Sustainability leadership: our top 10 environmental leaders

With environmental leadership floundering at the very top of our ‘greenest government ever’, we thought it would be a good exercise to look at who has brought about some real green leadership through their work and vision. So here is our ‘Top 10 Environmental Leaders’

Circular economy: bringing ‘closed loop’ into the boardroom…with a bit of help from Dame Ellen

The business case for adopting a ‘closed loop’ approach was previously easy to ignore. But rising commodity prices, expensive energy and increasing landfill costs have done much to push circular economy thinking into the boardroom. And the ‘Dame celebre’ of sailing, Ellen MacArthur, believes she can help it happen faster.

Thatcher’s green legacy: an Iron Lady tinged with verdigris

Margaret Thatcher undoubtedly helped put environmental issues on the agenda, but her flirtation with environmentalism is more likely the product of the growing green movement in the 1980s than any personal conviction and her obsession with free markets and libertarianism undermined all efforts at global environmental protection.

Fantastic without the plastic: turning plastic waste into eco friendly initiatives

The amount of plastic bottles and cans generated globally that ends up in landfill is estimated to be around 340 billion. But all around the world, people are finding innovative ways to turn them into eco-friendly solutions.

Sustainable food: the Cool Farm Tool and cracking the nut of agricultural emissions

Agricultural emissions account for about 15 per cent of global greenhouse gases, but farming practices and the range of emissions has made it difficult for farmers to tackle them. But what an easy to use tool to calculate them was made available online for farmers to download ?

Green marketing: should we do away with eco labels?

Do green labels serve any real purpose in getting businesses to reduce their environmental impact, or are they just a way for companies to look good?

A Green Deal good for business?

Businesses can now implement energy efficiency improvements without having to pay the full cost of these measures up-front under the Green Deal. But the Green Deal is not the only option available.

Accounting the carbon footprint of electricity: why UK businesses should prepare for change

Next year is likely to see the release of new Green Power Accounting Guidelines, which are likely to impact on the way UK companies have to account for the carbon footprint of electricity – Scope 2 emissions. Is your business ready for change?

How do we measure social value?

The new Public Services (Social Value) Act came into force on January 1 2013. But how can we assess overall social value?

Carbon footprint: following in the footsteps of Ancient Greece

London 2012 may have been the most sustainable games of modern times, but there are still lessons we could learn from the ancient Games.