Month: April 2023

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., April 6, 2023 /3BL Media/ – 3BL Media, the world’s leading communications partner for purpose-driven organizations, has announced expansions to its distribution network through an existing relationship with the Associated Press (AP) and 3BL’s Affiliate Partner Program.

As one of the largest and most respected news organizations in the world, AP has been a valuable longstanding distribution partner, through AP Third Party Distribution Networks (APT). For many years, 3BL client content has been available to AP journalists and editors, and to AP subscribers, via the AP Exchange and Datafeatures platforms.

As of this month, 3BL client content is also visible on the public-facing platform APNews.com and the APNews app. This update not only vastly increases the potential audience numbers but also offers 3BL client stories about sustainability and social impact initiatives to a more diverse readership, including news consumers, businesses and policymakers. Similarweb data shows apnews.com receives more than 66 million monthly visits.

“The 3BL news feed includes daily updates from hundreds of companies, NGOs and nonprofits committed to performance and transparency on a wide range of environmental and social impact topics,” said Dave Armon, CEO of 3BL Media. “We are committed to driving engagement with our clients’ stories, and every enhancement to the 3BL network helps us connect with audiences who matter.”

Beyond the expanded reach of 3BL client content via the AP, distribution in the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada has been enhanced through a syndication agreement with M2 Communications’ network, M2 Presswire, which serves research databases and subscribers across multiple vertical industry segments.

3BL’s Affiliate Partner Program has also grown organically to include the following sites reaching audiences keen to engage with companies on a wide range of sustainability-related topics:

UN Global Compact Network USA, the local network chapter of the United Nations Global Compact, supporting U.S. businesses and subsidiaries of multinational corporations in implementing the UN Global Compact Ten Principles and meeting the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals.Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, an international non-profit organization working with companies to champion fairness, equality, and effectiveness across systems of punishment and incarceration.UN Global Compact Network UK, an independent not-for-profit organization with aims to promote charitable sustainable development, relieve poverty, preserve and protect the environment, and promote ethical standards and conduct within businesses and the private sector in the UK.INTEGRATE (aka ESG Finance), ESG Finance Research Initiative is a research initiative that focuses on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in finance. The Institute aims to promote research on ESG issues in finance and to provide insights for policymakers, investors, and companies. They also organize workshops and conferences on ESG issues in finance to promote collaboration and discussion among academics, policymakers, and practitioners.MENAFN (Middle East North Africa Financial Network), a news agency that covers the latest developments in business, finance, economics, and politics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

“As 2023 continues, the distribution team at 3BL looks forward to continuing this upward trajectory in quality distribution partners,” said Emily Gosling, distribution director at 3BL. “Organizations seeking a dynamic news feed of content on sustainability topics are encouraged to get in touch so we can explore adding them to the 3BL affiliate program.”

About 3BL Media

3BL Media’s unrivaled distribution platform distributes sustainability and corporate responsibility content from hundreds of leading purpose-driven brands to a global audience of stakeholders including investors, media, policymakers, corporate leaders, consumers, employees, and ratings & rankings agencies. For more information, please visit www.3blmedia.com.

CNH Industrial brand New Holland Agriculture has partnered with leasing company Equity for Tanzania (EFTA) to assist the mechanization of smallholder farmers in Tanzania. The collaboration involves the acquisition of 200 tractors.

The relationship will be regulated by the Bank of Tanzania. Its mission is to lease equipment without collateral to farmers unable to access bank financing.

Tanzania has a vision to bolster its mechanization, increase agricultural production and improve food security by 2025. The delivery of 200 New Holland TT75 4WD tractors will help support this. 

The transaction was facilitated by Hughes Agriculture Tanzania Ltd (HAT), New Holland Agriculture’s local distributor in Tanzania, and CRDB, one of Tanzania’s leading banks. HAT and EFTA have been working in partnership for over five years, but this is the first time a broader partnership, including New Holland Agriculture and CRDB, has been formed to significantly scale up tractor access for smallholder farmers. 

It is expected to be the beginning of an ongoing partnership to grow mechanization in East Africa, including in Kenya.

