… most heavily traded edible oil in the world. Golden Agri Resources (GAR) has been in the forefront of this palm oil boom in Indonesia. Founded in 1996 by the influential Widjaja … the world’s leading exporter of crude palm oil. The palm oil boom, however, concerned environmentalists. Palm oil plantations had been carved out of precious rainforest and peat … by scientists that linked palm oil plantations to deforestation, Greenpeace, a global environmental NGO, began campaigning in 2005 to save the Indonesian rainforest. The group …
… In 2014, the four largest palm oil trading companies signed an agreement to end deforestation, development of peat lands and exploitation of locals not only with their own operations, but also from all of their suppliers. Forenvironmental NGOs, the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (as the agreement was named) represented … local and national officials to support their land claims and look away when it came to environmental regulation. In 2013, environmental campaigners believed they had found …
… Ash award in policy innovation, the "Nobel of policy," upon the Connecticut Green Bankfor its role in "sparking the green bank movement." The Green Bank used financial … consider how different funding structures would impact their mission to accelerate private investment in clean energy, create Connecticut jobs, promote energy security, and address … Should the Connecticut Green Bank rethink how they approached interest-setting? If profitable parts of the organization could support those that would never make sense on a …
… Most environmentalists had hoped that the December 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen … of critics and skeptics - spurred world leaders into action. In 1992, representatives from 178 countries met in Rio de Janierio, Brazil for a summit that led to the establishment of a … the CCC had positioned the firm's Carbon Funds as the cornerstone of its long-term business strategy, but the firm was also investing in energy-conscious real estate and private equity …
… that included the Communications function to a newly created department combining the Strategy, CR, and Public Affairs functions together, to further integrate CR into the core … the business. AXA’s business had grown rapidly over the previous decades. The company was formed in the 1980s through the merger of a few mid-sized French insurance firms. From the … by a set of metrics reflecting in an integrated way the financial, but also the social and environmental, value created by the company. Corporate Sustainability Environmental …
… Santam, the leading short-term insurer in South Africa, was actively pursuing a strategy and associated initiatives to build climate change resilience in South Africa. The … the country's crop insurance. Crop insurance provided farmers with a hedge against climate, environmental, and other risks. Around 40% of grain farmers in South Africa purchased hail insurance, the most common policy in agriculture. In years when crops were damaged before they could be harvested and sold, crop insurance provided resources that allowed …
… In early 2014 Alcoa announced that Ford's F-150 pick-up trucks, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S., would use … planned another $150 million on facilities in Tennessee to meet the demand generated by the Ford contract. The aluminum industry's growing success in the automotive sector reflected … the response of auto manufacturers to the increasingly rigorous fuel economy standards for U.S. vehicles and consumer preferences for high mileage vehicles. To meet those …
… Harish Hande and the company he founded, SELCO, provide solar electricity for lighting and power to India's poor. For the work of his company, Hande has received … on Hande to lay off employees and contract the organization. With the help of the World Bank’s commercial finance arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Hande was able to restructure the company in 2008. SELCO remained a for-profit business, but Hande was able to seek new investors more aligned with its mission. In …
… In August of 2014, Mark Gentry, the Chief Operating Officer of Gifford Pinchot State University (GPSU) Foundation**, called Robert Farrington, a Managing … first time Farrington had received such a call. Commonfund managed the assets of 1,300 nonprofit institutions. He estimated about 40% of Commonfund’s university clients were either … And hovering in the background was the key question of how any change to their investmentstrategy would jibe with their fiduciary responsibility to donors? Commonfund faced a …
… Like many countries, Australia has a large existing building stock that is responsible for a substantial percentage of its greenhouse-gas emissions. Given that it will take … degree. Misalignment of incentives and perceived project risk are responsible for this underinvestment. Building owners and tenants do not always share reduced energy costs in a way … make in the event of a default is junior to the property mortgage holder. This is why the Environmental Upgrade Agreement (EUA) plays an important role. The EUA is a deal structure …