. Instead, what do they agree on when they walk out?

Not many realize, but they already agree on a carbon tax shift.

Put simply, a tax shift means to cut one tax and replace it with another—such as to cut income and/or payroll taxes, and put a carbon price in their place. This is called a “tax swap” or “revenue neutrality.”

Former NASA scientist James Hansen, the godfather of climate advocacy, has long thought this is a great idea. He argues a carbon tax is the most efficient and effective way to shrink our greenhouse gas emissions, and by refunding the tax instead of just adding it on top, it protects people—and the poor—while keeping government’s “hands off money.”

ExxonMobil—the largest oil refiner in the world—thinks it’s a good business decision, stating on its website: “It is rare that a business lends its support to new taxes. But in this case, given the risk-management challenges we face and the policy alternatives under consideration, it is our judgment that a carbon tax is a preferred course of public policy action versus cap-and-trade approaches.”  ExxonMobil advocates revenue neutrality to protect vulnerable populations and spur investments in innovation.

ExxonMobil’s seeming nemesis, Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), is in complete agreement. A grassroots advocacy nonprofit, CCL trains volunteers to reclaim their democracy and engage elected officials on climate action. It makes clear: “Academic papers studying a carbon tax indicate that a carbon tax with 100 percent revenue recycling can boost the economy, even before considering the economic benefits from improved health and less severe climate impacts. Thus, CCL has chosen to advocate for a policy that will restore the climate and boost the economy.”

Finally, not many people would expect the Heartland Institute—long derided by climate advocates as the quintessential “climate denier”—to put its name anywhere near a carbon tax of any stripe. And it doesn’t. But Heartland’s former Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, which spun-off in 2012 to form its own free-market group, does.

That group, the R Street Institute, has been shaking up the Washington, D.C. policy scene since it formed. R Street passionately believes in small government and the free market, and it went head-to-head with its progenitor on stage in a public debate over a carbon tax. At the end, in a room of 200 conservatives and libertarians, roughly 80 percent stood up to affirm that there is a strong conservative case for a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Why do so many different types of stakeholders support a carbon tax shift?

Although from very different backgrounds, many within these groups recognize that a carbon tax shift can drive forward something our society needs: prosperity and innovation. That’s because right now taxes are collected on our income, or in other words, our prosperity—what we tax hurts our growth. Shifting taxes from income to pollution stops penalizing our prosperity and starts encouraging sustainable growth.

A simple and clear price on carbon is also the best signal to the economy to do more with less energy—that is, to be productive and to innovate. Innovation (not stimulus) creates value, which leads to lasting economic prosperity. This economic signal to innovate is not driven to nearly the same degree by other policy options or by regulations.

Furthermore, a tax shift’s revenue-neutrality means people—not the government—have the individual freedom to choose how to best spend their income, to benefit themselves and their families. This will produce even more social benefits as people choose options that drive down emissions and drive up productivity, leaving them with more money at the end of the day.

Conservative economist Gregory Mankiw, who advised former President George W. Bush, sums it up: “If the government charged a fee for each emission of carbon, that fee would be built into the prices of products and lifestyles. When making everyday decisions, people would naturally look at the prices they face and, in effect, take into account the global impact of their choices.”

In pursuing our work at Future 500, we’ve seen that the ideas above resonate across the ideological spectrum. As stakeholder engagement experts, it’s our mission to reach out to often polarized groups, and, more importantly, to build alliances across groups that love to hate each other: Rush Limbaugh conservatives, Michael Moore progressives, Ron Paul libertarians and just-get-it-done corporate executives.

We engage stakeholders across these common divides to advance systemic, market-based solutions to some of our greatest challenges. Even amidst pitched partisan battles, innovation-positive solutions—like a carbon tax shift—point to closing the bitter divide between businesses and environmentalists, right and left. We fervently believe that building bridges to find unlikely allies is a needed step to advance a sustainable world.

Image credit: Flickr/Takver

Brendon Steele is a Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Future 500, a global nonprofit specializing in stakeholder engagement and building bridges between parties at odds to advance systemic solutions to urgent sustainability challenges.

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have identified four new man-made gases in the atmosphere – all of which are contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer, they maintain.

New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience reveals that more than 74,000 tonnes of three new chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and one new hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) have been released into the atmosphere.

Scientists made the discovery by comparing today’s air samples with air trapped in polar firn snow – which provides a century-old natural archive of the atmosphere. They also looked at air collected between 1978 and 2012 in unpolluted Tasmania.

