Latest news with #SustainabilityWeek
Economist
10 hours ago
- Business
- Economist
Corporates staying the course on sustainability despite geopolitical headwinds
Over the three Sustainability Week events; London (March 2025), Bangkok (March) and New York (June), Economist Impact hosted chief sustainability officers (CSOs) of large, global multinationals as part of its CSO leaders club. The sustainability conversation is changing. As companies face competing priorities, tightening budgets and political backlash, here's the view from the C-suite.
Economist
25-06-2025
- Business
- Economist
In conversation with Joanna Gilroy
At the 10th annual Sustainability Week, London 2025, Joanna Gilroy, group sustainability director at Balfour Beatty, shares how the UK's largest construction company is embedding sustainability into the core of its operations and influencing industry-wide change. From shifting sustainability from the periphery to the heart of business decision-making, to investing in in-house carbon, energy and biodiversity expertise, Joanna outlines the challenges and opportunities in decarbonising the built environment while delivering major infrastructure projects.
Fashion United
16-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion United
The White Company joins Cotton Recycling Initiative as B Corp status pushes circular goals
As sustainability imperatives tighten across the retail landscape, The White Company, the British home and lifestyle brand known for its monochrome minimalism, has taken a new step in its post-B Corp journey. The 30-year-old retailer announced its participation in the Cotton Lives On recycling programme during its inaugural Sustainability Week, reflecting a broader push in UK retail to curb textile waste and demonstrate ESG credentials beyond rhetoric. The move aligns The White Company with a growing cohort of UK fashion and lifestyle brandsm including Whistles, Anthropologie, ME+EM, and Bianca Saunders participating in the initiative, which aims to repurpose unwearable cotton textiles into roll mats for individuals facing homelessness. Since its UK launch in 2022, the Cotton Lives Onprogramme, created by Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated, has collected nearly 8,000kg of cotton, equivalent to around 56,000 old T-shirts, and produced over 100 mats. Each mat uses approximately 6.4kg of shredded cotton fibres. The White Company's internal pilot has already yielded 35kg of discarded cotton from its office network, contributing to the production of six roll mats. While modest in scale, the gesture underscores a strategic focus on circularity that is gaining traction among middle-market brands. Speaking on the brand's longer-term ambitions, Ethics & Sustainability Manager Alex Barnett cited 'transitioning to a more circular future' as a top priority, particularly given the company's reliance on cotton-rich materials. Notably, the announcement arrives less than a year after The White Company achieved B Corp certification, an increasingly influential signal of sustainability credibility in retail. Only around 1,500 UK businesses currently hold B Corp status, and within fashion, the designation remains rare. The certification process, which assesses governance, supply chain ethics, and social impact, has become a competitive differentiator as consumer expectations shift and regulatory pressures around greenwashing intensify. The Cotton Lives On programme also speaks to a growing emphasis on end-of-life solutions in the cotton supply chain, a fibre that comprises nearly a quarter of global textile production yet contributes significantly to landfill waste when not managed sustainably. While cotton's natural biodegradability gives it an advantage over synthetics, large-scale recycling infrastructure remains underdeveloped, making partnerships such as this a meaningful, if incremental, step toward systemic change.
