Business college students rank MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) among their most admired employers, according to Universum’s newly released survey of nearly 66,000 students. In its debut on the list, MGM Resorts landed at No. 40, making it the only integrated resort and only Nevada-based company to rank in the top 100. 

“We’re pleased that our focus on being an employer of choice as a leading entertainment and hospitality company that provides a spectrum of career paths, is recognized by the next generation of employee and business leaders.  We are proud of the success of our Management Associate and Hospitality Internship Programs that for more than 20 years have attracted top students from Universities across the country. Many of our top leaders are graduates of these important programs,” said Jim Murren, Chairman & CEO of MGM Resorts International.

The results were announced at The Employer Branding Conference, an annual event held for top executives in Recruitment and Talent Attraction, and reported in the May 9, 2013 edition of Businessweek (http://www.universumglobal.com/IDEAL-Employer-Rankings/The-National-Editions/American-Student-Survey).

The Universum survey looks at employer branding perception by job candidates, job opportunities, recruiting experience, on-campus recruitment efforts, and learning and development opportunities among other factors. 

In addition to the Universum ranking, MGM Resorts has been cited as one of the Top 50 & 25 Noteworthy Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc Magazine; 40 Best Companies for Diversity by Black Enterprise Magazine; and Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

About MGM Resorts International

MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is one of the world’s leading global hospitality companies operating a peerless portfolio of destination resort brands, including MGM Grand Detroit, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. For more information about MGM Resorts International, visit the Company’s website at www.mgmresorts.com.

About Universum

A global research and advisory firm, Universum helps top employers excel in recruitment and retention by ensuring improvements to their employer brand. Universum delivers a full range of services in research, strategic consulting and communications solutions that allow employers to understand, attract and retain current and future ideal employees. Universum partners with over 1,200 clients, Fortune 500 companies, and works with 1,500 universities worldwide to conduct research on the career and employer preferences of top talent. On an annual basis, the company surveys nearly half a million students and professionals worldwide. Universum uses those findings to guide leaders in Human Resources, Marketing, Advertising, Strategy and Talent Acquisition. For more information, go to www.universumglobal.com.

SOURCE MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL

Facing growing shareholder unrest over asset seizure actions and forced to testify about his alleged misconduct in the $19 billon Ecuador case, Chevron CEO John Watson again will be on the hot seat at the company’s annual meeting in late May where rainforest indigenous villagers and investors plan to confront him over his company’s toxic dumping in the Amazon.

In a stunning rebuke to Watson, U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis last week ordered that he and another top Chevron legal official sit for depositions to be taken by lawyers for the villagers and one of their representatives, New York-based attorney Steven Donziger. (See the judicial order here and a Reuters article here.) Watson likely will have to answer questions about his own role in the case, including payments from Chevron officials for witness testimony, among other hot-button topics that the villagers say prove Chevron committed crimes in Ecuador.

The depositions had been furiously opposed by Chevron’s lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, who are facing their own ethical challenges in defending the oil giant’s toxic dumping in Ecuador. (See this court ruling and this blog.)

At the Chevron annual meeting, scheduled for May 29 at company headquarters near San Francisco, Watson also will try to beat back two shareholder resolutions that directly challenge his mishandling of the Ecuador liability. Currently, Chevron faces enforcement actions targeting billions of company assets in Argentina, Canada and Brazil (see here for Canada, here for Brazil, and here for Argentina) and has suffered a series of devastating courtroom setbacks, including one in the U.S. Supreme Court, which prevented the oil giant from using U.S. courts to block international enforcement efforts.

The Financial Times reported just this week that Chevron was forced to “rethink” a planned $1.5 billion investment in a huge gas field in Argentina because of the enforcement action stemming from the Ecuador judgment. Earlier, a Chevron official has testified that the enforcement actions could cause “irreparable harm” to the company’s global operations.

The enforcement actions stem from an Ecuador court finding that Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, decimating indigenous groups and causing an outbreak of cancer and other oil-related diseases. A summary of the judgment, based on a 220,000 page trial record and more than 64,000 chemical sampling results, can be found here.

A video about Chevron’s human rights abuses in Ecuador can be viewed here while a 60 Minutes report on the legal battle – which documents how Chevron installed pipes to deliberately run oil sludge into streams – can be viewed here.

Watson also is under fire for subpoenaing the files of several shareholder critics and alleging they are in a “conspiracy” with the Ecuadorian villagers who won the judgment against the company. New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson called the Chevron counterattack against its own investors “remarkable” in the annals of shareholder activism. (See Morgenson's article here.)

Last year, a resolution critical of Chevron management for the Ecuador liability received a whopping 38% of the vote from shareholders representing a combined $73 billion worth of Chevron stock. In addition, 40 institutional investors representing $580 billion in assets sent Watson a letter asking him to settle the case.

This year, the two shareholder resolutions that cite the Ecuador liability as a driving factor call for Chevron to appoint a director with environmental expertise and to lower the threshold needed to hold a special meeting.

Watson also faces these additional problems related to the Ecuador liability:

**Conflict of interest. Shareholders and activists say Watson should step down as Chevron CEO because of his failure to properly vet the Ecuador liability when the company purchased Texaco for $31 billion in 2001. Watson was a key driver behind the controversial transaction even though Amazon Watch specifically warned the company about the size of the liability.

**Deceit of shareholders. Watson also has been accused of lying to shareholders and the markets about key facts in the case, according to a recent report prepared by a Canadian securities lawyer. Several shareholders and a U.S. Congresswoman have asked the SEC to investigate Chevron for violating its disclosure obligations under U.S. law.

**Use of Kroll to spy on Chevron adversaries. The order from Judge Francis also requires that an official from the U.S. investigative services company Kroll, which essentially functions as a private surveillance agency for Chevron on the Ecuador case, sit for a deposition. Kroll operative San Anson was caught trying to bribe journalists to spy on the plaintiffs, while evidence surfaced the company has been involved in payments to judges in Ecuador and espionage against Donziger and his family, who live in Manhattan.

**Cash for witness testimony. Under Watson’s leadership, Chevron used Miami lawyer Andres Rivero to offer a suitcase full of cash to a former Ecuador judge in exchange for favorable testimony. Chevron later admitted it paid the judge more than ten times his annual salary and moved him to the U.S., where it is helping him obtain political asylum even though he is an admitted criminal.

**The Diego Borja bribery scandal. Under Watson’s tenure, Chevron admitted that it paid former employee Diego Borja more than $2 million to try to sabotage the Ecuador trial by entrapping a sitting judge in a fake bribery scandal. The move backfired, but the company still moved Borja to the U.S., where it pays him a substantial salary – the plaintiffs call it “hush money” – with no indication he is working.

As for enforcement actions, Watson faces a series of growing headaches.

In early November, a court in Argentina ordered that the company's assets be frozen while independent analysts are beginning to take notice that Chevron faces significant litigation problems around the world related to the Ecuador judgment. Chevron has $2 billion worth of assets in Argentina, and approximately $80 million of in cash is already in a court escrow account pending resolution of the enforcement action.

While Chevron recently won a temporary stay of the enforcement action in Canada on narrow technical grounds, the court found that the Ecuadorians established jurisdiction over Chevron subsidiaries that control roughly $15 billion worth of assets. The stay is now on appeal, with a decision expected in a few months.

In Brazil, where Chevron has an estimated $4 billion in assets, the Ecuador enforcement action is going through a streamlined process in the country’s highest court, with a ruling expected sometime in 2014. Chevron also faces a lawsuit from Brazilian authorities over its spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in 2011.

On a more personal level, the indigenous communities in Ecuador plan to confront Watson directly at the annual meeting. In past years, Watson has turned off the microphones of the Ecuadorians to silence them.

“Chevron needs to put its pants on, start acting like a grown up and accept responsibility for its mess in Ecuador,” Watson was told last year by Luz Trinidad Andrea Cusangua, an Ecuadorian who traveled from the rainforest to speak at the 2012 annual meeting.

Two years ago, Chevron’s annual meeting in Houston erupted in chaos when five shareholder critics were arrested as they confronted the company about its human rights abuses in Ecuador. At the time, Watson was accused of "losing his head" over the Ecuador case by Rainforest Action Network’s, Maria Ramos. Last year, he prevented two villagers from showing a video of the company’s damage to their ancestral lands. Chevron security officials also blocked them from passing out copies of the video to shareholders.

“Since becoming CEO Watson has led Chevron further down a dismal path – one where its international reputation is that of a corporate criminal on the run from justice,” said Paul Paz y Miño, a director at Amazon Watch, which has been monitoring the Ecuador liability for a decade.

“At any other company with an independent Board of Directors that adhered to proper ethical standards, Watson probably would have been fired by now,” added Paz y Miño.

For more background on the case, see this update prepared by Fenton Communications.

Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) today announced the release of its 2012 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report, available online at www.hormelfoods.com/csr. This is the company’s sixth full report, which includes information on the company’s second set of environmental goals that span from 2012 - 2020 using 2011 as a benchmark. The report is self-declared Application Level B as confirmed by the Global Reporting Initiative.

The annual report focuses on the company’s commitment to being a responsible food manufacturer. Highlighted performance and initiatives throughout 2012 include Hormel Foods:

• Achieving outstanding results from the annual Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best competition among all Hormel Foods locations. In 2012, the competition generated 61 entries throughout all business segments that resulted in the reduction of 1,700 tons of solid waste to landfill, 122 million gallons of water, 68,400 MMBtu of natural gas, and 7 million kWh of electricity.
  
  
• Enhancing the On Our Way to Ending Hunger program, with contributions of more than $3 million in cash and product to aid hunger-relief efforts in the United States and abroad. The company donated a total of more than $7.6 million in 2012 across all of its efforts with hunger, education and projects to enhance communities where company facilities are located.
  
