World Wildlife Fund Sustainability Works

On August 7, 2018, The Bahamas’ spiny lobster fishery became the first Caribbean fishery to earn certification from the Marine Stewardship Council, the leading global standard for wild-caught seafood environmental performance.

Since 2009, World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy have collaborated with The Bahamas Marine Exporters Association, Bahamas Department of Marine Resources and fishermen to ensure the health of the spiny lobster stock, reduce the impact of fishing on the marine environment, and improve the overall management of the fishery.

With the certification, the lobster tails are now eligible to carry the MSC blue fish label, recognized by many consumers as a mark of products sourced with higher environmental standards.

To achieve certification, The Bahamas lobster fishery has been engaged in a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP), which provides a step-by-step approach to bring fishery management practices up to the MSC standard, which WWF suggests should be regarded as the minimum standard for environmental performance. Large seafood companies often provide critical support for FIPs by leveraging their buying power to boost FIP participation among fishermen and exporters, by engaging local government agencies to improve policy, and by providing financial support. Many large companies provided such support in The Bahamas, namely Costco Wholesale, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Corporation, The Kroger Co., SUPERVALU Inc., and Tequesta Bay Foods, Inc.

“FIPs are a really good tool to get fisheries to MSC certification. It lays out a series of steps with definable goals and a timetable,” said Bill Mardon, seafood buyer for Costco. “And there is a reward at the end of the line: fisheries that can produce for many years to come.”

With support from U.S. companies like Costco and Tequesta Bay, the FIP achieved several important goals to earn the MSC certification, including:

• Conducting a peer-reviewed stock assessment and establishing a data collection and management system to monitor the health of the lobster stock;
• Establishing a public forum for stakeholders to participate in the management of the lobster fishery;
• Instituting a zero-tolerance policy for undersized lobster for The Bahamas Marine Exporters Association;
• Analyzing the monitoring and control of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing to ensure that the level of deterrence is appropriate for the fishery’s value; and
• Developing a lobster harvest strategy, a fishery management plan, and procedures to review the performance of the lobster fishery management.

“In order for us to have a healthy business model, we need healthy fisheries,” added Rafael Bru, president of Tequesta Bay Foods. “It’s sound business.”

Spiny lobster is an important commercial species in The Bahamas. The $90 million Bahamian lobster industry employs about 9,000 fishers who cover a massive 45,000 square miles of ocean. More than 6 million pounds of spiny lobster tails are sold commercially each year. Capped at 5 million pounds, exports go primarily to the United States and Europe.

“We eagerly accept the MSC stamp of approval,” said Mia Isaacs, president of The Bahamas Marine Exporters Association. “It's been a collaborative effort and we are thankful to all the stakeholders, especially the fishermen. As we continually improve our spiny lobster fishery, we aim for product of The Bahamas to become synonymous with strength, collaboration and sustainability. MSC certification is a proud accomplishment. Congratulations, Bahamas! We did it!”

Monarch butterflies embark on a marvelous migratory journey. Annually, they travel nearly 3,000 miles from the United States and Canada to their hibernation grounds in Mexico. These travelers arrive at the beginning of November and stay for five months at the Oyamel Fir forest of central Mexico before they migrate back North. Sadly, each year fewer monarchs make that journey as their population has drastically decreased due to climate change and depletion of milkweed along their migratory route, which is the only plant where monarch butterflies lay their eggs. 

 The latest survey of the monarch’s winter habitat in Mexico is a stark reminder that this species is in need of protection. The number of monarch butterflies that spent the winter in forests in Mexico fell for a second straight year, according to the survey conducted every winter at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. 

 WWF and our partners on the ground in Mexico are working to reverse this trend. Together, we are committed to protecting vital monarch butterfly habitat by countering illegal logging efforts, working with local communities and authorities on sustainable forest management, providing training for sustainable tourism, and leading sustainable projects such as tree nurseries that help restore butterfly forest and mushroom production. These measures have also helped to provide additional income to local communities that share the forest with the monarch butterflies. 

