Supply Chain Sustainability Stories

The Great Global Cleanup, which turns five this year, is just like it sounds. But organizers aim to make it more comprehensive this Earth Day (April 22) with a “brand audit” and related attempts at two apparent world records. EarthDay.org, the organizer of events across the globe, plans on registering 5,000 cleanups before the green holiday. Cleanups will take place throughout the month.

More than half of respondents to a global survey conducted by the International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations (IADSA) assessing how the supplement industry regards and approaches environmental sustainability said the issue is of high relevance to their company, but many said the costs associated with sustainable change, coupled with a lack of government support, were holding them back from doing more.

The food and beverage industries are under increasing pressure to become more planet-positive, and consumers are playing a key role in driving the change. Leading companies are focusing on several key areas to improve their environmental trajectory, including ingredient sourcing, supply chain and operations, and regenerative agriculture. Their unified efforts are proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to confronting the challenges associated with creating the world’s finest food and beverage products.

Despite certifications like Fair Trade, major challenges persist in cacao sourcing, including child labor, deforestation and poverty. New data-driven, collaborative solutions offer hope for a more sustainable future.

When it comes to beef, U.S. chef Anthony Myint doesn’t buy into the often touted “eat less, eat better” philosophy. He believes we shouldn’t worry about how much beef we consume, as long as it’s climate-beneficial beef we’re eating. Very crudely speaking, the theory is based on the cultivation of healthy soil. The secret to this model is to replace monocultures and chemical fertilizers with bovines grazing on pasture and naturally fertilizing the ground — as they have done for millennia.

The European Union and the governments of 13 countries urged nations at a recent conference in Athens to prioritize the ratification of a U.N. treaty to protect the world's oceans from overfishing and other human activities. The global pact to conserve biodiversity in the high seas was formally adopted by the United Nations last year and is seen as a crucial tool to meet a target to protect 30% of the Earth's land and sea by 2030, known as "30 by 30."