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This past week has been another interesting week in terms of Sustainability news. We can clearly see that Climate Change will feature more and more often now in the Sustainability news field as we approach the Copenhagen summit in December.

Here are my top 5 Sustainability and CSR news items for the past week:

• Marks & Spencer describes its journey from corporate social responsibility to sustainability
  http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/948198/Marks—Spencer-describes-its-journey-corporate-social-responsibility-sustainability/
  Two employees from the M&S Sustainability department describe the journey M&S has had from CSR moving to Sustainability. An interesting read.

• UN climate chief downgrades hopes for post-Kyoto treaty
  http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/un-climate-chief-downgrades-hopes-post-kyoto-treaty/article-186855?Ref=RSS#
  Bad news for the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen already.

• ‘Simple lifestyle tweaks’ key in climate change fight
  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/lf_afp/environmentusconsumer
  Research confirms that is will not take you much to lower your annual emissions. So what are you waiting for?

• The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions
  http://www.globe-net.com/other_news/listing.cfm?type=2&newsID=4807
  A very interesting article with lots of great information for all those climate change skeptics out there.

• A clearer future: Why sustainability graduates are in hot demand
  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/further/a-clearer-future-why-sustainability-graduates-are-in-hot-demand-1810879.html
  A must read for all the students or graduates out there interesting in Sustainability and CSR.

Picture Credit: lumaxart

Thousands of news stories on Sustainability topics where published during 2008 and the end of the year is always a time where most websites release information about their most popular news stories of the year.

I always liked these reviews and have selected the three most interesting websites on the topic of Sustainability and their annual news reviews for 2008 for your convenience.

• BusinessGreen.com top 10 stories of 2008

• GreenBiz.com’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2008

• Green Business 2008 – Environmental Leader’s Most Popular Stories

Picture Credit: Zarco Drincic

This weeks Top 5 Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility news are really a mix of technology topics, communication and responsible business. I really liked the communications article listed here as the first one.

Here are the Top 5 of this week:

Survey of S&P 100 Identifies Best Practices for Sustainability Communications
Interactive marketing agency imc2 looked at the 86 Companies on the S&P 100 that have some level of sustainability communication, concluding that companies overall would benefit from increased stakeholder engagement and transparency. Imc2 argues that providing more information is one of the best routes to effective communications.

How green is Apple now?
Apple touted its new MacBooks unveiled on Tuesday as the “industry’s greenest notebooks,” and on reduction of toxic chemicals they may be. But environmental groups point to greenhouse gas emissions and recycling as areas where more needs to be done.

When Green Becomes Inc.
The author of a new book argues that the biggest conservation organizations are compromised by corporate dollars.

Sustainable business at the base of the pyramid – a new opportunity for development
Good article on the new opportunities of sustainable development.

Unethical companies suffer in the long run
Using a reputational risk index compiled by Ecofact, found companies scoring highly in the index (critical press coverage) outperformed in the short term but underperformed over a longer period.

This weeks Top 5 Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility news stories focus more on Climate Change topics. I noticed that there where a lot of interesting climate change studies published this week. Next to the interesting Climate Change topics I particularly like second article on the importance of brand strength for sustainability.

Here are the Top 5 of this week:

Combating climate change could create millions of jobs, says UN-backed study
Tackling climate change could potentially generate millions of new employment opportunities, according to a new United Nations-backed study – the first of its kind on the emergence of a “green economy” and its impact on labour.

Sustainability credentials essential to brand strength
Authors of top 100 brand report argue that good environmental performance is becoming an increasingly important factor in a company’s brand power.

Global carbon emissions still rising
Man-made C02 emissions are increasing four times faster than pre-2000 figures.

Study: GM Gets Thumbs Up for Eco-Friendly Practices
In Web discussions and blogs centred on environmental health and sustainability, Toyota and Honda have an unlikely stable mate: General Motors, a bane of environmentalists for spending millions to lobby against fuel economy mandates.

Consumers Say Business Should Take Leading Role in Fighting Climate Change
Consumers believe businesses should bear the heaviest load of the burden to address climate change and while companies acknowledge the problem, they haven’t done as much as they could to address it, say two recent studies.