Large companies across all sectors are changing, and that's proof of the power of consumer pressure and Green America's members.
Large companies across all sectors are changing, and that's proof of the power of consumer pressure and Green America's members.
Thanks to Green America's Skip the Slip campaign, Walgreens is ensuring its receipt paper is free of phenols Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS). BPA and BPS are endocrine disruptors that contribute to developmental, reproductive, and neurological problems.
Walgreens began the transition in all of its Boots locations in the UK and now is transitioning all of its nearly 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the U.S. to…
This victory originally appeared in our Spring 2023 Green American Magazine
When it comes to keeping your tater tots cold, Trader Joe’s has long ranked at the bottom of the pack of supermarkets in terms of refrigerant management, which is a major driver of climate change. In 2016, the grocery chain settled a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency because of its significant leaks of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS), which violated the Clean Air Act, and have thousands of times the global warming potential of CO2 .
But, in…
This victory originally appeared in our Spring 2023 Green American Magazine
Amazon, the largest clothing seller in the US, lags in its protecting consumers and workers from the toxic chemicals often found in apparel. It’s making progress, thanks to activism by Green Americans.
For two years, Green America’s Toxic Textiles campaign called on Amazon to address toxic chemicals in all the apparel it sells. Nearly 40,000 Green Americans urged Amazon to act quickly on dangerous chemicals in the tens of thousands of pieces of clothing, footwear, and accessories sold…
Green America, our members, and allies all secured a victory for investors nationwide.
Green America actively opposed Trump-era rulings that undercut the ability of retirement plans to include investment options that consider environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria and that made it difficult for retirement plan fiduciaries to vote on ESG-related shareholder resolutions.
On November 22, 2022, the Department of Labor (DOL) reversed these rulings with a final rule, …
After pressure from Green America and allies to address the environmental impacts of its dairy, Starbucks has taken two important steps forward.
Starbucks has announced its Journey to Sustainable Dairy. The company is working with The Nature Conservancy to find ways to reduce the climate and water impacts of its dairy, while benefiting…
Carter’s, the largest U.S. retailer of baby clothes, is taking important steps to limit toxic chemicals in its supply chain and use sustainable fabrics - thanks to pressure from Green America and its members!
Because of our Toxic Textiles campaign, in 2020, Carter's released a Restricted Substances List (RSL), disclosing information about energy usage and waste reduction, and providing greater transparency about efforts to protect human rights within its supply chain.…
Our Skip the Slip campaign confronts the problem of super long receipts, which are a waste of paper and water and usually not recyclable, and receipts coated in BPA and BPA, which are harmful to human health.
We focused on CVS since it was notorious for its very long receipts, urging CVS to boost customer access to and participation in its digital receipt program instead of providing paper receipts.
In response, CVS has achieved the following:
…Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the first new climate rule of the Biden-Harris Administration tackling hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), super pollutant greenhouse gases used for refrigerants. HFCs have hundreds to thousands of times the global warming potential of CO2 and are leaking out of refrigeration systems, escalating the climate crisis.
The new rule establishes an EPA program to phase down…
When our Hang Up on Fossil Fuels campaign began in 2017, a small fraction of Verizon's massive network was powered by clean energy. But since then, there's been major progress thanks to the thousands of people across the US who have signed our petitions, contacted Verizon directly on social media or by phone, and pressured the telecom giant to rapidly switch to renewables.
Verizon has issued its second $1 billion green bond, to use in…
Thanks to the pressure of nearly 40,000 action takers Godiva has issued a public policy on responsible cocoa! Within this policy, Godiva commits to taking steps to scale child labor monitoring and remediation systems to 100%, commits to working with suppliers so that cocoa farmers earn a living income, and to no deforestation, among other commitments.
The policy and commitments are a positive step in the right direction. But, Godiva is still behind many other major chocolate companies in addressing social and…
Amazon announced a commitment to power 100% of its infrastructure with renewable energy by 2025, which is 5 years earlier than the company's initial target of 2030. Amazon's corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers will all be powered by renewable energy.
