Supply Chain Action Takes Center Stage
 
While the subject of addressing climate change impacts in company supply chains has received increasing attention over the past 12 to18 months, this issue of the ClimateBiz newsletter marks a new high point. This week it is all about the supply chain, from the U.S. to China, and across the public and private sectors.
 
Walmart is again at the center of the action, with major investments and initiatives aimed at reducing supplier emissions in China. In addition to providing substantial support to WRI for new accounting tools aimed at measuring and managing supply chain emissions, the retailer continues to implement a major initiative in southern China meant to reduce the emissions of 200 major suppliers by 20 percent over the next few years (see our feature story).

Meanwhile, Staples and others are reaching all the way back to private timber landowners to provide incentives for conserving their forests and improving their management practices. Direct players in supply chain transport and logistics -- such as UPS and the Ports of Long Beach and L.A. -- also continue to innovate.
 
Nor is this restricted to the private sector. A new Executive Order from the White House orders all U.S. Federal Agencies -- representing more than 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles (!) -- to establish new greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020, and apply new green procurement policies to their enormous annual spend with vendors and contractors.

Eric Olson is senior vice president of advisory services at BSR.

This report finds that unchecked tropical deforestation is a major threat to vital national interests; forest protections offer the most cost?effective way to achieve fast, large?scale reductions in CO2 emissions; and that U.S.?led efforts to incentivize forest conservation would strengthen national security, reduce international instability, and help alleviate global poverty.

Climate Leaders is an EPA industry-government partnership that encourages companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies. This fact sheet offers a primer on the steps undertaken by Climate Leaders partners to establish a greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal.

How can companies ensure that their messages comply with legal requirements, customer expectations, and effective marketing strategies? Join a conversation among a panel of experts moderated by GreenBiz.com executive editor Joel Makower, including Stephen Wenc, president of UL Environment, and Suzanne Shelton, president of the Shelton Group, and Brooks Beard, a partner at Morrison & Foerster, about the ins and outs of green marketing effectively and legally in today's marketplace.