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British telecoms giant BT is working with international charity SOS Children’s Villages on its latest CSR programme, Connecting Africa, which will connect 20 of the charity’s sites in 12 African countries via its global satellite network. BT and SOS Children’s Villages estimate that the project could directly and indirectly benefit around 700,000 people.

Anna Easton, BT’s Connected Society programme director, told Ethical Performance that digital inclusion was fundamental to the telecoms group’s strategy.

Connecting Africa has a small project team built on a peripatetic model. One BT engineer trains 6 SOS Children’s Villages engineers, who then go out to train others.

BT designs and builds the network infrastructure using underutilised or decommissioned BT equipment in each country. For example, using BT Home Hub 3s as BT Home Hub 4 is now the new offering.

The first two SOS Children’s Villages in The Gambia have already been brought online and the remaining Children’s Villages are scheduled to be connected by October 2013. Connecting Africa is built on the model of connectivity that BT set up in Germany, again in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages. Easton hopes that the initiative will go global for BT (which operates in 170 markets). The charity itself operates in 120 markets, so the potential is definitely there, maintains Easton.

The Connecting Africa project will bring numerous benefits to the children living in the Children’s Villages, enabling them to get online and helping with their education. It will also bring benefits to SOS Children’s Villages as an organisation, helping the charity run its operations more efficiently.

Easton says that BT is very focused on measuring the social impact of the programme. While it is currently measuring impact via direct feedback and output data (such as the number of children online and the number of children who have improved in their school grades), BT is also developing a Socially Responsible Investment measurement tool – a ‘holy grail’ says Easton - that should be ready during the current financial year. BT will be opening it up to other companies to use too.
 

The first billboard ever to create drinking water from humidity in the air has produced 15,000 litres of water in six months.

Launched at the end of 2012, the billboard is now a prominent feature of the skyline in Bujama, a small village just south of Peru’s capital city, Lima. The climate is oppressive, with some residents of Bujama having no access to a clean water supply. Since the billboard’s arrival, residents of Bujama now have access to an average of 96 litres of drinking water a day.

The unique billboard was co-produced by outdoor advertising owner Clear Channel Peru and researchers at UTEC, University of Engineering and Technology in Lima. Media agency Media Connection BPN and advertising agency, Mayo Draft FCB Perú, have also been full partners in the project.

The billboard cost $32,600 to set-up and works by using a panel to trap humidity in the air, transforming it into water. Internally, the panel consists of five devices that extract water vapour from the air using a condenser and filters.

The water is stored in tanks at the top of the structure, and then filtered before flowing down a pipe to a tap that is accessible to all who walk past. On average, 15 to 18 families arrive at the billboard to access the water every day.  

In the wake of recent horse meat scares and supply chain scandals in Europe, McDonald’s is opening up its supply chain to public scrutiny in the UK.

The US burger chain giant has launched a search for ‘Quality Scouts’, members of the public who will go behind the scenes and report back on how some of its most famous products are made, in response to increased interest from consumers in where the food they buy comes from, says the company.

The Quality Scouts will investigate and chronicle the supply chain journey from some of the 17,500 British and Irish farms that supply McDonald’s through to food production and restaurants. They will meet and interview farmers, food suppliers and McDonald’s employees to find out the facts about what’s in their chosen product and how it is made. McDonald’s will then publish the Quality Scouts’ reports on its interactive website whatmakesmcdonalds.co.uk later this year.

According to a recent Populus poll of 2,000 consumers, knowing more about where food comes from is now an important issue for most UK adults. Four out of five people (81%) said it is important that ingredients are traceable to the farm they came from, and over half of adults (53%) consider how food is produced when deciding which products to buy.

Warren Anderson, vice president, Supply Chain, commented: “Every day, people ask us questions about our food and our ingredients, so we’re inviting members of the public to see for themselves what’s in some of our most popular products and follow the journey from farm to restaurant.”

The Quality Scout visits will take place throughout summer 2013. 