  
• Implementing projects that:
  • Resulted in a reduction of 11,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (14 percent of multi-year goal).
  • Reduced energy use by 92,000 MMBtu (14 percent of multi-year goal).
  • Reduced water use by 0.122 billion gallons (24 percent of multi-year goal).
  • Reduced the amount of solid waste sent to landfill by 1,700 tons (51 percent of multi-year goal).
  • Reduced product packaging by 4.05 million pounds.
  • Reduced sodium levels in select products.

"I am happy to share this year’s initiatives that have fueled our progress as a leading corporate citizen," said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer at Hormel Foods. "We will continue to conduct business in a responsible manner following Our Way - the Hormel Foods values statement that defines how we operate every day in our approach to people, process, products, performance and philanthropy."

Several changes were made to the format of the report. In addition to including infographics for each area of focus, the content of the report is more concise and data-driven. Information about the company’s corporate responsibility initiatives that remain consistent year after year without the need for data updates, such as animal care practices, environmental policies and corporate governance, can be found on http://www.hormelfoods.com/About/CorporateResponsibility/Corporate-Responsibility.

In alignment with the company’s commitment to philanthropy and in honor of the launch of the seventh annual report, Hormel Foods will feature an online contest. For every retweet on Twitter announcing the release of the 2012 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report, the company will donate $7 to Feeding America (up to $5,000). Feeding America is the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

The 2012 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report is the company’s fifth consecutive report that can be found entirely online. It is also available as a fully downloadable PDF. The online report can be accessed and the PDF can be downloaded at www.hormelfoods.com/csr.

Hormel Foods plans to continue reporting on its environmental and social performance annually; the next report will be released in May 2014 for data spanning November 2012 to October 2013.

About Hormel Foods
Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products, many of which are among the best known and trusted in the food industry. The company leverages its extensive expertise, innovation and high competencies in pork and turkey processing and marketing to bring branded, value-added products to the global marketplace. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, S&P Dividend Aristocrats for 2012, Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes, Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders and was again named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the fifth year in a row. Hormel Foods debuted on the G.I. Jobs magazine list of America’s Top 100 Military Friendly Employers in 2012. The company enjoys a strong reputation among consumers, retail grocers, foodservice and industrial customers for products highly regarded for quality, taste, nutrition, convenience and value. For more information, visit http://www.hormelfoods.com.

Today, Novo Nordisk publishes the first issue of the company’s new digital sustainability magazine – The TBL Quarterly. The Q1 issue shows how Novo Nordisk is changing diabetes in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, from prevention to educating healthcare professionals on how to diagnose and treat diabetes.

The TBL Quarterly will be published after the company’s quarterly company announcements and feature articles, videos and graphics that explore how Novo Nordisk approaches sustainable business.

“We want to share with our stakeholders how Novo Nordisk works with environmental and social responsibility. We hope to inspire and start a conversation about the challenges and opportunities,” says Charlotte Ersbøll, corporate vice president, Global Stakeholder Engagement.

The content of the magazine will be available as an iPad app, Adobe PDF and published on the company’s social media channels. Novo Nordisk will make the magazine available to a wide range of stakeholders interested in environmental issues, social development and improving health.

Download the new TBL Quarterly

Novo Nordisk’s TBL Quarterly is available as a downloadable Adobe PDF and as an iPad app. Click here to explore both versions.

Tweet: Novo Nordisk is investing ahead of the curve. Take a peek and find out how in our new digital #sustainability magazine! www.novonordisk.com/sustainability/TBL/default.asp Now on iPad! #diabetes

About Novo Nordisk

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy.

Novo Nordisk strives to conduct its activities in a financially, environmentally and socially responsible way. The strategic commitment to corporate sustainability has brought the company onto centre stage as a leading player in today’s business environment, recognised for its integrated reporting, stakeholder engagement and consistently high sustainability performance. In 2013, Novo Nordisk received the Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology industry group top ranking on Corporate Knight’s list of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) today released its 2012 Corporate Responsibility summary report, titled Global Strength, Local Impact. The report highlights the many ways the firm leveraged its strength and global reach, expertise and resources to make a positive impact in communities around the world.

Global Strength, Local Impact underscores the firm's efforts to help grow the economy – investing in workforce training, economic development and infrastructure, and continuing to connect economic leaders through its Global Cities Initiative, strengthen the communities in which it operates, honor military and veterans and promote environmental sustainability with clients as well as in its own operations.

"At JPMorgan Chase, we believe that we have a unique and fundamental corporate responsibility to help our clients and communities navigate a complex global economy and address their economic and social challenges," said Peter Scher, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase. "This is at the core of our values and central to how we do business. We are proud of the ways in which we bring all our assets to bear to help our economy continue to rebuild and improve the lives of people in our communities."

The report also features an exclusive dialogue between the company's Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and Mark Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. They address issues ranging from the financial industry's role in society to the firm's risk management, as well as environmental and social practices.

In 2012, JPMorgan Chase increased its lending to small businesses by 18% over 2011, earning the position as #1 Small Business Administration lender for the third year in a row and receiving recognition from organizations like the Export-Import Bank of the United States, whose Chairman and President Fred Hochberg said, "J.P. Morgan has done an effective job of reaching small and medium-sized businesses. They're a great partner in ensuring that American exporters have access to the financing they need to grow their companies and succeed in the international market."

The firm also provided $6 billion to low- and moderate-income individuals or communities through its community development lending and investing and received recognition from Terry Simonette, President & CEO of NCB Capital Impact: "JPMorgan Chase has demonstrated its ability to harness these resources collectively, rather than approach circumstances in low-income communities with a banking approach driven solely by volume and visibility of deals."

JPMorgan Chase also introduced Chase Liquid®, a general purpose reloadable card that is a low-cost alternative to traditional checking accounts and designed to bring underserved customers into the traditional banking system. It has been received positively, earning recognition from consumer advocacy groups like National Council of La Raza, whose Economic Policy Director, Janis Bowdler, said that Liquid strikes the balance between its "business interests and the needs of underserved consumers by creating products and delivery channels that foster long-term relationships" and that the bank "has been able to reach Hispanic customers that previously had been skeptical or intimidated by mainstream banks."

Other highlights include how JPMorgan Chase:

• provided credit and raised capital of over $1.8 trillion for clients worldwide;
• donated more than $190 million to nonprofit organizations;
• worked to improve the lives of underserved people around the globe by growing the amount of capital we committed to impact investments to nearly $50 million; and
• continued to work with coalition firms to grow the 100,000 Jobs Mission to 91 companies that hired more than 51,000 American veterans in just under two years. JPMorgan Chase alone hired nearly 5,000 veterans by the end of the year.

For more information about corporate responsibility at JPMorgan Chase, or to read the summary report, please visit www.jpmorganchase.com/corporateresponsibility. The full report expands on the summary and includes more detailed information about our Corporate Responsibility efforts, including our environmental risk management, stakeholder and public policy engagement, and how we support our people. It will be released on May 21, 2013.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.4 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

(Marketwired) - Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.A)(TSX:BBD.B) published its 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report and Report Summary, entitled Shaping the Future of Mobility, Responsibly, presenting the company's CSR activities over the past year.

"For us, 2012 was a year of great progress in the Evolution of Mobility," said Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. "While there were some challenges – as all members of our industry still cope with heightened economic uncertainty – it was still a year of innovation and achievements."

"We are excited about the environmental potential of our products, but also the promise they hold for communities. In this age of urbanization and globalization, we provide affordable and environmentally-efficient mobility solutions for cities – large and small – to connect to one another. This brings new opportunities and experiences to communities and businesses that may not have previously been connected to the global network," concluded Mr. Beaudoin.

In 2012, key achievements in CSR included:

• sixth consecutive year listing on both the Dow Jones Sustainability North America and World Indices, benchmark indicators of sustainability. Bombardier was also awarded Sector Leader, considered to be the company within its sector best prepared to seize the opportunities and manage risks derived from economic, environmental and social developments.
• developing the first-ever Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in the aerospace industry to help customers understand the environmental impact of the CSeries family of aircraft, to be issued in 2014 to coincide with the aircraft's entry-into-service. Bombardier Transportation published two EPDs in 2012 for the TALENT 2 train and FLEXITY Outlook tram.
• administering the annual Employee Engagement Survey and achieving engagement scores approaching best-in-class. For the first time, the survey was aligned across all locations globally.
• increasing focus on human rights. In early 2013, Bombardier developed a formal statement that better defines how human rights are addressed and respected across the company.
• providing procurement managers across the enterprise with tools and training enabling them to complete CSR spot-checks of key suppliers, supporting compliance with the Bombardier Supplier Code of Conduct. The Code must be adhered to by all suppliers at Bombardier Aerospace and all master vendors at Bombardier Transportation (representing 80% of procurement spend) that sign contracts with Bombardier.
• achieving a 12.6% decrease in accident frequency rate and a 17.2% decrease in accident severity rate since 2011.
• achieving a 1.5% decrease in energy consumption, a 0.8% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, a 7.2% decrease in water consumption since 2011.
• continuing to focus giving around the Bombardier 3E approach: Education, Environment and Entrepreneurship, which aligns the organization's community involvement with its core values and competencies, and updating the Donations, Sponsorships, and Employee Volunteering Policy to include program guidelines and human resources criteria for employee volunteering.

Bombardier's 2012 CSR Report has been developed in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 3.1 standards of reporting, and is self-declared GRI Application Level B. The 2012 GRI content index is available at www.csr.bombardier.com/gri.

To read Bombardier's 2012 CSR Report and 2012 CSR Report Summary, visit csr.bombardier.com.