Measurements show that all four new gases have been released into the atmosphere recently – and that two are significantly accumulating.

Lead researcher Dr Johannes Laube from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences commented: “Our research has shown four gases that were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s which suggests they are man-made.

"CFCs are the main cause of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Laws to reduce and phase out CFCs came into force in 1989, followed by a total ban in 2010. This has resulted in successfully reducing the production of many of these compounds on a global scale. However, legislation loopholes still allow some usage for exempted purposes."

Laube added that the source of the new gases is not yet known and “should be investigated”. He indicated possible sources as being feedstock chemicals for insecticide production and solvents for cleaning electronic components.

Picture credit: © Todd Tremblett | Dreamstime Stock Photos
 

Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, yet earn a mere 10 percent of the world's income and own less than 1 percent of the world's property. In developing countries, the garment industry is a leading employer of low-skilled female workers, second only to agriculture. Although 80 percent of garment workers are women, very few make it up the ladder to management positions.

"Many garment workers are coming from rural areas, and most do not recognize that there are opportunities to advance their careers," says Dotti Hatcher, executive director of Gap Inc.'s global P.A.C.E. program. "Many of them have very challenging lives and have many duties at home in addition to their work lives. There is a lot of data that will tell you that women in unskilled work in the developing world don’t have a belief in self, and it can be more difficult for them to obtain the knowledge they need to advance their careers."

Gap Inc.'s highly successful P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) program addresses this barrier and assists women in developing the foundational skills to advance in their personal lives and the workplace, in a collaborative, holistic and sustainable initiative. An investment in women has a ripple effect, proving also to be an investment in her family and her community. Gap Inc.'s P.A.C.E. program addresses time and stress management, general and reproductive health, communication, problem-solving and decision-making, and financial literacy.

From India to Cambodia, more than 25,000 women in the garment industry from seven countries have participated in this 65- to 80-hour workplace education initiative since it launched in 2007. P.A.C.E. is a collaboration between Gap Inc., factory owners, NGO partners and female garment workers, resulting in a program that addresses the interests of all the stakeholders. It is a voluntary program, both for the garment workers and the factory owners. The data regarding program results is impressive, as are the stories of the women touched by this initiative.

“I had an issue with my workload — I could not finish sewing on time," says a P.A.C.E. graduate from Cambodia. "But now the problem is resolved because I decided to talk to my line leader about it. Earlier I was not confident enough to discuss it with her, and so I kept working unhappily and left work late. I have routines now, and I use time more effectively. My wages have increased as a result of my improved work.”

Hatcher spoke of a woman who was profoundly touched by the P.A.C.E. program shortly after it was introduced in China.

An illiterate woman volunteered to participate before the program offered literacy training. Functional literacy is an important requirement for participants to reap the most benefit from the opportunity. Even though the woman wasn't in the class officially (because she was illiterate), she came to class every week and would stay after for extra help. She lived in a dormitory with other workers, and they also supported her in understanding the material. She later took literacy classes at night after working in the factory, so her literacy level increased significantly.

"This woman went on to complete the full [P.A.C.E.] training and since that point has become a mentor to other women in the factory," Hatcher says. "What I love most about this is that as an illiterate woman, she had the tenacity to come back and try because she knew [what] she was learning through the program was important and is now a mentor to other women."

The impact of the training is making a noticeable difference in the garment factories. "If you look at how this has changed the lives [of program graduates], we’re seeing workers who are being promoted or advancing in the factory three times as fast as the workers who haven’t gone through the P.A.C.E. program," Hatcher explains. "We’re seeing a change in the factories with supervisors that were all men just four, five or six years ago."

According to a study on Gap Inc.'s P.A.C.E. program by the International Center for Research on Women, graduates show a 49 percent increase in self-esteem, resulting in greater confidence in dealing with work and family situations, a more forward-thinking mindset, and an increased recognition of their self worth. Graduates showed a 150 percent increase in self-efficacy, demonstrating increased confidence in realizing goals or tasks at home and at work, and performing work more efficiently. The study also found a 119 percent increase in work-efficacy and a 100 percent increase workplace influence, boosting both the quality of work and productivity and improving relationships with co-workers and supervisors.

Many factory owners have also been enthusiastic about the results of Gap Inc.'s P.A.C.E. program, and the program is having a tangible benefit on the triple bottom line. "We are seeing that vendor operations are benefiting," Hatcher says. "Retention in the garment industry is typically very low. The vendor data is saying that the women who have gone through the PACE program are being retained longer. There is more loyalty to the vendor because they are giving the women learning opportunities that are needed in the workplace. The efficiency of the operation is being increased among women who have gone through the program, and they are more productive. This is a direct bottom-line impact to the vendor."