This announcement would not have been possible without pressure from tens of thousands of consumers who joined Green America and our allies in calling on Amazon to ramp up renewable energy, as well as pressure from hundreds of Amazon's own employees, some of whom were retaliated against…
In March 2020, the US EPA issued a controversial memo stating that it would suspend enforcement actions for violations of environmental regulations when the agency assessed that the Caronavirus was to blame. Failure to enforce regulations provided polluters with permission to pollute at a time when air pollution was linked to increased risks for people contracting the Caronavirus.
Green America joined environmental, environmental justice, and health allies in protesting this memo, and our members sent over 10,000 messages to Congress, asking elected officials to intervene.
…Following massive public pressure, JPMorgan Chase Bank, the largest funder of fossil fuels in the world by a wide margin, announced on October 6, 2020 that it will begin aligning its financing with the Paris climate agreement. This is an important start.
In the years after the Paris agreement, the bank escalated its funding of the fossil fuel sector, resulting in $268 billion in funding that has exacerbated the climate crisis. The new announcement is a welcome change in position while concerns remain about the pace, scope, and processes to achieve the transformation needed to avert…
In response to over 100,000 consumers demanding progress from Walmart on refrigerants, Walmart announced that it will be transitioning to low-impact refrigerants for cooling and electrified equipment for heating in its stores, clubs, and data and distribution centers by 2040.
This is an important first step and acknowledgement from Walmart that it needs to address refrigerants, but the timeline is too slow given the enormous impact refrigerants have on climate change, and Walmart is not addressing refrigerant leaks occurring in their thousands of store world wide.
…Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dismissed a petition by the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA) to end state and local jurisdiction over net metering programs. Ending these programs would have made rooftop solar no longer viable since homeowners would receive far less money for solar power they sell to the grid. The petition received bipartisan criticism across the country.
More than 450 organizations - including Green America and 8,500 of our members, 57,000 individuals and 37 states -- submitted comments opposing the NERA petition that could have upended net…
For years, Green America and our allies have been fighting for regulations on methane leaks and pollution from oil and gas. In 2016, under the Obama administration, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) created regulations against wasting methane gas from wells and to require upgraded equipment to prevent leaks from oil and gas operators.
Under the Trump Administration, BLM rolled back these regulations to appease the oil and gas industries.
On July 16, 2020, a federal judge ruled that BLM falsely rolled back the regulations, stating BLM's action was “wholly inadequate” and…
T-Mobile continues to lead the telecom industry in adopting clean energy. The company announced that its recent partnership with Otter Creek Wind Farm has achieved commercial operation and is expected to generate more than 504,100 MWh of clean energy every year. This placed T-Mobile at 95 percent clean energy.
At the same time, the company has recently finalized its merger with Sprint. T-Mobile has committed to update its target date for 100 percent clean energy to account for its newly expanded footprint. Previously, Sprint lagged on renewables before late 2019, when…
In the face of mounting public pressure, Amazon announced new plans to use more clean energy to power its computing subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS), which it says will keep the company on track to meet its goal of reaching 100% renewable energy use by 2030. The retailing giant announced plans for four new renewable energy projects to power its data centers – an announcement that came only after intense activism on the part of Green…
On February 25, 2020, JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest bank funder of fossil fuels by a 29% margin, announced new restrictions on its financing of coal and Arctic oil and gas as well as new investment in clean energy and other environmentally sustainable projects. The announcement followed mobilizations around the world…
Sprint announced its first major commitment to clean energy with a virtual power purchasing agreement with Duke Renewables for a 182 MW wind farm. The deal will result in Sprint using 30% renewable energy.
In Green America's Clean Energy Calling Report Sprint was in last place amongst the four major telecoms -- AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint -- for its commitments to renewable energy targets and renewable energy purchases. Both were near zero.
Sprint's announcement with Duke Renewables marks…
AT&T announced new contracts for solar and wind energy that will bring its total clean energy purchases to over 1.5 Gigawatts. Last year the company announced 820 MW of clean energy, so the new announcement nearly doubles AT&T's commitments.
AT&T estimates that with these new clean energy purchases are the equivalent of providing electricity for more than 560,000 homes or taking 690,000 cars off the road for 1 year.
The new purchases mean that AT&T will be using over 50% renewables to meet its energy needs, and makes AT&T once of the largest…
After years of pressure by Green America, Amazon announced it will get to 80% renewables by 2024 and 100% by 2030.