About Bombardier
Bombardier is the world's only manufacturer of both planes and trains. Looking far ahead while delivering today, Bombardier is evolving mobility worldwide by answering the call for more efficient, sustainable and enjoyable transportation everywhere. Our vehicles, services and, most of all, our employees are what make us a global leader in transportation.

Bombardier is headquartered in Montréal, Canada. Our shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD) and we are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, we posted revenues of $16.8 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.

CSeries, FLEXITY, TALENT, and The Evolution of Mobility are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

First in a series: Spring 2013

David v. Goliath: An Update on the $19 Billion Judgment in Ecuador Against Chevron

This Newsletter provides background and information on Aguinda v. Chevron, the Ecuadorian case that held Chevron responsible for massive environmental damage in the Ecuadorian rainforest.   Our intention in developing this Newsletter is to promote awareness and accurate reporting of (i) the extensive findings and binding nature of the court judgment in Ecuador, (ii) the plaintiffs’ progress in enforcing their judgment in countries around the world where Chevron has assets, and (iii) Chevron’s unsuccessful efforts to complicate enforcement.  It will be updated from time to time as conditions warrant. 

1.  THE ENFORECEABLE ECUADORIAN JUDGMENT

Key early dates:

• The case was first filed on Nov. 3, 1993, on behalf of the Ecuadorian victims or “Afectados” near the headquarters of Texaco (now part of Chevron) in federal court for the Southern District of New York, for damages done from 1964 through 1992, ongoing to this day, during drilling for oil in the region where the plaintiffs live and work.

• For nine years Chevron contested being tried in the United States on the grounds that Ecuador was a more convenient forum and that its courts were fair.  In 2002, Chevron succeeded in dismissing the original suit only after agreeing to a condition of the federal courts that Chevron promise to honor any judgment that might eventually result from a new trial in Ecuador.

• The trial resumed in May 2003 in a provincial court in the province of Sucumbiós, in Northern Ecuador.  (Chevron acquired Texaco, the original defendant, in 2002.)

The Ecuadorian Trial Judgment 

On Feb. 14, 2011, the court in Ecuador found overwhelming evidence that the company deliberately dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, rivers and soil from 1964 to 1992, uprooting indigenous groups and other residents and causing a public health crisis, including a cancer outbreak that has killed or threatens to kill thousands of people.[1]  The trial court in Sucumbiós reviewed more than 216,000 pages of recorded evidence, 103 expert reports, and testimony from dozens of witnesses before Judge Nicolas Zambrano found Chevron liable and imposed a damages award that was affirmed by a separate Ecuadorian appellate court.   The amount of damages that Chevron must pay is $19 billion.  Chevron has been in default of this obligation for many months.

In his decision, Judge Zambrano apportioned the damages and allocated them to address specific environmental and human harms caused by Chevron’s pollution.  His opinion expressly provided:

• $5.4 billion for remediation of contaminated soil
• $600 million for treatment of groundwater contamination
• $200 million for restoration of the ecology
• $150 million to implement an emergency potable water system for affected residents

The court also ordered Chevron to fund a series of projects designed to mitigate the effect of the environmental damage where remediation would be impossible, providing $1.4 billion to address the public health crisis, $800 million for cancer-related cases, and $100 million to compensate five affected indigenous communities.

The evidence against Chevron and its practices was overwhelming.  First, Chevron left over 900 unlined pits in the area, contrary to U.S. and prevailing standards, allowing them to overflow into the surrounding environment.  Second, Chevron admitted to intentionally dumping billions of gallons of untreated production water into the Amazon from the pits.  Third, the judge relied on a chapter written by Texaco’s own environmental manager as to the proper standard of practice and found that the company did not follow that practice in Ecuador, although it did in the United States.

Finally, the trial court addressed and ruled on the multitude of motions made by Chevron accusing the plaintiffs and even the Ecuadorian courts of a series of alleged irregularities in the proceedings.   In disposing of these motions, the trial judge granted Chevron’s motion requesting that the court not consider certain experts’ opinions and ultimately based his findings on his own evaluation of the evidence of contamination and a damages valuation report that was submitted by a Chevron-designated court expert.

The thoroughness of the court’s opinion and findings was without question.  As the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit stated:

The Ecuadorian court returned a judgment against Chevron, rejecting Chevron’s claim of potential intimidation and concluding, in a 188-page opinion containing extensive findings of fact and detailed conclusions of law, that Chevron was liable for widespread environmental degradation in the Lago Agrio region.[at pg 10]  

The Appellate Affirmance and Admonitions Against Chevron’s Trial Tactics

In January 2012, the provincial appellate court in Sucumbiós upheld the entire amount of the trial judgment,[2] which was rendered enforceable when Chevron refused to post a bond during its appeal to the National Court.  The Sucumbios appellate court not only confirmed the trial court’s findings, but also rejected Chevron’s abusive attacks on the proceedings as “baseless” and having “no merit.”

Notably, the appellate court affirmed court sanctions against Chevron on the grounds “that the procedural conduct of [Chevron], few times seen in the annals of the administrator of Justice in Ecuador, were abusive to the point that… it would be an example of disastrous precedent for other litigants.”   The Sucumbiós court also expressed “its concern that the abuse of the legal process extends even to a foreign jurisdiction, with the same demonstrated attempt to deprive the plaintiffs of the rights to which they are entitled in this legal action.”  

Cassation Appeal 

Following the appellate decision upholding the trial award, Chevron filed an appeal (called a cassation appeal) with the National Court of Justice in Ecuador.[3]   The National Court’s review is limited to whether the lower courts committed errors of law.  It is not a de novo review and should not make any findings of fact. A ruling is expected by the end of 2013.

Chevron waived its right to stall enforcement of the affirmed judgment pending the cassation appeal when it failed to post a bond with the appellate court.    Santiago Bermeo of Bermeo, Eguiguren, Ramírez, a highly regarded local law firm, is litigating the cassation appeal for the affected communities before Ecuador’s National Court

2.  ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

The laws of countries around the world offer legal pathways for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.  These rules operate to convert a foreign judgment into a domestic one, and then to enforce the “recognized”” judgment as such, including through seizure of assets.   Since Chevron has no significant assets in Ecuador and refuses to pay the Ecuadorian judgment, the Afectados have initiated foreign enforcement actions in Canada (May 2012), Brazil (June 2012), and Argentina (November 2012). More filings will occur in 2013.  

Ecuador, like many countries around the world, has ratified treaties related to the enforcement of foreign judgments.  The two principal enforcement-related treaties signed by Ecuador and other Latin American states are:  the Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards and the Inter-American Convention on the Execution of Preventative Measures (discussed further below).  These treaties permit enforcement suits in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela (see discussion below after Canada). One such action occurred on October 15, 2012 in which the Ecuador trial court requested the freezing of all of Chevron’s relevant assets in Argentina and Colombia (the “Ecuadorian Embargo Order”).

CNN Hero Award and 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient Pablo Fajardo is the lead lawyer for the Afectados in Ecuador. 

Argentina

On Nov, 7, 2012, the Commercial Court of Justice in Argentina, acting under the Inter-American Convention on the Execution of Preventive Measures and the Ecuadorian Order froze all of Chevron’s relevant assets Argentina.[4]   The Argentine order includes orders requiring Chevron to deposit 40 percent of Chevron’s oil revenues in Argentina into a court-ordered escrow account.  Last year, Chevron’s oil revenues were approximately $600 million.[5]  The case for the Ecuadorians is being led by Enrique Bruchou, founding partner of Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi, one of the most prestigious law firms in Argentina.

On Jan. 30, 2013, a 3-judge appellate court unanimously upheld the embargo in a holding that emphasized (i) the need to strictly observe international treaties designed to credit foreign court orders, (ii) that any disagreement with the grounds for the embargo should be directed at the Ecuadorian court with original jurisdiction, (iii) that the enforcement-related embargo – including the portion attributable to punitive damages -- in no way violated the public policy of Argentina, and (iv) that the embargo was properly directed at wholly-owned Chevron subsidiaries. [6] 

Upon a successful completion of the Afectados’ recognition suit in Argentina, the judgment creditors will initiate seizure actions to collect the frozen assets and monies held in the escrow account. 

Brazil

On June 27, 2012, the Afectados filed an enforcement action against Chevron in Brazil.[7]  Chevron has significant assets in Brazil and has recently been involved in an oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro that resulted in a suspension of its operation (now lifted) and a pending lawsuit brought by the authorities.  The Afectados hired Sergio Bermudes, founder and senior partner of the leading litigation firm of Sergio Bermudes Advogados, to represent them. 

Brazil and Ecuador are both signatories to the Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards.  Applicable Brazilian legislation also provides streamlined processes for recognizing, and then enforcing, foreign judgments.[8] 

Brazil, unlike many other countries, hears cases to recognize foreign judgments at the highest non-constitutional court level:  the Superior Tribunal de Justiça, or STJ, located in Brasilia.   This fact will likely reduce the time to reach a recognition decision by eliminating appeals from lower court levels. A judge was named to hear the case and a recognition ruling is estimated sometime in 2014. 

Canada

On May 1, 2013, Justice David Brown of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a stay in the action filed by the Ecuadorians nearly a year before to recognize and enforce their judgment against Chevron and Chevron Canada's assets in Canada. While Judge Brown found that his Canadian court does have jurisdiction against both Chevron defendants, the key issue on the motion in front of him, he nonetheless stayed the action, without prejudice to future appeals, citing the slim likelihood that the Ecuadorians can legally attach properties owned by Chevron subsidiaries. However, he did not  question the legitimacy of the Ecuador decision or its right to enforcement in jurisdictions where Chevron does have assets.

