Unadulterated

Unfortunately, taken as a whole, the corporate response wasn’t aggressive enough, brilliant enough or visionary enough. The gulf between the scale of the challenges and the level of response is too vast, with too many companies still citing modest, multi-year reductions in emissions or water use as the sum total of their sustainability goals.

Engaging a group of suppliers through a specific product category survey is one of the most effective ways to tackle key product impacts, especially for retailers seeking to elevate the performance of an entire category of products, as opposed to select companies.

Companies should use World Food Day and the examples of these leaders as an opportunity to evaluate how they could strengthen their producer partners while improving the long-term food security of the communities they touch.

As Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation demonstrate, having a clear direction that aligns with consumers’ values is an important business foundation. These companies have created loyal networks of consumers and employees and have successfully leveraged their enthusiasm in pursuing campaigns for political change.

Pure Strategies' survey of 100 global product companies, including 34 food and beverage companies, revealed that while the food sector is beginning to take key steps, more strategic work is needed for this industry to catch up to the performers in the market, across industries.

Walmart is a leading motivator for investment in product sustainability with nearly 80 percent of respondents that identified a retail-driver citing the company in an open-ended question. This was followed by Target at about 50 percent, Costco at 18 percent, and Nordstrom at 12 percent. Walmart and Target clearly stand out from crowd. These retailers’ priorities are trickling through the supply chain and influencing supplier product sustainability programs.

To make the most of this organizational alignment RB honed in on improving carbon, ingredients, packaging and water to meet this target and to keep the business focused on critical improvement opportunities. These four priorities shaped the program and the limited set of issues enabled faster training, tool development and integration into the product development process.

Keeping up with growing demands for chemical data using spreadsheets or simple databases will become increasingly unrealistic. Managers need tools that enable them to organize, analyze and make decisions about chemicals and materials in their supply chains and products — and they need to do this quickly and accurately.

Companies committed to product sustainability enjoy the benefits of manufacturing cost savings, brand enhancement, employee engagement and other important financial and organizational value.

The gripping new Showtime docu-series, Years of Living Dangerously, tackles climate change with a combination of Hollywood star power, heavyweight scientists, and frontline reporting. Sending big name such as Harrison Ford, Thomas Friedman, Lesley Stahl and Jessica Alba into the field as correspondents to document the human impact of climate change, the series conveys the issue’s urgency with drama and facts.

A 2006 study done in the Netherlands compared the materials side by side. It concluded that paper cups were less polluting in five of 10 categories and that polystyrene was better in the other five. And trying to rate the categories is a losing battle. “There’s no scientific method for saying one environmental impact is more or less important than the other,” Greiner says.

To help guide companies managing this added pressure, Pure Strategies, evaluated how leaders in the formulated products marketplace have constructed their goals, strategies, tools and partnerships. What is at the core of these programs — and what makes them successful?