Following the machine’s delivery, an official training program for farmers has been launched across several districts of Tanzania. Until the end of April 2023, it will provide the farmers with the technical support they need to raise the bar on productivity and profitability.

Özkan Eren, Business Director, New Holland Middle East and Africa, stated: “New Holland has built a strong presence in Tanzania and is constantly providing crucial product improvements. This is key to New Holland’s commitment to innovation. Through this partnership, our common objective is to provide the best possible products – such as the TT75 tractor model – and services to increase the mechanization level of smallholder farmers in Tanzania.    We are also committed to training the farmers and providing technical support they need together with EFTA. It is certain that we will continue to invest in Tanzania in support of our local partners.”

Stuart Leishman, Managing Director of HAT, commented: “Mechanization is key to ensure the long-term goal of Tanzania becoming food secure. And we are proud to be able to play our part in increasing the number of emerging farmers using tractors and implements to improve their yields. Thanks to our valued partnership with New Holland Agriculture, EFTA and the support of CRDB, we have created a solution for farmers to acquire New Holland tractors at affordable rates. And without the various collateral hurdles that might have prevented them from accessing this equipment previously. Hughes Agriculture will provide after sales support via their expanding network across the region to ensure that our customers receive the services they need to keep their investment running.”

Nicomed Bohay, Managing Director of EFTA, commented: “We have done a deal for 200 new tractors with one of the top brands in the world for farmers and SMEs in Tanzanian agricultural sector. This reaffirms EFTA’s commitment to providing access to finance without collateral to farmers who wouldn’t have met eligibility criteria from mainstream financial institutions. They are a special segment of SME’s referred to as the ‘missing middle’, who are too big for microfinance but too small for conventional banks. The delivery of this transaction, and many more to come, confirms EFTA’s position as a leading financial leasing company in Tanzania.”

FARMINGTON, Conn., April 6, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Otis Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: OTIS) published its 2022 ESG report, describing its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and highlighting alignment with the company’s strategic operating imperatives of Sustaining New Equipment Growth, Accelerating Service Portfolio Growth, Advancing Otis’ Digitalization, and Focusing and Empowering the Organization. The report outlines the progress made on the company’s 13 ESG goals to create value for Otis colleagues, communities, customers and shareholders. 

“Doing the right thing is core to who we are, and we embrace the responsibility to deliver sustainable value for all stakeholders,” said Chair, CEO and President Judy Marks. “Our 2022 ESG report demonstrates tangible progress toward each of our 13 goals outlined in four key pillars: Health & Safety, Environment & Impact, People & Communities, and Governance & Accountability. These four pillars align with our Absolutes of Safety, Ethics and Quality and are central to the success of our business strategy in driving strong financial results and making positive impacts in the communities where we do business.”

Highlights from the 2022 report:

Health & Safety: Expanded Otis’ Employee Assistance Program, providing well-being and resilience services, to cover 100% of Otis colleagues globally.Environment & Impact: Reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 4.8% vs. 2021 and 11% from the company’s 2019 baseline*.People & Communities: Increased female executive representation from 36% in 2021 to 39.2% in 2022, putting Otis on a path toward executive gender parity by 2030. Governance & Accountability: Linked executive short-term incentive compensation to ESG goal performance – specifically, progress toward achieving executive gender parity and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.

View the complete Otis 2022 ESG report. Refer to www.otis.com for additional investor updates.

* Environmental data reflects adjustments to remove Russia business (which has been divested) from the baseline and subsequent years.

About Otis

Otis is the world’s leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company. We move 2 billion people a day and maintain approximately 2.2 million customer units worldwide, the industry’s largest Service portfolio. Headquartered in Connecticut, USA, Otis is 69,000 people strong, including 41,000 field professionals, all committed to meeting the diverse needs of our customers and passengers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. To learn more, visit www.otis.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @OtisElevatorCo.