Japan has introduced legislation to rid its atmosphere of hydro-fluorocarbons, or HFCs, the so-called super-greenhouse gases.
HFCs were initially commercialised to replace the chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer, but are themselves contributing to global climate change. In fact they are considered to be hundreds of times more damaging to the global climate than carbon dioxide.

HFCs are used primarily in refrigeration, air conditioning, aerosols and foam blowing and as fire suppressants and solvents, but commercial alternatives, kinder to the climate, do now exist for most of these functions.

Japan’s new law demands measures at every step of the HFC life cycle, including manufacture and the importing of refrigeration and air conditioning units.

The law also sets a timetable for switching to HFC-free goods or products using HFCs with minimal effects on global warming.
Japan joins the EU and Australia in regulating and lowering HFC levels. The revision of the European F-gas regulation for phasing down HFCs in the EU is now in operation, and last year Australia imposed an HFC tax.
This leaves the US as the only leading industrialised nation not to have acted to cut HFC use.

The US spearheaded proposals at the Montreal Protocol for a global cut in HFCs, and it co-founded the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to encourage reductions. However, despite its international activity, the US remains the world’s largest user of HFCs and lacks policies of its own to curb HFC emissions.

Mark W. Roberts, international policy adviser for the Environmental Investigation Agency, the UK-based NGO, commented: “The US has led the way in eliminating ozone-depleting substances and calling for a global phase-down of HFCs which would prevent the emission of 87bn to 146bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents by 2050.

“However, the US needs to join the rest of the industrialised countries and take serious actions domestically, if it is going to convince the developing countries that they should agree to the proposal for a phase-down of HFCs.”
The agency has formally urged the US to act immediately to halt unnecessary HFC use.  

Save the Children and pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are ramping up their collaborative efforts with an ambitious new partnership to save the lives of a million of the poorest children in the world. While the two organisations have been working together for eight years on a number of public health projects, this initiative takes the relationship to a new level.

For the first time, Save the Children will be involved in helping GSK to develop medicines for children, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under- fives.

The GSK-Save the Children partnership will also focus on widening vaccine coverage to the poorest children, increasing investment in health workers, as well as developing a low-cost nutritional product.

Amongst the key initiatives are the transformation of an antiseptic used in mouthwash into a life-saving product for new-borns and the roll-out of a powder-form of an antibiotic.

Flagship programmes will run initially in Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. These will be closely monitored and the evidence on how to save children’s lives at scale will be used to replicate programmes in other countries.

Simon Wright, Head of Child Survival Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children told Ethical Performance that by partnering with the charity GSK is able to connect with the social purpose of what it does. “We’ll be able to offer advice on how they should be thinking; what their R&D priorities should be. We also offer the opportunity to be a combined voice on access to healthcare.”

In light of criticism levelled at the pharma giant a decade ago (for its high price tags on HIV drugs for the developing world), Wright said that GSK had changed. “GSK is on a journey. Its ceo Sir Andrew Witty set out a different agenda in 2009 where he acknowledged that GSK would have to be proactive in building the health infrastructure in nations where it wishes to operate,” he said. “Yes, it remains a private company out to make profits and we’re a not- for- profit organisation but within that framework we can influence each other and we’ll see that a company of that size can still have positive social outcomes.”
 

Market leading CSR and sustainability newsletter Ethical Performance has relaunched its website with a new look as well as offering additional content. Users of the site will find a greater array of free to read news whilst subscribers will have access to an even greater level of news coverage as well as more in-depth articles from across the sector.

The new website marks a step change in the delivery of Ethical Performance content and users will find much improved signposting of various content as well as a more impactful design. Content is now clearly ordered by section and service and the search bar will return results based on individual words or phrases from the 14-year editorial, company and directory archives.

Gareth Hector, publisher, said the site would herald a key milestone in how CSR and sustainability news content is delivered.

He said: "Ethical Performance really wants to make a difference to people working in all aspects of CSR and sustainability. As a key media player it means that we have the opportunity, and responsibility, to deliver key information on the latest issues. This is also why we have launched a new weekly e-newsletter to help keep the industry better informed than ever."

