FirstCarbon Solutions, a provider of software and consulting services to enhance the environmental sustainability of business, has expanded its partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). FirstCarbon will score companies' submissions on their greenhouse gas emissions and carbon-management strategies to CDP Supply Chain. The latter works with global companies to measure and understand the impact of climate change across supply chains. An independent, non-profit organization, CDP helps companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share information on environmental risk and opportunity.

Carriers shipping cargo through Canadian and Mexican ports do not violate any U.S. law, treaty, agreement or Federal Maritime Commission regulation, according to an FMC study prompted by members of Congress.

The North American Emission Control Area (ECA), under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), went into effective Aug. 1, 2012, bringing stricter controls on emissions of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter for ships trading off the coasts of Canada, the United States and the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

There are many opportunities to recapture value from returned products and, in the process, strengthen customer relations, says Jeff Jorgensen, vice president of supply chain execution at Spinnaker, a global supply chain and execution company.

Financial executives may wonder about all the fuss surrounding "GRC," or governance, risk management, and compliance. Is it just a repackaging by consultants and software vendors that brings together risk and compliance management? Why does everyone have a different definition of GRC, and if it is actually important, how do we know our GRC processes are effective?