 As part of our efforts to save the monarch butterfly, WWF and world-renowned chef José Andrés are joining forces for the second year in a row to raise awareness and funds for these butterflies. During June 18 – 24, José Andrés’ DC-based restaurant, Oyamel, will feature special dishes inspired by the region in Mexico where migratory monarch butterflies overwinter. As part of the initiative, Oyamel will donate a portion of proceeds from a special Monarch Week menu to support WWF's work to protect the monarch butterflies. A selection of items from the menu for Monarch Week include: 

• Mojito Sandía - Mint-charged rum, lime, watermelon 
• Ensalada de Farro- Anson Mills farro salad with a cucumber pipián, pea shoots, peas, green beans, spiced pumpkin seeds and queso fresco
• Buñuelo - Crispy fried butterfly cookie, piloncillo, candied pumpkin seeds, orange granita and vanilla ice cream

In addition to Monarch Week at Oyamel, Chef Andrés acts as WWF’s Monarch Squad Champion by raising awareness about this species and encouraging fans to do their part to protect this migratory miracle. In the US, WWF has set a bold goal of getting one million supporters to join the Monarch Squad, to help save the monarch habitat by reducing habitat conversion and the use of herbicides along its migratory route in the US. Join José Andrés and learn more about WWF’s Monarch Squad here. 

L’Oréal USA has joined the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC), a coalition of manufacturers, state and local governments, and environmental organizations committed to increasing options for access to sustainable, cost-competitive renewable thermal energy. Jay Harf, L’Oreal USA’s Vice President of Environment, Health, Safety, & Sustainability, share more about why thermal energy matters to the company.

Tell us about the progress you’ve made so far?

In March, L’Oréal USA was proud to announce that all 19 of our manufacturing and distribution facilities in 12 states -- covering over 7 million square feet of space -- will be carbon neutral by 2019.  We will achieve this by adding renewable natural gas (RNG) from a new landfill gas processing facility at the Big Run Landfill in Ashland, Kentucky to our diversified energy portfolio, which already includes 16 solar installations plus wind turbines and locally-sourced RECs.  Our long-term RNG purchase commitment was a key underwriting component that led to the financing of the processing facility.  The RNG that L’Oréal USA is purchasing from this new project alone is expected to eliminate the carbon equivalent of 1.8 million gallons of gasoline consumed per year.

What makes the Kentucky project unique?

As we looked for solutions to our thermal emissions, taking a local approach where we would have a positive impact on a community in which we operate while also being financially viable was very important.  Given that our largest manufacturing facility, by tonnage produced, in the world is our haircare plant in Florence, Kentucky, we started our research there and were thrilled to have found a local project only 135 miles from our factory that was able to address all of our US thermal needs.

We are purchasing approximately 40 percent of the RNG that will be produced from the Big Run Landfill.  This is enough RNG to match our natural gas use for our facility in Kentucky and all 18 of our other U.S. manufacturing and distribution facilities.  This use of directed biogas is unique in its scope and scale as we are able to address our thermal emissions for our entire US Operations with a single solution. 

A key piece of criteria when evaluating potential thermal solutions was that the project needed to be financially viable. While RNG offered us a solution, high production costs and demand drive the biogas market cost up significantly. In order to offset the cost differential between RNG and non-renewable natural gas, which can be as high as eight times more, we will temporarily sell the environmental attributes from our RNG back to the transportation fuels market for approximately five years. During this time, we plan to purchase carbon offsets from an EPA award winning RNG site in order to achieve carbon neutrality.  When we reach a financial break-even point on the project after approximately five years, we plan to use the environmental attributes from the RNG we are purchasing to maintain our carbon neutrality for all of our US Operations facilities.

What about the Kentucky project do you think is replicable or that others can learn from?

We believe that the innovative approach we took could potentially be used as a model for other companies looking to address their thermal emissions in a financially and environmentally sustainable way.

LFG has traditionally been used to generate electricity or for direct use at a single site. Today, the highest value use for RNG is in the transportation fuels market. Our financial model leverages this market to generate enough revenue to make the project possible financially. 

With over 10,000 landfills in the US and only 650 active RNG sites, we hope our model encourages others to explore whether they can use this underutilized resource to address their thermal needs and reduce emissions.

