Energy from coffee waste, Twitter’s self-censorship and more sustainable clothing
Coffee for fuel
A US research project is under way to turn coffee waste into clean energy.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has joined forces with the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Centre (EERC) and bio-energy specialist Wynntryst to develop a gasification power system that takes everyday waste from coffee processing plants – such as coffee residues, plastic packaging and paper– and turns it into fuel.
The technology used to gasify the waste and generate clean synthetic gas, known as syngas, was adapted from a project between the EERC and Nasa to test whether they could efficiently convert waste from space stations and lunar bases into energy.
Green Mountain distributes coffee products to big name brands including McDonald’s and Starbucks, and has taken heat for its line of single, disposable plastic Keurig coffee cups, which are not recyclable due to the foil’s polyethylene coating. The company says it is working to improve its packaging and reduce the Keurig system’s overall environmental impact.
Carbon disclosure boosts shares
A recent study shows companies that voluntarily publish carbon emissions data generate a net benefit for their shareholders.
The 2012 University of California Davis and Berkley study Going Green: Market Reaction to CSR Newswire Releases examined shareholders’ responses to climate change disclosures by US companies on the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire service from 2000 to 2010. CSR Newswire was used because of its position as the global leader in disseminating corporate responsibility news.
Over the 10-year period, the study analysed company stock movements two days before press releases and two days afterwards. The 172 companies that disclosed their carbon emissions through the CSR Newswire saw an average stock price increase of 0.5%. Overall, these companies saw an aggregate market value boost of about $10bn.
On the flip side, similar firms that did not voluntarily disclose their carbon emissions data over the same period did not experience a statistically significant boost in stock value.
The study revealed that stock prices effects were dependent on company size and public information availability. For small companies – which are often less prominent and/or unable to disseminate as much information to the public as large corporations – the mean adjusted share price increased significantly more than those of larger companies that disclosed their GHG emissions via the CSR Newswire.
Hershey’s certified cocoa
America’s largest chocolate maker, Hershey, will for the first time source certified cocoa for its Bliss line of chocolates from an independent, third -party certification system, administered by the Rainforest Alliance.
Over the next five years, Hershey plans to invest $10m in west Africa and continue working with experts in agriculture, community development and government to help cocoa-growing communities. By 2017, Hershey believes its partnerships will directly benefit 750,000 African cocoa farmers and indirectly benefit more than two million people in cocoa communities across the region.
The move comes after several major non-profit groups, (including Raise the Bar, Hershey!) called on the chocolate maker to adopt improved sustainable cocoa sourcing practices and help end child labour in west Africa, where Hershey sources most of its cocoa. Hershey’s new policy was announced days before the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) was due to run a Super Bowl ad against Hershey for its supposed use of child labour. ILRF pulled the ad a sign of support for Hershey’s new policy.
“While this is a tremendous step, the Raise the Bar, Hershey! Coalition will not end our advocacy here. We will continue to work to end child labour and exploitation in the cocoa industry and to push Hershey to increase traceability and justice throughout its chocolate supply chain,” says the campaign site.
While Hershey has no immediate plans to certify its other chocolate lines, Hershey’s vice-president for public affairs, Andy McCormick, says the company will publish results of its latest initiatives, assess the lessons, and shift investments to programmes that demonstrate the best outcomes for cocoa farmers.
IBM spearheads Innovation Council
Multinational technology company IBM and global non-profit group the World Environment Center (WEC) have launched the Innovation for Environmental Sustainability Council, a forum for global companies to share best practices and explore innovative solutions to pressing sustainability challenges.
Council members will meet four times a year and discuss how to better incorporate sustainability into their companies’ operations using new technology and business processes. According to Terry Yosie, WEC’s chief executive, the group will focus on four major sustainability issues: traceability of materials across the value chain; advancing sustainable infrastructure through technology and improved analytics; innovations for water resource management; and sustainable logistics.
“Although there exists no shortage of groups that discuss sustainability, we didn’t recognise any that a) focused exclusively on innovation and next practices, and b) spent each of a limited number of in-person meetings undertaking a ‘deep dive’ focus on just one topic that is ripe for innovation,” says Wayne Balta, IBM’s vice-president for corporate environmental affairs and product safety.
Participation in the Environmental Sustainability Council is by invitation only. Members represent a host of industries – they include Boeing, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Dow Chemical, F Hoffmann-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson, CH2M HILL and Walt Disney.
Eco-clothing demand increases
A new report by Ryan Partnership Chicago/Mambo Sprouts Marketing finds that eco-conscious consumers are ready and eager to buy more sustainable clothing, but only if the clothes are as fashionable as their current favourites and – no small point – if they can find them in store.
The Styling Sustainability report evaluated 1,000 health- and eco-conscious consumers about their desire for ecologically sustainable clothing, footwear and accessories, and assessed associated marketing opportunities to capitalise on the demand.
According to Christine Nardi Diette, president of Ryan Partnership Chicago, the results supported her organisation’s hypothesis that shoppers would buy more eco-apparel if it were easier to find; about one in three respondents don’t buy eco-apparel because they aren’t familiar with green options.
But the authors were surprised that the intent to purchase sustainable clothing doubled in 2012, notwithstanding the difficulty in finding these clothes or in clearly defining what “sustainable apparel” really means.
While only four in 10 shoppers think it’s important to buy sustainable clothing, seven in ten shoppers say they do, in fact, consider sustainability when buying clothes. “This apparent contradiction indicates the opportunity for the apparel industry to better respond by providing shoppers with additional and improved information, which will allow them to carry through on their intentions,” the report states.
When choosing apparel, comfort/fit, price and durability/quality were most important to eco-conscious consumers. Eco-friendly features such as no animal testing, ethical labour practices and earth-friendly organic materials were equally important as factors like being fashionable and fun to wear.
Diette notes that better merchandising, such as compelling point-of-sale signage and more eco- labelling, as well as an apparel sustainability rating or index, would considerably sway consumers’ purchasing behaviour.
Twitter’s new content policy
In a controversial move, Twitter has enabled specific content to be withheld from its site on a country-by-country basis, while keeping it available to the rest of the world.
Twitter announced its latest policy in a blog post entitled The Tweets Still Must Flow. According to the post, the primary motivation behind the new policy is to ensure Twitter content abides by local laws, offering the examples of France and Germany, which have banned pro-Nazi content.
Once Twitter evaluates and accepts what it calls “a valid and applicable legal request” to withhold a user’s tweet or account, Twitter will notify the user via email (unless they are legally prohibited from doing so), noting the specific content withheld and where the request came from, in addition to greying out the withheld account or Tweets.
Additionally, Twitter expanded its partnership with the company Chilling Effects to clearly outline this information to users on a dedicated webpage. The affected user can choose to leave the content online, challenge the request, delete the tweet or deactivate their account.
“In short, we believe the new, more granular approach to withheld content is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency, accountability – and for our users,” says the Twitter blog post. “Besides allowing us to keep Tweets available in more places, it also allows users to see whether we are living up to our freedom of expression ideal.”
Critics have called the policy a form of censorship. With 75 million registered users Twitter has, perhaps inadvertently, become a platform for those fighting repressive regimes, as was demonstrated with the Arab Spring.
The director of non-profit group Reporters Without Borders wrote a letter to Twitter’s chairman urging him to reverse the new policy, which has already been commended by the Thai government, which can jail its citizens for up to 15 years for defaming or insulting members of the royal family.
“Twitter’s position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable. This fundamental principle is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” says the letter.