Andrew Winston

This week, Microsoft is announcing an unusual initiative that it hopes will change how the company operates: an internal fee on carbon.

Starting July 1 -- the beginning of the company's fiscal year 2013 -- the software giant will charge all of its 100-plus global offices and data...

The media seems intent on giving climate skeptics much more than equal time. Today the New York Times printed a cover story about the last arrow in the climate skeptics arsenal, the argument that cloud cover will adjust to a warming world and let more heat escape to space.

Aside from tiny Bhutan and their pursuit of Gross National Happiness, every country bases economic policy on the pursuit of endless GDP growth, and companies are right there with them. But common sense tells us that nothing can grow forever, and thus national and corporate-level goals alike have...

Is corporate sustainability on the wane or growing more important to top executives? At the beginning of the year, two big-picture reports on the state of green business painted divergent pictures.

In GreenBiz's annual review of 20 indicators of "how business is doing" on green, we learn that...

Will we see the day when all products carry environmental labels with data on carbon emissions and other impacts? Recent news tells us a definitive... maybe. Within a couple days of each other, GM announced new eco-labels for some Chevy models, while UK mega-retailer Tesco pulled...

Is there such a thing as too much profit? A disciple of Milton Friedman would say "never." The idea that companies should only maximize shareholder value has had a stranglehold on the business world for decades. It's time to rethink this assumption.

A couple of weeks ago, Apple reported

(Note: This blog is co-authored with Andy Wales, Global Head of Sustainable Development for SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers).

When we talk about natural resource constraints on business -- such as shortages in water or increases in the cost of energy or agricultural products --...

In the days right before this last, zen week of family time and no email, I read a few news items about the sorry state of our global commons. From the real costs of extreme weather ($52 billion in damages in the U.S. alone in 2011) to massive dangers...

Yes, it's December again somehow: time to look back on what we've learned and oversimplify into a handy list. Here's my take on the 10 big stories in sustainability and green business this year:

1. The usual sustainability drivers got stronger
Ok, this one is cheating a bit, but...

(Note: This blog is co-authored with Andy Wales, Global Head of Sustainable Development for SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers)

It's hard to put into words how dry and hot Texas was this past summer. "Off the charts" is both figuratively and literally accurate:

ExxonMobil reported recently that its net income reached $10.3 billion... in just the third quarter. The oil giant is arguably the most profitable corporation in history. Ten billion in three months is historic, but as the New York Times reported, "analysts were not impressed."

Is there a better...

"We're looking for new models of innovation. We don't have all the answers or all the capabilities."

This candid admission comes from Beth Comstock, GE's chief marketing officer and senior vice president. Comstock was telling me about the company's growing innovation platform, the GE Ecomagination Challenge, which inspires...

The passing of Steve Jobs was in no way surprising -- we knew it had to be serious for him to leave the company he loved. But it's still a shock that we're robbed of his brain and all the amazing things that he would have invented.

I had always...

Before the big jobs speech, President Obama made an important decision about the economy and public health. About 10 days ago he reversed himself and his own EPA to stop a regulation that would've reduced smog-causing pollution. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Congressional leadership quickly...

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that geologists have "sharply cut" their estimate of how much natural gas exists in the rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. They now guess it holds 84 trillion cubic feet, down 80 percent from the Energy Information Agency's estimate...

I just learned that one of my personal heroes, Ray Anderson, died on Monday at the age of 77 after battling cancer for that last 2 years.

Ray was known best for his inspirational role in the world of sustainability (so many of the leaders of the...

Last week I wrote about how eating less meat was the best way to reduce your food's carbon footprint. But what do you do if you want to be a responsible corporate citizen and you sell fast food? Well, I think your company would look a lot like...

In recent years, one part of the food business has rivaled organics as the hot growth area: "local" food (defined vaguely as coming from the same state or from less than 100 miles away, for example). It's a market segment that has just about doubled in sales and...

As a car, the all-electric Nissan Leaf has received mostly great reviews. But as a positioning statement, Nissan has, in many marketers' eyes, missed the boat. After some missteps, Nissan may now be on the right path. An ad I pulled from Fast Company recently hits all the right marks.

Tucked into this year's Fortune 500 issue is a short article on the annual Rice University Business Plan Super Bowl. With $1.3 million in cash, equity, and advice in play, this contest is one of the world's most prestigious and richest competitions for budding entrepreneurs. It...