Fair Trade

March 10, 2010 · 0 comments

Fair Trade refers to a social movement that is organised with a market based approach to assist producers in developing nations and encourage sustainability. In this system, workers are provided employment opportunities and living wages for their work.

The artisans or producers work in partnership with International groups that help them develop their skills and market and sell products that could range from crafts to agricultural produce. The Fair Trade movement promotes social and environmental standards and its focus tends to be on exports of handicrafts, coffee, sugar, tea, honey, cotton, wine, flowers etc. from developing countries to developed ones.

Fair Trade goods are required to be certified by bodies like Fair Trade Labelling Organisation and many criteria are required to be met like encouragement of sustainable production techniques; equal employment opportunities for all and forced labour and exploitative child labour being condemned to name a few.

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The Ericsson group has always been keen on corporate social responsibility tools and post the joint venture Sony Ericsson takes on the trademark of watching out for the environment. The GreenHeart initiative launched in 2009, highlights all GreeHeart products in which the unique feature is environmental innovation like recycled plastics, water based paints, super efficient chargers and environmental applications.

The latest green gadget in this category creating a buzz is the Naite. With its recycled packaging, efficient charger, incredible battery life, lead free, eco friendly handset and green application features like the Ecomate, in addition to being the most cost effective in the GreenHeart this cool gadget has several green takers.

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Factor 4

March 9, 2010 · 0 comments

The concept of Factor 4 was introduced in a book written by L. Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute and Ernst von Weizacker of the Wuppertal institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in 1998.

The book presented the concept as an easy means for businesses to achieve four times the efficiency of energy use and materials without the use of new technologies and also presented examples of projects that have saved money and at the same time reduced pollution.

Factor 4 efficiency gains can also be phrased as a reduction of energy and materials by 75%. Its goal is to be twice as productive with half the resources or productivity using 1/4th the material and energy or 4 times as effective with the same resources.

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Factor 10

March 9, 2010 · 0 comments

Factor 10 refers to either being 10 times more productive with half the materials and energy which leads to an efficiency improvement of factor 10 or processes that are productive in spite of using just 10% of the resources.  In essence, Factor 10 refers to an ability to create services and products with lower resource requirement than conventional methods. The evolution of the concept came from the Factor 4 ideals developed at the Wuppertal institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Factor 10 works as a good tool to identify dematerialization while monitoring performance of business. Factor 10 efficiency gains can also be phrased as a reduction of energy and materials by 90%.

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Equator Principles

March 9, 2010

Equator Principles are guidelines that serve to safeguard natural habitats and communities by screening projects to check for adverse human or environmental effects. The voluntary framework was established by a conglomerate of banks led by Citigroup, ABN Amro, Barclays and WestLB in 2003 and specifically deals with determining, assessing and managing risks associated with project [...]

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Tax on plastic bags and bottles

March 9, 2010

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is a Mumbai civic body that may soon implement a ‘green tax’ on manufacturers and end users of plastic bags and bottles that do not meet the required grade. Currently plastic bags thinner than 50 microns which are viewed as the chief cause of blocked drains, are banned and the proposal [...]

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Environmental Justice

March 8, 2010

Environmental resources like clean water, air and healthy living conditions are often not equally distributed or shared. Environmental Justice or EJ refers to efforts on to ensure that these resources in terms of their burdens and benefits are spatially distributed equally with groups like people living in developing countries, racial minorities and residents of areas [...]

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Environmental Audit

March 8, 2010

An Environmental Audit is either an internal or an independent examination of a corporation, organisation, service, product, individual or a government’s environmental impact. The audit is intended to quantify performance and position vis a vis the environment and at bare minimum can check on regulation compliance. Some audit protocols include ISO 14000 and 14001. The [...]

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Energy Service Company

March 8, 2010

An Energy Service Company or ESCO offers clients a reduction in energy costs generally by upfront expenses being capitalised and the resultant cost savings being shared with the client. The energy performance contract or shared savings contract is the tool used to accomplish this deal. Services offered by the company can range from financing, education [...]

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Energy Saving Performance Contracts

March 8, 2010

When Federal agencies realise energy saving projects in the absence of special Congressional appropriations and up front capital costs, it is due to Energy Savings Performance Contracts or ESPCs. Energy Performance contracting also refers to contracts with designers, developers or architects through which payments to them as fees are slightly higher than regular rates but [...]

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