Alan Lenczner, founding partner of the leading Canadian litigation firm, Lenczner Slaght, represents the Afectados and brought the action in the Ontario.  In response to the ruling, he said, “the plaintiffs will definitely be appealing. It cannot be right that a multinational company that operates entirely through subsidiaries is immune from the enforcement of a judgment in Canada, particularly where the subsidiary is 100% owned and provides some of the billions of dollars that Chevron pays out in dividends each year and even more billions in share buy backs. Chevron Corp itself earns no money. All its earnings and profits come from subsidiaries including, importantly, Chevron Canada.”  He predicted the court of appeals will hear the case in September or October  2013 and that, depending on how it rules, one party or the other likely will take the case to Canada’s Supreme Court.

Lenczner also notes that Canadian law only permits stays of the enforcement of foreign judgments in very rare circumstances that do not cause an injustice to the party enforcing the judgment (here, the Afectados).  As to the common law framework for recognizing foreign money judgments, these rules permit only limited grounds to defend against recognition.

Colombia

The Ecuadorian Embargo Order also extends to Chevron’s most relevant assets in Colombia under the same treaty -- the Inter-American Convention on the Execution of Preventive Measures – that permitted the freezing of Chevron’s assets in Argentina.   The Ecuadorian Embargo Order can, therefore, be introduced in Colombia at any time.

3.  CHEVRON’S EFFORTS TO BLOCK ENFORCEMENT

Notwithstanding express promises made to U.S. federal courts that it would submit to jurisdiction in Ecuador and pay any resulting judgment, Chevron began implementing a strategy as early as 2009 to create ancillary litigation designed to block or at least delay enforcement of an adverse judgment in Ecuador.[1]  Chevron then intensified its strategy following the Ecuadorian court’s 2011 decision, a strategy that continues despite the Afectados’ progress toward enforcement.  

International Arbitration Against Ecuador 

In September 2009, as the Ecuador trial was winding down with clear evidence of Chevron’s culpability, Chevron sued the government of Ecuador under Ecuador’s Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with the United States.  The suit claimed Ecuador violated a release of liability it gave to Texaco in the 1990s and that a lack of due process afforded to Chevron in the trial violated its rights as an investor (even though the company left Ecuador in 1992, five years before the treaty was signed by the U.S. and Ecuador.)   Chevron’s arbitration seeks indemnification for any sums that Chevron must pay as a result of the contamination lawsuit.  

As the Lago Agrio trial reached an end and its enforcement loomed, Chevron began to ask the arbitration panel for “interim orders” to the effect that the government of Ecuador should prevent enforcement of the judgment. The arbitral tribunal issued a series of orders and awards against the government, the most recent being a Feb. 7, 2013, holding that Ecuador had violated the tribunal’s previous interim awards and should have stopped the Afectados from pursuing enforcement actions in other countries pending the outcome of the BIT proceedings. 

The government has refused to follow the BIT’ arbitration orders, stating that interference in the Afectados’ lawsuit would be illegal and unconstitutional.  Ecuador’s Foreign Minister recently called on two Latin American regional organizations (ALBA and UNASUR) to discuss the “legal aberration” committed by the BIT tribunal in its rulings against Ecuador.[9] Additionally, member states of these regional bodies issued a joint statement denouncing Chevron’s aggression at the international tribunal.[10] 

Ecuador’s courts have affirmed on multiple occasions that private citizens like the Afectados are not parties to the bilateral treaty proceedings and cannot be bound by the rulings. It also would be a violation of Ecuador’s obligations under international human rights treaties to interfere in disputes between private parties that involves human rights issues.  It is difficult to foresee how any ruling from the arbitration panel could affect the Afectados’ enforcement actions outside Ecuador since, among other defects, the Afectados are not, and cannot be, a party to the arbitration.   

Sideshow “Racketeering” Lawsuit in NYC

Chevron also attempted to block enforcement by filing a “fraud” and “racketeering” case (RICO) in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.  It targets the Afectados, their legal counsel and technical consultants, and names a wide range of other environmental and legal organizations as “co-conspirators.” Chevron is seeking treble damages (nearly $60 billion) for the cost of the underlying judgment in Ecuador as well as compensation for the company’s legal fees, which alone could be hundreds of millions of dollars.

Judge Kaplan embraced Chevron’s suit and has made numerous comments from the bench maligning the Ecuadorians and their counsel in open court.  His initial key decision on the case – a “global injunction” preventing the Afectados from enforcing their judgment anywhere – was swiftly struck down by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011.  In a decision highly critical of Kaplan, the three circuit judges scolded the lower court judge, saying:   

“[W]hen a court in one country attempts to preclude the courts of every other nation from ever considering the effect of that foreign judgment, the comity concerns become far graver. In such an instance, the court risks disrespecting the legal system not only of the country in which the judgment was issued, but also those of other countries, who are inherently assumed insufficiently trustworthy …”

The 2nd Circuit ruling reinforces the Afectados’ rights to pursue international enforcement – as it has in Canada, Argentina, and Brazil – irrespective of Chevron’s efforts to obtain blocking orders from a New York court.  As the circuit court said: 

“The LAPs hold a judgment from an Ecuadorian court. They may seek to enforce that judgment in any country in the world where Chevron has assets.”

Chevron took the extraordinary step of appealing for a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court denied the request in October 2012.[11]

Notwithstanding, Judge Kaplan and Chevron lawyers have stubbornly devised ways to stack the U.S. litigation to produce “findings” that malign the Ecuadorian judgment as if such findings would even matter internationally.  To avoid having to spend further resources litigating in Judge Kaplan’s arena, the Afectados have filed a petition with the 2nd Circuit asking that a new judge be appointed.[12] A hearing is expected this May.

The remainder of the RICO case is moving ahead, with a trial scheduled for October 2013.[13] Through recent filings recasting  its case as one focused on lawyer conduct, Chevron and Judge Kaplan have gone to great lengths to take discovery of evidence of contamination in Ecuador “off the table” to prevent a U.S. jury from being able to see the real story behind the case.

At the same time, Chevron is seeking to re-litigate issues that were considered in Ecuador and found to be without merit.   For example, as a condition of dropping the engineering firm Stratus Consulting from the RICO case, Chevron required affidavits in which the consultants disavowed their prior work on the case.  Chevron trumpeted the affidavits in the media but it failed to disclose that – at Chevron’s request -- the Ecuadorian trial court never considered Stratus’s work but rather relied on over 100 reports and thousands of soil samples from other sources, including Chevron’s own submissions. Chevron engaged in heavy-handed pressure tactics designed to gain Stratus’s cooperation, including efforts to disrupt Stratus’s client relationships.  

Chevron also recently revealed an affidavit from a former judge, Alberto Guerra, containing allegations of fraud in the original Ecuador trial decision.  Media coverage on the story was quickly tempered, however, when it was discovered that (i) Guerra is a disgraced former judge who was only involved at the outset of the Afectados case in Ecuador, and (iii) Chevron is paying Guerra hundreds of thousands of dollars. [14]  The deciding judge from Ecuador, Nicolas Zambrano, volunteered a declaration to Kaplan’s court denying Guerra’s claims and testifying that Chevron tried to bribe him through Guerra. 

The Stratus and Guerra examples demonstrate Chevron’s willingness to use hundreds of millions of dollars and 2000 legal professionals to divert attention from the underlying contamination it caused in Ecuador, rather than to remediate that harm.  

[1] See an English translation of the trial ruling here: http://chevrontoxico.com/assets/docs/2011-02-14-Aguinda-v-ChevronTexaco-judgement-English.pdf

[2] An English translation of the appellate decision is available at: http://chevrontoxico/assets/docs/2012-01-03-appeal-decision-english.pdf

[3] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chevron-appeals-ruling-in-ecuadorian-court-2012-01-20

[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/argentina-chevron-idUSL1E8M7IVV20121108

[5] http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/actualidad/item/justicia-ecuatoriana-y-argentina-coinciden-en-condenar-el-dano.html

[6] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-30/business/sns-rt-us-chevron-argentinabre90t1ai-20130130_1_enrique-bruchou-ecuadorean-amazon-chevron-argentina-and-ing

[7] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-ecuador-chevron-idUSBRE85R01I20120628

[8] http://chevrontoxico.com/assets/docs/2012-brazilian-enforcement-q-and-a.pdf

[9] http://en.mercopress.com/2013/02/26/ecuador-chevron-dispute-enters-a-new-chapter-correa-calls-for-latam-support

[10] http://www.eluniverso.com/2013/03/01/1/1355/paises-alba-apoyan-ecuador-conflicto-petrolera-chevron.html

[11] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19892561

[12] http://chevrontoxico.com/assets/docs/2013-03-05-petition-for-writ-of-mandamus.pdf

[13] http://www.law360.com/articles/387751/chevron-trial-over-19b-ecuador-verdict-set-for-october-2013

[14] http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/actualidad/item/chevron-tiene-mucha-plata-invertida-en-un-ex-juez.html

Approximately 300 participants representing cultural institutions, social service agencies, schools and universities, faith-based organizations, chambers of commerce, local governments and more from across the United States will convene on May 17-18 for the Sixth Annual Office Depot Foundation Weekend in Boca Civil Society Leadership Symposium.

The symposium - which is presented free of charge to attendees as part of the independent, non-profit Office Depot Foundation’s commitment to supporting capacity building in the non-profit sector - will feature speakers from GuideStar USA, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and other nationally and internationally recognized organizations. 

Presented in collaboration with the Sagamore Institute, the SCORE Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) and JKG Group, Weekend in Boca will focus on the theme “Innovation and Collaboration – Building for the Future.”  The symposium takes place at Office Depot Corporate Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla.

Sessions will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on May 17 and from 9 a.m. to noon on May 18. To view the full agenda and see profiles of the speakers, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org/weekendinboca. Twitter users can follow along with the hashtag #OfficeDepotFndnBoca.