Associated Press
12-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Southwire Celebrates Inaugural Sustainability Week
View the original article at In honor of the company's 75th anniversary and in celebration of Earth Month, Southwire hosted its first ever Sustainability Week in April. The sustainability team hosted a week of communications, education and activities to engage team members across the globe. 'In order for Southwire to continue to be generationally sustainable for the next 75 years and beyond, we need everyone on board,' said Burt Fealing, Southwire's EVP, General Counsel and Chief Sustainability Officer. 'We hope that Sustainability Week helped all of our team members, 9,000 plus strong, better understand how they can get involved in sustainability and how they can be a leader in these efforts at home, at work and in their communities.' Each day of Sustainability Week was focused on one of Southwire's five core tenets of sustainability: Growing Green Monday highlighted success stories from the sustainability champions at Southwire's Denton, Tx., Lafayette, In., and North Campus, Ga. sites. Sustainability champions are volunteer roles at each site who are responsible for furthering local energy, water and waste efficiency projects. Living Well Tuesday featured health and wellness benefits available to all Southwire team members, including free therapy and coaching sessions from Spring Health, digital musculoskeletal therapy for back and joint pain from Hinge Health, webinars and resources for National Stress Awareness Month & Substance Abuse Awareness Month and more. Giving Back Wednesday promoted volunteer events in April including electronics recycling and our annual Walk for Water fundraiser. The day also highlighted Southwire's Dollars for Doers program, which enables team members to earn donation credits for volunteer hours served, redeemable to any 501(c)(3) nonprofit of their choice. Doing Right Thursday told the story of how Southwire's ethics & compliance program was built from the ground up and how it contributed to Southwire being named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere for the second year in a row. Building Worth Friday included an educational presentation on sustainable innovations happening within Southwire, as well as a panel discussion on Building a STEM Career in Green Technology in partnership with Georgia Tech and Envision Racing, one of the founding and most successful teams in Formula E racing. During Earth Month, Southwire also distributed nearly 400 trees to team members to plant at home or at a facility. Through the Arbor Day Foundation's community canopy program, team members signed up to have trees delivered directly to their home or to their manufacturing or distribution site, with web-based tools to help them identify the ideal planting location to maximize energy savings and carbon sequestration. Southwire also partnered with Neighborhood Forest to gift trees to students at our two 12 for Life facilities in Carrollton, Ga. and Florence, Al. to plant with their families at home. To learn more about sustainability initiatives at Southwire, visit Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Southwire
Observer
15-05-2025
- Business
- Observer
Duqm Refinery launches 2,000-seedling tree planting campaign
MUSCAT: At a time when national efforts are increasingly directed towards achieving environmental sustainability and expanding green spaces across the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, Duqm Refinery OQ8 continues its proactive role in supporting these goals through unique initiatives aimed at creating a positive environmental impact and raising local community awareness. In this context, OQ8 has launched the second edition of its 'Tree Planting Initiative' as part of its participation in Oman Sustainability Week, striving to play an active role in increasing the green cover in the desert environment of Duqm, in support of Oman Vision 2040 and the National Carbon Emissions Reduction Initiative. Manal al Kiyoumi, Acting Executive Vice-President for Corporate Affairs, stated that the 'Tree Planting Initiative' is one of the company's key projects since last year. The first edition saw the planting of 1,000 seedlings carefully selected to suit the desert climate of Duqm, with the participation of the local community and visitors during an event held at the company's booth at Duqm Refinery. She added that the company ensured the care of these seedlings from Sustainability Week until the celebration of Oman's Tree Day in October, during which some seedlings were distributed to local schools, while others were planted in refinery facilities. She noted that the great success and high turnout last year encouraged the company to continue this approach and double the number of seedlings to 2,000 this year. Speaking about the initiative's objective, Al Kiyoumi explained that the company aims to increase green spaces in Duqm in support of the national initiative to plant wild trees, in collaboration with the Environment Authority. She added that the initiative goes beyond just planting trees, as it also contributes to raising environmental awareness, promoting a culture of sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, ultimately working towards achieving net-zero emissions. She highlighted that the seeds and fertilisers used are provided in partnership with local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under contracts designed to enhance community partnership and support the local economy. Ali al Mahrazi, one of the visitors to the event, expressed his admiration for this environmental initiative presented by Duqm Refinery as part of its participation. He pointed out that the booth includes an awareness theatrical performance held four times daily, highlighting the importance of tree planting and its role in environmental protection. He added that the booth offers visitors the opportunity to plant seedlings themselves, with the option to either take them home or have them sent to Duqm for planting, strengthening the community's connection to the initiative. He also noted that all booth materials are sustainably designed and reusable or recyclable, reflecting a practical awareness message about sustainability concepts and waste reduction. Al Kiyoumi also spoke about the company's participation in Sustainability Week, where it won the Best Sustainable Booth Award for the second consecutive year. She explained that this year's booth design was developed in collaboration with multiple teams from the health, safety, environment, sustainability and corporate communications departments. The booth was built using 90 per cent recycled materials, including sanitised and repurposed IBC tanks used to construct the booth structure, ceilings and the stage for the awareness shows and safety training sessions. She confirmed that all booth components, including shelves, wood and seedlings, will be reused in Duqm schools, where they will be allocated for school theatre activities and tree planting initiatives as part of the ongoing collaboration between the company and the local community.
