Apple has pulled out of EPEAT, a global non-profit eco-rating service sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and will no longer label its electronic products according to their environmental impact as a result.

In stating its disappointment at the move, EPEAT noted that its certification program is "more than simply a product rating – it is also a community effort by all interested stakeholders to define and maintain best practice in environmental sustainability for electronics."

Tech Week Europe sees it as "a setback to Apple’s green campaign and may have come about because of difficulties in dismantling and recycling new MacBook products."Continue reading...

Siemens, #8 on Interbrand's 2012 Best Global Green Brands ranking, released this video today highlighting its renewable energy solutions. The description: "In times of increasingly complex challenges for sustainable energy supply, Siemens provides a leading portfolio of economically efficient solutions for renewable power generation to address the changing requirements of generations to come."

Citi released a video today promoting that in May, Citibank became the first bank in the world to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for 200 projects from the U.S. Green Building Council. The brand rose two places on Interbrand's just-released Best Global Green Brands ranking with the comment:

Citi Group improves on this year’s ranking by 2 spots, now sitting at #44. While the banking institution continues to navigate turbulent waters due to global economic conditions, Citi managed to increase the public’s perception of its environmental efforts, thus closing its perception/performance gap significantly since last year’s assessment. More recently, Citi joined forces with Google to finance a large wind energy center in California and embarked on a joint venture with SunPower to finance residential solar lease projects. The financial institution still remains in the latter portion of the ranking, partially due to its large-scale investments in coal industries, which contribute heavily to climate change effects.

It only makes sense that auto brands should figure heavily in the new Interbrand Best Global Green Brands ranking, with eight of the top 21 brands. Car makers and their petrol partners arguably contribute more to environmental stresses around the globe than any other industry — but they're also working about as assiduously as any business to offset some of that decidedly un-green footprint.

Toyota ranked No. 1 in Interbrand's new list not only among auto companies but among all companies. That's impressive but hardly surprising for a company that essentially invented the hybrid for the mass market and has taken its biggest steps over the last year, of any in the last decade, to extend the Prius franchise and make it more available and more attractive (with some creative marketing moves) to more consumers around the world.

By introducing a less expensive and smaller alternative to its regular hybrid, Prius c, and almost simultaneously a more capacious one, Prius v, Toyota has opened the possibilities of hybrid ownership to millions more people who are attracted by the sterling Prius brand.Continue reading...

PepsiCo today released this video highlighting its sustainability goals. Billed as "PepsiCo's recipe for the next billion" humans on the planet, the corporate video's tagline is "Doing More. Using Less." How?

By "growing more crops with less water, manufacturing with less waste and energy, and serving the needs of the next billion consumers. Our goal is to create snacks, beverages and foods that deliver the nutrition, hydration and enjoyment at the right moment across different needs, lifestyles and geographies." The video reiterates the company's "delivering more choices" and performance with purpose positioning, "doing right for people and the planet, innovating more choices while using fewer natural resources."

The video comes as PepsiCo was named #28 on Interbrand's 2012 Best Global Green Brands ranking, five spots behind Coca-Cola. Interbrand's rationale:Continue reading...

The United Nations on Friday wrapped up the Rio+20 Earth Summit, a once-a-decade conference on sustainable development, with the message that the world needs to clean up its act. Some major-league companies signed on to put some financial muscle and their brands' influence behind the effort. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have found something they can agree on as both have put cash behind the UN’s goals. Others involved include Microsoft, and Bank of America, according to Bloomberg.

The pledges are worth billions of dollars and will help to “curb the use of fossil fuels, conserve water and encourage wider use of renewable energy,” Bloomberg reports. There are at least 517 commitments from different companies and at minimum $2 billion will be coming from the U.S. “We won’t save the world alone, but we’ll get half of it done, and we’ll get some momentum,” said Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday at Rio+20. 

For its part, Coca-Cola is allocating $3.5 million to help create more sustainable water access in some African countries. "Access to safe water is essential for our company and our world,” stated Bea Perez, the company's Chief Sustainability Officer. “The sustainability of water resources is a top priority."Continue reading...

Panasonic's tagline is "ideas for life," but its motto could read, "sustainable ideas for life." The brand is showcasing its sustainable energy solutions in a booth at the Japan Pavilion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the main venue of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, which kicks off Monday.

The Panasonic exhibition is part of Japan's joint public-private-sector initiative to show the world its potential and contributions towards sustainable development, a main theme of the conference — the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.Continue reading...

Teaching Kids to CARE, a philanthropic initiative from DoubleTree by Hilton hotels, has reached 5 million grade school students to engender values and behaviors of sustainable change for more than a decade. This week it launched a new website in a bid to create a global online community.

The program pairs team members from DoubleTree properties with local schools in more than 200 communities and now, a refreshed Teaching Kids to CARE program is available online for teachers, parents and students. DoubleTree’s partners include The Arbor Day Foundation and The Woodland Trust. 

At its core are five thematic lesson plans developed in line with U.S. National Education Standards about small actions that make a difference for the planet, the positive impact of trees on the environment, and the importance of the “three Rs” – reducing, reusing and recycling. Lesson plans are available in two versions, targeted for students in grades K – 2, and grades 3 – 5.Continue reading...