Stories from John Howell
Companies Promise Two Million EVs by 2030
The target of two million electric cars within the next eleven years has been set by one of the world’s […]
March 29, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
The Student Climate Change Protests Point to the Challenges Engaging the Future Workforce
Who were these young people taking part of the Youth Strike 4 Climate’s global protest? They are the workforce of the future, as well as the customers and clients of companies from which they are demanding action.
March 25, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Philanthropy to Purpose: Corporate Social Strategy Expands
This new program that CECP: The Force For Good recently launched is the latest evidence of how business is transforming its models to align with the Brands Taking Stands movement.
March 19, 2019
£1.1 Million Investment Awarded to Maker of Sunglasses from Recycled Plastic
The upmarket eye wear company Karün has received a €1.25m ($1.42m, £1.1m) boost from an ethical investor to continue development […]
March 13, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Companies Feel More Pressure to Take Stands
Chief executives, boards of directors and shareholders are increasingly listening to the clarion call for "Brands Taking Stands" - and are hearing the appeals for real change more loudly than ever before.
March 12, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
The Value of Values: Priceless
The latest evidence shows two sides of the argument for a triple bottom line approach. It turns out that the best approach for the people-planet-profit formula is, intriguingly, a highly debatable subject.
March 7, 2019
Zero Waste Lab Set Up by Coca-Cola and New Raw Studio
Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest soft drinks group, has partnered with a small environmental business to establish a plastic waste recycling […]
March 4, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Can Purpose-Driven Business Fix Broken Capitalism?
The most common question in this Brands Taking Stands era is “What’s next?” We're reaching answers through a process of so-called “creative destruction.” And, proposals once dismissed as “radical” are attracting more support.
February 27, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Purpose + Corporate Activism = A Winning Formula
Deciding that societal impact has become “a business imperative,” more corporate leaders are integrating the idea into their core strategies, looking for profits within purpose.
February 21, 2019
Consumers Demand Ethical Practices from Fashion Companies
Customers’ demands for better ethical practices in the UK fashion trade are growing and becoming more influential, reports a wide-ranging […]
February 20, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
The CEO as The Chief Executive—A Reality Check
Businesses taking the lead to fill a policy vacuum created by dysfunctional government will be a familiar theme to readers […]
February 11, 2019
New Projects Explore Ways of Making Plastic
Businesses and scientific researchers are to join forces to explore new methods of recycling plastics under an ambitious UK government […]
February 6, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Purpose-Led Brands Take the Lead in Business
A friend of mine in financial services has always referred to the corporate responsibility, sustainability, and ESG (environmental, social and […]
February 6, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
The First Climate Change Bankruptcy Is a Wake Up Call
The announcement that PG&E, the giant California utility, intends to file for bankruptcy is a wakeup call for companies to move the […]
February 1, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
For Consumers, CSR Is Now More Important Than Price
For over a year in this newsletter, I have written up the news about the growing number of brands taking stands on […]
January 22, 2019
New Guidance for Banks to Make Sustainable Investments
More guidance is being offered to help banks to lend without sustainability risks in the controversial seafood, palm oil, soy […]
January 17, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
What's Next for Brands Taking Stands in 2019?
“What’s next?” That was the constant refrain I heard at gatherings over the long holiday season and during the early […]
January 15, 2019
Shoppers with a Purpose Show Big Increase
Ethical purchasing in the UK is estimated to have reached £83.3bn ($105.5bn, €92.2bn) a year. The figures reveal a “remarkable […]
January 10, 2019
Brands Taking Stands
Brands Drop Ads from TV Show That Disses Immigrants
Originally published as The Big Story in the Brands Taking Stands weekly newsletter; click here to sign up. Free speech, boycott […]
December 24, 2018
ScottishPower Switches Totally to Renewable Sources
ScottishPower has become the UK’s first integrated electricity and gas provider to switch totally to renewable sources. The company, which […]
December 18, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Activism at Work: Let Us Count the Ways
Originally published as The Big Story in the Brands Taking Stands weekly newsletter; click here to sign up. Since its beginning […]
December 17, 2018
New Modern Slavery Regulations Require Transparency in Annual Statements
Large UK businesses that fail to state their policies on tackling modern slavery and forced labour in their supply chains […]
December 12, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Consumers Like Brands That Take Stands
Originally published as The Big Story in the Brands Taking Stands weekly newsletter; click here to sign up. Almost every […]
December 11, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
December 7th: A Day of Understanding
For older and/or historically inclined Americans, December 7th is “a date will live in infamy”—the anniversary of the 1941 attack […]