Why are you joining the Renewable Thermal Collaborative?

We are excited to join the RTC and share our experience in developing solutions to help accelerate more large buyers’ pursuit of thermal energy solutions that reduce emissions.  As the worldwide leader in beauty, we believe we have a responsibility to lead on sustainability issues and use the scale of our business to make changes that positively impact the world.  We are not done. We believe more innovation is needed and we look forward to being a part of the conversation to help shape the future direction of renewable thermal solutions.

Engage and educate. When I first started talking to people about the sustainability of our oceans, I realized I was part of the problem and not part of the solution. I recognized how much more my colleagues and I needed to know to make a change. I reached out to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other marine experts to help us better understand the state of the world’s fisheries, opening educational events at the hotel to not just to kitchen and food and beverage colleagues but to the entire hotel team. This helped generate not just awareness but also genuine interest and excitement. People are motivated by work with purpose, and it’s a relevant topic to anyone who eats seafood.

Define your goals. Determining which seafood is sustainable is important. Ultimately, Hyatt developed seafood goals with WWF and focused on increasing seafood from fisheries and farms that are certified to the standards of the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, respectively, or were working toward meeting those standards. By supporting fisheries and farms comprehensively working to improve against those standards, we can help increase the availability of more sustainable, responsible and traceable product.

Know what you are buying and simplify. After taking stock of exactly what was coming into the hotel, we realized we were buying over 600 seafood items, a large number even for a hotel the size of Grand Hyatt Singapore. We brought that number down to fewer than 100 by removing unnecessary and redundant items. And while it took us years to reach this level, it became dramatically easier to manage costs and created stronger relationships with suppliers who were willing to take this journey with us.

Manage your overall costs. Find ways to create value and increase the sustainability and quality of the seafood you are buying by managing your overall costs. Utilize economies of scale through having fewer products and greater volume through select suppliers, adjust portions to what makes sense for the menu and the plate, look for opportunities to consolidate purchasing with sister hotels, and when applicable, reduce costs in another area – like tackling overproduction for banquets – to address potential premiums for sustainable seafood.

Avoid endangered species. Some species just simply need more time to recover from historic overfishing. Hyatt globally is working to address endangered species on our menus and has banned shark fin from all properties. At Grand Hyatt Singapore, we have been working diligently to address other endangered species and have also removed popular but overfished seafood like bluefin tuna from our menus. Some endangered species are culturally important in many regions, but ultimately, we found that our customers, colleagues and owners embraced the shift.

Determine your seafood’s origins. You cannot truly buy sustainably if you don’t know where your seafood comes from. It is estimated that nearly one in three seafood items is mislabelled, and one in five seafood items was sourced from illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) sources. Traceability is critical to addressing these issues. At Grand Hyatt Singapore, we work closely with our suppliers to track the origins of our products. We were also one of the first hotels in Asia to obtain MSC and ASC Chain of Custody certification – a traceability and segregation standard that enables us to demonstrate to our customers that our hotel and our suppliers can track MSC and ASC certified product back to the fishery or farm, respectively.

The more restaurants, suppliers, and guests get involved, the broader impact we can make. While we have collectively come a long way, there’s still a lot of work to do. Fortunately, our experiences engaging our colleagues, customers, suppliers, property owners and more have been exceedingly positive. There is wide and growing recognition that we must protect our planet and its natural resources if we want our children and grandchildren to continue enjoying these gifts from the sea.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations  around 35% of harvested fish and seafood is either lost or wasted along the supply chain - with other studies putting that number closer to 50%.

And this comes at a time when nearly 90% of the world’s fisheries are harvested right up to or beyond their ecological limits. As populations and appetites for nutritious protein like seafood grow, we have precious few resources to spare.

So where does this loss happen?

Some of it happens while still out on the ocean. Wherever there is fishing, there is bycatch: Millions of tons of fish, sea turtles, whales, dolphins and other sea creatures are caught unintentionally and then discarded or returned to the sea each year - in many cases because they’re dead, dying or badly damaged or because they’re not marketable. A 2009 study found that bycatch could represent 40% of global marine catches that are unused or unmanaged, though in some markets much of this bycatch does make it to market, which makes it tricky to measure. 

