Month: February 2023

Nasdaq

As companies face even greater scrutiny for their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies, board oversight of ESG issues becomes increasingly important. Not only do a growing number of investors demand a well-defined ESG role responsibility for board members, but legal and regulatory trends are beginning to specify ESG oversight as part of a board’s fiduciary duty. However, the rapid evolution of ESG compliance means that best practices for governance are still developing, leaving companies with important questions to answer. What does effective board oversight of ESG entail? How should ESG governance be structured? And what does good board oversight of ESG look like in actual practice?

What Is Board Oversight of ESG and Why Is It Important?

In the past, traditional regulatory and legal frameworks gave boards generous discretion to exercise business judgment and determine which issues were material enough to require active monitoring and engagement by the board. Few, if any, boards considered ESG issues relevant to business strategy and operations. But things have changed. “Those days are over,” declared SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee in a 2021 speech. “Boards increasingly have oversight obligations related to climate and ESG risks—identification, assessment, decision-making, and disclosure of such risks. These obligations flow from both the federal securities laws and fiduciary duties rooted in state law.”

As investors became more interested in ESG factors over the past decade, more companies began to include ESG metrics in official filings, but increasing disclosures did not always align with formal board oversight. But investors’ ESG expectations are ratcheting up, a trend that could have a direct impact on the materiality of ESG issues. With influential institutional investors making ESG issues a priority, companies may have to account for ESG not only as a matter of investor relations but also in terms of potential impact on access to capital. As Commissioner Allison Herren Lee pointed out, markets and government policies are combining to make ESG matters material to long-term business strategy and risk management. As a consequence, boards will increasingly have the same fiduciary duty to monitor relevant ESG factors as they do for conventional aspects of business.

ESG and Board Member Obligations

The first step is to define the board’s responsibilities and structure. Companies need to determine which committees will have oversight for specific ESG issues or whether a dedicated ESG committee may be needed. What are the objectives, risks, and opportunities? Does the board need to perform a materiality assessment?

After the structural risks and opportunities have been addressed, the board will need to determine how to monitor and measure ESG performance. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and practices vary widely. But some industries have adopted common practices based on leading companies that can be used as benchmarks. In addition, certain reporting frameworks, such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and Global Reporting Initiative, provide industry-specific standards and guidelines.

But companies do not need to start from scratch to define standards, build their own solutions, and gather meaningful data. Boards and their companies now have access to an array of services to help improve their ESG practices. Nasdaq OneReport and Metrio, a Nasdaq company, for example, simplify the process of ESG data capture, engagement, oversight, and disclosure. But regardless of what kind of model or framework is chosen, companies ultimately will need to get specific about how board oversight will be implemented. So, what does good ESG board governance look like in actual practice?

Examples of Good ESG Board Governance

Across industries, companies have adopted a variety of approaches and frameworks for board oversight of ESG. A report published in 2021 by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance divides companies into three maturity levels according to their practices for ESG disclosures—laggards, middle of the pack, and frontrunners—and the role of the board plays a significant part in determining each maturity level. Laggards have no defined role for their boards, while board oversight for middle-of-the-road companies is only “scant at best.” For frontrunners, however, “ESG strategy is regularly reviewed by board/committees and embedded in core operations.”

But even for companies that have fully engaged boards, a standard governance model has yet to be established, and approaches vary. Apple divides oversight among multiple board committees, assigning specific responsibilities to each one. Amazon gives primary ESG responsibility to the board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, but Microsoft assigns the lead role to its Regulatory and Public Policy Committee.

Some companies are going farther and forming entirely new committees for ESG oversight. In 2018, Gilead Sciences created its Corporate Responsibility Committee to be responsible for managing ESG issues. The CEO message in that year’s annual report explained that establishing the CSR “reaffirms our commitment to drive short-, medium- and long-term action in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.”

Tenet Healthcare formed its dedicated ESG Committee in 2021. The company’s annual report stated that the committee would consist entirely of independent board members and would provide oversight for ESG strategy as well as guidance on ESG matters that are relevant to Tenet’s business. The reason behind the move was pragmatic. As the company’s 2022 ESG progress report explained, “We view ESG as part of our culture and ingrained in our business. We continue to align our approach to the areas that we believe are in the best interests of our stakeholders and our business, while seeking ongoing improvement.”