Speakers scheduled to participate include:

• Stacy Palmer, Editor, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Washington, D.C.
• Lindsay J.K. Nichols, Communications Director, GuideStar USA, Inc., Washington, D.C.
• Nicholas Ashburn, Program Director, Impact Texas, Austin, Texas
• Richard J. Crespin, Senior Fellow, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center, Washington, D.C.
• Mark J. Dobosz, President, SCORE Foundation, Herndon, Va.
• Jay Hein, President, Sagamore Institute, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Stephen Jordan, Co-founder and Senior Partner, IO Sustainability, Washington, D.C.
• Akaya Windwood, President, Rockwood Leadership Institute, Oakland, Calif.

A special highlight will be the “Innovation Kick Start” – an interactive presentation in the afternoon on May 17 by ?WhatIf! Innovation Partners. It’s billed as a “high-energy and high-impact, one-two punch of innovation training that fuses the learning of fundamental tools and behaviors with real-world application for immediate implementation and impact.”  The session will be led by Arnava Asen and Gian Taralli from the ?WhatIf! team.

“Weekend in Boca has grown dramatically since it began in 2007,” says Office Depot Foundation President Mary Wong. “Participants come from as far away as New York, Chicago and even California in addition to our core group from South Florida. We are confident that this year’s program will be relevant, stimulating and, above all, inspiring.”

About the Office Depot Foundation
The Office Depot Foundation is an independent foundation − tax exempt under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3) − that serves as the independent charitable giving arm of Office Depot, Inc. In keeping with its mission, Listen Learn Care®, the Foundation supports a variety of programs that give children tools to succeed in school and in life; build the capacity of non-profit organizations through collaboration and innovation; and help communities prepare for disasters, as well as recovering and rebuilding afterwards.  For more information, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org. 

On the 20 & 21 June 2013, the Zermatt Summit Foundation will welcome 200 participants from about 20 countries for its fourth edition. During two days, senior business executives, leaders from civil society and public personalities will engage in discussions on the theme: "Business and NGOs: Building partnerships of winners."

The program of the meeting will focus on issues and challenges where greater collaboration and synergy between civil society organizations and business would contribute to create a more inclusive globalization. Session topics will include climate change, healthcare, employability, as well as governance and business ethics. The role of social entrepreneurship, new areas for possible public private partnerships, and best practices in corporate social responsibility are also a core part of the two-day program.

"I look forward to welcoming an exceptional group of leaders and thinkers who, in their respective areas of expertise and in their actions, are defining new models for a more sustainable world," said Christopher Wasserman, Founder and CEO of the Zermatt Summit Foundation.

Recently confirmed speakers include:

Rob Cameron, Executive Director, Sustainability, UK

Simone Cipriani, Head, Ethical Fashion, International Trade Center, Switzerland

Robin Cornelius, Founder & President Switcher, Switzerland

Erin Ganju, Co-Founder and CEO, Room to Read, USA

Renat Heuberger, CEO South Pole Carbon Asset Management, Switzerland

Jean-Louis Homé, President, MDIN, France

Mark Foster, Chairman, International Business Leaders Forum, UK

Philippa Frankl, Executive Director, Street Kids International, UK

Christian Leitz, Head, Corporate Social Responsibility Management, UBS, Switzerland

Jan Noterdaeme, Senior Advisor, CSR Europe, Belgium

Stuart Orr, Head of WWF's Water Stewardship, WWF International, Switzerland

Marc Pfitzer, Managing Director, FSG, USA

Martin Rohner, CEO, Alternative Bank, Switzerland

Onno Schellekens, Managing Director, Investment Fund for Health in Africa, Netherlands

Karl Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President, Chopard, Switzerland

Marlyn Tadros, Founding President & Executive Director Virtual Activism, USA

Dougal Thomson, The Economist, Switzerland

Sebastian Winkler, Director for Europe, Global Footprint Network, Belgium

Soushiant Zanganehpour, Manager, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford, UK

Registration is now OPEN http://bit.ly/Z3HQQJ

Brochure http://bit.ly/11l4TEQ

Program http://bit.ly/10cuf7i

About the Zermatt Summit – The Zermatt Summit was created in 2010 to promote a constructive, action-oriented dialogue between civil society and business. It is through this kind of dialogue and a better interaction between civil society, business and governments that we will be able to achieve a more inclusive globalization. www.zermattsummit.org

Dorothy P. Rice, Sc.D., has been named the 2013 recipient of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research. The Prize, funded by The Baxter International Foundation and managed by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), will be awarded on June 20, 2013 during the AUPHA Annual Meeting in Monterey, Calif.

The Prize recognizes the contributions of health services researchers who apply analytic methods to examine and evaluate the organization, financing, and/or delivery of health services, realizing that by improving the delivery of health services, the health of citizens is also improved. An independent committee of past winners, distinguished academics, and internationally recognized researchers selects the recipient each year.

Widely regarded for her innovative and pioneering work in the field of health statistics, Dr. Rice has held a number of leadership positions during the course of her distinguished career. In addition to serving as deputy assistant commissioner for Research with the Social Security Administration, Dr. Rice was the director of the National Center for Health Statistics for more than six years, from 1976 to 1982. During this time, Dr. Rice is credited with leadership development and management of an indispensable nationwide healthcare information system, which remains the industry standard today.

“Every member of the Graham Prize Selection Committee was very aware of the significant international and national contributions that Dr. Rice sustained throughout her career,” said Kyle Grazier, DrPH, University of Michigan professor and Graham Prize Selection Committee chair. “As a leader in the Social Security Administration and then at the National Center for Health Statistics, and since, she elevated the importance and use of high quality medical and financial data to inform decisions in policy making and management. She developed the cost-of-illness methodology that has been used to understand numerous illnesses and their impact on society. She is a wise and dedicated mentor to many. We all are grateful that the Graham Prize exists to honor someone of the stature of Dorothy Rice.”

Dr. Rice is professor emerita in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, with joint appointments at the Institute for Health & Aging and Institute for Health Policy Studies.

“It is a special honor and privilege that has been bestowed on me by The Baxter International Foundation in recognition of my life-long research, for which I am most grateful.” said Dr. Rice. “I follow a long list of distinguished researchers whom I have admired and who have been my heroes for many years. I sincerely hope that my own research has had as significant an impact on the organization, delivery, and financing of health services as that of my predecessors.”

Renowned for her prolific body of research, Dr. Rice has authored more than 200 published monographs, books, articles, and book chapters on the economics of medical care, aging, chronic illness, disability, health statistics, and domestic violence. She has also written about various cost-of illness studies, including costs associated with the health effects of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease, and AIDS.Dr. Rice has received numerous honors for her many contributions including election to the Institute of Medicine, the Association for Health Services Presidential Award for Leadership and Contributions to Health Services Research, and the American Public Health Association Sedgwick Memorial Medal.

About the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research
Since 1986, The Baxter International Foundation and the Association of University Programs in Health Administration have awarded the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research to recognize researchers who have made major contributions to the health of the public through innovative research in health services. The Prize honors the late William B. Graham, longtime chairman and CEO of Baxter International Inc., and is internationally regarded as the premier recognition for individuals conducting health services research. The Prize recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on the health of the public in one of three primary focus areas: Health Services Management, Health Policy Development, and Healthcare Delivery. The Prize includes an award of $25,000 to the individual and $25,000 to a non-profit institution that supports the winner’s work. Past recipients have included Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP and Uwe Reinhardt, PhD.

About the Prize Sponsors
The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX), helps organizations expand access to healthcare in the United States and around the world. The foundation, established in 1981, focuses exclusively on increasing access to healthcare, particularly for the disadvantaged and underserved in communities where Baxter employees live and work. Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide. For more information, please visit www.baxter.com.

AUPHA is a global network of colleges, universities, faculty, individuals and organizations dedicated to the improvement of healthcare delivery through excellence in healthcare management and policy education. Its mission is to foster excellence and drive innovation in health management and policy education, and promote the value of university-based management education for leadership roles in the health sector. It is the only non-profit entity of its kind that works to improve the delivery of health services – and thus the health of citizens – throughout the world by educating professionals managers at the entry level. AUPHA’s membership includes the premier baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral programs in health administration education in the United States, Canada, and around the world. Its faculty and individual members represent more than 400 colleges and universities. For more information, please visit www.aupha.org.

Corporate leaders and experts on global warming and climate change policy came together on Earth Day, 2013, in Sausalito, California for REDD+ Talks, an inaugural event, which addressed business leaders on how emissions from deforestation contribute to global warming and how this will affect their businesses.

General Manager of PUMA, Martyn Bowen, said in his talk, “We need to go further than just having CSR. We need to go further than just doing less bad. We need to start doing more good.”

Advocated by companies including Microsoft and Allianz in addition to PUMA as an immediate and proven solution to address the negative effects of climate change, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is a climate change mitigation strategy envisioned by the United Nations to help stop the destruction of the world’s forests.

Wildlife Works, the world’s first company to successfully develop a REDD+ project that achieved verification under the voluntary carbon market’s most rigorous standards, originated REDD+ Talks to garner support for REDD+ from US corporations.

CSRwire, the nation’s leading source for corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, reports, events and information, co-sponsored the event with Code REDD, a nonprofit, REDD+ industry association that represents REDD+ project developers around the world.

Presentations from the Earth Day REDD+ Talks symposium can be viewed on www.REDDtalks.com. Over the coming weeks, CSRwire will profile several corporate leaders who have taken steps towards carbon neutrality and will explain their companies’ emissions reduction goals, why they have chosen to offset unavoidable emissions with REDD+ credits and how doing so has benefitted their companies.

Addressing Climate Change: Leading Expert Endorses REDD

REDD+ Talks keynote speaker, Nobel Laureate Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by the United Nations, said, “It’s beyond the range of doubt that the climate of the earth is changing…There is, of course, fortunately, enormous potential for the mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions…and REDD is an extremely important part…if mounted affectively, can give you pretty quick and large-scale results.”