Luckily, proven solutions like alternative fishing gear do exist to reduce bycatch and others are in the works. (Learn more about how WWF works with partners on developing this gear and how to sustainably manage wild fisheries.)

But bycatch isn’t the only cause of loss. Once a catch lands at dock, it makes a few more stops before reaching your plate, such as processing plants, airplanes, traders, wholesalers, dealers, distributors, and transporters. Along this journey, it must stay cold and controlled through careful preservation and processing techniques to be safe and ready for consumption; if it doesn’t, it can be lost to spoilage at any step. Often the seafood you eat is frozen when caught and transported, then thawed and marketed as “fresh”.  FAO estimates that 27% of fish are lost or wasted between catch and consumption.

To help us better envision this long trip, WWF worked with Condition One and Google to bring one of these journeys to life using 360° video and virtual reality (VR). Through this visualization, we are inspired to find solutions and empowered to eliminate waste and to fully value the time and energy behind every wild-caught or farm-raised fish we consume.

Supported by Google’s Daydream Impact program and produced by Condition One, the VR project aims to help raise awareness around the challenges facing our oceans using VR video. Short of physically being on a fishing boat or in a processing plant, there’s no better way to understand these issues.

You can experience the video below on YouTube on desktop or mobile – use your mouse or finger depending on your device to move around and explore the scenery around you. For the most immersive experience, view the video on YouTube using a VR viewer like Cardboard or Daydream View.

You can also dive in and explore one sample supply chain with a new Google Voyager – a map-based guided story that casts off from a dock in California and follows the fish on their journey, while exploring loss along the way.  

The amount of seafood we lose each year could help feed millions around the world. The loss and waste of seafood products represents the loss of biodiversity and all the resources that were used to grow, transport and refrigerate that fish (feed, fuel, energy). By attempting to eliminate seafood waste throughout the supply chain, we can make better use what we harvest, increase the availability of nutritious seafood for people around the world, decrease price volatility in seafood markets, and potentially increase fishery productivity and profitability.

We all have a role to play in reducing lost and waste across the supply chain from fishermen to processors to consumers. For example:

• Gear development and policy changes can reduce bycatch.
• Technological innovation in storage, refrigeration, processing, and packaging can increase efficiency.
• Measurement of waste and sharing loss/waste information across industries can illuminate possible areas for prevention or reduction and cost savings.
• Eliminating fish bycatch or creatively using unavoidable bycatch can generate alternative sources of nutrition for consumers and additional revenue streams for companies.

WWF is working with businesses across the supply chain to reduce loss and waste.

Learn more about what consumers can do to cut waste: www.worldwildlife.org/stories/from-ocean-to-plate
Read more about WWF’s work with private sector partners on sustainable seafood: www.seafoodsustainability.org

Pop culture is beginning to give illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing the exposure it needs, and it’s a prime opportunity for businesses to step up to help create a transparent seafood supply chain.

For more than 30 years I have worked on IUU-related issues, topics usually kept within the confines of policy briefs and white papers. The audiences vary, but it continually revolves around the same areas of focus. So it piqued my interest when I discovered the age-old method of good storytelling via an action-packed documentary thriller was being used to mainstream this issue for an audience that normally wouldn’t give IUU a second thought.

The film Chasing the Thunder gives IUU the exposure it needs.

Producers of the film centered their story around a 110-day, 10,000-mile long chase of an illegal fishing vessel, the Thunder, that plays out as if the bad guys might get away. Spoiler Alert: They don’t. It’s a harrowing tale of citizen activists determined to confront a notorious illegal fishing ship and not let it escape justice, no matter how extreme its tactics. It’s also a prime entry point into a conversation with public and private sector leaders about the problem of IUU.

This serious matter is one shared by communities, businesses and governments.  It threatens company reputations, stable supply chains, secure food supplies and economic success. It is conservatively estimated that illegal fishing robs the market of $34.6 billion dollars every year. But the actual total figure is certainly much higher. The Thunder alone was estimated to have made more than $60 million in profits over its decade-long spree. The good news is, total seafood trade is $140 billion, and that means many companies out there are operating legitimately. These companies implement best business practices, care about their environmental footprint and comply with the laws. They also realize that unless they source seafood sustainably, the future of their businesses and the entire industry may be at risk.