Gap Inc. has historically invested in the communities where it does business, both in the U.S. and internationally, but the creation of the P.A.C.E. program embodies a new approach. "We've built health clinics and contributed to the building of schools," Hatcher says. "The approach was to identify a need and support the funding of an initiative or program that addressed that need. This is all very good work, but over time it was not sustainable.

"We were looking at how we were investing and making it more closely aligned with our business interests, so it would be sustained over time. We wanted an initiative that could be implemented in the factory setting, that could be sustained by having vendors integrate it into their normal business practices, and address the specific needs of the women."

Although the social benefits of the P.A.C.E. program are priceless, the financial benefit for the company is much more difficult to calculate. "Even if you can change one person’s life, it is something you can’t put a dollar sign on," Hatcher says. "It is part of who we are as a company and is part of Gap Inc.'s DNA. It is great to work for a company that will invest this way and doesn't immediately look to us for the ROI."

Photo courtesy of Gap Inc.

Nuclear power has long been controversial in this country, due to concerns about safety. Those concerns were exacerbated after the Fukushima disaster, whose impacts are still not fully understood. A lot of attention has been focused on the Indian Point nuclear plant, in Buchanan N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson River, just 38 miles from New York City. The license for Unit 2 actually expired last September, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would like the plant closed. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is evaluating it for a possible 20-year extension.

In the meantime, Con Edison of New York, commonly known as ConEd, and the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), have developed a program to reduce demand, which would help reduce the need for generating capacity, making the prospect of eliminating the plant more feasible.

The program, which is called the Indian Point Energy Center Energy Efficiency, Demand Reduction and Combined Heat and Power Implementation Plan, is looking to cut out 125MW of demand through the three types of measures named in the title.
Following in the footsteps of the California Public Utility Commission, which recently set ambitious targets for energy storage capacity as a means of leveling out demand, this new plan will also invest heavily in storage.

The plan will provide an additional $2,000 per kW of stored energy on top of the $600 per kW currently offered by NYSERDA. By lowering demand using energy storage, Con Edison is eliminating the need to replace the Indian Point nuclear plant, which just had one of its two remaining reactors shut down in January due to a low water level.

I asked ConEd about the project and received the following responses from Colin Smart, section manager of commercial customer solutions.

TriplePundit: What is the storage capacity goal?

Colin Smart: We're looking to reduce demand by 100 MW through Energy Efficiency (“EE”) and Demand Reduction (“DR”), and 25 MW through Combined Heat and Power (“CHP”).

3p: What kinds of energy storage technologies are eligible?

CS: Many technologies that will help permanently reduce peak demand will be eligible for incentives. For energy storage, we have incentives for thermal and battery storage.

3p: What kinds of submissions are you seeing?

CS: While details of the program have not been announced, the early reaction from customers and technology developers has been encouraging.

3p: What led you to decide to subsidize storage at this level?

CS: We tried to develop an incentive schedule that balanced demand reduction with our belief in creating opportunities for new technologies. Energy storage technologies continue to develop and provide opportunities for customers. Thermal storage projects have been deployed at a number of New York City buildings and provide a positive impact on customers peak demand profiles. Batteries continue to emerge as an option and we are pleased to see the FDNY include a broader array of battery technologies in its new code. We recognize that the storage technologies face economic hurdles for deployment. But we hope this program will help create an environment for wider deployment, eventually resulting in improved, self-sustaining economics.

3p: How will this ultimately benefit ConEd?

CS: We believe it is important to help our customers better manage their demand and by doing so they can reduce costs for themselves and Con Edison. Con Edison operates one of the most complex electric distribution systems in the world, and our engineers are enthusiastic about understanding and supporting new technologies that can help customers. We believe that technologies such as energy storage will allow for more innovative design and operation of our system, while allowing us to remain the most reliable system in the country. This will result in a strong future for Con Edison and continued excellent service for our customers.

The impacts of incentives

I also sought out representatives of companies with technologies eligible for incentives under the program. Mark MacCracken, is the CEO of CALMAC and former chair of the U.S. Green Building Council. CALMAC makes thermal energy storage systems that primarily help reduce air conditioning loads by making ice at night and then using that ice to provide cooling during peak hours.

“The Con Ed program correctly focuses on the real electrical energy problem we have in this country which is how and when we use our power. With our national utility load factor now under 50 percent we have twice as much generating capacity as we need if we use electricity at a level rate day and night. Con Edison's program specifically attacks the peak demand problem.”