Microsoft Ups the Ante: Putting a Price on Carbon

Protecting threatened forests under a REDD+ program generates carbon credits, which can be used by companies to offset their unavoidable emissions and pay for the cost to keep a forest standing. Microsoft’s Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability, TJ DiCaprio, outlined the company's emission reduction goals and put REDD in context:

“We’ve put a price on carbon. We have an internal carbon fee. Each of our 14 business divisions across 110 countries is now charged an additional fee that’s associated with the carbon emissions from energy consumption and business air travel…We are taking action in our own way to demonstrate environmental responsibility and ask other organizations do the same thing. It’s a very simple repeatable model: putting a price on carbon, collecting the funds, driving accountability out to the different parts of the organization, and then using these funds to support projects like, [Wildlife Works’] Kasigau REDD+ Project. The impact on the business has been significant.”

With policy makers moving dangerously slow to implement legislation that includes REDD+ to help curb greenhouse gasses as well as regulate major emitting businesses, throughout the day, climate change experts repeatedly echoed the urgency of the situation and stressed the moral responsibility businesses have to take care of the emissions they create and why it is not acceptable for corporations to earn profits at the expense of the environment and people.

Each year, 7 billion tonnes of C02 are released into the atmosphere as 35 million acres of forest are destroyed due to slash and burn agriculture, legal and illegal logging and charcoal production.

Deforestation accounts for nearly 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The environment cannot be stabilized without protecting threatened forests.

Mike Korchinsky, Founder and CEO of Wildlife Works, explained that the way to protect threatened forests is through community engagement where local people receive multiple benefits through conservation related jobs. “Forests are being destroyed for their economic value but not necessarily to their highest value user, there’s always an economic reason,” he said. “To combat that, we have to provide economic value to the people who are living in and around the forest first and foremost.”

Mama Mercy, a community leader managing vital women’s groups in Voi, Kenya where Wildlife Works’ REDD+ Project is located, received the most enthusiastic applause. Mama Mercy came to REDD+ Talks to tell corporate leaders first hand how REDD+ is working to address deforestation while helping an impoverished rural community of more than 100,000 people through the significant multi-benefits that carbon finance delivers.

“When the carbon [project] came, there was a change…[With Wildlife Works] we are focusing on water, education, job creation, and sustainability. Water is the biggest problem. Women walk 15 kilometers to find water: she will carry a 20-liter can of water with a baby on her back and maybe she’s expecting too. It’s a miserable life. That’s all changing now because of REDD+," she explained, adding, “Now there are jobs and dignity is restored in our community. Money from carbon has helped more than 1,800 children go to school. We can educate our children…we are going to have a different nation!”

About the sponsors of REDD+ Talks

Wildlife Works is the voluntary carbon market's leading REDD+ (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Degradation) project development and management company. Wildlife Works has developed a sustainable and scalable business model that delivers unprecedented environmental and social benefits to seriously impoverished parts of Africa and the world that are in need of the transformational change that Wildlife Works REDD+ projects can bring. www.wildlifeworks.com

Code REDD is a nonprofit REDD+ industry association that empowers communities, protects wildlife, and preserves forests – by stimulating corporate support for high-impact, high-quality REDD+ projects in both compliance and voluntary markets around the world. www.coderedd.org

CSRwire is the leading source of corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, reports, events and information. www.csrwire.com

CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) today released its 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, which gives stakeholders an inside view of the company’s CSR strategy, priorities and performance on its sustainability goals and CSR initiatives. The report is available online on the company’s website at www.cvscaremark.com/CSR.

The key topics covered in the report represent CVS Caremark’s most important issues, which inform how the company defines its CSR strategy and priorities. These include a strong focus on improving patient outcomes through better adherence to prescribed medications; cultivating a more engaged, diverse and healthier workforce; making progress toward the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; strengthening systems and practices to ensure supply chain responsibility; enhancing quality control processes in pharmacy operations; and building healthier communities through social investments and community engagement initiatives.

The report, titled Reinventing Pharmacy, Creating Sustainable Solutions, underscores how the role of pharmacies – and pharmacists – has evolved and become more instrumental in helping people get and stay healthy. Through its own research and insights, CVS Caremark understands that patients are concerned about the future of health care in the U.S., and they are increasingly turning to their pharmacists for guidance on a range of health care issues, beyond just advice on their medications. The report explains how the company views this as an opportunity to engage patients in many different ways, providing them access to health care resources and education that can help them maintain their own health, especially those patients who are managing chronic diseases that require continual medication.

Beyond patients and customers, CVS Caremark also discusses the opportunity to foster a culture of health and wellness among its colleagues, who represent a diverse workforce of 200,000 individuals. The report details some of the initiatives CVS Caremark is undertaking to encourage colleagues to take personal responsibility for their own health, such as a move to evolve its traditional health care plan into a Plan for Health.

Environmental stewardship is also critical to how CVS Caremark thinks about health. The link between a healthy environment and personal and public health is evident. For that reason reducing environmental impacts and promoting ways customers and colleagues can participate in those efforts remains a focus. With regard to its carbon footprint, CVS Caremark reports that its carbon intensity has decreased by seven percent since 2010, which is nearly half way to its declared goal of a 15 percent reduction in carbon intensity by 2018.

New to the report is information on CVS Caremark’s social audits of contract factories, reflecting a robust process that was implemented in the past two years. This has enabled the company to collect reliable data and begin to report the outcomes of its process.

“When we think about the intent of our corporate social responsibility initiatives, we are mindful of our stakeholders: patients and customers, employees, local communities, regulators, and stockholders,” said CVS Caremark President and CEO Larry Merlo. “Our CSR report is the main vehicle we have for sharing details on these initiatives so everyone can have a stronger sense of who we are as a company.”

The CVS Caremark 2012 CSR Report was developed in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3.1 Guidelines, an international framework that is widely recognized and used by organizations to report on their CSR and sustainability performance. Consistent with its 2011 CSR Report, CVS Caremark self-declared its 2012 report as a level B, based on the GRI application levels. For more information on GRI, visit www.globalreporting.org.

About CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) is dedicated to helping people on their path to better health as the largest integrated pharmacy company in the United States. Through the company’s more than 7,400 CVS/pharmacy stores; its leading pharmacy benefit manager serving more than 60 million plan members; and its retail health clinic system, the largest in the nation with more than 600 MinuteClinic locations, it is a market leader in mail order, retail and specialty pharmacy, retail clinics, and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans. As a pharmacy innovation company with an unmatched breadth of capabilities, CVS Caremark continually strives to improve health and lower costs by developing new approaches such as its unique Pharmacy Advisor program that helps people with chronic diseases such as diabetes obtain and stay on their medications. Find more information about how CVS Caremark is reinventing pharmacy for better health at info.cvscaremark.com.

Recognizing the impact of environmental and social issues concerns on the global economy, Globe Telecom has reiterated its commitment in integrating sustainability in its core operations at the 2013 ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit held recently in Manila.

“Globe Telecom is adding its voice to the clamor for green initiatives and sustainability,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Telecom’s Corporate Communications Head, acknowledging that the telecommunications industry is a huge canvass for various sustainability efforts because of its scale of operations.

The ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit provided a venue for top corporations in the ASEAN region on to share their experiences in mainstreaming sustainability into organizational thinking and practice. The forum was aimed at shedding light on how companies could move beyond corporate social responsibility and take into account sustainability in their strategy, finances and operations.

Speaking at the forum, Ms. Crisanto noted that in all operational aspects, from transportation to energy consumption, there are potential risks to the community and its surrounding ecosystem. “Fully recognizing its impact, Globe Telecom has committed to make a difference in this part of the world by taking up the challenges of sustainability,” Ms. Crisanto emphasized.

In fact, the company’s $700 million network modernization, once completed, will enable the company to become the first green mobile network in the country. In support of its sustainability initiatives, the company also spends vast resources in environment protection and reduction of carbon use, she said.

The company’s sustainability efforts seem to be paying off as the company achieved two consecutive years of strong financial growth despite intense competition.

“Globe Telecom, being a public utility company, can best serve the Filipino nation by ensuring that as we transform the lives of our people with technology and mobile solutions, we also do our share in protecting this viable ecosystem we are in,” Ms. Crisanto said.

“We are a responsible corporate advocate and in so doing, we create a Globe of Good and make our world safe and green for this generation of Filipinos and the next,” she added.

Globe Telecom’s 2012 Annual and Sustainability Report was given a B+ rating by TUV Rheiland under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G 3.1.

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The Online Testing & Evaluation Platform (www.OTEP.com  announced today that they have been certified as a B Corporation. They are the first company in Windsor/Essex to meet the rigorous standards required to achieve the prestigious B Corp status.

Leading a global movement to redefine success in business, B Corps create higher quality jobs and improve the quality of life in our communities. As a Certified B Corporation, OTEP voluntarily meets a higher standard of transparency, accountability, and performance, harnessing the power of business to solve social and economic problems.  As of February 2013 there are more than 690 Certified B Corporations in a diverse multi-billion dollar marketplace spanning over 60 industries and 24 countries.

“It’s not ok to just do business anymore.” says Rob Whent, OTEP’s President and CEO. “Our company is socially and environmentally responsible in every way and we are very excited to be B Corp certified.” Now, unlike traditional corporations, OTEP will join other Certified B Corporations and will be legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their employees, suppliers, community, consumers, and environment. “We are all connected in this global economy and we all need to do our part” Whent said.

OTEP is working closely with the Human Development Technologies Research Group (http://ihdt.ca/) at the University of Windsor, the Ontario Brain Institute (http://www.braininstitute.ca/) and WEtech Alliance (www.WEtech-Alliance.com) Windsor’s technology and innovation accelerator, part of the Ontario Network of Excellence.

