Event - Green Port South Asia

The 2nd GreenPort South Asia Conference will take place on February 26 and 27, 2014 at the The President Hotel in Mumbai, India. The conference will again focus on the sustainable development of ports and terminals but will also look at the need for the infrastructure to keep pace with the development of ports together with investment and finance options and initiatives. This conference will include environmental policy framework and legislation; infrastructure: green initiatives for development and construction; investment for port development: financing green projects as well as the practical issues of pollution control; improving efficiency and increasing profitability in ports and terminal.

Sustainable Development Goals to Follow Millennium Development Goals

Under the auspices of the UN, a new global sustainability initiative is taking shape. With the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) having wrapped up its work on September 20th and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set to expire in 2015, political leaders and policy makers are crafting a new development framework based on sustainability.

Studying Sustainable Development Best Practices

Soon to be released research is working on identifying the best practices in sustainable development. The Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVforum) is about to release a research study conducted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (Switzerland), Earth Council Asia-Pacific (Philippines) and Public Strategy for Sustainable Development (Belgium). This research was conducted in collaboration with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES – Japan). The research team also worked closely with ASEF, through the ENVforum.

A New Environmental Movement Breeds Hope for the Future

Something is happening to the environmental movement that is giving us reason to hope that we may succeed in changing our current trajectory. On Sunday February 17th, 35,000 people came together to demand action in the face of a growing climate crisis. Part of this burgeoning climate activism is attributable to people's first hand exposure to extreme weather. Droughts, hurricanes, snowstorms and wildfires are forcing people to recognize that our climate is changing and they are increasingly coming to the understanding that we must act now.

Corporate Sustainability Report: 4 Ways to Transition from 2012 to 2013

In 2012 a solid majority of North American companies indicated that they had or were creating a sustainability plan. According to SCA's Tork Report, the 2012 sustainability data was much improved compared to the year before. Their study shows that 64 percent of US companies had a sustainability plan or were planning to draft one in 2012. This is almost twice the number of American companies who indicated that they were doing so in 2011.

The survey which is titled "The Sustainability Gap," indicates strong similarities in both the American and the Canadian data. A total of 31 percent of US firms and 30 percent of Canadian firms said their sustainability plans are having a positive impact on the bottom line. Only 12 percent of US companies and 10 percent of Canadian companies said their sustainability initiatives negatively impacted their bottom line. The rest (57 percent of US companies and 60 percent of Canadian companies) indicated they saw no impact on their bottom line.

The Obama Administration Has Grown Renewable Energy

Electrical generation from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal has grown dramatically under the Obama administration says Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. Bossong cites two new government studies that show a near doubling of non-hydro renewable energy sources contributing to US electrical generation since president Obama took office.