Ikea plugs in Minnesota’s largest solar installation

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, activated new solar arrays in its Twin Cities store in Bloomington, Minnesota – the largest photovoltaic installation in the state thus far. The solar facility is expected to generate around 1,161,328 kilowatt-hours of clean power annually – enough to provide electricity to 100 households per year.

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FedEx and a sustainable shipping business model

Four years ago shipping company giant FedEx made a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its FedEx Express aircraft and to further the fuel efficiency of its vehicle fleet by 20 percent by 2020. Now, with the recent release of its Global Citizenship Report, the company said it is “well on its way” to achieving this ambitious goal. FedEx has reduced its aircraft emissions...

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Unilever and DHL partner for sustainable business practices

Would it be nice to know that the world’s largest global brands are not only leaders of industry but are also taking the lead in espousing environmental responsibility? Consumer goods company Unilever and logistics group DHL extended their partnership in a program aimed at accelerating their adoption of sustainable business models and technologies.

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I.F.C. and G.S.M.A. join hands to broaden ‘green power’ in the mobile industry

International Finance Corporation, a private sector arm of the World Bank, signed an agreement with GSMA, a global organization representing the interests of mobile operators, to amplify the utilization of “green power” technologies at network sites in areas with limited or no grid power access. The collaboration is expected to substantially reduce carbon emissions, while optimizing business models of mobile operators worldwide.

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Dyeing T-shirt using no water? Adidas says it’s possible

Adidas is bringing down their water and carbon footprint with a new way to dye clothes without using water. The apparel industry consumes a lot of water in dyeing T-shirts and other garments, but Adidas is saying “every drop counts” and instead is using the “DryDye” technology which uses compressed carbon dioxide in place of water to dye sportswear.

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Facebook shares carbon footprint breakdown; Greenpeace likes it

Facebook shared the breakdown of its carbon footprint, energy mix and energy use in the previous year today, saying that it believes in the “power of openness.” Greenhouse gas emissions from the social network giant’s data centers, office space, employee commuting, employee air travel, data center construction and server transportation totaled about 285,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2011.

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Children’s book publisher Scholastic gets more than half its paper from sustainable sources

Scholastic Inc. – the U.S. publisher of the popular Harry Potter and Hunger Games series – has announced that as of 2011, 53.3 percent of the paper they use came from sustainable forestry sources. Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and educational media. In January of 2008, they set a goal to increase the amount of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper purchased for their publications to 30 percent by 2012.

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Over 260 tons of waste to be converted into energy annually by 2022 - study

Rapid urbanization and population growth bring accompanying societal problems such as energy supply shortages and increasing waste volumes. The good news is that the solution to the first problem could be found with the second one – waste can help meet energy demands. Over 260 million tons of waste annually will be converted to energy by 2022, forecasts the consulting firm Pike Research.

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Many businesses are not yet ready for a “green” future - research

Puma, Nike, Nestlé, Unilever, Natura and Ricoh – these 6 companies have taken major steps towards sustainable growth, according to a research by consulting firm Deloitte. Together with green consultancy Volans, Deloitte looked at how major companies deliver efforts to address climate change.John Elkington, Volas founder, coined the term “zeronaut” to describe people or groups...

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Dell says it reduced carbon footprint by 16 percent

Information technology company Dell Inc. has reduced its facilities’ carbon footprint by up to 16 percent, according to its 2012 Corporate Sustainability Report. The report highlights the company’s commitment to being an environmentally responsible citizen, as a member of clean technology advocate The Climate Group.

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