Given what’s at stake, these businesses need to step up and take a leadership role in the search for, and implementation of, solutions to combat IUU. As government agencies improve regulations, businesses will need to be implementers. Companies can be advocates for better policy and develop systems that are realistic and workable in their own environments.  And, because many companies source their products from across the globe, they have an excellent perspective on opportunities for the alignment of solutions across different jurisdictions. That’s a win for everyone.

One solution ready for scaling up right now is for businesses to help stop black-market trade of illicit catches through the new US import rules, which came into effect January 1, 2018. The new program, NOAA’s Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), is an important step and is now being enforced by the US government.

To make SIMP a success, we need companies to step up. It’s a given that companies must comply with the new rules, but, they can go a few steps further:

• Acknowledge the value of traceability and promote it.
• Help customers understand the value of sustainability.
• Support funding for implementation and enforcement of SIMP and similar legal fishing policies.
• Support development of new tools to help exporting countries comply with the rules.
• Work with overseas suppliers to ensure they understand what to do.

In the end, the Thunder was scuttled by its captain, the owner and captain were convicted and fined millions of dollars, and the captain served some prison time. Still, it represents a minority in the seafood industry, such actions lead to significant damage. This vessel had been part of a six-vessel fleet and has been poaching for more than ten years.

The film leaves the sense that the high seas of today can be a bit like the past, our vision of the wild, wild west – vast, lawless and uncontrolled. That’s the void responsible business can help fill by being vocal about programs that are needed to stop the unfair behaviors that many get away with out at sea, where patrolling is difficult. It can be done, and here’s how:

• Support better regulation in international fora, including use of monitoring technologies and more details about catches.
• Don’t perpetuate loopholes; have all species included in SIMP.
• Install electronic monitoring systems on vessels.
• Don’t protect the bad guys: cones of silence aren’t helping the responsible actors.
• Be sure your supply chain isn’t running on forced labor.
• Understand that IUU fishing will require a suite of tools: some high-tech, some regulatory and some just plain old common sense.

Just as the Thunder closed its net around millions of dollars’ worth of illegally caught toothfish, leadership from industry can help tighten the net around the black-market trade that steals from coastal communities and legitimate businesses. Most businesses would never contemplate skirting the law so brazenly, but that’s no longer enough to be considered good, responsible business. Seafood companies – fleets, processors, importers, exporters – all have an opportunity to demonstrate the kind of leadership that will really put the squeeze on organized networks profiting from ocean crimes, like illegal fishing, thus helping to advance the journey to seafood sustainability.

WWF’s Climate Savers program enables companies to work with individual WWF country offices to set and achieve climate goals while also enabling best practice sharing and support across companies and countries. While at the Climate Savers Summit in Washington, DC from May 15-16, representatives from 17 companies and eight WWF country offices came together to do just that. During the Summit, Pernilla Halldin of H&M’s Global Public Affairs team shared insights into trends in and approaches to corporate engagement on climate policy. With their headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, H&M works with WWF-Sweden and Climate Savers as part of their efforts to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their operations. Below Pernilla provides more on how H&M views its role in building a climate positive future.

For over a decade, I’ve been professionally advocating for “zero waste.” It all started when I read Braungart and McDonough’s book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The premise was simple. The way we design things doesn’t make a lot of sense, and often our design for systems, products and events does not include a way to recycle or reuse them. The book itself is brilliant, it’s made from recycled plastic and is waterproof – great for reading in the pool on a hot summer day.

Human waste is created from poor design. We live in a throw-away world where convenience is king. In our current system avoiding waste can be really challenging. We need to re-imagine a future where we consciously design systems to eliminate waste and move beyond responding or reacting. It’s through better design that we create zero waste systems with zero inconvenience.

