Global Stories

Tetra Pak has joined forces with global resource management company Veolia in a game-changing partnership that will enable all components of used beverage cartons collected within the European Union to be recycled by 2025. The average beverage carton comprises around 75% paperboard, 20% plastic and 5% aluminum foil. But while the fibres recovered during recycling...

British actress Millie Bobby Brown, the teenage star of hit drama series Stranger Things, was named as the youngest-ever goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' children's agency UNICEF on Tuesday, planning to address bullying and poverty. The 14-year-old actress, who was the youngest person to make Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential...

Diverse views on human rights, population, migration and urbanization, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and sustainable development merged into a remarkable global consensus, as 179 governments agreed to put people and their rights at the heart of development at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. This resulted in...

The city-state of Singapore balances building high-density housing whilst remaining a sustainable city. Following their independence, Singapore’s new government made housing and building a nation of home owners a priority. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) was formed in 1960 and sought to create better living conditions with new innovative solutions. In the latest edition...

To help save millions of people from early death and disease, forward-thinking companies could soon be turning a low-tech problem into the next tech-powered disruption—an approach that makes it possible for businesses to do well while doing good. This potential double win exists thanks to a piece of technology that rarely comes to mind...

The Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) 2018 concluded at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok as participants gathered to commemorate World Cities Day on October 31. The two-day meeting organized under the theme Advancing Urban Innovations to Achieve SDG 11 and New Urban Agenda drew...

A decade ago, there were just 680 mountain gorillas in the wild. Today, there are more a 1,000 thanks to conservation efforts, a historic recovery for the slow-breeding species, according to the International Union of Concerned Scientists (IUCN). While the gorillas are still considered “endangered,” not yet out of the range of extinction, their status...

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS is strengthening its asset base in India. The company plans to invest up to INR 1250 crores till 2023. Focus areas of the investment will be the businesses for chemical intermediates, high-performance plastics and water treatment products. LANXESS had already invested a sizeable amount in India over the years, among others...

Pernod Ricard announced its commitment to contribute to establishing a new plastics economy, by becoming a signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. As part of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, signatories are expected to report on their progress against individual pledges, with the aim to help...

Without a home water tap, Manjula had no choice but to carry an 8-10 liter water container back and forth each day to a community water tank about a kilometre from her home. Water.org discovered that something keeping moms like Manjula from providing safe water for their families was a lack of access to...

Godrej & Boyce has partnered with WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network as a Corporate Activity Partner to advance the dialogue on accelerating the uptake of net zero carbon buildings in the Asia Pacific region. The signing ceremony was attended by WorldGBC Chair, Lisa Bate and Godrej & Boyce’s’s Electricals & Electronics business’s COO, George Menezes...

Rising wealth in Asia is one of the biggest economic stories of the 21st century. We are witnessing enormous societal change as hundreds of millions leave behind a life of poverty. As prominent Asian philanthropists Ratan Tata and Ronnie Chan have written, these changes raise some fundamental questions: What does it mean to be part...