Cautionary statement

This release contains forward-looking statements (including statements that constitute forward-looking statements under the securities laws), including but not limited to, statements that relate to our intent to achieve certain environmental, social and governance plans, targets, goals and future risks associated with climate change. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management’s current expectations or plans for our future operating performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and our future results of operations could differ materially from our historical results or current expectations reflected by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are subject to future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the company, that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical results or current expectations, including, but not limited to, changes in regulations and law; severe weather events, including from the effects of climate change; challenges in the development, production, delivery, support, performance and realization of the anticipated benefits of advanced technologies and new products and services; changes in the economic and political conditions in the industry and markets in which we operate; and other risks and uncertainties described in detail in the company’s most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and in similar sections of other filings made by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. The forward-looking statements speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

International Olympic Committee news

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s efforts to systematically and continually improve the sustainability performance across its corporate events has resulted in it receiving certification to the international standard ISO 20121:2012 for its corporate events.

ISO 20121:2012 is an international standard for sustainability management systems applied to events, pioneered by the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games London 2012. It assesses the way sustainability is integrated into key decisions at every step of event planning and staging.

The IOC’s corporate events, which were subject to the certification process, include those organised and financed by the organisation, such as the IOC Sessions, commission meetings, Olympic Day events, the International Athletes’ Forum and other conferences.

“We are very proud to have received the ISO 20121 certification,” says IOC Director for Corporate and Sustainable Development, Marie Sallois. “It recognises our efforts to manage the social, economic and environmental impact of our corporate events. We hope this recognition will inspire other organisations within the Olympic Movement, as we strive to make the sports world more sustainable.”

“Inspired by the efforts of London 2012 and in accordance with the IOC’s strategic roadmap, Olympic Agenda 2020+5, we embarked on a journey to evolve the full portfolio of our institutional and corporate events and become an example for the Olympic Movement and beyond,” said Panos Tzivanidis, Director of Corporate Events and Services.

The IOC’s ISO 20121 certification audit was conducted in November 2022 and is effective for three years, with annual validation audits planned and regular assessments. The current sustainability objectives for IOC corporate events, which reflect the priorities of the IOC’s sustainability strategy, include:

Preventing waste and maximising reuse and recycling. For example, by avoiding single-use plastics, renting equipment locally as much as possible, designing menus that reduce food waste and producing biogas and compost from food waste.Incorporating environmental and social responsibility criteria when making purchases. For example, by prioritising local and certified food and eco-labelled products, selecting reusable and recyclable decoration and signage materials, and making sure gifts are durable and manufactured in decent working conditions.Reducing CO2 emissions by putting in place new formats of events that enable remote participation.Encouraging the use of public and group transport by participantsRaising event participants’ awareness of the sustainability measures in place.

The ISO 20121 certification was pioneered by the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games London 2012, which were a catalyst for its development. It has since become one of the sustainability requirements for every Olympic Games, with Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 all having been certified. It is also increasingly used by major sports and other event organisers.

Paris 2024, which received the ISO 20121 certification in 2022, will be another milestone in the evolution of the system. ISO 20121 is currently under revision and will be updated according to today’s context – both to reflect the growing possibilities of the events industry to become more sustainable and the increasing expectations from the public. Paris 2024 will pioneer the application of the revised standard, and the IOC is also contributing to the dialogue led by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) on the evolution of the norm.

“By inspiring the development of ISO 20121, London 2012 provided an opportunity to change the way events are planned and managed,” said David Stubbs, former Head of Sustainability for London 2012. “Since then, the planning and staging of all Olympic Games editions have been aligned with the standard. It has also been widely used beyond the Games. I am delighted and proud that this important Olympic legacy is evolving further with Paris 2024 to address the accelerating global sustainability challenges, raising the bar for sustainable sport and other events worldwide.”

Sustainability is a key element of the IOC’s strategic roadmap, Olympic Agenda 2020+5. In line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the IOC has committed to reducing its direct and indirect emissions by 50 per cent by 2030. It will compensate more than the remaining emissions through its Olympic Forest project. From 2030, all Olympic Games will be contractually obliged to minimise their carbon emissions and compensate more than 100 per cent of their residual emissions. Paris 2024 will be the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement, with emissions expected to halve compared to previous Olympic Games editions.

Applied Materials is honored to be named one of Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies, moving up from #31 last year to #11 this year. Applied remains steadfast in our commitment to work across the semiconductor ecosystem to drive critical advances that will accelerate a sustainable and inclusive digital economy. We’re excited to continue our momentum as we aspire to Make Possible® a Better Future.