SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights June25, 2013

Top Story of the Week

Wake up call:  A World Bank-sponsored study painted a dangerous and frightening scenario of key food production areas of Planet Earth.  The details are in the top feature, reported by Bloomberg's Alex Morales and Sandrine Rastello in London.  Highlights:  parts of Asia and Africa are threatened with food production reductions due to the climate's warming.  Seas are projected to have  a 20-foot rise, threatening fish and seafood production areas over the next 20-30 years.  Up to 40% of sub-Sahara's African breadbasket will go arid.

What follows?  Terrible burdens on local populations - most of them poor.  Civil unrest, food riots, drowned areas in Southeast Asia as seas rise and cover growing areas. 
The "red line" was 400 part-per-billion of CO2 -- we sailed over that in May 2013.  What's ahead - read the Bloomberg story below.

The Tie Between Brand Value and Sustainability is Getting Stronger      
(Wednesday - June 19, 2013)
Source: Triple Pundit - Does a company that invests in sustainability increase its brand value? What parts of sustainability performance seem to drive brand? This is the first of five posts about a new, broad, multi-year study that shows that the...

Sustainability in Focus

6 Leadership Attributes for Leading Companies to Sustainability     
(Friday - June 21, 2013)
Source: Triple Pundit - Changing Tack, the final report of the Regeneration Roadmap, a joint project by GlobeScan and SustainAbility, has just launched last week. It focuses on the sustainability challenges that remain great and growing and the role...

How ethical are your favourite brands'      
(Friday - June 21, 2013) Associated Profiles : Sustainable Apparel Coalition
Source: West-info.eu - The index is supported by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition;, a group of some of the main companies in the sector, including Adidas, Gap, H&;M, Nike, M&S, Wal-Mart, Timberland and others. The index measures factors such as the...

New Report: Sustainable Forestry Initiative Shows Gains in All Performance Indicators      
(Friday - June 21, 2013) Associated Profiles : World Resources Institute
Source:  Sacramento Bee - The Sustainable Forestry Initiative ® (SFI ®) Inc. today reported significant growth across key performance indicators with the...

Can business help achieve water sustainability goals beyond 2015?    
(Thursday - June 20, 2013)
Source: GreenBiz - Can business help achieve water-related sustainability goals in a post-2015 world? The answer is an emphatic "yes." In fact, the private sector accounts for the majority of global water use, when including both industrial use and...

Sustainability and Inclusiveness Primer: ESG Issues in Business
(Thursday - June 20, 2013)
Source: CKGSB Knowledge - Most companies don’t bother to look beyond the typical metrics that define success or failure of a business, such as sales, revenues and profitability. But that is beginning to change now as an increasing number of institutional...

Why complexity matters when measuring sustainability
(Thursday - June 20, 2013)
Source: Greenbiz - In the last two months, our atmosphere has passed the 400-ppm carbon threshold. Unlike the sound barrier, this number doesn’t mark an abrupt physical change of state. It’s a symbol of the now increasingly likely future when...

Staying ahead of the sustainability curve    
Monday - June 17, 2013)
Source: Green Biz - Tim Greiner was astounded by the amount of pollution he encountered as a teacher in Southeast Asia. The blight led to a career change when Greiner decided to use his engineering background to help companies back in the US....

Sustainable finance: 7 steps to manage reputational risk   
(Sunday - June 16, 2013) Associated Profiles : ECOFACT AG
Source: Greenbiz - Banks and insurers have a special role to play in the health of our global ecosystem over both the short- and long-term. Their decisions about ... but are worth consideration by any business: Build on existing...

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links.  Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of June 25,2013