December 5, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Brands Taking Stands: A Movement, Not a Moment
As a journalist, I’ve always searched out cultural trends as I saw them developing, in a constant search for “what’s […]
November 30, 2018
Iceland’s banned ad had the potential to democratise sustainability
The news that Iceland’s Christmas advert – with its powerful, consumer-friendly sustainability message – has been banned is a bad […]
November 27, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Waking Up to Unconscious Bias
That’s me in the photo above, engaging with an interactive, virtual reality (VR) installation on the “Check Your Blind Spots” […]
November 27, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Google Employees Step Forward in the Brands Taking Stands Movement
When I began the Brands Taking Stands newsletter exactly one year ago, the inspiration came from the increasing CEO activism […]
November 14, 2018
Sponsored
Brands Taking Stands
3BL Forum Offers Insight Into Brands Taking Stands 3.0
The annual 3BL Forum has come and gone, but its impact will reverberate throughout the corporate responsibility field for some […]
November 2, 2018
Sponsored
Brands Taking Stands
Looking Back, Moving Forward at #BrandsTakingStands
What a difference a year makes. Last October, 3BL Media presented its first “Brands Taking Stands” conference. Earlier in the […]
October 24, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Morality Play: Taking Stands in the Saudi Crisis
Last year’s initial Future Investment Initiative conference promoted by the government of Saudi Arabia for the global financial and media […]
October 23, 2018
Virgin Media Campaigns to Move Disabled into the Workplace
Virgin Media, the UK television, telecoms and internet company, has set itself a target of getting a million more disabled […]
October 22, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
States Take Stands Like Brands
We are witnessing a new development in the Brands Taking Stands movement. States, led by California, are beginning to define […]
October 8, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Principles and Politics Collide Over Tariffs
The collision of principle and policy in current affairs has just ratcheted up several notches in intensity. The reason? The […]
October 2, 2018
Diversity Improves on Corporate Boards
Board diversity policies have now been adopted by 98 per cent of FTSE 100 companies and 88 per cent of […]
October 2, 2018
Instant Purification: A New Solution for Wastewater
An innovative treatment has been devised to enable companies to remove pollutants from wastewater and enhance their ethical and environmental […]
September 25, 2018
Business Leadership as a Calling
Behind the unending stream of headlines about executive malfeasance, there’s a lot of thought and action going on in progressive […]
September 20, 2018
Food Companies Urged to Source “Real Food” Locally
The three largest food service companies in the US are being asked to source more products locally and from smaller […]
September 20, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Business Leadership as a Calling
Behind the unending stream of headlines about executive malfeasance, there’s a lot of thought and action going on in progressive […]
September 19, 2018
Socially Responsible Investing: A 25-Year Overview
Every meaningful message needs its dedicated messenger. For over 25 years, Green Money Journal has been the media voice of […]
September 18, 2018
Recycling and The Circular Economy : Turning Packaging into Products
In the last two to three years I’ve witnessed a growing interest in recycling, predominantly in relation to the plastics […]
September 6, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Cause-Driven Trends Upend Food and Beverage Industry Strategies
PepsiCo’s purchase of SodaStream for $3.2 billion is the latest example of how cause-driven changes in taste and attitudes are […]
August 28, 2018
Paper Company Gears Up to Recycle 500 Million Coffee Cups
A paper maker that claims to use the world’s first process for recycling disposable coffee cups has set itself the target […]
August 22, 2018
What is the Social Responsibility of Social Media?
Do digital companies have a duty to curate content that some find alarming? That’s the current dilemma of social media […]
August 21, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Salesforce Leads Tech Industry in CSR, But Employee Activism Pushes for More
Under the leadership of Marc Benioff, Salesforce has been viewed as one of the more progressive tech companies in a […]
August 14, 2018
PepsiCo CEO Steps Down After 12 Years of Innovative Leadership
“Nobody’s going to remember you for delivering earnings to stockholders—they will remember you for the lasting impact you made on […]
August 8, 2018
Business 2018: Values Matter, More Than Ever
The intersection of business and values has been the site of several collisions lately—some accidental, some accidents waiting to happen. […]
August 6, 2018
Five years after the Rana Plaza disaster, the Bangladesh apparel industry marks major workplace safety progress
Bangladesh, widely condemned for permitting appalling workplace conditions, is now among the world’s safest countries for employees in the ready-made […]
August 5, 2018
Cook feeds children living in poverty
More than a million school meals have now been donated by Cook, the UK ready meals retailer, since it formed […]
July 31, 2018
CSR Now Drives Business as Usual
Back in the day, corporate strategy meant defining a business mission and describing how those goals were to be reached […]
July 27, 2018
CSR Now Drives Business as Usual
Back in the day, corporate strategy meant defining a business mission and describing how those goals were to be reached […]
July 27, 2018
“Mythical barriers fall when moral, technological, and financial imperatives are stacked”