Our demands have always been: Commit to 100% renewable energy by 2020 and end the construction of any new data centers that rely on fossil…
August 1, 2019
Amazon is funding a 23.2MW wind farm in Cork, Ireland, and a 45MW solar farm in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, USA.
The two sites, with an expected annual generation of 68,000 megawatt hours (MWh) and 100,000 MWh respectively, will be used to serve Amazon Web Services data centers when the farms come online next year - via Power Purchase Agreements.
The two sites are the company’s 65th and 66th renewable energy projects, including 51 solar rooftops. Together, by 2020, the 66 sites have the capacity to generate 1,342MW of power, and deliver more…
We have some good news on the animal welfare front. In response to consumer and investor pressure, Darden companies, which owns Olive Garden and many other restaurant chains, agreed to take several important steps forward to ensure better treatment of animals in its supply chain.
Darden has agreed to take the following steps to improve animal welfare:
Thanks to our Skip the Slip campaign to address the toxicity, resource use, and waste of paper receipts, the first-ever bill to tackle paper receipts was introduced in California on January 8, 2019.
This new bill in the California Assembly would make the state the first in the U.S. to mandate that retailers must offer digital receipts as the default to customers starting January 1, 2022. Customers will still be able to request a paper receipt in lieu of a digital receipt. Reflecting the focus of Green America’s “Skip the Slip” campaign, the bill, introduced by Assemblymember Phil…
Verizon’s commitment to 50% clean energy by 2025 means a reduction of 2.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, or the …
Green America’s work to promote socially responsible investing strategies, including portfolio screening on social, environmental, and corporate governance issues; community investing and banking; and shareholder action has helped drive the increase in SRI assets. The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing (US SIF) reports that assets under professional management in the US have grown from $8.72 trillion in 2016 to $12 trillion in 2018.
After years of public campaigning, Samsung has finally begun to take steps to address some of labor issues in its supply chain – ones that Green Americans and our international allies have spent years demanding action on. On July 24th, 2018, Samsung signed a binding arbitration framework that will ensure victims of chemicals exposure are properly taken care of and would follow through with recommendations put together by a third-party mediation committee.
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Many allied organizations, along with Green Americans around the country, joined together to voice concerns over Scott Pruitt's leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency. In July 2018, Scott Pruitt resigned from the EPA.
AT&T announced an additional purchase of 300 MW of energy from two wind farms, both in Texas. This follows up on its February 2018 agreement to purchase 520 MW from two wind farms in Oklahoma and Texas. Once these changes are implemented, this will take AT&T's use of renewable energy to roughly 30%. Using a total of 820 MW of renewable energy is equivalent to removing 530,000 cars off the road each year.
Green America's "Hang Up On Fossil Fuels" campaign has been calling on AT&T and Verizon to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2025. AT&T has not made a commitment…
The international clothing companies Mango and Topshop have signed the renewed Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a legally binding agreement to improve workplace safety for garment workers in Bangladesh. The original accord was created after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh in April 2013. The tragedy left 1,134 garment workers dead and over 2,000 workers injured.
Green America, International Labor Rights Forum, Clean Clothes Campaign, Maquila Solidarity Network and United Students Against Sweatshops have been urging Abercrombie & Fitch, Topshop, and Mango to…
University of Maryland has begun using 10% recycled content on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for its magazines. This progress is thanks to all the Green Americans who took action with Green America’s One Million Trees campaign, which urges colleges and universities across the country to begin using recycled paper for their alumni magazines.
If all higher education institutions used readily available recycled paper options, we could save up to one million trees, 90 million pounds of carbon dioxide…
"Amazon unveiled what the company says is the largest rooftop solar panel energy system in New Jersey on the 30-acre roof of its Carteret warehouse.
"The 22,000-solar-panel system will power the online retailer's facility. The company said it is one of the largest rooftop solar panel systems in the country and generates enough electricity to power 600 homes"…
Recently, Mars Inc. relaunched its natural pet food line Nutro, announcing that its dry food would now be made without GMOs (genetically modified organisms). The new product line aims to have “recipes that are simple, purposeful and trustworthy, made with real, recognizable, non-GMO ingredients as close to their native form as possible.” For the last year GMO Inside and…
The US Senate votes against a Congressional Review Act (CRA) measure that would have eliminated Bureau of Land Management’s regulations to limit methane emissions from oil and gas operations on public lands.