"Now," continued MacCracken, "buildings in NYC that install energy storage technologies, like CALMAC’s IceBank for example (already installed in many iconic NY buildings like Rockefeller, the Bank of America Tower and 55 Water St), will have it paid off in just 3 years, instead of the usual 7-year payback. That is a huge incentive."

On the battery side, there is Eos Energy Storage, who just announced that they will be integrating Ideal Power's 30 kW battery converter technology to be integrated with its Aurora energy storage system. The system will be connected to the grid and deployed by Con Edison in a New York City pilot project in the second quarter of 2014.

The Aurora system employs Eos’s safe, low-cost zinc hybrid cathode (ZnythTM) battery technology and is designed to enhance renewable energy generation, increase the grid’s efficiency and resiliency, and reduce utilities’ costs and consumers’ electricity bills. The compact modular design of both the battery pack and power converter is uniquely suited for office buildings and facilities with space-constrained environments.

Michael Oster, CEO of Eos Energy Storage had the following comment:

“We have successfully tested Ideal Power’s 30kW battery converter with our Aurora system to demonstrate bi-directional AC power flow and have been very pleased with the results. Based on this performance, Eos has selected Ideal Power for the multi-kW scale distributed energy storage system to be installed at a Con Edison site.”

“We are pleased to support the innovative work by Eos and to be selected for the pilot project with Con Ed. This represents an opportunity to demonstrate our complementary technologies and to create a best-in-class AC-integrated energy storage system,” said Dan Brdar, chairman and CEO of Ideal Power.

Ideal Power’s 30 kW battery converter offers high efficiency in a compact, modular and easy-to-install solution that can improve the economics for energy storage applications. It is based on the company’s patented Power Packet Switching Architecture (PPSA) that provides electrical isolation without the use of a bulky and expensive transformer. Among the many benefits of PPSA is the unique capability to reduce the size, cost and efficiency loss associated with conventional systems.

As the world is adapting to the realities of the day, which acknowledge the many benefits of renewable sources of energy, the need for effective energy storage solutions has been recognized and responded to. Ultimately, the approaches being pursued in this program: efficiency, storage, and demand management will be far less expensive per kW, cleaner, and safer than the construction and maintenance of new facilities.

RP Siegel, PE, is an inventor, consultant and author. He co-wrote the eco-thriller Vapor Trails, the first in a series covering the human side of various sustainability issues including energy, food, and water in an exciting and entertaining format. Now available on Kindle.

Follow RP Siegel on Twitter

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.

Clean tech is a hot topic in sustainable business - combining sustainable thinking with high technology. To make sure you don't miss a thing, this week we rounded up eight clean tech trends to watch in 2014. Have something to add? Tell us about it in the comments. 

1. Falling prices, booming capacity in the solar market

Over the past three years, we've seen U.S. solar prices plummet, from 21 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to 11 cents by the end of 2013. As a result, last year was another banner, record-setting year for solar energy in the U.S., with 4,751 megawatts (MW) of new photovoltaic capacity installed–a year-over-year increase of 41 percent.

The solar industry continues to be a rare bright spot in terms of generating good jobs, as well as clean, renewable energy. Reports show that the solar job market is growing at 10 times the national average. Nearly 24,000 Americans got jobs in the U.S. solar industry last year, bringing the total number of U.S. solar industry jobs to 142,698 as of November 2013.

2. A new generation of batteries

Once prohibitively bulky and expensive, lithium-ion batteries have dropped significantly in both size and cost in recent years. Just this week, Tesla Motors announced that it will build a new “Gigafactory” to produce lithium-ion batteries at a rate able to support the manufacture of 500,000 electric cars per year. By 2020, the plant will be capable of producing as many lithium-ion batteries as the entire world produced in 2013.

The promise for the electric vehicle market is clear, especially given Tesla's plans to release a mass-market, long-range EV, but the fate of the next generation in lithium-ion batteries holds potentially greater impacts for both people and planet. Both Tesla and SolarCity have already announced plans to offer energy storage systems, and documents filed with the SEC for the Gigafactory plant detailed that some of the lithium-ion batteries will be used for “stationary storage applications." That is, batteries for storing energy for use in homes, commercial sites and utilities.