During the next few days, the team at Ethical Performance be carrying out some live testing, but should any visitors experience any difficulties they can contact Gareth directly at [email protected]"

By Lisa Marie Chirico

Maybe John Milton got it half right. During his fiery rant in "The Devil's Advocate" he blames God for setting the rules in opposition after giving man instincts, but ultimately concludes that free will plays a big role in our lives. For companies who create products that are deemed unhealthy, such as soda and cigarettes, consumers' free will takes center stage. Corporate profits have swelled over the years thanks in part to consumers saying "yes" when it may have been in their best interests to say "no." So, when a public health crisis - such as obesity - occurs, who is to blame?

Although data shows that Americans are consuming fewer soft drinks and more bottled water, current research blames sugary, carbonated drinks for the rise in childhood and adult obesity in the United States. It appears that soft drink giant Coca-Cola (who received an overall scientific rating of 6.1 out of 10 from the GoodGuide) is taking the "best defense is a good offense" approach when it comes to thwarting claims and eliminating perceptions that their products contribute to obesity.

After launching an anti-obesity campaign earlier this year, the company recently rolled out a multi-faceted approach that emphasizes a reduction in advertising specifically targeting children. According to the Wall Street Journal's reporting on this story, "reduction" is the key verb. Coke intends to aim their ads exclusively at viewers where the audience tuning in consists of no more than 35 percent children, and none to children under 12. Is Coke's new strategy enough to actually decrease obesity rates for children who drink soda on a regular basis, or is it just a public relations move intended to bolster the company's ongoing rebranding efforts?

It seems that Coke is concerned about obesity in everyone, not just children. Earlier this month, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company expressed their commitment to fight global obesity by announcing their Foundation's pledge of $3.8 million in grants. According to the company's website, the grants will support statewide initiatives, similar to others they've launched in Chicago and other cities around the U.S. to help get people active and enjoy a balanced lifestyle. Coke has also taken responsibility for the number of calories in their beverages by promising to offer their zero and low-calorie products in every market, in addition to supplying easy-to-read labeling that features both calorie and nutrition information.

So, just what's in Coca-Cola anyway? According to Coke, their "secret formula" continues to remain a secret, but we know that some of the ingredients in the beverage include: high-fructose corn syrup; caramel coloring; vanilla; cinnamon; processed coca-leaf; kola nut; and caffeine. These ingredients may not seem particularly harmful, but collectively, appear to cause measurable harm. Half the U.S. population consumes sugary beverages (energy, sports drinks, soda) on any given day. In addition to obesity, sugary drinks are believed to increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and gout. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, one out of three children and two out of three adults in the U.S. are obese or overweight.

With estimates that show U.S. beverage companies spending billions on marketing soda directly to children, Coke's new advertising approach for this market segment should prove to be interesting. Coke reported sales of $48 billion in 2012, and is considered the fifth most valuable global brand according to BrandZ's 2013 Top 100 list.

Is Coke's recent change of direction in their advertising to children, along with their various CSR initiatives, enough to change hearts and minds about how their products may affect public health? A decade from now, if the soda industry goes the way of big tobacco, what will be Coke's ultimate brand legacy?

[Image Credit: http://flic.kr/p/sYSNq]

French jewellery house Chopard has joined Eco-Age creative director and founder of the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC), Livia Firth, to launch ’The Journey’, its commitment to sustainable luxury, with the presentation of its first Green Carpet Collection.

The diamond bracelet and earrings were hand-crafted in Chopard’s 'High Jewellery' workshops. For the first time, the pieces have been set in sustainably sourced Fairmined gold from artisanal community mines in South America, supported by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) – a Colombia based charity and developer of the Fairmined standard - and use diamonds from mines certified to the high standards of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), sourced from IGC Group.

Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director of Chopard said: “As a century old, family-run business, we are very aware of our responsibilities as we strive to create sustainable luxury. It is not easy, but it is right and The Journey is the start of a very exciting new multi-year programme that will ensure we are working towards our goal of sustainable jewellery. One of the first steps is our partnership with ARM, which will support the families and communities of the artisanal miners in South America.” 