Green America's individual and business members spoke out strongly in favor of preserving the rule. We also mobilized businesses and individuals to support the original rulemaking in 2016.
Green Americans, GMO Insiders, and many of our allies took action against True Value and Walmart to get bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides out of stores.
Smuckers removes GMOs and high fructose corn syrup from Uncrustables, its very popular peanut butter and jelly product for kids.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign has mobilized tens of thousands of consumers to ask Smuckers to remove GMOs from its products.
Chobani, maker of America’s #1 selling Greek Yogurt brand, and Green America, the nation’s leading green economy organization, announced today that they have partnered together in an effort to improve cattle feed in the U.S., including options for non-genetically modified and organic grains.
Bumble Bee tuna is now non-GMO project verified. The company has transitioned away from genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) in its solid white albacore canned tuna, a flagship product.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign has called on its supporters to encourage Bumble Bee to drop GMOs for several years.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign is excited to announce that Similac, Gerber Good Start, and Enfamil have all released non-GMO offerings of their infant formula.
GMO Inside mobilized tens of thousands of consumers nationwide to call on all the major formula manufacturers to offer non-GMO formula.
GMO Inside is excited to announce that Similac, Gerber Good Start, and Enfamil have all released non-GMO offerings of their infant formula.
GMO Inside mobilized tens of thousands of consumers nationwide to call on all the major formula manufacturers to offer non-GMO formula.
Green America and our GMO Inside campaign are excited to announce that Similac (owned by Abbott), Gerber Good Start, and Enfamil have all released non-GMO offerings of their infant formula.
GMO Inside mobilized tens of thousands of consumers nationwide to call on all the major formula manufacturers to offer non-GMO formula.
Just in time for International Hummus Day, GMO Inside is happy to report that Sabra Hummus is going non-GMO.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign mobilized tens of thousands of consumers to urge Sabra to join its competitors in dropping GMOs.
Our Better Paper Project has assisted over 200 publications to switch to recycled paper, saving trees and water and reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
More and more companies are listening to consumers, and labeling foods made with genetically modified and genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs). In just the last few days ConAgra, Kellogg’s, Mars, and General Mills joined Campbell's in pledging to label their products that contain GMOs.
More and more companies are listening to consumers, and labeling foods made with genetically modified and genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs). In just the last few days ConAgra, Kellogg’s, Mars, and General Mills joined Campbell's in pledging to label their products that contain GMOs.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign continues to encourage Mars to drop GMOs from its candies and pet foods. Tens of thousands of consumers have joined our call to action.
More and more companies are listening to consumers, and labeling foods made with genetically modified and genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs). In just the last few days ConAgra, Kellogg’s, Mars, and General Mills joined Campbell's in pledging to label their products that contain GMOs.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign successfully mobilized tens of thousands of people to urge General Mills to drop GMOs from Cheerios and label GMOs. We continue to encourage General Mills to drop GMOs from all its products, starting with Honey Nut Cheerios.
Green America joined with allies nationwide to oppose the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas Export Terminal that was proposed for coastal Oregon. Green America opposed Jordan Cove because the facility would likely become the largest greenhouse gas emitting project in Oregon within the next decade. The project would have released an estimated 2.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and equivalents. Oregon has set aggressive goals for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and Jordan Cove would have undermined them.
Jordan Cove would have increased fracking, causing an increase in the…
More and more companies are listening to consumers, and labeling foods made with genetically modified and genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs). In just the last few days ConAgra, Kellogg’s, Mars, and General Mills joined Campbell's in pledging to label their products that contain GMOs.
Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) authored an amendment to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 that would finally close this slave-labor loophole. The loophole allowed US companies to import products/materials made with slave labor if those products/materials could not be made in the US. The US Senate voted 75-20 to pass the bill, including the Wyden-Brown amendment.
Green America and its members joined with allies in the labor rights and human rights communities to encourage the Senate to close this egregious loophole.