3. Offshore wind picking up steam

After years of squabbling over placement and regulations, offshore wind is finally becoming a reality in the U.S. Approved in 2010, Cape Wind, America’s first offshore wind farm, on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, Mass., received a boost in funding this month and is expected to secure the rest of its $2.5 billion budget by the third quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, the nation’s first offshore wind farm on the Pacific Coast cleared a crucial federal hurdle this month after Seattle’s Principle Power received approval to move forward on a commercial lease for the proposed $200 million, 30-megawatt project. In addition to clean energy benefits, a recent study shows that offshore wind farms may also slow down hurricanes--underscoring the multifaceted benefits of this clean tech trend.

4. Making waves in tidal energy

Yet to be explored in full, tidal energy holds potentially tremendous potential for clean power generation around the world. Picking up on the burgeoning trend, Lockheed Martin hooked up with Australia’s Victorian Wave Partners LLC earlier this year to begin the development of what’s billed as the world’s largest wave energy project. The 62.5-megawatt peak power wave energy generation project will be built off the coast of Victoria, Australia.

5. "Hybrid electric buildings" poised to transform commercial real estate

America’s commercial buildings may soon be radically redesigned into Prius-like hybrid energy centers. Earlier this month, Triple Pundit touched on this developing clean tech trend and its potential impacts for reducing commercial energy demand, lowering costs and boosting worker productivity.

6. The quest for nuclear fusion

The quest for an effective fusion reactor has been going on since the 1950s, but new developments suggest we may be on the cusp of turning the decades-long dream into reality. A recent piece in the New Yorker (which is worth a read in full) detailed the development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in an Alpine forest in the South of France.

The complex machine will contain ionized hydrogen particles achieving temperatures more than ten times the sun's sweltering core--with the potential to "solve the world's energy problems for the next 30 million years." It may sound like a science fiction movie, but researchers say the reality isn't that far off. Thirty-five countries, representing more than half the world’s population, are invested in the project, and it's first target date for experiment is set for 2020.

7. Smart thermostats bring big data to the people

Earlier this year, Google nearly broke the Internet when it announced its purchase of Nest, a 3-year-old startup that designs and manufactures smart devices like thermostats and smoke alarms, for $3.2 billion in cash. While the Nest, and other learning thermostats like it, hold vast potential for homeowner (as well as commercial) energy savings, sustainability may not have been a significant factor in Google's big move.

A more likely motive is the company's aspirations to deepen its involvement in the Internet of Things, “a world in which everything from household gadgets to cars, clothes and pets are connected wirelessly to the Web.” That's not to say smart thermostats won't continue to play a role in how homeowners and commercial buildings use their energy. But the smart thermostats of tomorrow may play an even deeper role--as one of many gateways into what soon may become an even more interconnected world.

8. The rise of Thorium

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, more attention is being paid to safety and strategy around nuclear power generation. Three years after the disaster, India's Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) organized a national seminar on nuclear energy in New Delhi this week--with the topic of safety front-and-center.

What's not being discussed much in the mainstream is a potential game-changer for nuclear energy: Thorium reactors, a form of nuclear power that supposedly overcomes many of the concerns associated with traditional nukes. Unlike conventional light water reactor designs, the liquid fluoride thorium reactor is a type of molten salt reactor (MSR) that is generally considered to be inherently safer, cleaner and more economically viable than conventional reactors, but was not chosen by DOE as the technology of choice because it did not produce weapons grade material as a byproduct.

The concept has been largely languishing in the dust since the 1960s, but India recently announced that it is developing world's first mainly thorium-based nuclear reactor in Mumbai--indicating we may be on the cusp of a revolution in nuclear.

Image credit: Flickr/macinate

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

The push for sustainably sourced palm oil has been gaining prominence in the past few years. Quite a number of organizations have stepped up to the plate recent months to lobby for improved sourcing methods that don’t destroy forests in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Environmental advocates ranging from Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network to local zoos like Woodland Park, Cheyenne Mountain and St. Louis have taken a stand to encourage oil producers and purchasers to make the switch to sustainable sources.
Many companies have heard that call and set commitments for change. But as the Union of Concerned Scientists has pointed out recently, there’s a difference between making the commitment and making the comprehensive change.

To be fair, conversion to sustainably sourced palm oil is no small feat. It’s expensive for a company to do so. It requires commitment and it requires planning. But companies like Unilever, which spearheaded a successful transition to sustainable, certified sources three years earlier than anticipated and Nestlé, which at the behest of Greenpeace supporters, partnered with its supplier, Golden Agri Resources and The Forest Trust to develop a better model for sourcing back in 2010, underscored the urgency of this change.

So how do consumers know who has made the pledge to switch to sustainable sources, and who hasn’t yet? And how do they know what that pledge really means?