When asked about eliminating waste and getting to zero, inevitably, the question comes up, is zero waste really possible? My canned answer is that achieving zero waste is extremely difficult, and what’s important is that we all carry a chip on our shoulder about waste. Zero waste is an attitude – it declares that our intention is to eliminate the entire concept of waste and take our playbook from nature. Nothing is wasted in nature. On Thursday, April 26, in Greenwich, CT, Thomas McQuillan, Director of Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods, set out to do just that: host an event with ZERO waste and raise funds for local nutrition programs.

Thomas and his team worked hard to showcase an event where nothing would be wasted, especially food. WWF cares a lot about food because of the significant environmental impact food and agriculture has on our planet. Wasting food is a waste of energy, water and often wildlife habitat. We have to freeze the footprint of food and ensure waste is eliminated.

Thomas and his team are out to challenge the nay-sayers who are quick to point out that ZERO WASTE is not possible. The laws of thermodynamics state that a temperature of negative 273.15 Celsius, absolute zero, is also not possible. Maybe there was a bit of waste that went to compost or recycling, so they didn’t hit absolute zero, but they set an example for the catering and events industry and got pretty darn close through intentional planning, attitude and design. Take a peek behind the scenes to see the effort that went into a thought-provoking and delicious event.

World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers is a program meant to aid businesses in becoming leaders of the low-carbon economy, inspiring companies to change how they think about climate solutions and develop businesses models that promote sustainability. As Climate Savers companies met this week in Washington, DC, Andrew McMullen, LEGO Group’s Environmental Supply Chain Senior Manager, shared insights into LEGO Group’s work with Climate Savers and why having a positive impact on the environment matters to the company.

Commitments from LEGO Group:

• As a toy company, we are well placed to engage children on this topic, so we commit to highlighting the environment agenda with children through our platform.
• We will continue to ensure 100 percent of energy consumption is balanced by production of renewable energy sources – a goal that was reached in 2017.
• 90% of the company’s overall carbon impact takes place in the supply chain. We commit to collaborate with suppliers to reduce their carbon emission impacts across the process that delivers LEGO bricks into consumers’ homes.
• We have given ourselves a target to use sustainable materials in all our core products (elements, packaging and building instructions) by 2030. We will engage with partners around the world (NGOs, Suppliers, Universities, Customers, Consumers, 3rd Parties) to get this right, we do not know all the answers, but we know this is an area where the LEGO group can have a significant impact.

How has working with World Wildlife Fund helped LEGO Group reach its climate goals?

The LEGO Group has been part of WWF’s Climate Savers program since 2013. We have met or exceeded all of our climate targets since the partnership began, and together with WWF we continue to set ambitious new targets to ensure a more sustainable way of producing LEGO bricks. WWF shared global best practice with us and challenges us to set the right climate targets for our company.

What actions would you like to see your industry adopt to curb climate change?

Industry is a major contributor to global warming, due to significant emissions of CO2. If we are going to be good corporate citizens, we need to act and find solutions to operate without emitting CO2 and other gasses with a high GWP. We encourage all businesses to commit to reducing their own environmental footprint. Industry should ensure climate change is addressed by suppliers, customers and consumers throughout the value chains in which they operate. Industry should also share data and best practice to speed up the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We believe the Paris Climate Agreement is a great start to ensuring the global community do what is needed to reduce global warming. We will remain actively engaged with the international community as part of the global effort to hold warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit our security, prosperity, and health.

What advice do you have for companies just starting their climate journeys?

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Start with understanding what environmental impacts your business creates. Then you can start to focus on the low hanging fruit, benchmark yourself against similar organizations and define what targets are right for your organization. NGO’s and trade bodies are great sources of inspiration, we work with WWF, CDP and RE100 around climate change issues and they have been a great help. Also go and speak to the companies who are most vocal in this space, I have certainly reached out to many of them and they are happy to share what they have learned.

This week, members of World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program are meeting in Washington, DC. Representatives from eight countries and nearly 20 major companies are attending the summit, discussing topics including science-based target setting, improving renewable energy access, and encouraging industries and governments to take more ambitious climate action. David Eichberg, HP Inc.’s Global Initiatives Lead for Sustainability and Social Innovation, shared why climate targets are a priority for HP Inc.