… While the use of palm oil has been documented since ancient times, it is only in the past few decades that this tropical product has taken off in the international market. An invisible component of many products, palm oil can be found in cookies, in chocolates, in soaps, in … to deforestation, Greenpeace, a global environmental NGO, began campaigning in 2005 to save the Indonesian rainforest. The group targeted GAR as Indonesia’s leading palm oil firm …
… to end deforestation, development of peat lands and exploitation of locals not only with their own operations, but also from all of their suppliers. For environmental NGOs, the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (as the agreement was named) represented a dramatic advance in their decades-long efforts to protect the Indonesian rainforest from further destruction. One year later the situation appeared to have …
… project received a significant boost. While the proposed wind farm was located in an area with abundant wind resources, absent a creditworthy off-taker the project would not have … 18% of the electricity Walmart de México consumed in Mexico in 2010. The wind farm was just one part of the efforts Walmart de México was undertaking in the sustainability area. The … meet ambitious goals, looking to reduce waste in its and its suppliers' operations. In the energy area, the company was hoping to receive 50% of its energy from renewable sources by …
… work of his company, Hande has received numerous recognitions; he is frequently cited as one of the top social entrepreneurs in India and an example for the entire developing world. … rural farmers, SELCO created solutions for the particular needs of its target market. Sometimes this meant redesigning the solar equipment and sometimes this meant restructuring activities so that solar energy could power a client’s needs. From his field research, Hande realized early in …
… construction, and power generation. In addition to the engines, it manufactured components, including filters, turbochargers, and aftertreatment, used with its own engines and with the systems of other manufacturers. The components and engines … that complied to evolving standards, ranging engines for pickup trucks to the largest earth movers. Rather than spend research dollars, many other manufacturers had bowed out of …
… NY Green Bank (NYGB), New York State’s $1-billion clean-energy fund, and a young new efficiency company named Sealed signed a $5-million … who make upgrades often have to pay cash outright or take out loans to spread the cost over time. Second, while large-scale investors are increasingly familiar with residential … cost per project can be too low for significant resources to be dedicated to vetting each one. Plus, the methods of energy-efficiency upgrades have not been systematized enough for …
… Infrastructure Bank (RIIB), a quasi-public state entity, sought to bring much-needed clean-energy finance into the state market. This case study describes how this bank set up the … a number of financial-assistance programs for environmental projects in the state. One of these programs is the EBF, a financing program designed to accelerate … more savings than the total cost of the project and debt service. Over the project lifetime and after debt service, these communities will have $20 million in net-cash-flow …
… together a stellar group of designers, architects, and social science researchers to tackle one of the developing world's leading problems – open defecation in crowded urban settings. … begin work with city officials in two Indian cities, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, to build 120 community toilets in city slums by February 2013. Furthermore, the project team hoped to … had been compromised, and the Gates Foundation was refusing to give the project any more money. Observers wondered if the project was fatally stalled and what had gone wrong? …
… in 2003 by a group of students who wished to see the dining halls serve more organic food. With support from the university, they started a pilot project to introduce local, seasonal food into the menu of one of Yale's undergraduate residential colleges. The experiment was a success with both … sold in a farmer's market or donated to local food banks. The farm's staff of four manages community work days and organizes educational programs, including lectures by well-known …
… Suzlon, an India-based wind energy company, had made quite a splash in its first three-and-a-half years on the … Pedersen, to lead Suzlon’s entrance into the global wind market. It had been an opportune time to enter the international wind energy business. The demand for electricity was … had mounted and the price of fossil fuels had skyrocketed. With little more than a cell phone and the internet, Pedersen set to work building Suzlon’s international presence. While …