About OTEP Inc.

OTEP Inc. (www.OTEP.com) was founded in Windsor in 2010 by Rob Whent, a serial entrepreneur and digital visionary that has dedicated his company to helping families with children struggling in school overcome barriers to effective help. Their product Think2Learn™ uses videogames to identify and improve cognitive weaknesses in school-aged children, and helps parents navigate the often difficult path of helping their child succeed at home and at school.

About B Corp

Certified B Corporations meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include consideration of stakeholder interests, and build a collective voice through the power of the unifying B Corporation brand. As of February 2013, there are more than 690 Certified B Corporations from over 60 industries and 24 countries, representing a diverse multi-billion dollar marketplace.

About B Lab

B Lab is a non-profit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and just good marketing; 2) accelerating the growth of the impact investing asset class through use of B Lab’s GIIRS impact rating system by institutional investors; and 3) promoting supportive public policies, including creation of a new corporate form and tax, procurement, and investment incentives for sustainable business. The MaRS Centre for Impact Investing in Toronto has a unique partnership with B Lab, acting as the Canadian Certified B Corporation Hub, with the aim of growing the B Corp community in Canada.

An emerging industry of financial services technology startups, known as FinTech, is creating a new wave of products for financially underserved customers, according to research issued today by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and Core Innovation Capital. The underbanked market in the United States is currently estimated at $78 billion in annual revenue, serving 68 million consumers across 22 different financial product types.

The new report Financial Technology Trends in the Underbanked Market, which benefits from strategic input and financial support from Morgan Stanley, highlights recent innovations in mobile technology, computing power, and data availability that are driving the development of high-quality products and services for underbanked consumers.

“The emerging trends detailed in this research represent tremendous potential for the financial services industry to engage more fully with underserved consumers in value-driven ways,” said Rob Levy, Director, Research, CFSI. “Our goal is to provide guidance and leadership as entrepreneurs and innovators begin to capitalize on new technology and develop relevant, sustainable, and scalable strategies for meeting consumer needs.”

The report identifies four key trends impacting the underbanked market: harnessing social networks, solving the cash in/out problem, leveraging big data for better risk management, and scaling up by going B2B2C. Each of these trends is analyzed in the context of five FinTech industry factors relevant to growth and profit potential, such as the regulatory environment and consumer behavior trends. The report also highlights companies leveraging these trends for the underbanked market, including a specific company case study for each trend.

“The growing number and sophistication of companies point to the incredible opportunity presented by the underbanked market,” said Arjan Schütte, managing partner of Core Innovation Capital. “Serving this Emerging Middle Class well and responsibly can lead to incredible financial growth and expansion opportunities. In partnership with CFSI and Morgan Stanley, we are excited to help call attention to this market, the trends driving it forward, and the companies that best serve it.”

“We are pleased to support this first-of-its-kind effort to identify the key trends that are driving investment opportunities to better serve the U.S. underbanked market,” said Audrey Choi, Managing Director and Head of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley.

To view a copy of the report, please visit www.cfsinnovation.com/content/financial-technology-trends-underbanked-market, or contact CFSI or Core Innovation Capital directly.

About CFSI:
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is the nation’s leading authority on financial services for underserved consumers. Through insights gained by producing original research; promoting cross-sector collaboration; advising organizations and companies by offering specialized consulting services; shaping public policy; and investing in nonprofit organizations and start-ups, CFSI delivers a deeply interconnected suite of services benefiting underserved consumers. Since 2004, CFSI has worked with leaders and innovators in the business, government and nonprofit sectors to transform the financial services landscape. For more on CFSI, go to www.cfsinnovation.com and follow on Twitter at @CFSInnovation.

About Core Innovation Capital:
Core Innovation Capital is a leading investor in financial technologies serving the Emerging Middle Class, the 80 million Americans that generate over $1 trillion in annual income and spend more than $78 billion in fees and interest on financial services. Core partners with proven entrepreneurs and invests in disruptive financial technologies that measurably improve the lives of the Emerging Middle Class. The Core Impact Alignment investment thesis leverages social impact to create above-market financial return. For more information about Core Innovation Capital, visit www.corevc.com.

About Morgan Stanley:
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

 Sustainable Brands® announced today that the Emerging Economies Consumer Behavior Change Project will launch at the Sustainable Brands Rio conference in Brazil. Led by Eight Sustainability Platform, in partnership with Futerra Sustainability Communications, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the Instituto Akatu and Sustainable Brands, it is the first project to explore the cutting-edge issues of sustainable consumer behavior change exclusively for the Brazilian market.

The project is sponsored by Banco Itaú and supported by Dow, Nestlé, Unilever, Invepar and Pepsico. The project will provide materials to support business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses in Brazil to engage consumers in behavior change on sustainability. The materials are being developed by the expert partners, with input from leading businesses. To solicit this input, a private workshop was held in São Paulo on April 24th, at the Dow Brasil headquarters with a select group of 50 experts. Representatives from the marketing, communications, brands and sustainability departments of partner companies and organizations such as Telefônica, O Boticário, BR Foods, AES Eletropaulo, Duratex, WWF, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and Purpose participated.

According to Pablo Barros, the creator of the project and the founder of Eight Sustainability Platform, “There are many responses to the problems that our society faces, but influencing the behavior of individual people is one of the most effective ways for facing up to challenges of this scale. We have decided to begin our work by developing mechanisms for use by B2C companies, because of the strength of their brands, their scale and their penetration, and because of the positive returns that these companies and their brands can achieve by engaging with their consumers.”

Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of Futerra, said, “Creating sustainable lifestyles is the greatest business opportunity of the 21st century. Brazil must be at the heart of this new market. We can both share learning from global brands and also discover the sustainable behaviors unique to Brazil.”

Marina Grossi, chief executive officer of the CEBDS comments, “Brazil will only be more sustainable in 2050 if it implements significant changes before 2020. That is the conclusion of Brazil Vision 2050, a study launched by the CEBDS at Rio+20, which proposes a new business agenda for the country. Of the nine pillars of this Vision, the first addresses values and behavior. In this area, the business sector can only undertake major transformations by communicating with people, engaging them and influencing them to change their consumption habits. The foundations of a behavior change project are provided by research into the ways in which each and every one of us thinks, consumes, produces and disposes of goods and services. This is critical and cutting-edge research which can help support the changes needed to meet the objectives of Brazil Vision 2050, a Brazil where all Brazilians live within the natural limits of the planet and where the consumer culture has been replaced by the principles of sustainable development and by the values of personal success and satisfaction.”

The project launches today during an afternoon session at Sustainable Brands Rio. Introduced this year in Brazil, the conference will convene over 350 brand innovators on May 8-9th to address the role of brands in leading the way to a flourishing future. "Since 2006, Sustainable Brands has been focused on helping the global brand community find value in leading the way to a sustainable future," states KoAnn Skrzyniarz, founder of Sustainable Brands. "Brands play a critical role in aligning business and society. Understanding how to encourage and support more sustainable consumer demand is fundamental to our future, both for business and society. We are grateful to be part of this project and hope it will contribute important insight that can be shared with our global community of change makers who are committed to enabling the sustainable economy of the future."

More information about the Emerging Economies Consumer Behavior Change Project and access to the white paper can be found on www.eightsustainability.com/#!mudanas-de-comportamento/cc4o.

Information about Sustainable Brands Rio, May 8-9th at the Windsor Atlântica Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, can be found on the conference website.

About Eight Sustainability Platform
Eight Sustainability Platform is a global platform that works on sustainable solutions, drawing on a wide range of partnerships with leading organizations in the international sustainability space. Eight aims to serve as a catalyst for change and to influence the transformation of current forms of production and consumption. It provides consulting services, executes special projects and specializes in adding speed and scale to initiatives that aim to change the paradigms of both companies and consumers. Eight’s work is based on the partnership model, cooperating with its partners to find solutions for global sustainability issues and its clients, while also developing partnerships with its own customer base.

About Futerra Sustainability Communications
Futerra is an award-winning sustainability communications agency with offices in New York, London and Stockholm. Our mission is to make sustainability so desirable it becomes normal. From green marketing to corporate responsibility, brand strategy to creative execution, Futerra transforms global businesses into leading sustainable businesses, offering real and impactful solutions.

About Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS)
CEDBDS is a business national association and non-profit that leads efforts on sustainable development implementation in Brazil, effectively articulating Brazilian government and business actions. Created in 1997, CEBDS integrates the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) national council’s net.

Recognized as the most reputable business institution in the world, WBCSD brings together 200 business groups that act all around the globe. In Brazil, CEBDS has today 76 associated companies that represent (in total) more than 40% country’s GDP and more than 600 thousand jobs.

CEBDS’ mission is guided by fostering business leadership as a change catalyst towards a business model that enables economic activity success, fosters social inclusion and preserves environment assets.

About Instituto Akatu
Created on March 15, 2001 (World Consumer Day) within the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, Akatu is a non-governmental organization that works to raise awareness and mobilize society for conscious consumption. The Institute's activities are focused on changing consumer behavior on two fronts – education and communication – with the development of campaigns, content, surveys, games and methodologies. Akatu defends the act of conscious consumption as a fundamental transformation of the world, as any consumer can contribute to the sustainability of life on earth: through the consumption of natural resources, products and services and the enhancement of social responsibility companies.

About Sustainable Brands
Sustainable Brands® is the premier global community of brand innovators who are shaping the future of commerce worldwide. Since 2006, our mission has been to inspire, engage and equip today’s business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a better future. Digitally published news articles and issues-focused conversation topics, internationally known conferences and regional events, a robust e-learning library and peer-to-peer membership groups all facilitate community learning and engagement throughout the year. Sustainable Brands is hosted by Sustainable Brands Worldwide, a division of Sustainable Life Media headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Success begins at home. To ignite The Coca-Cola Company’s (NYSE: KO) global commitment to fight the obesity epidemic, The Coca-Cola Foundation announced grants to organizations across the Company’s home state. These grants will provide increased access to community-oriented physical activity and nutrition education programs.

