Announced today at the Clinton Global Initiative, the collaboration catalyzes a powerful group of investors, corporate leaders and other key market players to propel 1,000 companies to embed sustainability factors into day-to-day decision-making, including operations, product development and global supply chains.
The initiative will include roundtables and forums in California and other parts of the country with companies and investors. Much of the activity will evolve around The 21st Century Corporation: Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability, a comprehensive Ceres report that outlines the urgency, vision and competitive advantages for companies to fully embrace sustainability and 20 key expectations for achieving such a goal.
The Ceres “21st Century Sustainable Corporation” report is a key tool for integrating sustainability into the DNA of business – from the boardroom, to copy rooms, and across entire supply chains. The roundtables and forums will help drive companies to implement key expectations outlined in the Roadmap, including:
- Make energy efficiency and renewable energy the foundation for company operations;
- Design and implement closed-loop systems so that air and wastewater emissions are eliminated and zero waste is produced;
- Require 75 percent of top tier suppliers to meet company sustainability performance standards;
- Dedicate 50 percent of R&D investment to developing sustainability solutions;
- Compensate and provide incentives for top executives and other employees to drive sustainability into the business.