How Can ESG Board Members Get Up to Speed

Most boards will not start the ESG journey with directors who have specialized knowledge or skills, but an expanded ESG oversight role ultimately will require directors to become more knowledgeable. In fact, a recent S&P Global report predicts that corporate boards “will face rising pressure to demonstrate that they are adequately equipped to understand and oversee ESG issues.” Moreover, because practices, metrics, and issues will continue to evolve, boards will need to have a strategy for ongoing education to remain current.

Even though the focus may be on ESG, a comprehensive assessment of the board’s capabilities might be a more effective way to start. This approach could result in better overall alignment, including such benefits as matching skillsets to responsibilities. For example, Nasdaq’s Board Advisory Team works with boards to customize and execute board evaluations and provide an analysis of strengths and gaps in performance with the goal of generating actionable insights.

The potential benefits of third-party expertise also should be considered, and a variety of services and solutions are available to provide support. The Nasdaq ESG Advisory Program, for example, offers comprehensive in-house resources to help companies identify the material business drivers that should guide their ESG strategy.

Upskilling and education are also key. With so many companies needing to get up to speed on ESG and not enough qualified ESG professionals to go around, a number of standard setters and organizations now provide online courses and other services to help business leaders acquire the information they need. For example, the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures offers workshops on governance, risk management, metrics, and more. The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has developed a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting program to help business professionals understand how financially material aspects of sustainability can affect enterprise value.

Although expertise can enhance governance, it is not a substitute for the core qualities of character and judgment that board members need in order to be effective. Consider the example of American Airlines. The company assigns primary ESG oversight to its board’s Corporate Governance, Public Responsibility and Safety (CGPRS) Committee, but that arrangement is unremarkable in itself. However, the way the members of the committee go about their duties is instructive. In an interview for the company’s 2021 ESG report, Sue Kronick, who serves on the CGPRS Committee, explained, “Importantly, the committee is trying to provide oversight in a way that is not boilerplate. We are looking for management to talk to us about challenges and how they’re working to find solutions. Even if we miss our goals, we can dig into why and what it’s going to take to correct course.”

Regardless of structure and other factors, directors need to be actively engaged and curious in order to provide effective oversight of ESG policies. This is one fundamental principle of good governance that will never change.

Lenovo Foundation and Motorola are collaborating with UNESCO to digitize, preserve and promote indigenous languages, in honor of UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages

In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2022 – 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL). The declaration is an effort to draw global attention to the endangered status of many indigenous languages and mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion. As a global company focused on delivering smarter technology for all, Motorola Mobility, a Lenovo company has developed the indigenous languages revitalization project, first introduced in early 2021.

On December 13, 2022, as part of UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages, Motorola announced the next phase of the project focused on native languages from India, which will arrive in the coming months. With support from Lenovo Foundation, Motorola is proud to be partnering with UNESCO to conduct further research on the impact and potential of digitizing endangered indigenous languages.

As new generations of indigenous people increase their literacy and use of technology, it is crucial that they be able to use their native language in new, digital formats to avoid the endangerment and loss of language. UNESCO estimates that we lose one indigenous language every two weeks, resulting in around 3,000 unique languages being lost by the end of the century. To help preserve human heritage, the unique histories of indigenous cultures, and empower the next generation, Motorola has been working in partnership with Lenovo Foundation to integrate languages into its smartphones. Kaingang (spoken in Southern Brazil), Nheengatu (spoken in the Amazon), and Cherokee (spoken in the United States) are already part of the more than 80 languages Motorola offers in its mobile interface.

With this initiative, Motorola became the first mobile phone manufacturer to provide Cherokee citizens access to a fully localized mobile phone user interface and to fully support an indigenous language spoken in the Amazon.