You can find out here, on the pages of Triple Pundit, where we try to feature not only the names of those companies and organizations that push for conversion, but what it took and what they see as an outcome of their sustainable farming and sourcing efforts.

But if you are looking for a company-by-company comparison of the top ten companies already working toward that goal, the Union of Concerned Scientists has undertaken that effort.

Its online Palm Oil Scoreboard is exactly that: a register of the progress that each major palm oil user has made over the past few years. As the UCS has noted, ethical sourcing isn’t always just what the company buys that counts. Oftentimes its environmental rating depends on how it grows or produces the ingredient itself and how it manages a responsible supply chain.

Does the company have a commitment to ensure the oil it uses is deforestation free? Does it also acknowledge the importance of ensuring the preservation of peat land that is essential to sustaining a healthy forest? Are its products and sources traceable? Does it support transparency in its operations? And given the devastated conditions of some areas like the islands of Sarawak and Sabah, are their actions timely?

The list also gives a summary of what each company has done, what its stated commitment is toward each area of concern, and what it needs to do to be able to say it is sourcing ethically. And, it doesn't just look at packaged food producers, but personal care manufacturers and fast-food services.

Sadly, none of the companies on the list has yet received a sterling review on all counts (although some come impressively close). But as we said in the beginning transitioning to sustainable sourcing isn’t easy when world sources have relied upon other methods for so many years.

Hopefully the UCS scoreboard will serve as another encouragement for companies to make the change. And hopefully as well, the UCS will consider expanding this list so that mid-sized and small companies are reminded that big or small, the effort counts.

Image of palm forest: Fallacia

Image of deforestation due to unsustainable palm tree harvesting: H Dragon

Image of successive deforestation: Sandra Diaz

At the end of January, environmental science and conservation news site Mongabay, reported that Indonesian Paper giant, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL) had announced a new environmental policy aimed to stem criticism about its forestry practices, which continue to be deleterious to Indonesia's natural rain forests.

APRIL is Indonesia's second largest pulp and paper producer after Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), and the two account for about 80 percent of the country's total pulp and paper output. In recent months we have written extensively about APP's ongoing commitment to their forest clearing moratorium and increasing transparency under their Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) - so APRIL's announcement at face value is a welcome one; However it's also one, as Mongabay says, that has been "immediately blasted" by activist groups.

Certainly, APRIL's announcement of their Sustainable Forest Management Policy seems somewhat less definitive than the provisions made in APP's FCP announced in Feb 2013; you can read APRIL's press release here for the specifics. For example, APRIL commits that they will put, "an end to the establishment of new plantations by December 2014," which, implies (rather than expressly states) a commitment to stop natural rainforest clearing.

In contrast, APP's FCP last year took a much more categorical position, committing to a complete moratorium on any further natural forest clearing with immediate effect (January 31st, 2013), commensurate with High Conservation Value (HCV) assessments to be carried out across all supplier concessions.

Another provision in APRIL's announcement is that its mills will only take wood fibers that are sourced entirely from plantation forests by 2019. In contrast, APP made that same commitment to be effective from August 31st, 2013 - meaning that by the time APRIL makes good on this promise, APP will have been free of natural rainforest wood for six years.

APRIL's new policy details other things too. For example, the claim that they will "strive to support conservation areas equal in size to APRIL’s plantation areas." The word "strive" begging the question, is this a commitment or a look and see? They also commit to a "doubling in the size of forest restoration programs to 40,000 hectares." These are not objectionable aims but they offer no time frame or concrete action. So what do the critics say?

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) writing in response to APRIL's announcement remains skeptical that the company is heading towards true reform. They say the "commitment itself is murky, as APRIL fails to disclose the most basic information needed to understand what is being promised," and "APRIL has repeatedly failed to meet similar commitments, raising the possibility that this is simply another PR move to alleviate pressure and scrutiny from consumers and NGO’s." Indeed, Mongabay suggests the motivation of APRIL's announcement, while unclear, could be because The world Business Council on Sustainable Development warned of APRIL's expulsion just days before.

RAN also makes it clear APRIL doesn't go far enough in scope, stating that any commitments the company makes needs to apply to APRIL's sister companies and its parent company, Royal Golden Eagle International (RGE); RAN says APRIL's sustainable forest management policy fails to achieve that.

But it has to be said, similar kinds of statements were made about APP and their failure to follow through on promises made in the past, and though they still have their critics (RAN and WWF both) APP has since been able to build increasing credibility by taking measurable action. They've also brought in 3rd parties to help carry out environmental assessments, and have built a greater degree of transparency - notably engaging the Rainforest Alliance to act as a 3rd party evaluator which both WWF and RAN applaud.