The High Jewellery Green Carpet Collection bracelet and earrings by Chopard are the first pieces of jewellery to be awarded the GCC Brand Mark. 

Deutsche Post DHL is switching to electric vehicles for its delivery services in Bonn and the surrounding region, making the city the first location in Germany with a carbon-free vehicle concept.

In the initial phase, 79 vehicles will be put into service by the end of the year in Bonn and the surrounding area for the parcel delivery and the combined mail and parcel delivery. The pilot project sees about 141 electric vehicles on the road by 2016, resulting in decreased CO2 emissions of over 500 tons per year. Even at the start of the project, Bonn will already be host to one of the world’s largest fleet of electrically powered commercial vehicles for combined delivery.

“This pilot project is unique worldwide and can serve as a role model for other cities and regions,” said Frank Appel, ceo Deutsche Post DHL . “As the world’s leading logistics company, we operate one of the world’s largest vehicle fleets. And because we see the effects of global trade on the environment, we accept responsibility: alternative drive systems have already been in use in our fleet for years.”

Deutsche Post DHL is a partner in many alternative drive technology pilot projects and is working with many major automobile manufacturers, helping to gain important insights for the refinement of new technologies. In 2011 it also began to develop a dedicated electric vehicle; the vehicle was developed for mail and parcel delivery in cooperation with StreetScooter GmbH and institutes at the RWTH Aachen University.

The “StreetScooter” is an electric vehicle with a range of up to 120 kilometers (neatly accommodating the daily postal routine  of around 80 km). An initial production run of 50 vehicles will be delivered starting in summer of 2013. Twenty vehicles will be put into service in the pilot project for carbon-neutral delivery in Bonn and another 30 will be used throughout Germany to transport mail and parcels.

“The pilot project in Bonn has model character. Focusing on city deliveries, we can lower both environmental and noise pollution, and we will be able to reduce our fuel consumption. As we operate one of the largest vehicle fleets in Germany, we have a particular interest to utilize innovative and eco-friendly vehicles. I am especially pleased that we can make use of our own electric vehicle in the project,” said Jürgen Gerdes, corporate board member MAIL at Deutsche Post DHL.

The investments in alternative drive technologies and reduction of CO2 emissions are part of the group-wide GoGreen program at Deutsche Post DHL. The programme includes a specific CO2 efficiency target: a 30% improvement by 2020 in its CO2 emissions compared with the 2007 baseline. The company is already halfway to achieving its CO2 goal with an efficiency increase of 16%. 
 

Last fall, the first phase of our series on the Refrigerant Revolution® explored the challenge in depth, looking at the history, policy backdrop, key issues including R-22 phase-out, and implications for future sustainability. We continue with a series of posts focusing on multi-sector solutions to this global environmental challenge.

A tale of two fridges

After years of quiet, dedicated service in our homes, more than 9.4 million fridges and freezers reach the end of their useful life in the U.S. each year.

Every wonder what happens to these unsung heroes of modern life?

First, we should point out that refrigerators and freezers are unique from other appliances and household items because they contain refrigerants and blowing agents, which are powerful greenhouse gases. They also contain polyurethane foam, another GHG contributor. Depending on the type of refrigerant and blowing agent, a single refrigerator can contain the climate equivalent of driving an SUV for an entire year and up to 8 cubic feet of foam.

In the U.S., most refrigerators take one of two paths once leaving our kitchen or garage. The “common cooler” ends up heading directly to a metal scrapyard where its refrigerant and insulation foam are rarely dealt with properly. Conversely, the “lucky fridges,” like those Triple Pundit profiled  last September, are properly de-manufactured in accordance with EPA’s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) program.

The common cooler

Of the more than 9 million fridges and freezers discarded each year in the U.S., approximately 10 percent are managed under EPA’s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) partnership. The remainder are either resold into the after-market, or end up in landfills or metal scrapyards, where the focus is on extracting value from the scrap metal, and where recovery of the refrigerants, while required by law, is not guaranteed.