“We believe that the survival of indigenous languages is essential for the survival of indigenous culture and heritage,” commented Janine Oliveira, Executive Director of Globalization Software at Motorola. “We support over 80 languages on our phones, but in early 2020, we recognized that indigenous languages of Brazil and Latin America were not represented on mobile user interface. Over 90% of indigenous community members we’ve worked with are using smartphones, but they could not navigate their phones in their native languages.”

Motorola has shared the characters, 360,000 translated words, and linguistic customizations on the Android platform so that other OEMs and companies can add the languages to their interfaces, paving the way for broader use and revitalization. In support of the effort, Motorola’s parent company Lenovo is exploring integration of the languages into the PCs. As a start, the Lenovo Research and Development Team in Brazil has worked to include Kaingang and Nheengaatu on Lenovo’s Linux PCs from 2023 onward.

Motorola President and Lenovo Vice President Sergio Buniac, along with Lenovo Foundation and Motorola Globalization representatives – were part of Tuesday’s Paris event that brought together high-level representatives of UNESCO Member States, Indigenous leaders, the UN system, civil society national research organizations and representatives from the public and private sectors. These stakeholders were convened in Paris to discuss how to integrate and preserve indigenous languages around the world and how they could cooperate towards a more inclusive future.

“This project gets at the core of our smarter technology for all vision,” commented Charlotte West, Lenovo Executive Director of Global Corporate Communications and Lenovo Foundation Board Director who was present at the Paris event. “As a global technology leader, making the commitment and effort to ensure indigenous communities are included in our innovations honors our company’s inclusive culture and respect for global diversity.”

As the project continues over the next decade, Motorola and Lenovo Foundation hope to increase awareness, bring action toward the survival of endangered languages, and empower future generations of indigenous communities to use technology in their native language. “We hope that this initiative raises awareness towards language revitalization, not only by impact the communities, but paving the way for more endangered indigenous languages to be added to other smartphones,” shared Sergio Buniac. The team is looking to the future and has set sites on collaborating with UNESCO’s New Delhi, India office. Together, they will develop a set of guidelines and project blueprint to share best practices for digitizing endangered indigenous languages.

The energy crisis has two faces: the need for decarbonization in order to limit global temperature increase and rising highly volatile energy prices due to energy market turbulence caused by the war in Ukraine.

The need for decarbonization has been the driving force behind policies like the European Green Deal, while the Russian invasion led to additional policies like RePowerEU to phase out EU dependency on Russian fossil fuels.

The common solution to both crises would be to stop using fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy sources. It is therefore no surprise that renewable energies are the fastest growing source of energy, contributing half of the growth in global supplies and becoming the largest source of power by 2040.* In most regions, wind and solar are also the cheapest source of electricity generation, even without subsidies.**

Pressure to shift to renewables has been high for decades; the current crisis around exploding and volatile energy prices demands action in even shorter time frames.

In France, utility companies are allowed to reduce energy taxes in order to limit the increase of energy prices to a maximum of four percent. In Germany, the price cap for gas and energy — “Gas- und Strompreisbremse” — has been introduced to motivate citizens toward safe energy and to shield energy billing amount for gas, electricity, and district heating for 80% of their consumption the previous year.

“SAP works hand in hand with the German-speaking SAP User Group and other associations to make sure newly passed legislation gets integrated into our systems so that our customers can fulfill obligations toward their end customers” explains Daniela Sellmann, global vice president and head of the Utilities Industry Business Unit at SAP SE.

This shift to renewables also requires a growing number of decentralized energy resources (DER). Renewables like solar, wind, or bioenergy are largely generated by small local generation assets, which feed directly into the distribution grid. The intermittent nature of solar and wind causes challenges for the balancing of demand and supply in the power grids.

The demand side is also changing, with industrial, commercial, and household customers increasingly generating their own energy and becoming energy “flexumers” — generators, flexibility providers, and consumers of energy.

“This causes a shift in utilities’ business models, from pure selling of energy and water to becoming a full-service provider for energy flexumers,” says Sellmann.

Digital transformation is both an answer to the challenges of the energy transition and driver of new business models and services. This has been recognized in the EU with the creation of the Digitalization of Energy Action Plan. The action plan defines measures on how modern technologies can help improve the efficient use of energy resources, ease the integration of renewables into the grid, and save costs for EU consumers and energy companies.