Campbell's will offer organic/non-GMO Goldfish crackers and soups for kids and will voluntarily label products with GMOs. Additionally, Campbell's supports mandatory federal labeling on products containing GMOs.
Green America worked collaboratively with Campbell's to help facilitate the company's removal of GMOs and addition of organic ingredients to key products.
Approximately $6 trillion in assets, 60,000 individuals, and 800 institutions have pledged to divest from fossil fuels.
This divestment movement, which started in 2011, is strong and growing substantially.
Statistics from GoFossilFree.org. Graph by Green America.
Amazon Web Services announces construction of a solar farm in Virginia and a wind farm in North Carolina.
This is the latest victory in Green America's campaign, launched in 2014, to urge Amazon to adopt 100% clean energy for its servers by 2020.
The Children’s Place pays more than $2 million to the victims of Rana Plaza building collapse—the deadliest disaster in the history of the global garment industry.
Green America joined with labor allies worldwide to put pressure on Children's Place and other major brands to compensate workers and families impacted by the Rana Plaza disaster.
In a huge first step for the company, Hellmann’s just announced it is releasing non-GMO mayonnaise dressing made with olive oil.
Green America's GMO Inside Campaign mobilized tens of thousands of consumers to urge Hellman's to go non-GMO.
National Geographic builds on its commitment to use recycled paper (May 2015)
https://www.greenamerica.org/about/newsroom/releases/2014-07-17-Tipping…
In a major step forward for the use of recycled paper in the magazine industry, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has begun incorporating recycled fiber in all the pages of National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Kids, and National Geographic Little Kids…
Hershey announced that as part of achieving “simpler ingredients” it will be switching to non-GMO sugar, removing artificial flavors (vanillin), and sourcing milk from cows not treated with the growth hormone rBST in its iconic Milk Chocolate Bar and Kisses by the end of 2015.
Green America's GMO Inside campaign mobilized tens of thousands of consumers to urge Hershey to go non-GMO.
Hershey announced yesterday it will be going 100% certified by 2020. Hershey will utilize three different certification systems -- Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and Utz. All three prohibit child labor, which is endemic in the cocoa sector in West Africa, where Hershey sources most of its cocoa.
Green America joined with allies in the child labor and social justice movement in a ten-year campaign to urge Hershey to certify its cocoa as child labor free. The campaign included protests, letter writing, and petitions, and involved hundreds of thousands of people…
Apple removes two of the most toxic chemicals from its tier 2 assembly (August 2014)
Green America’s End Smartphone Sweatshops campaign, in partnership with China Labor Watch (CLW), called on Apple to remove toxic chemicals including benzene and n-hexane from its supplier factories in China. Only five months into the campaign, Apple announced in August that it would “explicitly prohibit the use of benzene and n-hexane” at…
EPA releases the Clean Power Plan, new rules that set targets for states to reduce their climate emissions from power plants. The Clean Power Plan is a key component of the United States meeting its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement. The fossil fuel industry and several states are fighting the Clean Power Plan, and the Trump Administration is threatening to undo the regulations. Green America’s Green Business members provided extensive comments supporting the Clean Power Plan.
Consumers across the country took action with the GMO Inside Campaign to push General Mills to make Cheerios non-GMO.
General Mills' announcement of non-GMO Cheerios was huge news, since this was one of the first major consumer brands to go non-GMO based on public pressure, and paved the way for a growing number of non-GMO products.
Regions, US Bank, Fifth Third, and Wells Fargo agreed to phase out short term loans with interest rates up to 365%. These “deposit advance loans” commonly as “payday loans” trapped people in ongoing cycles of debt. Green America and our allies mobilized to halt these abusive loans.
Chevy/GM begin production of the Volt. (December 2010)
Green America's individual members sent tens of thousands of emails and asked Chevy dealers nationwide to offer an electric vehicle.
Whole Foods agrees to sell Fair Trade products alongside their own whole trade products. (September 2009)
Dynegy canceled coal-fired power plants. After a campaign by Green America and allies, the utility announced it was cancelling its plans to build multiple coal-fired power plants.
Ford agrees to introduce more hybrid and plug-in cars and stops promoting ethanol as a clean fuel source.
Procter & Gamble committed to sell Fair Trade Certified™ coffee products through its speciality coffee division, Millstone
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