Ontario and Quebec to Introduce Cap and Trade Protocol

From cbc.ca: “The governments of Quebec and Ontario have formally agreed to work together to cut greenhouse gas emissions, set up a high-speed train service and further integrate their economies.

In the first significant move in the new initiative, Premier Jean Charest and his Ontario counterpart, Dalton McGuinty, on Monday unveiled a cap-and-trade protocol for atmospheric carbon in Quebec City after holding their first joint provincial cabinet meeting.

McGuinty said he would like to see a carbon trading program in place by 2010.Jean Charest and Dalton McGuinty said their provinces should be working together more to harmonize rules on energy and transportation. (CBC) Charest called tackling the issue of climate change a “tremendous challenge for humanity.”

He said whoever becomes the next U.S. president will be doing a “180-degree turn” on climate change policy, and the two provinces shouldn’t wait for that to happen before making changes of their own.

“Why wait for the Americans? We want to subscribe to everything that is being done on the European level and the North American level,” Charest told reporters.” Ontario and Quebec to Introduce Cap and Trade Protocol

Making Green the New Business as Usual: EDF Report 2008

Environmental sustainability is no longer the purview of boutique eco-brands. And it is no longer just about compliance with regulations or securing positive press coverage. It’s about driving cost savings through efficiencies, creating new markets and securing competitive advantage. Smart companies realize that what is good for the environment is also good for business. But after taking care of the basics—like switching to energy-saving lighting, buying recycled office supplies and printing double-sided—what is the next step?

With this new annual review, Environmental Defense Fund aims to showcase some of the most promising new trends and best practices. Our goal is to provide a variety of actionable ideas and some inspiration for more dramatic change. The new processes, products and technologies highlighted in this report were selected based on four key criteria: good for business, good for the environment, ready to be implemented and innovative. We did not include ideas that are still in the R&D stage or those that have already been widely implemented or documented. In some cases, we selected innovations that have already been fully tested and put into commercial use; in other cases, we chose to highlight promising early-stage ideas.

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Tesco Adds Carbon Footprint to Product Labels

From Greenbiz.com: “Supermarket chain Tesco has labeled 20 products with information related to each product’s greenhouse gas emissions in a trial of carbon labeling. Each item is labeled with a number showing the greenhouse gas emissions per serving, Reuters reported.

The test items include orange juice, potatoes, laundry detergent and light bulbs. The company has chosen to label only a few of the tens of thousands of items it carries because of the complexity of measuring a product’s entire carbon footprint, Reuters reported. Tesco also hopes to receive consumer feedback while measuring the emissions of other products.

The labels show orange juice from concentrate has a lower carbon footprint than non-concentrate, and liquid detergent has less of an impact than powder detergent, the Daily Mail reported.” Tesco Adds Carbon Footprint to Product Labels

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy

From nashow.com: ” Rising energy costs, global concern about greenhouse gases and climate change are driving the world’s biggest companies to pressure suppliers to go green and ask very tough questions about how companies handle environmental and social issues. The NA 2008 Keynote will provide a compelling blueprint for how forward thinking companies can address critical environmental issues, from climate change to energy to water, and improve their manufacturing and supply chain performance, gain competitive advantage, and increase profits.”

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Fiji Water Releases Carbon Footprint

From fijiwater.com: “FIJI® Water announced today (April 9th) that it had joined the Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration to fully disclose the carbon footprint of its products. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the world’s largest investor coalition on climate change, will work with FIJI Water to engage with suppliers to disclose their emissions.

FIJI Water is the first privately-owned U.S. company to join the Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration, which uses the CDP information request to engage with suppliers to encourage them to measure and disclose their carbon emissions. Measurement is the first key step to managing emissions.” Fiji Water Releases Carbon Footprint

Small Packages Have Big Impact

From Greenbiz.com: ” When Stonyfield Farms, the organic yogurt manufacturer in Londonderry, N.H., conducted a lifecycle assessment of its yogurt packaging in 1992, it was an early pioneer of the trend to reduce packaging waste in the manufacturing environment. At that time, being a good environmental citizen was low on the priority list of most manufacturers, but times have changed.” Small Packages Have Big Impact

Eight Steps to a Greener Supply Chain

From worldtrademag.com: “Just the sheer complexity of today’s long and global supply chains might be enough to daunt any thought of where to start to implement green strategies and technologies. But there is a lot of help available out there to make the journey an easier one.
Companies are carefully evaluating their supply chains—as well as their lean and continuous improvements in manufacturing processes and business management decisions—to make them more sustainable while increasing their bottom lines.” Eight Steps to a Greener Supply Chain