“Together with Governor Nathan Deal and Mayor Kasim Reed, we are inspiring our hometown of Atlanta and home state of Georgia to be active,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. “Golden triangle efforts like these and others in Colorado, Chicago and San Antonio amplify the active role we must all take in helping to tackle the complex issue of obesity. We can only succeed with the collaboration of local governments, community leaders and other willing partners.”

The Foundation has pledged $3.8 million to support statewide initiatives to help get people active and enjoy a balanced lifestyle, including Georgia SHAPE and Walk Georgia initiatives. Georgia SHAPE, Governor Deal’s strategy to address childhood obesity, is using the additional funding to increase the time children are active before, during and after school. The program will also include nutrition education curricula for Georgia schools.

Walk Georgia was created by The University of Georgia’s Cooperative Extension Service.  This initiative focuses on community-oriented physical activity programs customized by community members. Participants can engage in a variety of activities such as dancing, cycling and gardening and convert those actions into steps. Those steps are converted into miles. As participants accumulate miles, they virtually move across a map of the state, viewing fun facts about each county visited and learning new ways to improve health. 

“One of our strategic goals for the state is to reduce childhood obesity and encourage healthy lifestyles through preventive care, disease care and early intervention,” said Governor Deal. “Working with Coca-Cola and others to strengthen programs such as Georgia SHAPE and Walk Georgia gives Georgians of all ages and abilities more opportunities to become physically active.”

A $1 million grant to the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta supports the City of Atlanta’s Centers of Hope program. The program, which also serves at-risk youth, brings physical activity, leadership development, nutrition education and academic enrichment to almost 2,000 young Atlantans. Through the grant, the program will expand from its two pilot locations to 10 of the City’s recreation centers. The initiative has a multi-generational strategy, offering additional resources for parents to receive their GED certification, along with parenting and nutrition education workshops.

“Investing in Atlanta’s youth through programs designed to teach them about the importance of wellness and physical fitness in a safe, structured learning environment is one of my top priorities,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. "This generous grant to support the Centers of Hope enables the City of Atlanta to expand its successful pilot program at the Thomasville and Adamsville Recreation Centers into a sustainable, community-based initiative for young people."

Additional Georgia grant recipients include:

• The PATH Foundation, Make the Connection Campaign, $500,000
• YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta and its branches, Empowering Healthy Living, $75,000
• Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, Healthy Atlanta BeltLine, $100,000
• Piedmont Park, Kids Get Active, $30,000
• Soccer In The Streets, Expanded Opportunities, $75,000
• Ryan Cameron Foundation, Healthy Lifestyle, $25,000

Earlier today, The Coca-Cola Company announced four global strategic business actions across the more than 200 countries in which it operates to help fight the obesity epidemic:

• Offer low- or no-calorie beverage options in every market;
• Provide transparent nutrition information, featuring calories on the front of all of our packages
• Help get people moving by supporting physical activity programs in every country where we do business
• Market responsibly, including no advertising to children under 12 anywhere in the world

Coca-Cola continues to make the health of the communities in which it operates a priority. The Company’s global actions and commitments to fight obesity demonstrate its resolve to bring people together for good. Through collaborative partnerships and programs, Coca-Cola is delivering more beverage choices, calorie information and physical activity opportunities than ever before. To learn more visit www.coke.com/comingtogether.

About the State of Georgia
For more information about the state of Georgia, please visit georgia.gov. Follow GeorgiaGov on Facebook and Twitter @georgiagov. For additional information about the Office of the Governor, please visit gov.georgia.gov. Follow Governor Nathan Deal on Facebook and Twitter @GovernorDeal.

About the City of Atlanta
For more information about the City of Atlanta, please visit www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26. Follow the City of Atlanta on Facebook and Twitter @City_of_Atlanta. Follow Mayor Reed on Facebook and Twitter @KasimReed.

About The Coca-Cola Foundation
Since its inception, The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded more than $500 million to support global sustainable community initiatives, including water stewardship, community recycling, active healthy living, and education. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please go to www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/the-coca-cola-foundation.

About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world’s most valuable brand, our Company’s portfolio features 16 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of more than 1.8 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world’s top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo or visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Visuals and footage to accompany this release can be viewed at: www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/press-releases/coming-together-press-kit.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) today announces four global business commitments to further contribute to healthier, happier, and more active communities. These commitments, which apply to the more than 200 countries where we do business, are to:

1. Offer low- or no-calorie beverage options in every market
2. Provide transparent nutrition information, featuring calories on the front of all of our packages
3. Help get people moving by supporting physical activity programs in every country where we do business
4. Market responsibly, including no advertising to children under 12 anywhere in the world

“Obesity is today’s most challenging health issue, affecting nearly every family and community across the globe. It is a global societal problem which will take all of us working together and doing our part,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company. “We are committed to being part of the solution, working closely with partners from business, government and civil society. Today’s announcement is another step forward on our journey, as we take action with scale and reach across every country and continent where we operate.”

Muhtar Kent will make the global announcement today in commemoration of the 127th anniversary of Coca-Cola. He will be joined by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and City of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to kick off a series of programs designed to help get Georgians moving. Today’s announcement in Georgia builds on recent partnerships the Company has undertaken in Chicago, San Antonio and other cities.

Already, The Coca-Cola Company has taken a number of important steps, including product and packaging innovations including smaller portion sizes with our expansion of mini-cans in the United States, Australia, Canada, Korea and Thailand. The Coca-Cola system currently supports hundreds of active, healthy living programs in more than 115 countries reaching millions of people, and is putting calories on the front of nearly all our beverages worldwide. And, we will continue to do even more.

The Company also has committed to publicly and actively measure the scale and reach of its efforts on www.comingtogether.com. The digital platform provides further details about the Company’s global commitments and invites people to learn more about what the Company is doing, track its progress, post feedback and exchange ideas on how we can collectively promote choice, energy balance and movement.

Presently, The Coca-Cola Company sells non-alcoholic beverages in nearly every beverage category – from sparkling beverages to water, enhanced and flavored water beverages, tea, coffee, juice and juice drinks, sports beverages and energy drinks. The broad portfolio includes nearly 800 low- and no-calorie beverages, representing 25 percent of the global portfolio. It will continue innovating portion-controlled packages and new, natural zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia, because the Company believes choice comes in many tastes, shapes and sizes.

About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world’s most valuable brand, our Company’s portfolio features 16 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of more than 1.8 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world’s top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo or visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Visuals and footage to accompany this release can be viewed at: www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/press-releases/coming-together-press-kit.

IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its store in Stoughton, Massachusetts. The 118,000-square-foot PV array consists of a 590.8-kW (DC) system, built with 4,220 laminated panels. IKEA Stoughton’s program will produce approximately 695,000 kWh of clean electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing 479 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), eliminating the emissions of 94 cars or powering 60 homes yearly (calculating clean energy equivalents at www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html).

This installation represents the 38th completed solar project for IKEA in the U.S., with one more location underway, making the eventual IKEA solar presence nearly 90% of its U.S. locations, with a total generation of 38 MW. IKEA owns and operates each of its solar PV energy systems atop its buildings – as opposed to a solar lease or PPA (power purchase agreement) – and globally has allocated $1.8 billion to invest in renewable energy through 2015. This investment reinforces the long-term commitment of IKEA to sustainability and confidence in photovoltaic (PV) technology. Consistent with the company’s goal of being energy independent by 2020, IKEA has installed more than 250,000 solar panels on buildings across the world and owns/operates approximately 110 wind turbines in Europe.

For the development, design and installation of the Stoughton store’s customized solar power system, IKEA contracted with REC Solar, Inc., a national leader in solar electric system design and installation with more than 9,000 systems built across the U.S.

“We at IKEA believe in the never-ending job of improving the sustainability of our day-to-day business,” said Frank Briel, store manager. “The Stoughton coworkers are excited to help contribute to this goal with our newly operational solar energy system. We appreciate the support of the Town of Stoughton, National Grid and REC Solar, our partners in this project.”

IKEA, drawing from its Swedish heritage and respect of nature, believes it can be a good business while doing good business and aims to minimize impacts on the environment. IKEA evaluates locations regularly for conservation opportunities, integrates innovative materials into product design, works to maintain sustainable resources, and flat-packs goods for efficient distribution. U.S. sustainable efforts include: recycling waste material; incorporating key measures into buildings with energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems, recycled construction materials, warehouse skylights, and water-conserving restrooms; and operationally, eliminating plastic bags from the check-out process, phasing-out the sale of incandescent light bulbs, facilitating recycling compact fluorescent bulbs, and by 2016 selling and using only L.E.D. bulbs. IKEA also installed electric vehicle charging stations at nine stores in the Western U.S.

Located on 27 acres along Route 24 near Central Street (Exit 19B), the 347,000-s.f. IKEA Stoughton opened in November 2005 and employs approximately 400 coworkers. In addition to 10,000 exclusively designed items, IKEA Stoughton presents 50 different room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 450-seat restaurant. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the Showroom, baby care rooms, play areas throughout the store, and preferred parking. IKEA Stoughton was awarded LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and hosts a green roof atop the store adjacent to where the solar panels now are. IKEA also has applied to extend the warehouse of this store.

Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function, at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 340 IKEA stores in 41 countries, including 38 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information, see IKEA-USA.com, facebook.com/IKEAUSA, @DesignByIKEA, and pinterest.com/IKEAUSA.