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Kraft to cut salt levels in many products

info — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:14:54 +0000

Kraft Foods Inc. plans to reduce sodium by an average of 10 percent over the next two years for North American brands, including Oscar Mayer and Velveeta.Kraft’s move follows similar efforts by Campbell Soup Co. and ConAgra Foods Inc. Susan Davison, a spokeswoman for Kraft, said the company will cut salt levels in more than 1,000 products. Sodium levels in Oscar Mayer bologna are to be reduced by 17 percent. Some flavors of Easy Mac Cups, macaroni and cheese with up to 29 percent of the daily sodium intake recommended by the Food and Drug Administration, will have a drop of 20 percent. “It’s good for consumers, and, if done properly, it’s good for business,’’ said Rhonda Jordan, Kraft’s president of health and wellness. “A growing number of consumers are concerned about their sodium intake and we want to help them translate their intentions into actions.’’ More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Kraft | Source: Bloomberg News

Kit Kat spat goes viral despite Nestlé’s efforts

info — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:13:04 +0000

Now you see it, now you don’t. Wait: Now you do. A global game of Whack-a-Mole broke out Wednesday on the Internet when YouTube removed a gruesome anti-Nestlé commercial by Greenpeace after the multinational food giant complained, only to have viewers flock to the video-sharing site Vimeo.com, where the spot became an instant cause célèbre because of the reputed censorship. The 60-second video depicts a bored office worker enjoying a Kit Kat, which rather than being the popular chocolate-hazelnut ladyfinger-style confection, appears to be a chocolate-covered ape finger. As he munches on the treat, it oozes blood over his chin and across his keyboard, shocking his co-workers. “Have a break?” reads the on-screen text. “Give the orangu-tan a break.” (…) The protest action highlighted yesterday’s release of a Greenpeace report alleging that Nestlé and the Indonesian industrial giant Sinar Mas, which supplies the food company with palm oil and is also a major pulp-and-paper supplier, are “partners in crime,” whose actions may lead to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of rain forest. “Not only are these areas key habitat for orangutans, but also crucial carbon stores; the destruction of these areas is a major cause of Indonesia’s rocketing carbon emissions,” Greenpeace stated. The organization added that Sinar Mas has already been dropped by Unilever, Kraft, Sainsbury and Shell. A few hours after the video was posted to the Web, Nestlé said in a statement issued from its Swiss headquarters that it had “replaced the Indonesian company Sinar Mas as a supplier of palm oil with another supplier for further shipments,” and insisted that no palm oil from Sinar Mas had been used outside Indonesia. Still, it acknowledged that it could not guarantee that Sinar Mas palm oil wasn’t finding its way into the shipments of other suppliers it used. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Nestlé | Source: The Globe and Mail

The protest action highlighted yesterday’s release of a Greenpeace report alleging that Nestlé and the Indonesian industrial giant Sinar Mas, which supplies the food company with palm oil and is also a major pulp-and-paper supplier, are “partners in crime,” whose actions may lead to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of rain forest. “Not only are these areas key habitat for orangutans, but also crucial carbon stores; the destruction of these areas is a major cause of Indonesia’s rocketing carbon emissions,” Greenpeace stated.

The organization added that Sinar Mas has already been dropped by Unilever, Kraft, Sainsbury and Shell.

A few hours after the video was posted to the Web, Nestlé said in a statement issued from its Swiss headquarters that it had “replaced the Indonesian company Sinar Mas as a supplier of palm oil with another supplier for further shipments,” and insisted that no palm oil from Sinar Mas had been used outside Indonesia. Still, it acknowledged that it could not guarantee that Sinar Mas palm oil wasn’t finding its way into the shipments of other suppliers it used.

Walmart, Marks & Spencer, Nike: Harbingers of Change?

info — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:58:36 +0000

A few years ago, a book entitled Change or Die made the case that despite the exhortations of management hipsters and hyperbolic CEOs, companies seldom change the way they operate and people rarely modify their behavior. That in fact, even when a crisis demands change, the scientific evidence shows that nine out of ten times, we don’t. For many readers, it was a startling assertion. But for those who’ve spent years trying to persuade business to break with convention and commit to an authentically sustainable ethos, the argument that CEOs are as “resistant to change as anyone” was remarkably ho-hum. Never mind the surging number of C-level execs who are lining up at sustainability conferences to pronounce their passion for “responsible” corporate behavior — too many are too ready to settle for tiny tweaks to the status quo. They glorify their efforts to be a little less bad, hailing them as examples of important change. Meanwhile, business as usual continues apace. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Walmart, Marks & Spencer, Nike | Source: GreenBiz.com

Deutsche Telekom introduces a “women’s quota”

info — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:53:52 +0000

Deutsche Telekom, the company behind T-Mobile, has announced plans to introduce a “women’s quota” – ensuring 30% of its management positions are filled by women by the end of 2015. The move will make Deutsche Telekom the first Dax 30 company to introduce a women’s quota. The firm said it plans to ensure that 30% of its upper and middle management positions worldwide are filled by women and said it “expects to add value to the company in the long term with greater diversity at management level.” “Taking on more women in management positions is not about the enforcement of misconstrued egalitarianism. It is a matter of social fairness and a categorical necessity for our success. Having a greater number of women at the top will quite simply enable us to operate better,” said Deutsche Telekom’s CEO René Obermann. Kristina Schröder, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, praised Deutsche Telekom’s initiative, said: “Women have long since established themselves in the working world. But when it comes to important decision-making, men still rule the roost. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Deutsche Telekom | Source: ICM