So, perhaps its best to encourage APRIL to refine and improve their plan rather than slam them, because this could be a fresh start that can be improved upon too. In fact, Mongabay says WWF has "cautiously welcomed" APRIL's announcement, while the company states in its press release that WWF will be invited into its Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

In a way, this would not be a dissimilar trajectory to the one taken by APP when they released their sustainability road map a couple of years ago and were criticized for it not going far enough either. Commendably, APP brought in Greenpeace who helped them translate demands from activist groups into a workable action plan that could be implemented on the ground. Their work since builds on that and there is no sign that they plan to backtrack now.

As I wrote last month, APP has called for more cooperation with other organizations because the preservation of the rainforest requires a landscape approach spanning several concession areas of differing uses. APP has found that opportunities for improvement cannot be resolved by one company alone, so maybe this is an opportunity for collaboration on best practices? After all, we can be sure the likes of WWF, RAN and Greenpeace will keep up the pressure.

Photo By Author

Follow me on Twitter: @PhilCovBlog

Despite a nearly 30 percent decline in cigarette smoking in the U.S. over the past decade, cigarette butts are still the most littered item across the country and the planet, according to Keep America Beautiful.

To tackle this litter problem locally, Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, home to the National Hockey League’s Predators, has teamed up with the Nashville Clean Water Project and upcycling company TerraCycle to collect and recycle cigarette butts discarded at the sports and concert venue. The arena is one of the first venues in North America to launch a recycling program for this traditionally difficult-to-recycle material.

“We’re proud of our building and our community, and we are taking this opportunity to set an example in Music City and show how simple it can be to help reduce litter and maintain clean water,” Chris Parker, Nashville Predators’ executive vice president, said in a statement.

Under the program, Bridgestone Arena staff collects cigarette butts littered outside the venue on sidewalks and in plaza areas where concert-goers and Predators fans are allowed to smoke. Butts are packed in boxes and shipped to TerraCycle’s New Jersey recycling plant, with postage paid by the upcycling company.

TerraCycle, which specializes in collecting materials that cannot be recycled through most curbside programs and turning them into innovative, affordable products, recycles the cigarette butts it receives into industrial shipping pallets and reworks any remaining tobacco into tobacco composting.

Since Bridgestone Arena began collecting cigarette butts in mid-December, the venue has rounded up an estimated 30,000 butts, weighing in at 30 pounds.

As someone who coordinated recycling programs for cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, I understand all too well that no matter how many recycling and trash bins you install and no matter how much try to educate the public, some people will always throw away items in the wrong bins or litter. That’s why Bridgestone Arena’s program is commendable: The company is using precious staff time to gather and sort out cigarette butts – rather than simply set out collection bins for the material and expect visitors to dispose of them properly. Then the program takes its environmental responsibility a step further: not only preventing cigarette butts from entering the environment and endangering wildlife, but also recycling the waste material into a valuable new commodity.

Cigarette butts make up 38 percent of U.S. roadway litter, according to Keep America Beautiful, often ending up in waterways and oceans where they are toxic to aquatic life.

Bridgestone Arena’s collection program is part of a campaign by the Nashville Clean Water Project to collect and recycle cigarette litter in Tennessee’s capital. The nonprofit is currently raising funds through Indiegogo to start similar collection programs throughout the city – at other businesses and through neighborhood associations.

“The participation of the Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena shows exceptional community leadership,” Mark Thien, said executive director of the Nashville Clean Water Project, operating nationally as Water City USA, in a statement. “We hope organizations throughout the country will follow their lead and join our no-cost program.”

Businesses and offices across the country can sign up for TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Brigade and collect and ship cigarette butts to TerraCycle for recycling.

Image credit: Flickr/Maxwell GS

Passionate about both writing and sustainability, Alexis Petru is freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose work has appeared on Earth911, Huffington Post and Patch.com. Prior to working as a writer, she coordinated environmental programs for Bay Area cities and counties. Connect with Alexis on Twitter at @alexispetru

When it comes to energy efficiency, even small improvements can go a long way.

Following through on President Barack Obama's Climate Action Plan, the Department of Energy (DOE) on Feb. 28 issued new energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigeration equipment. Over the ensuing 30 years, it's projected that the new standards will reduce carbon pollution by 142 million tons – the equivalent of that produced by generating electricity for 14.3 million U.S. homes – while also saving businesses as much as $11.7 billion on energy bills.

