Sustainability

Riverside, Calif. -- A McDonald's restaurant in Riverside, Calif., has been LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification. It is the chain’s first location west of the Mississippi, and only the fourth in the United States, to receive the prestigious designation. Other LEED-certified McDonald's restaurants are located in Cary, N.C., Savannah, Ga. and Chicago.

Walmart’s sharpest critics will acknowledge that much good has come of the company’s sustainability efforts, but there are voices who maintain an inherent conflict exists between saving the planet and a business model based on selling as much low-priced stuff as possible to as many people as possible.

Roughly 50,000 acres of additional wildlife habitat across the United States will be preserved in 2012 as part of Walmart’s Acres for America program.

The company announced awards to support projects in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina and Tennessee as part of the Acres for America program that began in 2005 with a $35 million commitment to purchase and preserve one acre of wildlife habitat in the U.S. for every acre of land developed by the company through 2015.

Conshohocken, Pa. -- Ikea said Thursday it plans to install solar energy panels on five more of its U.S. locations – all of them in the Midwest. Installation is slated for summer 2012 completion and will expand Ikea’s solar presence to nearly 85% of its U.S. locations. 

Looking for a hit list of the hottest new stores outside of the United States? Check out of some of the contenders below. The information comes from the London-based retail consultancy echochamber.com.

STOCKHOLM — Stefano Marzano has been appointed chief design dfficer, a new role at Electrolux.  

CHICAGO — Investment research firm Morningstar has named the outgoing CEO of Costco Wholesale as its 2011 CEO of the Year, the company said Wednesday.

Costco CEO Jim Sinegal, who retired on New Year's Day, received the recognition for what Morningstar called his "exemplary corporate stewardship, independent thinking" and creating "lasting value for shareholders."

In October of 2007, the U.K. newspaper, the Observer, reported that child workers, some as young as 10, were discovered working in an Indian textile factory in slave-like conditions to produce clothes for Gap Kids.