As nearly everything becomes “smart,” utilities need a strategy on how to manage the avalanche of data coming from devices and other sources and use it to feed their intelligence. At SAP, we call this the intelligent enterprise, which is enabled by integration of data and processes and innovation with industry best practices. A cornerstone for this is the SAP Utilities Core solution.

“With SAP Utilities Core, we provide utilities with a proven platform to reliably run their core business processes like meter-to-cash in the cloud,” says Sellmann. “We are using intelligent technologies like machine learning to further automate core processes and increase efficiency. At the same time, we enable customers to drive innovation and increase speed and agility by leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform and the industry cloud with solutions like SAP Cloud for Energy for managing times series data from meters. Further, we leverage our partner ecosystem to fill white spaces and gaps as well as to scale spread and adoption.:

Utilities-specific innovation topics at SAP cover the entire utilities value chain: (see graphic above)

We are undoubtedly moving toward a cleaner and more independent energy future. One problem that remains: time.

For a more detailed view on the energy transition and the solutions SAP provides for it, see “Supporting Utilities in Times of Energy Crisis and Decarbonization.”

Markus Bechmann is vice president of the Utilities industry business unit and program lead for SAP Utilities Core at SAP.

*BP, BP Energy Outlook (2019), 7 
** Michael O’boyle, Wind and Solar Are Our Cheapest Electricity Generation Sources. Now What Do We Do?, GREENTECH MEDIA, Jan. 26, 2017.

Originally published on Nation Swell

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President and Chief Impact Officer at IBM, about why passion and partnership are paramount to an ESG leader’s success, why engineering and corporate social responsibility work go hand-in-hand, and why the future of ESG might just be its “S.”

Behrman, NationSwell: Can you tell us about some initiatives at IBM that are exemplars of your approach?

Nixon-Saintil, IBM: When I started at IBM, there was so much goodness across the company. There were so many things we were doing in the environmental space, in the social space, in the governance space, but at the time, there wasn’t a comprehensive way of communicating this work and making sure that we brought even more awareness to it.

In 2022, we launched our ESG strategy, a framework called IBM Impact. And that was a new initiative for us as a business. I’ve been really proud of this because when you just talk — whether it’s external to investors, internal to your team or to clients — it’s really easy to talk about our framework, our ten commitments that are exemplars that we are going to continue to demonstrate progress against, and it really leads to further conversations, because it’s so much easier to understand how it all fits together.

Read the full interview here.

Variability in product-level greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting standards and methodologies can prevent companies from understanding both their true emissions and their progress in reducing them, according to a new analysis from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). While rigorous organization-level GHG accounting has enabled companies to identify and address emissions hotspots, greater harmonization in product-level accounting could accelerate progress and enable cross-organizational comparison.

This is especially pertinent in the agriculture sector, where emissions on farms are significant but often poorly understood. Companies typically aggregate a patchwork of data from different suppliers, each of which may have its own formula for calculating GHG footprints. WWF’s analysis argues these discrepancies render monitoring efforts irrelevant, both within a company’s own scope and when comparing across industries.

“Companies’ efforts to cut emissions are critical to the global effort to mitigate climate change. In our current situation, this mishmash of methodologies makes demonstrating progress nearly impossible,” said Katherine Devine, director of business case development at WWF’s Markets Institute and co-author of the analysis. “Even for companies making good faith efforts, there’s a strong incentive to cherry pick whatever data and methodologies make you look best.”

Co-author Emily Moberg, WWF’s director of scope 3 carbon measurement and mitigation, added: “The range of emissions embedded in the same product varies astronomically, sometimes over 100-fold. Simply estimating greenhouse gas emissions by commodity doesn’t cut it. There’s no question that standardizing a system to collect reliable emissions will be a difficult, complex process. But as we get serious about tackling climate change, greenhouse gas accounting that enables good decision making must rise to the top of the priority list.”