An update of standards set in 2009, the new energy efficiency standards will yield on the order of a 30 percent improvement in the energy efficiency of commercial refrigeration equipment as compared to current standards, according to the DOE.

The outsized benefits of higher energy efficiency standards

Operating 24x7x365 in grocery stores, mini-marts, supermarkets and food storage facilities, commercial refrigerators, freezers and refrigerator-freezers are essential to our modern industrial food supply chain. They also suck up a lot of juice. As the DOE elaborates:

“A large commercial refrigerator used in grocery stores can consume up to 17,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power per year, while a large commercial freezer can use up to 38,000 kilowatt-hours of power per year.”

As we know and is being better understood and increasingly well documented, generating all that electricity produces lots of pollution – carbon and greenhouse gas emissions that are warming global climate, as well as emissions of a range of chemicals that deplete the ozone layer and contaminate our land and water resources.

Energy efficiency, savings and reducing pollution

Given the number of commercial refrigeration units in operation and their being in constant use, even small improvements in energy efficiency can result in large reductions in power consumption, and hence emissions not only of carbon and greenhouse gases, but of chloroflurocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), freons and halons used in commercial refrigeration, solvents, propellants and foam-blowing agents.

Emissions of this latter group of gases has been responsible for depletion of the earth's ozone layer and are in the process of being phased out of use worldwide as per the terms of the UN's Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. They also contribute to global warming, an issue that the U.S., along with the European Union (EU) and other countries, are currently seeking to address by phasing out use of hydroflurocarbons (HFCs).

Establishing higher energy efficiency standards will also yield financial benefits, as Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz stated in a press release,

“In our supermarkets and grocery stores, refrigeration can use almost 40 percent of total energy use – contributing a large portion of these businesses’ utility bills. By improving the energy efficiency of commercial refrigeration equipment – like restaurant-size fridges or the deli case at your local grocery store – we can make our businesses more competitive, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money.”

Following through on President Obama's Climate Action Plan

Engaging consumer and environmental advocacy groups as well as industry participants and other stakeholders, in a lengthy and comprehensive standards-setting process, the new commercial refrigerant standards will go into effect in late February or early March 2017, three years after their publication in the Federal Register. They're only the latest in a series of energy-efficiency actions the DOE has been taking in accordance with President Obama's Climate Action Plan.

In President Obama's first term, the DOE established new minimum energy efficiency standards for dishwashers, refrigerators and many other types of consumer and household equipment. Through 2030, these are expected to yield hundreds of billions of dollars in consumer savings by reducing their energy bills, as well as save enough electricity to power over 85 million homes for two years.

Announcing his historic Climate Action Plan last June, the President established new energy efficiency standards for appliances and for federal buildings that are expected to reduce carbon pollution by a minimum 3 billion tons by 2030. That's the equivalent to nearly half the carbon pollution produced by the U.S. energy sector in its entirety over one year.

Aiming to achieve these goals, the DOE last August proposed the rule establishing new commercial refrigerant energy efficiency standards. It also proposed a rule to improve the energy efficiency of walk-in coolers and freezers, such as the milk displays at supermarkets.

Image courtesy Energy.gov

Jaguar Land Rover aims to create a range of humanitarian, conservation, environmental and educational initiatives as part of its new Environmental Innovation Strategy. In collaboration with ClimateCare, the strategy’s goal is to benefit 12m people around the world by 2020.

As well as focussing on reducing the whole life environmental impacts of its products, manufacturing and supply chain operations, the luxury car brand's strategy will deliver positive impacts in the communities where it operates by improving health, reducing poverty and providing new opportunities for employment and education.

Jaguar Land Rover has worked with ClimateCare since 2007. To deliver the new target of creating opportunities for 12 million people Jaguar Land Rover will work with ClimateCare for a further three years to develop and deliver world- leading carbon for development projects.

Jaguar Land Rover has taken the first step towards its target by supporting a region of the LifeStraw Carbon for Water project with ClimateCare and global health company Vestergaard in Kenya. The project reduces carbon emissions and provides safe water to over 700,000 people by distributing LifeStraw water filters to the entire Busia region of Kenya.

"This is the first time that one business has supported a complete geographic region of this project, and means we can better identify the positive impact Jaguar Land Rover's support has on local communities," explained ClimateCare Director, Tom Morton.

ClimateCare is working with Jaguar Land Rover and LBG(the London Benchmarking Group) to agree consistent measurement methodologies that will be used to accurately report the number of lives improved throughout the Jaguar Land Rover programme.