Whether it was planting millions of trees, turning food waste into electricity or using smart grid technology to slash its energy use, British supermarket Sainsbury's has been slowly but surely beefing up its sustainability credentials.

A chain of cafes in the US is onto a green bread winner after bagging an Environmental Sustainability Award for its commitment to saving energy.

Clean energy is becoming a priority for many countries throughout the world. In small, developing countries, renewable energy represents economic growth and sustainability. In large countries, the economic aspects of clean power are also attractive, but energy is more of a politic matter rather than an environmental one.

UK regulator, the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA), has issued the subsidiaries of two major oil companies with penalties for not meeting biofuel standards. Under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), companies supplying over 450,000 l of petrol or diesel to the UK market have to register with the RFA and match their supply with a percentage of biofuel, as well as providing information on its carbon intensity and sustainability.

VietnamPlus and Siemens signed a partnership agreement in Hanoi on Oct. 21 whereby VietnamPlus will be the media sponsor for Siemens Green Technology Journalism Award 2010. This award is created for the first time in ASEAN in order to acknowledge and reward journalists for excellent reporting on energy efficiency, industrial productivity and sustainability issues. It is open to print and online media from Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam.

Britain held its first free eco-car show last month on London's famous royal driveway, The Mall. The event was held as part of HRH Prince Charles's latest sustainability initiative “Start”, which aims to promote positive steps to leading a sustainable lifestyle, and was opened by his “Garden Party to Make a Difference”.

A long list of sustainability measures saved School District 43 more than $1.2 million in the past year. But the district will soon need to fork over extra cash for carbon offsets, since the provincial government requires the public sector be carbon neutral by the end of 2010.

United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has increased the percentage of ethanol blending optional for cars and light-weight trucks made in or after 2007 to 15 percent (E15). This is the first increment in the ethanol blending standard in more than 30 years. Since 1979, automobiles had an option to use only 10 percent blended ethanol (E10) in gasoline.