To facilitate comparison across suppliers and investments, set meaningful targets, and effectively share knowledge, the analysis outlines four potential ways forward:

Globally standardized or interoperable methodologies and reporting requirements for product accountingQuality control for collected dataPre-competitive collaborationTransparency in reporting

The analysis is available here, along with additional commentary here.

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Media Contact: Lorin.Hancock@wwfus.org
 

About World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in nearly 100 countries for over half a century to help people and nature thrive. With the support of more than 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat the climate crisis. Visit http://www.worldwildlife.org to learn more and keep up with the latest conservation news by following @WWFNews on Twitter and signing up for our newsletter and news alerts here.

International Olympic Committee news

Five years after the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Games are helping more young people in the Republic of Korea to get involved in winter sports. The two 2018 Olympic clusters – PyeongChang and Gangneung – have become vital winter sports hubs for the region and beyond.

New horizons, new generations

PyeongChang 2018 set out on its Olympic journey with a clear vision: to open up “New Horizons” in sport by bringing sport to a new generation of winter athletes. Combined with a strategic position in Asia, as well as access to a young and fast-growing youth market, this vision quickly became a centrepiece of the Games’ long-term legacy.

The Games brought together more than 2,800 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees in peaceful competition, including a record number of 1,169 female athletes. At the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Games, athletes from both Koreas entered the Olympic Stadium together, flying one single flag, while a Unified Korean Olympic Team competed in the women’s ice hockey competition.

Over a quarter of the world’s population tuned in to follow the PyeongChang 2018 broadcast, making them the most viewed Olympic Winter Games at the time.

Audiences were able to witness Norwegian cross-country skiing star Marit Bjørgen win five medals at those Games, which took her total Olympic tally to 15 medals, including 8 golds. At 37 years old, this made Bjørgen the third most successful Olympian of all time behind swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Larisa Latynina.

“It’s incredible when I look back and see what I’ve done,” Bjørgen said after her impressive 30km win. “These are my last Games and to finish off like this is just fantastic.”

Elsewhere at the Games, Chloe Kim, an American teenager, blew away the rest of the field to win the women’s snowboard halfpipe gold medal at the Phoenix Snow Park; while Germany and Canada shared the gold medal after clocking exactly the same overall time in the two-man bobsleigh. Commentators described the excitement at this event as “nothing short of unreal”.

Meanwhile, for the homegrown spectators, Minjeong Choi, a short track speed skater, won two gold medals at her first Olympic Games, in the 1500m and 3000m relays. She is still widely regarded as one of the best female Korean short track speed skaters of all time.

Youth winter sport and education

More than half a year after the Games finished, PyeongChang 2018 kept the excitement alive by announcing a USD 55 million surplus. This was made possible through the sale of 30,000 accredited seats and various cost-cutting measures, particularly relating to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). Tthe fund would be used to establish the PyeongChang Legacy Foundation and ensure that the legacy of PyeongChang 2018 would continue.

Youth sport participation was at the heart of this legacy, and it is still growing in strength today.

Named after the Games’ mascots, the Soohorang and Bandabi sports camps seek to engage young people through sports-based educational programmes. Hosted in the Olympic venues in PyeongChang and Gangneung, it is open to students from all over the Republic of Korea. In 2022, it received over 2000 elementary and middle school students from 39 schools and organisations. A session aimed at 18-to-23-year olds gave the opportunity to 100 participants to meet Korean Olympians, learn about Olympic Values and try winter sports.

Building on the experience of the Soohorang and Bandabi Sports camp, the Gangwon 2024 Sports Camps were inaugurated in 2022, targeting Korean youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise have little opportunity to try winter sports. Over the course of five days, camp participants get daily ski lessons, visit Olympic venues and learn about the Olympic values.

Young people from other countries have also been offered an opportunity to discover winter sports in PyeongChang, through the New Horizons Academy. Named after the Games’ vision of expanding new horizons of sport, the Academy seeks to facilitate the emergence of new winter sport nations.

“Back in 2011, when we bid for the Games, we made a promise to create New Horizons in winter sport,” said Arram Kim of the Pyeongchang 2018 Legacy Foundation who was Education Project Manager at the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee. “We promised to help countries develop their winter sport programmes by letting them use Olympic facilities and sharing our coaching know-how. We are keeping the promise we made 12 years ago, with a programme named New Horizons Academy.”

