Category: News

Written by Piera Sciama, project manager, E-Juniors With the Covid19 pandemic, corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments are being put to the test. They are under scrutiny by the public as well as by analysts and decision-makers. A long term solid CSR policies and a coherent sustainability strategy can insure company resilience in this time of unprecedented economic and social challenges. PART 2 CSR & Social Resilience during Covid 19 Coordinating effort Companies that had institute a CSR policy and CSR mechanisms have reacted faster to the crisis and put into place concrete solutions. According to Francesco Bellino, sustainability director at the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG): "at the operational level, it is clear that companies that paid close attention to social issues, in particular with a strong dialogue with stakeholders, were…

Article by InnoHUB Regenerative Agriculture (regenerative from the Latin regenerare, to give new life to something that has degenerated), is a system of farming and agriculture principles and practices that aim to capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, in order to increase biodiversity, improve watersheds, enriches soils and enhance ecosystem services. Regenerative Agriculture practices follow four different principles that are adapted uniquely to each specific bioregion and climate, responding in relation to the presented condition. The Regenerative Agriculture principles are the following: Progressively improve whole agroecosystems (soil, water and biodiversity). Create context-specific designs and make holistic decisions in relation to each farm. Ensure and develop just and reciprocal relationships amongst all stakeholders. Continually grow and evolve individuals, farms, and communities. The Regenerative Agriculture practices are the following: No-till farming…

Article by Materahub | Picture: Oportocool.blog A Creative Hub is defined by the creative economy “as a physical or virtual place that brings enterprising people together who work in the creative and cultural industries.“ For the last century, they have truly become a fastgrowing ecosystem across the globe, form disused space of a post-industrial society, hubs have grown in all shapes and sizes, housed in structures that were previously factories, ammunition manufacturers, shipping containers and office buildings, and while the physical world of hubs has expanded, so has the digital world, with many virtual hubs on the rise. Many hubs provide a wide range of services including: business start-up and development support in the shape of workshops and mentoring; prototyping and fabrication space; networking and events; research and development. They…

What are the greenhouse gases? Greenhouse gases are components of the earth's atmosphere. They have physicochemical properties that allow them to retain solar energy in the Earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation from the planet and are therefore considered to have a direct impact on the greenhouse effect. Source: https://pixabay.com/pl/photos/zanieczyszczenia-%C5%9Brodowiska-drone-4796858/ Greenhouse gases occur in the atmosphere both as a result of natural processes and in connection with human activity. Greenhouse gases affect the greenhouse effect in different ways and have an impact: Absorption rate; how much the substance absorbs solar radiation The lifetime of this substance in the atmosphere. These factors also determine the global warming potential (GWP), in other words, they determine the potential for creating the greenhouse effect. The determination of this indicator depends on the amount…

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens"  Circular economy aims to optimise the use of materials at their highest value and optimal use for an increased efficiency of products and a reduced environmental impact. The use of R’s as operational imperatives of the circular economy answers to a need of conceptualisation and modelisation of the circular economy principles. We will present here the commonly defined as 7 R’s of the circular economy: Reuse:  Many products can be used for more than one application over the time. Even if the first customer won’t need a product anymore, because his circumstance change or because he simply does not want it anymore, this same product has good probability of being in a good enough state to enable a new use by someone else.…

Currently, women encounter many barriers in the social and labor sphere, but it is necessary for development and sustainability that companies to become aware of these barriers and establish policies to tackle them by promoting women empowerment. There are many tools, programs and formulas to empower women in order to create a fair, sustainable and effective industry, sector or organization. Furthermore, studies and data show that 70% of the world population living in poverty are women; or that only 15% of the world heritage belongs to women. For instance, in the Sub-Saharan African regions, three-quarters of the underweighted women and undernourished children are not considered being part of the 20% of the poorest households. These figures are representation of the inequalities that the most vulnerable suffer and poverty affecting mainly…

Written by Piera Sciama, project manager, E-Juniors With the Covid19 pandemic, corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments are being put to the test. They are under scrutiny by the public as well as by analysts and decision-makers. A long term solid CSR policies and a coherent sustainability strategy can insure company resilience in this time of unprecedented economic and social challenges. Part 1 CSR & Economic changes brought by Covid 19 The lockdown, implemented globally in order to guarantee social isolation and fight the spread of Covid 19, brought an unprecedented economic impact with factories closing, workers having to work from home, transports being limited and a lower consumption especially in the tourism, hospitality and catering sector. This situation sparked a reflexion on our economic and production systems. Valuing local supply…

Written by Alessandra Colombo – project manager Just in these hours the eighth edition of the Soft Economy Festival is taking place in Italy and for the Summer Seminar "L'Italia che verrà" (Symbola), double participation of Stefano Boeri is planned. The architect will tell the thoughts and challenges faced during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. I still don't know how Boeri, the father of the "vertical forest", will decide to decline this theme, if he will say something about the cities and how the men impact on the territory that inhabit to the point of making it hostile. In fact, in the last few months, our super crowded cities have seemed to be the enemy that has finally made us aware of the space we occupy. Even if it's just…

Sustainable consumption is a concept closely associated with the concept of sustainable production and the articulation of both is what is known as sustainable development. In its initial definition in the Brundtland report: “It is in the hands of humanity to make development sustainable, lasting, that is, to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”[1]. David Suzuki is a Japanese Canadian academist, locutor, scientist and activist of environment. In 2008, he published a “Green Guide” where he included a list of guiding principles of sustainable consumption that can be applied by everyone in daily life to better consumerism behaviours. In this book, he identifies the most effective ways individuals can be greener in four key areas:…