Mill Valley, Calif. — The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants in supermarkets, is launching a new pilot program to offset the upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies. “High upfront cost is the primary hurdle preventing the adoption of environmentally friendly natural refrigerants,” says Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “Funding support is key to bridging the gap and stimulating the economies of scale necessary to bring costs down.” NASRC’s new Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) pilot is a free platform to …
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Atlanta — The Home Depot® has been recognized as a global leader on corporate climate action for its efforts to reduce its environmental impact and build a more sustainable future for consumers and their homes. CDP, an environmental impact non-profit, named The Home Depot to its Climate Change “A List” for its actions to cut carbon emissions and mitigate climate risks. Every year, thousands of companies disclose data about their environmental impacts to CDP for independent assessment and receive scores ranging from A to D- for how effectively they are tackling …
— By Ray Hatch — How restaurants can help curb the plastics epidemic. With 2020 having been set as a benchmark for business’ sustainability programs, many restaurant operations are working hard to achieve their waste-reduction goals. One area that restaurants are starting to focus their attention, and rightly so, is on the problem of post-consumer waste. Your operation can be squeaky clean and generating a relatively low volume of waste, but once you account for single-use packaging… your environmental footprint becomes significantly larger. Nothing can derail an environmental program …
Los Angeles — Target Corporation has installed solar panels on the roof of its Napa, Calif., store, marking the 500th Target location to utilize solar energy. In 2015, Target had set a goal to install solar panels on 500 of its stores by 2020, and now it has achieved that goal with this Napa, Calif., installation. “At Target, we’re committed to making our operations even more sustainable to create a better future for our guests, team members and the planet,” says John Leisen, vice president of property management at Target. “Ambitious …
Tampa, Fla. — Six Sprouts Farmers Market grocery stores in Florida have been awarded Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC), bringing the total number of Sprouts stores in the GSC to 90. The GSC recognizes Sprouts’ commitment to operational best practices that reduce a store’s environmental impact, reduce operating costs and save resources. The certification for the Florida stores is the latest sustainability milestone for Sprouts, one of the fastest-growing retailers in the country. “Sprouts Farmers Market takes sustainability seriously,” says Peter Cooke, director of retail sustainability for Manomet. “Sprouts believes …
Los Angeles — Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), a premier global developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations, has revealed details of its global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program — the most ambitious of its kind for a listed retail real estate company. Called “Better Places 2030”, the CSR program will now formally extend to the United States and the United Kingdom, which were a part of the acquisition of Westfield by Unibail-Rodamco last year. Broadly, the program commits URW to reduce its total carbon footprint 50% by the year 2030 across every …
Boca Raton, Fla. — Office Depot, Inc. has released its 2019 Corporate Sustainability Report, incorporating sustainability information for Office Depot, CompuCom and Grand & Toy. Additionally, the report contains the company’s public-facing sustainability goals around energy consumption, transportation emissions and local communities. “We are committed to decreasing the company’s environmental impact through waste diversion programs, greener packaging, transportation innovations and product solutions that extend throughout the lifecycle,” says Gerry Smith, chief executive officer for Office Depot, Inc. “We look at sustainability as another challenge we can help our customers address. …
Seattle — LevelTen Energy has closed a three-project renewable energy portfolio purchased by Starbucks, comprising wind and solar farms in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. The power purchase agreement portfolio will provide clean power to the electricity grids that serve more than 3,000 U.S. Starbucks stores and communities by 2021, when all three projects are online. The portfolio was purchased from developers ALLETE Clean Energy, Apex Clean Energy, BayWa r.e. and Cypress Creek Renewables. Custom-built for Starbucks using LevelTen Energy’s technology-enabled procurement platform, the portfolio aggregates three strategically-located power purchase …
Los Angeles — CBRE, Iron Mountain and Redaptive have won the 2019 Professional Excellence Award conferred by CoreNet Global. The combined team was recognized for accelerating environmental improvements and cost reduction via an innovative Efficiency-as-a Service (EaaS) delivery model. CBRE’s energy managers, in collaboration with Iron Mountain’s Global Real Estate and Sustainability leadership, developed a multi-year energy strategy to improve facility efficiency and sustainability. Within this strategy, Redaptive and CBRE are implementing a unique, portfolio-wide, turnkey solution, backed by transparent measurement and verification reporting. The approach allows Iron Mountain to …
Washington, D.C. — On April 22, 2019 (Earth Day), the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) unveiled a new initiative identifying U.S. retailers committed to taking leadership action to reduce potent greenhouse gases used in cooling, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). As part of this initiative, ALDI U.S. intends to add 100 more stores in 2019 with HFC-free refrigeration systems. “In a time of acute need for leadership on climate change, the U.S. retail sector has remained a laggard in adopting climate-friendly cooling compared to their counterparts in rest of the developed world,” says Avipsa …