From PyeongChang 2018 to Gangwon 2024

Having hosted the Olympic Winter Games once, PyeongChang and Gangneung, both in the Gangwon Province, are also well-equipped to host the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2024. Most of the events will be held in venues that were built for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Out of the 12 competition venues from the PyeongChang 2018 Games, 11 are still in use all year-round, and 7 will be used for Gangwon 2024.

Outdoor mountain events such as ski jumping, Nordic combined, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and sliding sports such as luge, bobsleigh and skeleton will be hosted at the Alpensia Sports Park in PyeongChang. The indoor ice events such as hockey, curling, speed skating and figure skating will take place in nearby Gangneung Olympic Park.

PyeongChang 2018 venues have been used in a variety of ways since the Games. The Alpensia Olympic Sliding Centre has been used to host various competitions, while its training facility was used by athletes from four new winter sports nations – Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand – to prepare for Beijing 2022. Australia, Israel, Nigeria and the USA have also sent athletes to train there. The bobsleigh can be tried by visitors to the centre during both summer and winter, while athletes can use the other facilities like the Alpensia Cross Country Centre, Alpensia Biathlon Centre, and Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre for training purposes all year round.

The Gangneung Ice Arena, which had a capacity of 12,000, underwent renovation work after the Games and reopened as a multi-sports facility for the public. Both Olympic Villages, located in PyeongChang and Gangneung, have been transformed into residential areas, providing housing for thousands of people.

OAKLAND, Calif., February 15, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Fair Trade USA™ has released its new 2022 Consumer Insights Report: An Investment in Trust: Conscious Consumerism Goes Mainstream Despite Economic Headwinds. The report examines the continuing drive of today’s consumers in their ethical quest to purchase fair trade products.

Key findings from the report show conscious consumerism moving into the mainstream, with a wider range of consumers intentionally seeking Fair Trade Certified™ products and seeing this as one of the ways to most impact lives, communities, and the environment by purchasing with purpose.

“This new research shows a positive trend on the rise, as consumer awareness of fair trade products increases,” said Paul Rice, Founder & CEO of Fair Trade USA. “Younger generations continue to lead the charge as they look toward their future, while bringing other generations along with them. They understand the difference that every purchase makes in the lives of workers, farmers, and fishers worldwide.”

Report highlights include:

Generational Shift 

Younger generations continue to pay closer attention to the state of the planet and the practices behind the products they buy.

45% – Millennials pay 20% more for a Fair Trade Certified product48% – Gen Zs say they would pay 20% more for a Fair Trade Certified product20% – Millennials and Gen Zs bought Fair Trade Certified products in the past three months, double that of just three years ago

Awareness of Fair Trade

Label recognition held steady in 2022, and trust in the Fair Trade Certified label remained high.

65% – Consumers recognize the Fair Trade Certified seal78% – General population trust the seal75% – Millennials recognize the seal66% – Gen Zs recognize the seal

“More than 1,500 industry partners have chosen Fair Trade Certified to meet sustainability goals, increase brand trust, and reach more shoppers.”

View here to access the full 2022 Consumer Insight Report. Research for this report was conducted by Natural Marketing Institute ®. To learn about the benefits of a Fair Trade USA partnership, visit the website for more information. 

About Fair Trade USA 
Fair Trade USA, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the leading certifier of fair trade products in North America. Offering award-winning, rigorous, and globally recognized sustainable sourcing certification programs that improve livelihoods, protect the environment, and build resilient, transparent supply chains, its trusted Fair Trade Certified™ seal on a product signifies that it was made according to stringent fair trade standards. Fair Trade USA is building an innovative model of responsible business, conscious consumerism, and shared value to eliminate poverty and enable sustainable development for farmers, workers, their families, and communities around the world.

Contact Information: 
Fair Trade USA 
Vernaé Graham 
Senior Manager, Public Relations 
vgraham@fairtradeusa.org 
FairTradeCertified.org

Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog

The LA3C festival in Downtown Los Angeles recently brought together thousands of people who took in a diverse array of experiences that included live music from Lil Baby, Snoop Dogg, Maluma and many others, as well as a special live art space sponsored by U.S. Bank.

