Clean Jeans

Life Cycle Assessment tools are increasing in popularity as companies are trying to understand the environmental impact associated with their products, from start to finish. Many companies use readily-made LCA software, but Levi’s has developed their own methodology to measure their unique inputs and outputs. They use this tool daily to evaluate fabric choices, washes, and dyes and evaluate their environmental impact at the material level. Referencing Levi's LCA report, we see that the assessment organized impact categories into water intake and consumption, eutrophication, land occupation, and abiotic depletion, and included units used for each. Questions arise when examining LCAs including what environmental indicator measures to consider, what are the system boundaries, and is the life-cycle cost analysis included with the LCA. Levi’s report noted that washing a pair of jeans every 10 times it’s worn instead of every 2 times reduces energy use, climate change impact, and water intake by up to 80%. While this an amazing find, customers’ washing habits are out of the hands of the company. Other questions must be asked of Levi and its assessment including the lack of connectivity between where and how wastewater is generated, and how to reuse this treated water to displace freshwater demands.

Article: https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/05/22/how-levis-made-life-cycle-assessment-part-its-fabric

Group Members: Alexa Garcia, Manali McCarthy, Allison Candell, Katherine Knight, Weilly Tong

Is boxed water really better? Better than what? Strangely enough, Boxed Water doesn't provide information on whether they conducted a Life Cycle Assessment to back-up their claim. 

It looks like a big difference with plastic bottles is about shipping, according to this article. For one truck's worth of bottled water, Boxed Water can deliver 26 trucks' worth of cartoned water. 

Furthermore, the manufacturing of boxed water is estimated to emit about 8 grams of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions where a PET plastic bottle is responsible for about 50 grams of GHGs. 

Another advantage is that the entire carton is recyclable. See how it is done here. However according to this other article, only 52% of consumers leave in communities that fully recycle the cartons. But even if the box is not recycled, it can be flattened and will use less space in a landfill than a plastic bottle. Also because about 75% of the boxed water is made out of paper, it can decompose, unlike plastic. There is now an even better option with Just Water, the plant based  boxed water. 

So boxed water is probably better than plastic bottles but refillable bottles should still be the best option. 

The Smappee energy monitor just won the CES 2018 Innovation Awards but will Smappee also lead customers to conserve energy? It can be hard to change habits. 

What does materiality mean for an airline? JetBlue is one of the first companies — and the first airline — to report according to SASB’s standards, and to assess the materiality of climate risk. Check out the interview of Sophia Mendelsohn, JetBlue’s Head of Sustainability, and Jet Blue Sustainability Report. 

What Would You Invest In?

Last week we talked about TRI and KLD, however this week we are adding onto those findings by utilizing information from the formally known Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). This UK based nonprofit provides investors with information related to carbon emissions. This allows investors to make more informed decisions with regards to the environmental performance of specific companies. An article published by the Environmental Leader discusses the increase in companies disclosing their environmental risk factors, including emissions. In the article it says that, according to CDP, there has been an eight-fold increase in the companies that quantify their emissions in terms of economic value. This all comes about from a desire of investors to know the environmental performance of companies and the desire of companies to provide information and reduce emissions. In the current political climate, cutting back on emissions is not a priority, and companies can seemingly get away with more than in the past. However, companies are still going forth with reductions, and it will be interesting to see whether this deregulation or investors carries more weight.

Article: https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/10/174571/

Group members: Hogan Fenster, Zoe Robertson, Destiny Tafoya, Grant Sugimura, Vitor Takasu