Celebrating excellence in sustainable energy innovation around the world, the Ashden Awards 2018, now in its 18th year, continues to […]
July 23, 2018
Companies Push Back as Trade Wars Roil Markets
The global trade wars have begun, despite a rising drumbeat of concern from companies and trade associations. From General Motors […]
July 17, 2018
Calor Gas strategy supports SDGs, triple bottom line
Calor Gas, which provides bottled propane and butane to four million UK homes and businesses, aims to recruit half its […]
July 16, 2018
Why the energy businesses of the future will focus on re-using energy and why this is the only way we’ll slow climate change
Much of the debate around climate change has focused on reducing our carbon footprints, in particular by cutting our energy […]
July 11, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
CSR Investing Summit 2018 to Update SRI
The socially responsible investment landscape is changing quickly—it’s like a fast-motion film mounted on a moving truck viewed from a […]
July 11, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Companies Take on Climate Change with "We Mean Business"
The We Mean Business coalition was formed to organize a critical mass of the business world to make progress on climate change. […]
July 11, 2018
Bloomberg reports on sustainability and environmental progress
Bloomberg L.P. reports that its new European headquarters in London has been awarded the world’s highest rating for large office […]
July 8, 2018
Flipping the switch on Blockchain-powered sustainable energy at EventHorizon 2018
Sebastian Copeland, polar researcher and climate campaigner, speaking at EventHorizon 2018 EventHorizon, which styles itself as the ‘Global Summit on […]
July 3, 2018
New Rules Posted for Financial Transparency in the 14 British Overseas Territories
Public registers naming the owners of companies in the 14 British Overseas Territories will have to be produced by 2020. […]
July 2, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
S&P 500 Companies Focus on Climate Change's Effect on Earnings
Of the several big issues that have attracted the attention of brands taking stands recently, climate change looks to be topping the […]
June 27, 2018
Walking, wearing, and eating, the talk at the Global Good Awards
Pictured: Ingrid Weel – Global Goods Awards 2018 Realising that the challenges and opportunities of sustainability reach far beyond our […]
June 26, 2018
IKEA to ban single-use plastic products
Ikea, the world’s largest furniture chain, is to phase out single-use plastic products by 2020. It will shun plastic straws, […]
June 25, 2018
UN’s Faremo eyes artificial intelligence potential for SDGs at IPsoft ‘Digital Summit’
By Roger Aitken Speaking at the Second Annual Digital Workforce Summit hosted by IPsoft in New York early this June, […]
June 22, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Microsoft Tests Underwater Datacenter for Energy Efficiency
By John Howell With the blizzard of negative news about tech companies hogging the headlines recently, sometimes it’s been easy […]
June 8, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Gender Pay Gap Closes Up for CEOs
Pictured: Emma Walmsley, CEO, GSK A new, comprehensive study finds that female and male chief executives of public companies are […]
April 25, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Investment Giants Step Up Governance Oversight
It’s contagious, spreading fast, and is having serious consequences throughout society. I’m not talking about this season’s virulent flu, but […]
April 20, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
RepRisk’s Database Now Includes ESG Data on 25,000 Projects
RepRisk, a research and business intelligence provider, has announced a major expansion in its coverage, based on its issues- and […]
March 13, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Global CEOs Present Long-Term Plans to Investors with $25 Trillion in AUM
“I would not want to invest in a company that is only running their business for the short-term,” said Michael […]
March 1, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
ESG Investment Projected to Grow in 2018—So Are Risks
With chaos and tumult defining the news across the board, it’s inevitable that major changes are roiling the socially responsible […]
February 13, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
How Amazon Could Revolutionize Health Care
While public policy regarding health care remains mired in partisan politics, the recent announcement by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan […]
February 8, 2018
Brands Taking Stands
Xcel Energy Expects to Save Millions with Renewables
The bottom line is driving some big new bets on renewables. As technologies improve and scale up, electricity generated from […]
February 8, 2018
Innovation in the UK
Britain has been a hive of innovation since the start of the industrial revolution. At Innovate 2017, the UK government’s […]
December 14, 2017
Ecosurety Adds Over 1,600 New Battery Recycle Points To UK’s Recyclenow.com Tool
Ecosurety, the UK’s leading resource efficiency specialist with services including environmental compliance and intelligence reporting, has added more than 1,600 […]
December 13, 2017
Innovation Drives Road Construction’s Sustainable Practices
Sustainability. Now that this word is firmly entrenched in the business landscape, the real question is just how committed organizations […]
December 5, 2017
Achieving the SDGs in the UK will help us fight climate change
The latest round of global negotiations on tackling climate change, COP23, has come to an end. These UN talks are […]
November 29, 2017
Walmart signs on to sustainable sourcing for seafood
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is to reveal how and where it sources its seafood. […]
November 27, 2017