LA3C, which stands for Los Angeles, Capital of Culture and Creativity, is a two-day music, food and art festival designed to curate powerhouse musical performances, multicultural food and flavors, and bold and interactive art.

The live art space U.S. Bank sponsored featured local artist and designer Tamika Quillard, also known as Tamika Q, who created a mixed-media mural honoring Black, Latina and indigenous women.

While Quillard created the mural on the top floor of the live art installation, a street team of artists gathered on the ground level and airbrushed their own original designs on a special canvas. The artists also used stencils created by Quillard to add designs to hats and tote bags as a customized free souvenir for festival attendees.

U.S. Bank was introduced to Quillard through her work with Destination Crenshaw, a public/private partnership made possible in part by a $30 million in New Markets Tax Credits, which generated an $8.9 million equity investment from the U.S. Bank community investment and tax credit division, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp. The investment is part of U.S. Bank Access Commitment™, which provides information, connections and resources to help Black small business owners sustain and grow their businesses.

“U.S. Bank wants to catalyze and enable entrepreneurs to make their dreams happen,” said Greg Cunningham, U.S. Bank Chief Diversity Officer.

At LA3C, U.S. Bank also sponsored the She Media Meaningful Marketplace, where more than a dozen local women- and minority-owned businesses offered ethically sourced jewelry, unique candles, custom-made clothes and more.

“Our Access Commitment and support of events like LA3C creates a way for U.S. Bank to give small businesses an opportunity to shine and grow their business,” said Delphine Pruitt, Vice President, U.S. Bank Los Angeles Business Access Advisor. “We want to help entrepreneurs believe in themselves the way that we believe in them. That’s why we’re here, to offer expert advice, and help make connections within the community.”

JP Gladu, a member of the Sand Point First Nation in Northern Ontario and Suncor Board of Directors member, attended the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) as both a panel participant for the Oil Sands Pathways Alliance and one of several voices in Canada’s core delegation representing Indigenous Peoples and knowledge.

“I was blown away by the international Indigenous presence at COP27,” he says. “It was heartwarming to see the organization and representation of Indigenous People compared to the first COP I attended 22 years ago. The world is making room for Indigenous People and our knowledge systems, which is beautiful. Our country really made room for the Indigenous voice.”

JP was on the Oil Sands Pathways Alliance panel, which took place on the sixth day. “The Pathways Alliance panel was masterfully done, but it was met with friction,” explains JP. “We knew there would be some disruption, but I wasn’t expecting such anger. It was jarring.

The disruption came in the form of protestors who interrupted the panel by standing up with signs that read: “Get heavy emitters out of Canada.” and then left. But the upsetting disruption for JP came during the question-and-answer period.

“There was an Indigenous woman in the audience who spoke first. She was filled with emotion and just laid into the panel. She didn’t ask questions and when she finished, she walked away from the mic and out of the room. It was disappointing that she didn’t wait to hear the panel’s response to her comments.”

As the founder of Mokwateh, a consultancy that shares JP’s Anishinaabe name, and with more than 30 years of experience in the natural resources sector, JP is no stranger to opposing views; in fact, he values the conversation they elicit.

“It’s OK that we have diverging views, that’s important to the conversation, and it’s important that we hold each other accountable,” he explains. “But have the courage to stay in the room. If you’re not going to stay in the room, we’re not going to solve anything. We need to work these things out together.”

The protests didn’t detract from the conversations JP had at COP27. He says there was space for challenging but important conversations, and it was clear that the Pathways Alliance, which includes Suncor as one of the six member companies, is committed to meeting the 2050 net zero target.

“It’s imperative that we meet that target,” he says. “There are a lot of people in big organizations that care a hell of a lot, and we know we have to get there for our children, for our companies and for a cleaner future. And it makes business sense to get there.”

Read the full story here.

