GreenBiz.com posts on three corporate players making big moves on the sustainability front.

Alcoa says it is actively
developing, evaluating, and implementing natural sustainable
technologies to reduce the environmental footprint at its aluminum
smelting, refining, and production facilities.

The innovative technologies, called Engineered Natural Systems, use
a variety of plants, soils, and microbes to reduce the volume of
discharged stormwater and process water as well as the concentrations
of pollutants in the discharged water. These passive “green”
technologies are helping Alcoa to achieve environmental goals stated in
its “2020 Strategic Framework for Sustainability,” which calls for the
company to reduce process water usage by 70% from 2000 to 2010 and
achieve zero water discharge by 2020.

Morgan Stanley says it plans to
invest in approximately $3 billion of carbon/emissions credits,
projects and other initiatives related to greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions reduction over the next five years.

The majority of this investment will represent increased
commitments to purchase carbon credits from projects as the Firm’s
Commodities Trading Department expands its existing Carbon and
Emissions platform. The remainder will constitute investments in
projects and initiatives related to emissions reduction, such as those
certified under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint
Implementation (JI) initiatives. These projects allow developed
countries to transfer and fund emissions-reducing technology in other
signatory nations. The United Nations oversees the project registration
and approval process.

Wal-Mart Stores says it plans to
begin implementing its “Preferred Chemical Principles” to establish a
clear set of preferred chemical characteristics for product
ingredients.

The purpose is to drive the development of more sustainable
products for “mother, child, and the environment,” according to the
company. The first three of these priority chemicals are being
announced at the Molecule-to-Molecule meeting, a two-day event hosted
by the Chemical Intensive Product Network (CIP), a group designed to
engage suppliers, NGO’s, government, academics and other subject matter
experts on issues and opportunities around product sustainability.

With so far to go on our path to reducing the human footprint on the planet, real time corporate responsibility by such key players is not only overdue, but essential to catching up with good will among the educated consumers who utilize their products and services.

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