Federal regulations require that the refrigerant first be recovered from discarded equipment, but lack of oversight and transparency in the value chain means proper recovery is highly unlikely. “Cutting the line,” i.e., venting the refrigerant before the appliance arrives at the refrigerator recycling facility is, unfortunately, a common practice before your beloved old fridge is crushed for scrap metal. Intentional venting of refrigerant carries steep fines under the Clean Air Act, but the risk of getting caught is slim. In fact, venting is so widespread and enforcement so rare, that there are even instructions on the practice. The result is tens of millions of metric tons of CO₂-equivalent is released into the atmosphere annually in the U.S. from common coolers.

A rare enforcement case in Portland, Oregon illustrates the common practice and also the exposure and risk related to supply chain integrity.

In addition, the polyurethane foam insulation is typically shredded along with the rest of the unit, and then landfilled.  Approximately 65 million cubic feet of foam are buried in landfills each year in the U.S. alone. For some perspective on that volume, this equates to one Empire State building completely buried beneath ground and a second buried to the 76^th floor!

The lucky ones

Through a combination of utility energy efficiency incentives, technological advances, business and logistics innovations and a government-industry partnership (EPA RAD), over 800,000 discarded refrigerators and freezers encounter a better, more sustainable outcome: complete de-manufacturing into component materials.

With 28 refrigerator recycling centers serving 28 states, JACO Environmental is responsible for the majority of RAD compliant units in the U.S. At JACO, lucky fridges are completely de-manufactured, refrigerants are recovered; and foam and blowing agents are recovered and either destroyed or returned as raw materials to the manufacturing ecosystem. Metal, glass and plastics are also recovered and recycled, resulting in less than a shoebox’s worth of material being sent to the landfill per lucky fridge.

Unfortunately for the planet, common coolers are, indeed, common, and lucky fridges are few and far between. Despite successes under RAD, the 800,000 units moving through the program represent a drop in the bucket compared to more than 9 million appliances discarded each year. So what can be done?

When it's time to part ways with your trusty refrigerator, consider its next stage of life. Ask your retailer, manufacturer or hauler about their program for refrigerator end-of-life and make sure that they have visibility and control of their supply chain.

Signs of progress

RecycleBank and JACO Environmental, in conjunction with New Jersey Clean Energy Program and Sears, recently piloted a program to engage consumers at the point of purchase regarding the path of their trusty old fridge in its “next life.”  The program assures stakeholders of responsible appliance disposal to conform to EPA RAD requirements.

Time for a revolution

EOS Climate, JACO, Hudson Technologies and other organizations spearheading the Refrigerant Revolution® recognize refrigerants as valuable assets. The approach is changing the way refrigerants are managed throughout their lifecycle, improving operational efficiency, protecting organizations from regulatory and reputational risk, and facilitating the transition to a more sustainable future. For the first time, companies will know the full extent of their environmental impact relative to refrigerant use and be able to take proactive steps to manage these critical inventories like other parts of their supply chain.

Over the last three years, EOS has worked closely with JACO to maximize the rate and efficiency of refrigerant recovery nationwide. In concert with JACO's managers, Todd English, EOS Climate's VP of Operations, and EOS co-founder, developed operational procedures and quantification tools for all 28 locations. These efforts have resulted in best-in-class refrigerant recovery preventing significant GHG emissions for appliances at end of life.

The potential impact of this new approach is substantial. Based on data from the U.S. EPA and the California EPA, annual emissions of refrigerants in the U.S. equal approximately 250 million tons of CO2* which is the equivalent emissions from 44 million cars, or from power use by 28 million homes. Solving the problem may start by telling a “new tale” with your old fridge.

“And a beautiful world we live in, when it is possible, and when many other such things are possible, and not only possible, but done-- done, see you! -- under that sky there, every day.”

– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Ed Note:  TriplePundit's Nick Aster took a trip to JACO's facility in Hayward, CA, to learn first hand how refrigerators are recycled.  Please enjoy the short video below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkHbbiTGOUE