Johnson & Johnson has added 19 new products to its Earthwards portfolio. Earthwards is an internal process used by the company’s product teams to innovate better products with smaller environmental footprints. To qualify, a product must achieve a greater than 10 percent improvement in at least three of seven areas, including materials used, packaging reduction, energy reduction, and positive social impact/benefit.

Committees in both houses of the Illinois Legislature have passed bills to create Benefit Corporations, a new type of business entity, in that state. The bills, to create the “Benefit Corporation Act,” will next move to a vote on the floor of each chamber. Environmental and sustainable business organizations have supported the legislation to support socially responsible business in Illinois. Like similar laws now in effect in seven other states and currently under consideration in five others, the legislation allows businesses to consider society and the environment