Anheuser-Busch InBev to make ‘green’ beer by cutting down on water

info — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:13:17 +0000

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev plans to start making watered-down beer — as in cutting down water usage in its production process to help make the company’s operations more eco-friendly. By the end of 2012, the company plans to whittle down its worldwide water use by 30% to 3.5 hectoliters of water for each hectoliter of product. Each hectoliter is about 26.4 gallons. In 2007, each hectoliter of production required 5.03 hectoliters of water. The company’s brewery in Cartersville, Ga., has already reached the 3.1-hectoliter mark. Reaching the goal would be the equivalent of saving enough water to fill 25,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, Anheuser-Busch InBev said. Since 2000, the brewer has already decreased water use by nearly 37%, it said. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company – Ethical Quote link: Anheuser-Busch InBev | Source: Los Angeles Times

P&G Expands ‘Future Friendly’ Marketing Effort

info — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:57:01 +0000

Procter & Gamble is expanding its Future Friendly marketing effort that promotes environmental responsibility under the guise of consumer education. P&G, which owns Tide, Pampers, PUR and Duracell, among other brands, first introduced Future Friendly at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative in September of 2009. Now, with a full marketing launch kicking off the week of March 29, P&G hopes to reach or exceed its original pledge of providing conservation education to at least 50 million U.S. households by the end of 2010. In addition to television advertising and an extensive social networking and consumer engagement component, more than 15,000 retail locations will participate in the initial phase of Future Friendly. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company – Ethical Quote link: Procter & Gamble | Source: Environmental Leader

Google vs. China: Claws Come Out, Search Giant Sounds Like Sovereign Nation

info — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:51:03 +0000

The spat between Google and the Chinese government has been rumbling along for weeks, but just now it’s been elevated to “fist fight” status: The inevitable strongly-worded Chinese warning about “consequences” has arrived. The warning came today from the Minister of Industry and IT, Li Yizhong, who was speaking to reporters at the annual National People’s Congress meeting. Li was, of course, diplomatic about the matter and noted that the government does actually support Google in its efforts to “expand is business and market share in China.” But then the gloves came off: “If [Google] violates Chinese laws it would be unfriendly and irresponsible and [it] will definitely be responsible for the consequences.” This is the most direct threat yet toward the global search engine giant, and highlights that the Chinese government is not going to budge one millimeter from its official legal position. If Google, for whatever reason, decides to stop censoring its search results which it currently does to comply with the strict Dark Ages-style active censorship laws the Chinese demand, then China will simply snip off access to Google, and really won’t care about the matter. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company – Ethical Quote link: Google | Source: Fast Company

Tropicana: Trying to Make a Greener Orange Juice

info — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:31:10 +0000

How green is your orange juice? A couple of years ago, PepsiCo, which owns the orange-juice brand Tropicana, tried to size up the carbon footprint of the popular morning tonic. It found that each half-gallon carton of OJ is responsible for 3.75 lbs. of CO2. What was particularly surprising was where much of that CO2 was coming from. The single biggest contributor to Tropicana’s carbon footprint wasn’t the transport of the juice to stores, or the energy required to operate a modern citrus farm. Rather, it was the fertilizer being used to grow the orange trees. A great deal of natural gas is used to make nitrogen fertilizer, and a great deal of fertilizer is used on citrus trees — so much so that fertilizer accounted for 35%, the largest share, of the carbon footprint of orange juice. “We thought it might be transport or packaging,” says Tim Carey, director of sustainability and beverages for PepsiCo. “But the agricultural aspects of the operation are more important than we expected.” (See the top 10 green ideas of 2009.). More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Nigeria | Company – Ethical Quote link: PepsiCo | Source: Time

Unholy alliance: green NGO’s buddy up with big corporations

info — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:05:04 +0000

Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, WWF, Sierra Club — are the biggest environmental NGO’s losing credibility by receiving funds from major corporations? While at Copenhagen I found myself faced with a troubling reality — as more and more corporations realize there is a wealth opportunity in climate and environmental initiatives, they are starting to throw big dollars at environmental NGO’s to help them green up.The only problem is that both are now walking the fine line between greening and greenwashing . Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, WWF, Sierra Club– all have taken on substantial corporate dollars. Some of those dollars are going to great things. Take WWF whoseClimateSavers initiative which is helping big corporations like IBM, JohnsonDiversey, CocaCola, HP reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. But some of that money might end up hurting the environment. Take WWF’s unholy alliance with IKEA , which forced them to release a press statement that essentially relieved IKEA of its corporate responsibility when it wrongly reported that its wood was not taken from endangered forests, which of course it was. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company – Ethical Quote link: IBM, Coca-Cola Co., HP, IKEA | Source: Mother Nature Network

Unilever budgets N25m for water, sanitation

info — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:28:56 +0000

Unilever Plc says it has set aside N25.2m to sink boreholes and construct toilets to demonstrate its commitment to the water, sanitation and hygiene campaign. The company’s Managing Director, Mr Thomas Boedinger, disclosed this on Tuesday at Okpoga, Benue State, during a WASH campaign organised in conjunction with WaterAid Nigeria, a non-government organisation. The campaign was organised for primary schools in Okpokwu, Ogbadibo and Ado local government areas of Benue State. Represented by Mr Yemi Adeboye, Boedinger said the campaign was “a concrete testimony’’ of Unilever’s concern for the welfare of its customers. He said the partnership with WaterAid have had positive impact on some communities in the three local government areas, as well as in some communities in Langtang, Plateau State and others in Ogun State. Image: wateraid.org. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Nigeria | Company – Ethical Quote link: Unilever | Source: The Punch