Originally published on Built From Scratch

At The Home Depot, we know that the most sustainable tool isn’t necessarily the new one on the shelf; often, it’s the one that is rented, serviced and shared. One person who knows about the impact of tool rental is Tony English. As the Senior Director of Merchandising for Home Depot Rental, Tony has joined Eco Actions to explain exactly what makes tool rental a more environmentally friendly option.    

For anyone who hasn’t rented tools from The Home Depot, what do they need to know?  

First, it’s important to know that we rent everything from power tools to trucks. We have over 420,000 tools in our rental program, which includes indoor tools, outdoor tools, heavy equipment and power tools. We take pride in being in stock, which means that customers don’t have to worry about showing up and not being able to rent the tool they want.

But to rent a tool, you really only need to know what you want to accomplish. We rent such a huge variety of tools that we have something for practically every project. And one of our objectives is to match people with the right tools for their project or need. The Home Depot’s tool rental associates are extremely knowledgeable. They are essentially project consultants. So, for example, we rent six different tillers with varying functionality. When gardeners come in to rent a tiller, the job of the rental associate is to ask about soil type, project area and the time allocated to get the job done in order to send them home with the best tiller for their project.

What makes tool rental such a great option for pros and DIYers alike?  

The most immediate benefit of tool rental for most customers is both financial and practical. Rental rates are around 5–10% of the cost to buy the same tools. If you are looking at the return on investment, you have to use a tool you buy many times over to recoup the purchase price. With a rental tool, you are only paying for that single use.

Not only is renting less expensive, but the tools we rent at The Home Depot are also high-quality. We buy the most reliable tools, from the best brands, in each category. That means that renters can access tools that are high-performing and with more features. In many cases, they can rent a higher performing tool than they can otherwise afford. Ultimately, that improves their project experience and outcomes.

Tool rental is a great option for tools that are needed for occasional use, like tillers. It also makes sense for tools that homeowners don’t want to own, maintain and store like pressure washers. Tool rental also makes sense for tools that are expensive, which is why so many pros rely on Home Depot Rental to be their toolbox.

Take plumbers, for example. From time to time, plumbers need a drain camera. The product we rent retails for over $6,000 but rents for approximately $250 a day. When you consider that many contractors may not have the cash flow to make big purchases like these, the rental allows them the ability to service their customer for a job that they wouldn’t be able to accomplish otherwise and embed the rental cost in their estimate.

What makes tool rental a great option for the environment?   

When you look at the big picture from the sustainability perspective, renting tools is eliminating excess. It’s sharing tools. We’re satisfying hundreds of customers with one tool and optimizing the value and utilization of that one tool. That means that fewer products are being owned, stored, maintained and discarded.

For instance, we rent one tiller in particular, a Honda mid tine tiller. It’s perfect for mid-sized vegetable gardens. Most people only need a tool like this once a year, sometime between April and early June. Suppose you purchase one for your garden. You’ll incur the full cost of that tiller, including storage and maintenance. If you only use it once a year, you’ll need to empty fuel at the end of the season, which many people forget to do. If you keep that tiller for 10 years, you may use it 10 to 20 times at most.

Compare that to a rental tiller, which we will rent out about 25 times a season and which we maintain for five years. That’s 125 uses for one tool. Then, when it starts to look a little ragged but still operates well, we will sell it to an eager DIYer who will probably use it for another 15 years. Consider the 125 uses we get out of a single tool vs. the raw materials and carbon footprint required to manufacture that same number of tools required if each of our rental customers purchased a tiller of their own.

When it comes to environmental benefits, we have to consider the life cycle of tools. At The Home Depot, we perform regular maintenance on all of our rented tools to keep them in top condition. And we’re satisfying hundreds of customers with needs for that single tool within its life span. With individual ownership, tools are more likely to be disposed of prematurely because either the product wasn’t suited for the task, the tool wasn’t properly maintained or the tool was simply no longer needed.

When our rental tools reach the end of their rental period, we don’t dispose of them. They are often in good shape because they have been maintained. They just look used, so we sell them to customers – both pros and DIYers alike.

*Editor’s Note: This interview was originally published on Eco Actions website. Click here to read the full story, and visit here to learn more about The Home Depot’s commitment to sustainability. 

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