Sustainability

Palatine, Ill. -- An overwhelming number (88%) of executives admit to a “moral responsibility” beyond regulatory requirement to make their companies more energy efficient, according to a recent poll of senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies. At the same time, however, 61% of respondents rank potential cost-savings as biggest motivator to save energy at the enterprise-level, outranking both environmental benefits and government regulations.

WASHINGTON -- The American Beverage Association announced that consumers across the United States will soon find new calorie labels on the front of their favorite beverages as part of an effort by America's leading non-alcoholic beverage companies bring the Clear on Calories initiative to stores. The beverage industry's voluntary commitment to make calories more visible and useful to consumers supports First Lady Michelle Obama's efforts to help families make informed choices as part of an active, healthy lifestyle, the association reported.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Whole Foods announced that it is providing shoppers with a new level of transparency about how farm animals are raised by now offering beef, pork and chicken certified under 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating system.

The rating system is the signature program of Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit organization that facilitates and encourages continuous improvement in animal agriculture. Independent, third-party certifiers audit farms and rate animal welfare practices and conditions using a tiered system as follows: 

Oakland, Calif. -- A report Friday by the Los Angeles Times said that Target Corp. will pay the state of California $22.5 million to settle claims that the retailer improperly disposed of waste.

Washington, D.C. -- Kohl’s Corp. ranked second on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership’s latest ranking of the Top 50 partners using the most renewable electricity.

Kohl’s joined the top-ranking Intel as the only two partners using more than 1 billion kWh of green power. The retailer increased its green power purchase to more than 1.4 billion kWh of green power annually.

Cherry Hill, N.J. -- TD Bank announced it is building a net-zero energy bank location, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, defines a net-zero energy building as a building that produces and exports in a year at least as much renewable power as the total energy it uses.)

It’s been more than five years since Walmart introduced its goals of being supplied 100% by renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling products that sustain people and the environment. These audacious goals initially fell under the umbrella of sustainability, but now we get word out of Miami that sustainability has been transformed to “sustainagility.”

Miami -- Walmart Latin America CEO Eduardo Solorzano said Thursday in a speech that Walmart is using the company's expertise in sustainability as a means for profitable growth.